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=Table of Contents = 1. Folklore Unit 2. Myths 3. Legends 4. Folk Tales 5. Fables 6. Essential Questions 7. Documents 8. Final Project 9. GLEs

=Student Expectations= After having read this chapter and completed the assignments within this chapter and during class, it is expected that you will: 1. know what folklore is 2. know the different characteristics of each type of written folklore 3. be able to identify different types of folklore using textual citations to support your assertions 4. be able to meaningfully participate in whole class and small group discussions about the required readings and how they relate to the essential questions and your life. 5. Create a PowerPoint presentation that explicitly demonstrates your understanding of the material covered in this unit of study. 6. Write (and record) an original myth, legend, folk tale, or fable that teachers the audience something about modern morals and values.

=Instructional Sequence= This chapter has been designed to aid in the completion of a six week unit of study about written folklore. During this unit you will gradually become more responsible for your own learning (and even your classmate's learning!) as I step back and let you take control. Here is roughly what you can expect:

**Day 1:** Students ** will know and understand the meaning of __theme/author’s message__.... **
 * a. through participating in whole class discussion, students will understand that theme is the author's message about life and human nature. **


 * Day 2:** Students will __understand the elements of myths__...
 * a. through participating in whole class discussion, students will understand that myths: are traditional stories accepted as history, attempt to explain the world view of a group of people, often attempt to explain how the world was created or why the world is the way that it is, and the culture in which a myth has been created often views it as truthful and somewhat sacred. **


 * Day 3-5: **** Students will __interpret elements of myths by__... **
 * a. participating in small group discussions **
 * b. reading and evaluating mythic elements in creation myths by conducting web quests and creating graphic organizers using Inspiration or similar software. **


 * Day 6: **** Students will __understand the elements of legends__... **
 * a. through participating in whole class discussions, students will understand that legends **** are: **** stories that are accepted as history and do, in fact, have elements of historic fact in them, The characters in the stories are sometimes based on real people, The characters in the stories are sometimes based on real people, and the setting of legends are the recent past. **
 * b. through participating in whole class group discussions, students will understand that a tall tale is a type of legend that possesses characters with impossibly exaggerated qualities. **
 * c. through participation in whole class discussion, students will understand that an urban legend is a more contemporary legend that often includes an element of the supernatural, and start out as rumors, and after being retold become accepted as true. **


 * Day 7-9 : **** Students will __interpret elements of legends by__... **
 * a. participating in small group discussions **
 * b. reading and evaluating elements of legends in American legends by conducting web quests and creating graphic organizers using Inspiration or similar software. **


 * Day 10: **** Students will __understand the elements of folk tales__... **
 * a. through participating in whole class discussion, students will understand that folk tales **are meant to be entertaining and thus are not assumed to be truthful or sacred, the story is not set during a specific time other than the distant past, the characters in folk tales are often peasants and personified animals, the main character often uses trickery to defeat the antagonist, who is often a monster of sorts, or complete his/her task, the main character of the story is the one who is meant to be taught the lesson/moral, magic and enchantment are often elements of a folk tale, the number three appears throughout the story, and there could be three tasks, three characters, or three important objects.


 * Day 11-13: **** Students will __interpret elements of folk tales by__... **
 * a. participating in small group discussion **
 * b. reading and evaluating elements of folk tales in North American folk tales by conducting web quests and creating graphic organizers using Inspiration or similar software. **


 * Day 14: **** Students will __understand the elements of fables__... **
 * a. through participating in whole class discussion, students will understand that fables **are a type of folk tale, but they are very short works, the moral of these stories are stated directly, the listener is meant to be taught the lesson/moral rather than one of the characters, the characters are mostly personified animals that have obvious human faults.


 * Day 15-17: **** Students will __interpret elements of fables by__... **
 * a. participating in small group discussion **
 * b. reading and evaluating elements of fables in Aesop’s fables by conducting web quests and creating graphic organizers using Inspiration or similar software. **

a. participating in a Soctratic Seminar.
 * Day 18** Students will __demonstrate an understanding of all written folklore and Essential Questions__ covered within the unit by...


 * Day 19-25** Students will __make personal connections between a myth, fable, folk tale, or legend and reallife by__...
 * a. identifying similarities and differences between the theme/moral of the story and the how the theme/moral applies to the real world and using media presentation software to create an oral presentation. **
 * b.** writting a modern-day folktale that connects to one or more essential questions from the unit.


 * Day 26-28** Students will conduct oral presentations

Institute for Learning (IFL) Strategies
The following items represent some of the strategies that we will use to help facilitate your understanding of the material. This is not an all encompassing list; it focuses on the most important aspects of the unit.

__Accountable Talk__ will occur as students discuss and debate the elements of written folklore as it applies to selected myths, legends, folk tales, and fables. This will occur in, informal and formal whole class discussion and informal small group discussion. __Socializing Intelligence__ will occur when working in small groups to research, analyze, and discuss the elements of written folklore a variety of texts and in a formally assessed Socratic Seminar. __Learning as Apprenticeship__ will occur as students create their presentations which show the elements of written folklore in self-selected texts and as students demonstrate the connections between written folklore and the modern world.

= = =Teaching Strategies = The following items represent some of the strategies that we will use to help facilitate your understanding of the material. This is not an all encompassing list; it focuses on the most important aspects of the unit.

__Teacher Directed__ - Teacher will review the definition of theme as needed.

__Teacher Modeling__ - Students and teacher will read a myth, legend, folk tale, fable and discuss the theme within each. Students can partner read, or read independently. Students and teacher will come back together to identify the elements of each specific piece of written folk lore and complete a graphic organizer to illustrate why the written folklore is a myth, legend, folk tale, or fable.

__Collaborative Instruction__ - Students will be broken up into small teacher-selected groups of three or four students to read and analyze a variety of written folklore. Students who are not reading at level will be paired with students who are at or above level to aid in comprehension. Students will locate written folklore within a webquest and select four stories that they will focus on. Students will read, discuss and analyze each of the stories and then create and complete graphic organizers in an effort to identify which genres of written folklore they have read.

__Socratic Seminar__ - Students will be given a selection of written folklore which they will analyze at home. Students will answer open ended discussion questions in preparation for a Socratic Seminar which will take place the following day and be used as a formative assessment. Students will have choice as they will select a predetermined number of questions from a chart to ensure that they all answer questions within a variety of DOK. Students will be held accountable for responding to the questions that were given to them as well as asking their peers open ended questions to further the discussion. 

=Depth of Knowledge= Students will reach a DOK 3 by analyzing the role of morals in the contemporary world and comparing and contrasting them to the morals present in written folklore. By doing this, students will apply a concept in other contexts. Students who have demonstrated proficiency at DOK3 will apply contemporary morals to the creation of modern written folklore which will provide the opportunity to reach a DOK 4.