Tag Archives: Literacy

Literacy elated activities

Reflections on Residential School Creative Response

Speaker’s biographical notes: 

Meeka Noelle Morgan, M.A., identifies with her Secwepemc and Nu-Chah-Nuulth heritage, and now resides in Secwepemc territory in the southern interior of BC.  Both of her parents were sent to residential schools, but this was never spoken of openly in her home.  Throughout her years at public school, she felt that the knowledge and history of her people was not acknowledged or explored adequately or in a meaningful way, which contributed to her feeling very invisible in the scheme of things.

Meeka studied the perspective of her parents’ generation on the impacts on families during the 1950’s and 60’s.  She wanted to explore how the people in her community maintained their sense of family during this time, especially with the onslaught of residential school. Community and family members told their memories of family life before, during, and after residential school, and reflected on those impacts.  Meeka wanted to keep the spirit of each person telling the story in the heart of her research, so she created a verbatim poetic narrative out of each interview, capturing the unique voice and imagery of each storyteller.

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

  • organize details and information about material they have read, heard, or viewed using a variety of written or graphic forms.
  • identify and explain connections between what they read, hear, and view and their personal ideas and beliefs.
  • use information that they have read, heard, or viewed to develop creative works as response activities.

Steps to the Lesson

  1. Conduct a discussion on values and complete a Values Inventory.
  2. Complete a K-W-L strategy on residential schools.
  3. Watch a video narrative on residential schools.
  4. Write a poem reflecting on the residential school experience or student values.
  5. Reflect on the process.

CONNECT

Goals:

Students will

  • identify their own values.
  • view/listen to a video about one person’s childhood values and the impact of residential. school on those values.
  • interview each other.
  • create a poem about their partner’s values to share with the class.

Task:

Students will identify the impact of the residential school system on a family’s traditional values and create a poetic response by focusing on their own values.

Activate Prior Knowledge:

  1. Define values (beliefs of a person or social group in which they have an emotional investment).  As a class, brainstorm examples.  Use the following questions to guide discussion:
  • How do you know the difference between right and wrong?
  • What is important to you?
  • Do different people have different ideas about what a ‘good’ person is?
  • What does your family teach you about right and wrong?
  • What things are important to your family?
  • How does your family define a ‘good’ person?
  • Do different families have different ideas about what a ‘good’ person is?
  • Will your children have the same values as you do?
  • Could anyone make you change these values?
  • What are some ways people could take these values away from you or your children?
  • Option:  use the Values Inventory attached.  Once students complete the values inventory, they meet with an A/B partner to compare their responses. 
  1. Using a K-W-L strategy sheet, ask students to identify what they already know about the residential schools in Canada and the experience of aboriginal people in them.

Predict and Question:

Tell students that they will watch a video clip of a woman who wrote a poem about the way one of her community member’s values changed after going to residential school. Ask the students to predict ways that the person’s values were affected by the experience of residential school. What are they wondering about?

PROCESS

Video

Students will listen/watch the clip and use a Placemat strategy to aid comprehension. In small groups, the students create a common response to the video, recording words or images that they find significant.  The teacher pauses the video at two key spots to allow students time for this process.

Videos

Reflections on Residential School

Click above to view video in Mac OSX (Quicktime)
(Video Length: 9 mins)
Click Here to Read Transcript

First, stop the video just after the speaker talks about restaurants and then talks about the way the grandparents were teachers:  “my grandmother / clothed me / taught me the language / in my early life / teachers.” Allow students time to respond to what they have heard so far. Then, tell the students to resume sketching while they listen to Part Two.

Continue the video until the majority of the material about the residential school experience has played.  The speaker talks about them being hungry and says, “after supper / we would run through those fields / pick whatever we could get stash them / in our shirt / make cache pits / for later.” Pause the video and repeat the above process.

Continue the video until the end of the poem, and allow students time to finish their placemat.  Conduct a gallery walk so that students can see all the placemats that were created.

