Lesson Plan

Lesson Title: Word Dance!
Content Area & Arts Discipline: Language Arts and Creative Writing & Theatre (Storytelling) and Music
Date: October 17, 2012
Author & Presenter: Doris Jones
Grade Level: 2nd
Proposed Time Frame: 45 minutes
Spatial Requirements: Open space suitable for reading and movement
Materials/Equipment: CD player, CD of instrumental fiddle music, a copy of Barn Dance!, paper and pencils for the students (for journaling afterward)
Resources: “Ashokan Farewell” (The Civil War Original Soundtrack Recording), Barn Dance! by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
Vocabulary: square dance, caller, violin, fiddle, honeyed, do-si-do, curtsey, bow
SUMMARY
Give a brief overview of the lesson—
After going over new words, the teaching artist will lead the students in a movement activity to help them understand story construction. She will then introduce various sound and literary devices and demonstrate how these tools are used to make stories more pleasing to the ear. After hearing the story read aloud, the students will share devices that they pick up on and review text features. Finally she will lead the students in a time of guided visualization, to help them imagine and then tell their own stories.
BIG IDEA
&
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
What overarching understandings are desired?
Story Construction (Storytelling, Language Arts)
Literary and Sound Devices (Storytelling, Language Arts)
Text Features (Language Arts)
Visualization (Storytelling, Language Arts)
Students will… become acquainted with story construction (beginning, middle, and end), which parallels the language arts concept of story elements (characters, problem, solution, and setting).
Students will… be exposed to sound and literary devices, which add interest and color to reading, writing, and telling experiences.
Students will… become acquainted with visualization, or the mind’s eye, and use this skill to create a story.
LESSON INSTRUCTION
List the steps of the lesson by following the outline below:
Engaging Students: The storyteller will engage the children, or re-engage them as needed, using hand motions, voice techniques, age-appropriate humor, games, and encouragement.
Building on Knowledge: The teaching artist will introduce several language arts skills: story elements, literary and sound devices, visualization for creative writing, in addition to new vocabulary words.
Applying Understanding: The students will be able to understand the story elements, and remember them, by tying them to a movement activity. The students will have time to create their own stories during the visualization time.
Creating Opportunities for Reflection: There will be an opportunity for the students to share what they have learned at the end of the session.
Assessing the Experience: The students will move out into the room to tell adult participants what they saw while using the mind’s eye. Adults will be asked to encourage their telling. Often vivid details, and even new plot pieces, will fall into place during telling. Journaling will follow as a second method of assessment.
STANDARDS
PRINCIPLES
State Content Standards:
Language Arts Concepts Covered:
Hear story and grasp details of the text
Story elements: setting, characters, problem, solution
Text Features: title, author, illustrator, summary
Literary and sound devices: alliteration, rhythm, repetition and rhyme
Visualization as a pathway to creative writing
RL.2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
RL.2.3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events, challenges.
RL.2.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g. regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story.
RL.2.5 Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.
RL.2.7 Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
W2.2 Write informative/explanatory text in which the students introduce a topic, use facts to develop points, provide a concluding statement. (journal prompt #2)
W2.3 Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure. (journal prompt #5)
Visual & Performing Arts Standards:
Theatre:
Create imaginary scenes with a beginning, middle, and end in guided dramatic play. (1a)
Develop body awareness and spatial perception through movement and pantomime. (2a)
Develop sensory awareness of all five senses. (2c)
Music:
Listen to music of diverse cultures and styles; identify distinguishing characteristics. (3a)
Describe the musical characteristics that affect moods, responses, and feelings. (7c)
Principles of Universal Design for Learning:
Provide options for perception: 1.2
Provide options for language: 2.1
Provide options for comprehension: 3.1, 3.2
Provide options for physical action: 4.1
Provide options for expression and communication: 5.1
Provide options for recruiting interest: 7.1, 7.2, 7.3
Provide options for self-regulation: 9.1
MISC NOTES
Extended Learning Activities:
Activities may include a class discussion on how country and city life differ, square dancing to fiddle music, writing a story or journal entries, or drawing a picture of imaginings.
Writing Prompts:
1.)  In Barn Dance, the boy square dances with farm animals. Imagine that you are the boy and write a paragraph to tell about your adventure.
2.)  In the story, did the boy really have this adventure, or was it something that he imagined? Give at least two reasons to support your answer.
3.)  Write a paragraph about what you saw in the barn (the setting) while using your mind’s eye and listening to fiddle music. Vividly describe the item that you found in the barn and tell where it came from.
4.)  The barn dance happened at night, but what you saw in your mind’s eye was the next morning. Use your compare and contrast skills to write a paragraph about the barn (the setting) at these two different times.
5.)  The boy in this story is no longer bored after he dances with the farm animals. Use your mind’s eye to write a different story, using the barn as the setting. (Hint: be sure to use the story elements to help build your story!)
TIPS/FAQs:
Please remember that creativity comes to the surface best in an environment than feels like play— so, grow young again! Pressured situations typically shut down creativity, so as you listen to the students tell their own stories, play along!
Practice makes punch! I always pre-read aloud any books that I plan to present to a class.

*Inspired by Kennedy Center’s ArtsEdge website.