Understanding By Design
Lesson Plan Format
Title: Genre – American Folk Tales
Subject Matter Emphasis and Level: Reading/Communication Arts –8th grade
Author: Denise Mushitz
School District: Geddes Community School
Email:
Brief Description of the Lesson/Unit:
Using the genre of American Folk Tales, I am going to allow students to be exposed to and analyze the elements of folk tales and the culture of America.
Stage 1: Identify Desired Results
1. What enduring understandings are desired?
Goal 1: Students are able read at increasing levels of complexity for a variety of reasons.
2. What essential questions will guide this unit and focus teaching/learning?
As Americans, why do you think it is important to have an understanding of American folk tales?
What makes American folk tales a genre worthy of study?
How do American folk tales reflect American history?
How do legends embody cultural ideals?
3. What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this unit?
8.R.3.1 (Analysis) Compare and contrast literature from different eras or cultures dealing with similar themes or conflicts.
Identify ideas and customs of today’s Americans through attitudes of early Americans.
4. What prior learning, interests, misconceptions, and conceptual difficulties might be brought to this unit?
How might different students understand folk tales at different levels?
What prior knowledge may students have about folk tales?
What American history knowledge may students have?
Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence
1. What evidence will show that students understand?
Performance Tasks:
Read a variety of American folk tales, such as African American, Spanish American, European American.
Other Evidence:
Quizzes, Tests, Prompts, Work Samples (summarized):
Quiz over elements of folk tales.
Use a model to write a folk tale
Unprompted Evidence: (observations, dialogues, etc.)
Group discussion over kinds of folk tales and elements of folk tales
Student Self-Assessment
Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction
1. What sequence of teaching and learning experiences will equip students to develop and demonstrate the desired understandings?
Students will be introduced to folk tales and elements such as repetition and dialect as well as what is revealed about the cultural beliefs and costumes. On a block schedule, we will take about a week or three 45-minute class periods to discuss this unit.
Major Learning Activities:
Introduction – Create your own tall tale “Have you heard this one?” Students sit in a circle and swap stories about happenings in their own lives. Then ask each person to select one story (not their own) that they liked best and to write it down, liberally adding their own embellishments and feeling free to wrap the facts in whatever way they think will make the best story. Students can then read their tall tales to the class and those who chose the same tale can preface their reading with the age-old remark, "Now, according to the way I heard it..."
"What is a legend?" Brainstorm with the students and write their answers on the board or overhead projector. Then, have the students break into reading groups and have each group read at least two well-known American legends. In their reading groups, have them use a Venn diagram to record similarities and differences between each legend. Discuss key characteristics of a legend.
Read several examples of American folk tales and discuss the elements of the genre. (see materials)
Activity 2 - Break students into groups and have them write "circle stories" to build a legend. Again, they can start with something very mundane, so the first sentence may be very factual about something that happened. The student who writes the first sentence passes the paper to the next student who writes a sentence to embellish the first sentence, and then folds the top of the paper over the first sentence and passes it onto a third student. The third student sees only one sentence on the paper, and so on. Read the entire story to the students to demonstrate how wildly the legend has grown.
Materials & Resources (technology & print):
http://www.aaronshep.com/stories/folk.html Folk Tales
http://www.ibiblio.org/john_henry/ John Henry
http://www.darsie.net/talesofwonder/natam.html Native American Tales
Folk Tales
“Chicoria” (retold in English by Rudolfo A. Anaya)
“Brer Possum’s dilemma” (Jackie Torrence)
“Coyote Steals the Sun and Moon” - Zuñi Myth (retold by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz)
“Why the Waves have Whitecaps” – (Zora Neale Hurston)
Tall Tales
“John Henry”
“Pecos Bill: the Cyclone” (Harold W. Felton)
“Paul Bunyan of the Northern Woods” (Carl Sandburg)
“Davy Crockett’s Dream” (Davy Crockett)
Management:
The unit should last about a week, spending three 45-minute mini–block class periods.
Support Services and Special Teacher Notes:
Modify readings based on student origin or background. Include stories from ethnic groups that they are a part of or those they know little about.
Extensions and Adaptation:
American Indian Trickster Tales (edited by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz)
The People Could Fly (by Virginia Hamilton)
The Jack Tales (by Richard Chase)
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html Electronic Texts
http://web.infoave.net/~tnorris/lesson.htm Folk Tale Lesson Plans