In A/B partners, students will compare the similarities and differences in the values described before residential school/during residential school and after the experience, using a Venn Diagram worksheet.  Finally, students return to their K-W-L sheet, identifying what they learned about residential schools during this activity.

TRANSFORM

Option A:  Students prepare a poem in response to the experience of listening to the narrative about residential school.  This can be a free verse poem, expressing their emotions as they listened to the video.  A sample poem, created by Meeka Morgan, represents her response to the difficulty for the people being interviewed, and is included.

Videos

Reflections on Residential School

Click above to view video in Mac OSX (Quicktime)
(Video Length: 1 min)

Click Here to Read Transcript

Option B:  With the same or a different partner, students interview each other about their personal values.  This activity asks them to return to an individual examination of values with a heightened awareness and broader understanding of their own values and the way they are influenced by society.

Students may either develop a list of questions to ask each other, or you may choose to use the initial brainstorming questions above.  In either case, A/B partners ask each other questions, taking notes of their partner’s responses. The students will now have a greater sense of self when responding to the questions, and greater depth and an enhanced understanding should be evident in their responses.

Finally, each student creates a “Found” poem based on the interview.  Note:  they are not using their own material:  they are using their partner’s responses. Students create a poem (you may choose to require a minimum number of lines), choosing words and phrases from their interview notes that express the underlying values of their partner and the themes he/she revealed in the interview.

Students may have poetry readings in small groups or as a whole class.  See a possible assessment rubric at the end of the lesson.

 

REFLECT

Students write a reflection about what they felt they did well in this activity and what they found difficult.  They could also respond as to whether or not they feel their partner captured the essence of their interview in their found poem.

 

Extend learning or next lesson

  1. Use the video as part of a larger unit on residential schools in Canada.
  2. Use the lesson as part of a study of My Name is Sepeetza, by Shirley Sterling. \
  3. Students interview a family member or an elder in their community about how their childhood influenced their values, and whether or not those values changed over time.  First, discuss what types of questions Meeka Morgan would have asked the people she was interviewing.  Develop a list of questions together for the students to ask their guest.  If possible, have the students take a photograph of the family member or elder to include when presenting the result of their interview (which could be in the form of an oral presentation or a short written report – if the written report is chosen, be sure to provide a copy to the person interviewed).  This lesson is adapted from the assignment “Interview an Elder” in the above-mentioned novel study.

Analyzing and Understanding Creation Stories

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

Learning Outcomes

Students will demonstrate an understanding of the main ideas, events, or themes of a variety of novels, stories, poetry, other print material, and electronic media.

Students will locate and interpret details in stories, articles, novels, poetry, or non-print media to respond to a range of tasks.

Steps to the Lesson

  1. Discuss the significance of creation stories in various cultures.
  2. Listen/Read/View four different creation stories.
  3. Compare the characteristics of four creation stories using a Placemat activity.
  4. Create a Fishbone Diagram to sort and organize the characteristics of Creation Stories.
  5. Reflect on the process.

CONNECT

Goals:

Students will:

  • listen to a Cowichan, Ktunaxa and Sinixt creation story.
  • view a Coast Salish creation story.
  • analyze four traditional creation stories; identifying the underlying themes and characteristics contained in the stories.

Tasks:

Students will create a Fishbone graphic organizer to demonstrate their understanding of creation stories.

Activate Prior Knowledge:

Creation stories are an important way of obtaining information regarding people’s beliefs about how the world originated. However, obtaining the information is not always easy as the creators of the myths or legends did not always write in simple terms. The stories were often written in a way that encoded the information that one was seeking regarding the origin of a particular culture. Thus, creation stories are very common throughout most global societies and cultures.

