(Writing and Representing)

Teacher Note

Beasts and Berries, The Story of Tasdliz Bin, is a local Witsuwit’en legend. The setting, characters, and plot are centred around a local landmark known as Lake Kathlyn.

Depending on the length of class time available, this lesson may take 3-4 sessions to complete.

In addition, before proceeding with this writing lesson, students should also have completed the Beasts and Berries, The Story of Tasdliz Bin (Part 1) to build a better understanding of legends and their story elements.

Learning Outcome

Students will generate imaginative writing featuring strategically developed ideas, sentence fluency, effective word choice, authentic voice, and effective story organization.

Steps to the Unit

1. Brainstorm the various myths and legends known by students.
2. Watch a Witsuwit’en legend titled Beasts and Berries.
3. Brainstrom criteria for students writing their own legends.
4. Students write a rough draft of their own personal legend.
5. Students edit their rough drafts.
6. Students complete a final draft of their personal legend.
7. Students present their legend to the class.
8. Reflect on the process.

CONNECT

Goal:

Students will write a legend based on a natural local landmark.

Tasks:

Students will:

• write a rough draft of their own personal legend.
• edit and proofread another student’s legend.
• write a final draft of their own personal legend.

Activate Prior Knowledge:

Legends are an important and effective way of obtaining information regarding people’s beliefs about how they explain the spiritual and physical world around them. Legends are told to entertain, explain something, or teach a lesson. Also, some legends belong to clans or families and can only be shared with permission from the owners.

Teachers conduct a class discussion and brainstorm on the board what local legends the students are already familiar with (ie. Local creation stories, Great Flood stories).

Predict and Question:

As mentioned, legends are very important in global cultures as people attempt to explain the world around them. Some questions the teacher should ask the students to consider include:

• Who were the stories told/written for?
• Thinking of the students’ local environments, what natural landforms would a local legend describe?
• What are the students wondering about legends?

PROCESS

Using the story grammar template provided, have students identify the elements of the Beasts and Berries story, as seen in the video link below. This same template may be used for students to organize their own story.

Note: If the students have already completed the previous lesson Beasts and Berries, The Story of Tadliz Bin (Part 1), students have the option of watching the video portion of this lesson again or moving onto the Transform section of the lesson.

Reminder: It is important to stop throughout the video and give students (A/B partners) opportunity to talk or respond to the video.

Note: A large amount of class/partner discussion time may be needed to provide the students with a starting point for their legends. Students will need a very clear picture of what local landmarks are prominent and worthy of a creation legend. In addition, students will also need a clear picture of what characters, setting, and problem to include in their story. Referring back to their story grammar sheet from Beasts and Berries: The Story of Tadliz Bin, will help them develop their ideas of what to include in their legends.

Secondly, teachers will need to conduct a class discussion of what criteria will be expected for the final written copies of the student legends. Teachers and students will need to define the expectations (ie. using a four point rubric scale) for story elements such as character development, setting, plot, grammar, and spelling etc.

TRANSFORM

Writing the Rough Draft

Using the another copy of the story grammar template provided, or a regular writing framework, students prepare a rough draft of a personal legend. Students may start this part of the writing process either individually, or in A/B partners. Possible formats for the rough drafts include:

• typed, printed copy using a word processing program.
• drama presentation
• radio play
• video presentation

Students will need to refer to the class generated criteria, while writing their rough drafts, to ensure they are including the required elements of local creation legend.

Once the students have begun their rough drafts, teacher may need to give the students at least 1-2 lessons to generate their story drafts.

Editing the Rough Draft

Using A/B partners, have students take turns going over their rough draft. During rough draft review, the students need to make sure that all story elements are present, as well as check for correct grammar and spelling. As mentioned previously, students need to refer

Writing the Final Draft

Students complete the final drafts of their legends. Possible formats include the following:

• typed, printed copy using a word processing program.
• drama presentation
• radio play
• video presentation

Once completed, students present their legends to the class.

REFLECT

On another sheet of paper, students reflect on their writing and consider the following questions:

• What parts of their writing are they most proud of? Why?
• What challenges did they find while writing their personal legends? Why?
• What elements of their writing could they improve?
• What student legends did they enjoy most?

Extend Learning or Next Lesson

There are many possibilities for students to extend their study of legends. Some activities could include:

• Illustrating their own legends.
• Studying more Aboriginal/world legends and comparing them with local legends.
• Interview a local author on their writing process.