Submitted by cassandrabarnett on Tue, 06/19/2012 - 18:23
Created By:
Cassandra Barnett
Title/Role:
Librarian
Organization/School Name:
Fayetteville High School Library
Location:
Arkansas
Grade Level:
11, 12
Type of Lesson:
Lesson in a unit
Type of Schedule:
Flexible
Collaboration Continuum:
Intensive
Content Area:
Language Arts
Content Topic:
Relationship between a culture and its folklore.
Scenario:
A world literature teacher emails the school librarian (SL) asking to plan and schedule her classes into the library for a folktale unit. The unit is highlights the relationship between a culture and its stories. Students read folktales from a particular culture, identify the components of the society through the folktales, and conduct additional research on the culture. Then, with a partner, they write an original folktale that incorporates the characteristics of a folktale and what they have learned about that culture. The teacher feels they need instruction on effective searches using the online databases and choosing the best websites for the information needed. Instruction in the classroom will focus on characteristics of folktales, determining the common components of a culture (morals, values, way of life, etc.), developing questions, and MLA format for the works cited. The SL will focus on the available resources for the project, search strategies for online databases, evaluating websites, and act as a consultant in the research process. The SL suggests that a picture book would be a good product for this type of assignment. She offers to work with the students as they write and illustrate a picture book version of their original folktale.
Overview:
Juniors and seniors in a world literature class examine world cultures through the lens of a culture’s folktales. The essential question is: How do folktales reflect a country’s culture? In particular, the students (1) analyze how folktales convey a society’s morals and values, and (2) apply their knowledge by creating a literary piece in the folktale genre that reflects aspects of the culture.
Final Product:
Students collaborate on the creation of an original folktale that incorporates the values of a particular cultural group and embodies elements of the folktale genre. They share their work with the class as a slide presentation, a picture book, or a play.
Library Lesson:
In a series of lessons, students learn to locate folktales, find information in online databases and websites about a specific cultural group, and create picture books from their original folktales.