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

Predict and Question:

As mentioned, creation stories were very important in global cultures as they attempted to explain how the world was created. Some questions the teacher should ask the students to consider include:

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

PROCESS

Audio/Video

Students will now listen to and view three different creation stories; identifying and comparing their characteristics. Using a Graphic Organizer, students should consider the following elements of the stories while listening and viewing:

  • What is the story’s main topic?
    For example:

    • Creation of the world.
    • How humans, animals, and plants came to be.
    • Moral lessons to be learned.
  • Who are the main characters in the story?
    • What are they accomplishing?
  • What is the sequence of story events?

(Note: Students should use one Graphic Organizer per story. However, if students use small print, one sheet could be used for all three stories.)

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

Using their completed Graphic Organizers for reference, students move into groups of three or four and complete a Placemat Activity (click link to view the procedure of a Placemat Activity) to record their observations on the creation stories they have just listened to or viewed. Once students have recorded their observations on their placemat, student groups discuss and highlight what they feel are the most important ideas/elements they have discovered about creation stories and what make them unique. Students then write these key ideas/elements in the center of their placemat.

Once the Placemat Activity is complete, student groups then create a Fishbone Diagram (click link to view the procedure of a Fishbone Diagram ) to demonstrate their understanding of the key elements of creation stories; providing evidence from the specific creation stories.

REFLECT

Students reflect on the creation stories they have seen/heard and, using the back of their Graphic Organizer sheets, consider the following questions:

  • What was my favourite of the three creation stories? Why?
  • What audio/visual format do I prefer with stories? (ie. listening or viewing) Why?

Extend learning or next lesson

Using the Fishbone Organizers as a framework for building story structure, students write their own creation story and, when completed, share their written creations with the class.

Poetry Lessons

The resources on this page support the following poems.
Lessons
“And My Heart Soars” – Chief Dan George
“If….This is the World” Philip Kevin Paul
“When the Mask Opens” Philip Kevin Paul
Additional Poetry Lessons 
Free Verse Poetry Writing

And My Heart SoarsActivate Prior Knowledge
Question using Georgia Heard’s “Poet’s Toolbox”
Circle of Courage“Circle of Courage” (Dr. Martin Brokenleg , Larry Brendtro, Steve van Bockern)
cloze-PoemCloze Poem Activity And My Heart SoarsMy Heart Soars
student workExamples and Pictures of student work Circle of courageCircle of courage
If this is the WorldThis is the world Assesment CriteriaCriteria for Assessment and Evaluation
When the Mask Opens
When the Mask Opens
When the Mask Opens Activity When the Mask Opens Activity
When the Mask Opens examples
When the Mask Opens Students Work

Lessons
“And My Heart Soars” – Chief Dan George
“If….This is the World” Philip Kevin Paul
“When the Mask Opens” Philip Kevin Paul

 

 

Lesson One Witten Response

Environmental Stewardship

Teacher Note: Depending on the length of class time available, this lesson may take 2-3 sessions to complete.

Learning Outcome

Students evaluate the human impacts on local ecosystems.

Steps to the Lesson

  1. Listen to an audio recording of a speech by Chief Seattle.
  2. Discuss main ideas of the speech with a class brainstorm.
  3. Preview a list of phrases from a video presentation.
  4. Watch a video on Salmon Stewardship in the Fraser River.
  5. Research articles and conduct a Jigsaw Instructional Activity.
  6. Complete a Thinking Yes/Thinking No activity on an issue concerning the Fraser River.
  7. Create a piece of written text about the importance of taking care of the environment.
  8. Reflect on new understanding.

CONNECT

Goal

Students will gain an understanding of stewardship through an Aboriginal World View.

Task

Students will write a piece of written text (journal reflection, letter, poem, speech) which sends a message to others about the importance of taking care of our environment.

Activate Prior Knowledge:

Part One

In 1854, Chief Seattle, a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish First Nations in Washington State, gave a speech at a large outdoor gathering in Seattle. There have been many versions re-written of the speech since then (by other authors) but the speech has been widely cited as ‘a powerful, bittersweet plea for respect of Native American rights and environmental values.’

