Lesson Overview:
Students explore the common elements of folktales and tall tales, while learning how these tales built the spirit of the American people. Students identify tall tale elements. Students write an original folktale using the writing process, and then illustrate their tale and create a storybook.
Length of Lesson:
Three 45-minute periods
Instructional Objectives:
Students will:
- consider correctness, completeness, and appropriateness and make conscious language choices that create style and tone and affect reader response.
- focus on sentence form, word choice, grammar, usage, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.
- demonstrate grade-level proficiency in writing to express personal ideas by being able to do the following: choose a literary form, using its appropriate elements, to create a complete whole; follow a plan in which ideas are logically ordered; consistently direct writing to the intended audience; frequently choose vocabulary to clarify and enhance the form selected using language purposefully.
- write for various audiences and address the purpose of expressing personal ideas, informing, and persuading.
- pre-write, draft, revise, and proofread as part of the strategic approach to effective writing.
Supplies:
- Colored construction paper
- Crayons and/or markers
- Glue
- Scissors
- Watercolor or tempera paint
Instructional Plan:
Review with students the following concepts: elements of a folktale, common
motifs, the folktale formula, and types of folktales. Refer to Qualities of Folktales handout.
Review with students the writing process and techniques outlined on
Writing an Original Folktale handout. Distrubute the Vocabulary handout.
Review the types of tales that students may choose to write. For each type of tale, offer suggestions for generating ideas, elicit ideas from students, and model how the tale might unfold. Suggested tales and brainstorming ideas are as follows:
A Fool’s Tale:
In a "fool’s tale," a clever character outsmarts a foolish character. One way to get strated is to make up or adapt a joke that you have heard, and expand it into a tale.
A Tall Tale:
A tall tale centers around a hero or heroine of tremendous size and strength. To write the tale, you might tell how your character solves a problem by using his or her special abilities.
An Animal Tale:
In this tale, the central character is an animal that has special qualities and powers. The animal can be one that is unusual or imaginary. To create a memorable animal character, use personification and try using similes to describe your animal.
A Folktale About Yourself:
You can create a tall tale about an imaginary experience of your own. Base the story on one major exaggeration and use the words "I" and "me" to tell events as if they happened to you. An effective way to start the story is to begin with an ordinary event and build to something extraordinary. You might use a story starter such as: "One day, like any other day, I was…"
A Fairy Tale:
A fairy tale focuses on a unique character who is introduced to magical forces. An interesting scenario is to grant the character three wishes and detail the outcome (positive and/or negative) of the character's choices.
Before students begin the writing process, develop checklists and a rubric to be used as they follow the writing process. (See accompanying sample Student Writing Assignment Checklist Rubric handout and Student Sample Rubric handout for reference.)
Review with the students the steps that every story outline should include.(These
are also included on the Writing an Original Folktale Handout.)
Beginning
- Introduce the main character
- Describe the setting
- Begin the plot
Middle
- Introduce the character's problem
- Introduce minor characters
- Build toward the point of highest interest, or climax
Ending
- Reach the point of highest interest
- Wind down the action, and give the final outcome
If students need assistance in getting started, distribute and discuss the Ideas for Writing Different Kinds of Folktales handout, which gives suggestions and steps for writing different kinds of folktales.
As a final assignment, students should create illustrations for their stories.
Assessment:
Students will be evaluated on their original tale according to a scoring rubric developed by the teacher. See the accompanying sample Standards for Rubrics for scoring a story.
Extensions:
Poetry
Read to the class "Jewels and Ravens," a folk tale from Africa (in World Folktales; see Teacher References section for bibliographic information). Then, have students write an original poem following these directions:
An important aspect of this story is the fact that the husband and wife have reached old age and have become opposite kinds of people. What will you be like by the time you are 80 years old?
Make a list of the things you enjoy doing now (i.e., playing sports, swimming in cool streams during the hottest days of the summer, listening to rock n' roll, playing video games, etc.).
Make another list of things that you would like to be doing when you are 80 years old. Be specific and go for the unexpected (i.e., wearing bright colored feathers in your hair, riding in hot air balloons and dropping candy to children, learning to yodel, etc.).
Art
Using prints of famous works of art as motivation, have students write a folktale that expresses their feelings about the work. Be sure students include motifs and elements of a folktale. Personification and hyperbole should be encouraged. Works by African-American artist William H. Johnson listed in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum would be appropriate for this exercise.
Sources:
Print:
- Cole, Joanna. Best Loved Folktales of the World. Wilmington, NC: Anchor Publishing, 1983.
- Mallet, Jerry and Keith Polette. World Folktales. Fort Atkinson: Alleyside Press, 1994.
Web:
Authors:
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Kathy Cook, Teacher
Thomas Pullen Arts Magnet School
Landover, MD