(Historylink.org)

For more information on Chief Seattle’s speech, please visit the HistoryLink.org website.

Students listen to the following audio recording of Chief Seattle’s speech. Credits for this recording are as follows:

Reader: Lekeyten (Kwantlen First Nation)

Kwantlen Song: Lekeyten, Cheryl and Brandon Gabriel (accompanied by Bryan Nelson)

– Used with permission from Susan Jeffers (Brother Eagle, Sister Sky) –

Note: This audio recording is used with permission from the Kwantlen Nation and is to be used solely for the purpose of the Aboriginal Curriculum Integration Project.

While listening to the audio recording, students track their thinking and highlight five key points from the speech using a What’s Important and Why sheet. Questions students should consider include: What is Chief Seattle’s message? What were his concerns?

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

Environmental Stewardship Seatle Speach 1

(Story Length: 10 mins)

Click here to Read Transcript

Once the audio recording has been played through and students have completed their What’s Important and Why sheets, students compare their thoughts in A/B partners and then report to the whole class. Teachers can then highlight key class ideas and themes with a brainstorm on the board.

Part Two

Students will now watch a video presented by Lekeyten of the Kwantlen First Nation.

Teachers distribute a list of phrases from Lekeyten’s presentation. In A/B partners or small groups, students read the phrases and share their predictions about what themes will be presented in the video.

Predict and Question:

Ask the students what questions they may have about environmental stewardship and the stewardship of salmon species. What are they wondering about?

PROCESS

Video

Distribute a second What’s Important and Why sheet for the students to track their thinking and identify five important facts from the following video on salmon stewardship.

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

Environmental Stewardship Video

Click above to view video 

 

Break students into groups of five. Teachers print out and distribute information from the following links.

Fish in a Ditch

Threats Facing the Fraser River

BC’s Miracle of the Fishes

TBuck Suzuki Environmental Foundation Brochure (Part One)

TBuck Suzuki Environmental Foundation Brochure (Part Two)

Give each group one article and do a Jigsaw activity. For information on how to do the jigsaw strategy visit the following link:

Jigsaw Instructional Strategy

Once students have completed the Jigsaw strategy, using the new information they have just learned, they complete a Thinking Yes/Thinking No sheet considering the question “Are human actions solely to blame for disappearance of Fraser River salmon?”. Students should write information showing both sides of the question on their Thinking Yes/Thinking No sheet.

TRANSFORM

Chief Seattle had a great deal of insight into the problems and challenges that were to come in the future. Review the text of Chief Seattle’s speech and consider some of the main ideas that Chief Seattle shared in his speech. For example, consider the following ideas from the text:

– What ever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth.

– This we know. The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth.

We did not weave the web of life, we are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the earth we do to ourselves.

Taking the text of Chief Seattle’s speech and Lekeyten’s words into account, students now create an original written piece of text that sends a message to others about the importance of taking care of our environment. The written text may consist of the following:

  • Journal Reflection
  • Letter to a local newspaper
  • Speech to be presented in front of the class or school assembly
  • Poem (Free verse or rhyming stanzas)

REFLECT

On the back of their ‘What’s Important and Why’ sheets, in a journal, or on a separate piece of paper, students write a reflection on how their attitude towards salmon stewardship and environmental stewardship has changed. What ideas presented in the audio and video recordings impacted their thinking the most?

Extend learning or next lesson

Invite visitors from local environmental groups to discuss human impacts on local lakes, rivers, and tributaries. If this isn’t possible, students locate and present articles that demonstrate local, regional, or national initiatives which help the environment.

Lesson 1 Writing & Reflecting

Relating the Historic Canadian Fur Trade in the

Global Economy

Learning Outcome

Students will assess the impact of the fur trade on exploration and settlement.

Steps to the Lesson

  1. Conduct a Jigsaw Activity with four articles on the fur trade.
  2. Watch a video on the impact the beaver had on the development of Canada.
  3. Complete a Four Quad graphic organizer while viewing the video.
  4. Play a ‘Chocolate Game’ to develop understanding of modern trade practices.
  5. Write a reflection on the Fur Trade and modern trade practices.
  6. Reflect on the process.

CONNECT

Goals:

Students will be able to:

  • identify the main factors leading to the development of the North American fur trade.
  • relate the elements of the North American Fur Trade to the modern global trade economy.

Task:

Students play “The Chocolate Game”, a game which hilights the disparities in world trade, and write a reflection on the process.

Activate Prior Knowledge:

Students conduct a Jigsaw Activity on the following four articles:

  1. For Want of a Hat
  2. The Fur Trade in North America
  3. The Role of Mercantilism in Colonialism
  4. A Savage Commerce

For information on how to do a jigsaw activity, please visit the following link:

Jigsaw Instructional Strategy

Once the students have reported back to their ‘home’ groups in the Jigsaw activity, students record their thoughts for each article on a What’s Important and Why sheet.

Predict and Question:

The students will now watch a video on how the beaver impacted the development of Canada from a Métis perspective. Have students make predictions about the video based on the articles they have read. What are they wondering about? What questions do they have?

PROCESS

Reminder: It is important to stop throughout the video and give students (A/B partners) opportunity to talk or respond to the information. Students can track ideas on a Four Quad note sheet during the video.

Videos
(Video Length: 3 mins)

 

The Hudson’s Bay Company was one of the world’s first multinational companies that extracted resources from a foreign land and turned those resources into high profit status goods for sale in their home country. There are many modern examples of multinational corporations which continue the practice of resource extraction in foreign countries and converting those resources into high profit status goods in their domestic economies. Teacher brainstorms on the board examples of modern multinational corporations (ie. Nike, The Gap) and the products they create.

For further understanding of how wealth is distributed from countries supplying resources to multinational corporations, students play ‘The Chocolate Game’ located at the People and Planet.org website.

TRANSFORM

Students write to explain their thoughts and opinions on the Fur Trade, the Hudson’s Bay Company, and the practice of multinational corporations in the 21st century. The length of this writing piece can be determined the teacher (ie. essay, paragraph) but the intention is for individual accountability.

REFLECT

On the back of their What’s Important and Why sheet, students write two things they now know about the Fur Trade that you didn’t know before. Students then write one question they still have about the topic.

Extend learning or next lesson

Students research more information on multinationalism and world poverty. Some websites include:

People and Planet

YouThink

Global Exchange

Lesson 1 Writing and Representing Labelling and Stereotyping

 

Writing and Representing

Labelling and Stereotyping

Learning Outcome

Students use writing and representing to critique, express personal responses and relevant opinions, and respond to experiences and texts.

Steps to the Lesson

  1. Introduce a graphic organizer (Four Quad).
  2. Record and discuss key vocabulary on the graphic organizer.
  3. Create a web identifying examples of teenage labelling.
  4. View a on video on Labelling.
  5. Create a written piece.

CONNECT

Goal

Students will use writing and representing to extend their thinking by exploring new ideas

(e.g. making generalizations, speculating about alternative viewpoints)

Task

Students will create a written response (journal reflection, poem, or song) to express their personal opinions about labelling/stereotyping.

Activate Prior Knowledge:

Distribute Four Quad graphic organizer.

Discuss the following key vocabulary: Aboriginal, politically correct, exotic, ‘Garden of Eden’, caribbean, ‘Los in Dios’, Indian, Hindu, Hindustan.(Definitions) Students record the vocabulary in the first quadrant of their graphic organizer.

Predict and Question:

Teachers ask students to identify what other stereotypes exist in society (for examples, view the following link on Media Stereotyping) and in schools. Brainstorm ideas on the board. Ask students to think about their own personal label – what group do they identify with?

Using A/B partners to share their thinking, students create their own web on teenage labelling in quadrant two of their graphic organizer.

PROCESS

Video

Students view the following video Labelled and track their thinking in the third quadrant of their graphic organizer. They should record key words, phrases, and interesting ideas.

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

 

TRANSFORM

Students respond to the class discussion and video by writing either a journal reflection, narrative story, non-fiction work, poem, or song that focuses on the issue of Labelled. The Four Quad graphic organizer can be used as a source for writing ideas.

REFLECT

Students write on the back of their graphic organizer one new idea they learned about themselves, one new idea they learned about another person in class, and their own definition about labelling.

Extend learning or next lesson

Interview people from other cultural backgrounds and learn about their experiences with labelling and stereotyping.

Lesson 1 Evaluating the Impact of Human Induced Changes on Communities

Socials

Teacher Note: Depending on the length of class time available, this lesson may take 2-3 sessions to complete.

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

  • construct, interpret and use graphs, tables, scales, legends, and various types of maps
  • locate and describe current and historical events
  • analyse ways that people’s interactions with their physical environments change over time
  • evaluate the impact of natural processes and human-induced changes on communities

Steps to the Lesson

  1. Conduct a Horseshoe Debate.
  2. Discuss key vocabulary and distribute research organizer.
  3. Look at maps of region pre/post Bennett Dam construction.
  4. Make a T-Chart comparing the before and after effects of the Bennett Dam construction.
  5. Examine articles regarding the construction of the Bennett Dam.
  6. Watch a video from Fort Ware, B.C..
  7. Complete a Graphic Organizer while viewing the video.
  8. Complete a mind map (see Demonstrate Understanding).
  9. Conduct a second Horseshoe debate.
  10. Write journal reflections on new ideas and thinking.

CONNECT

Goals:

  • The students will interpret a variety of geographic text to identify environmental change over time.
  • The students will analyze and evaluate the impact of human-induced change on a community and on its surrounding environment

Task:

Students will create a mind map demonstrating the connections between the Bennett Dam and effects on Fort Ware, the citizens of BC, alternate resources, and the environment.

Activate Prior Knowledge:

Conduct a horseshoe debate about “Do you feel humans have the right to adapt the environment to meet their basic needs”. Please see link on Horseshoe Debate to view instructions.

Key vocabulary to discuss: Boreal, clearcut, old growth, ecosystem, global warming, stewardship, indigenous, reservoir, consultation, Serengeti, natural resource, ice age, woodland caribou, profit, hydroelectric, Aboriginal (Definitions)

Predict: Teacher asks the students to predict the significant changes to the northern landscape over the last fifty years. (A/B partner talk suggested) Students use T-Chart to track their thinking.

Question: Teachers distribute maps of the Williston Lake Region to the students. Ask students what significant changes they notice in the three map samples. (Teacher note: Students could continue to work in A/B partners or combine into groups of three/four to analyze maps.) Students can record their map observations in the top section of the Graphic Organizer.

PROCESS

Distribute articles on the Bennett Dam construction:

Bennett Dam Vistors Centre Information

The Dynamo that Started it All

W.A.C. Bennett Dam

The Bennett Dam

Click to view historical Photos of the Bennett Dam construction

In groups of three/four, groups choose one article to read and discuss. Brainstorm on the board the key features of the Bennett Dam (ie. size, location, type of dam etc.). All groups need to share their key ideas.

Video: Students watch the following video and track their thinking using the Graphic Organizer.

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

TRANSFORM

Students create a mind map demonstrating the connections between the Bennett Dam and effects on Fort Ware, the citizens of BC, local geography, BC Hydro, and the environment (wildlife, natural resources).

REFLECT

Conduct a horseshoe debate for a second time using the same topic “Do you feel humans have the right to adapt the environment to meet their basic needs.” Students will be able to make a more informed decision based on the new information they have learned.

Students complete a journal activity to explain their new ideas and thinking. Encourage students to discuss the new ideas they have learned and whether mind mapping supports their learning style.

Extend learning or next lesson

  • Conduct a structured debate on the issue of human induced changes to the environment.
  • Write a letter to a local newspaper on the issue of hydroelectric dams.
  • Write a letter to persuade a local politician for or against a new dam in the area.
  • View a BC Hydro web page promoting the Peace River Site C Hydro Project.
  • Read a newspaper regarding the proposed building of the Peace River Site C Hydro Project.

Lesson 1 Reading and Viewing

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

  • read stories from various world cultures; demonstrating reading fluency and comprehension.
  • improve and extend thinking by analyzing texts, develop explanations, and compare viewpoints

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. Read two to three different world myths and legends and analyze their different elements.
  4. Compare and contrast the Beasts and Berries legend with another myth/legend.
  5. Reflect on the process.

CONNECT
Goal:
Students will read a legend of their choice and will compare and contrast that story with the Witsuwit’en Beasts and Berries legend.

Tasks:
Students will:

  • choose a legend from their school library.
  • read their chosen legend to either a partner, small group, or to the class.
  • give constuctive feedback to the story reader and make suggestions for improvement.
  • complete a compare and contrast template (provided).

Activate Prior Knowledge:

Legends are an important way of obtaining information regarding people’s beliefs about how they explain the spiritual and physical world around them. Legends can explain something in nature, teach a lesson, or entertain. They often have mythical creatures, heroes, and transformations of humans into animals etc.

Teachers conduct a class discussion and brainstorm on the board what myths and local legends the students are already familiar with (ie. Greek/Roman myths, local creation legends, 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?
  • What are the students wondering about legends?

PROCESS

Student watch a video of the Witsuwit’en legend title Beasts and Berries. Using a Story Grammar sheet, students identify the key plot elements, main characters, setting, and overall theme/moral of the Beasts and Berries story.

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

Students now read a variety of legends and myths from other world cultures and identify the plot elements, characters, and settings, and themes/morals of those stories. Students should read/view at least 2-3 different legends/myths to build a knowledge base of other myths and legends. Students may read independently or share a story in an A/B partner format – the main goal is for students to identify the plot elements, characters, settings, and theme of the stories. Students may use either a Story Grammar sheet or a Legends/Myths Four Quad organizer.

Sources for myths and legends include the following:

DVDs
Raven Tales episodes (the popular animated series on APTN – available in your local school district resource center)

Books
D’Aulaires Book of Greek Myths (D’Aulaire, I. (1962). New York: Doubleday)
D’Aulaires Book of Norse Myths (D’Aulaire, E.P. (2005). New York: Doubleday)

Websites

Once students have chosen their myths/legends to read, students will read one story (or portion of a story) to a partner, small group, or to the entire class. Listeners can give positive feedback to the reader and make suggestions for imrovement (ie. diction, projection of voice, vocal pace, etc).

TRANSFORM

Once the students have read their chosen myths and legends, they choose one story and compare its plot elements, characters, settings, and themes to those of the Beasts and BerriesWitsuwit’en legend. Students can create their own Venn Diagram or use a Venn Diagram template. Students then present their comparison to a small group or class and explain the relationship between the two stories.

REFLECT

On the back of their story grammar sheets, students reflect on the legends and myths they have heard, and write which stories they preferred the most and which stories they found less interesting; giving reasons for their choices. Also, students can reflect on how easy/difficult it was to identify the various elements of the stories.

Extend Learning or Next Lesson

Possible extensions for following lessons include:

  • Drawing illustrations of their favourite legend/myth.
  • Creating a book jacket for their legend.
  • Creating drama presentations in small groups to act out their favourite stories.

Beasts and Berries, The Story of Tasdliz Bin (Part 2)

Lesson 2 Writing and Representing

(Writing and Representing)

Beasts and Berries Story Grammar

Compare and Contrast Beast and BerriesTeacher 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.