LESSON PLAN

DATE: November 1, 2012. TIME OF DAY: Morning DURATION: 110 minutes split into two periods (used to commence a unit)

SCHOOL: Orchard Elementary School CYCLE and GRADE: Cycle 2 Year 1 LESSON: The Art of Storytelling

FOCUS of LESSON: In this lesson, students will produce and present their very own story. Such a story will contain all important elements which have been learned in previous lessons. Through this, students will begin to comprehend the importance of storytelling and apply what was learned to future writings and presentations.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this Language Arts lesson is for the students to begin to comprehend that storytelling is an ancient and valuable art that extends around the globe. Through this lesson, students will also begin to see the relevance storytelling has in society today. Commencing with this lesson, students will be sent on a mission to develop their own storytelling talents, apply learned techniques of storytelling and finally perform a story for an audience.

MATERIALS

A SmartBoard Story Mapping worksheets Story handouts Techniques Tone/voice Introduction Setting Plot Characters Conflict Climax Resolution ______________________________________________________

VOCABULARY

MELS COMPETENCIES

Competency #1: To read and listen to literary, popular and informationbased texts. To construct her/his own view of the world through reading and listening to literary, popular and information-based texts Competency #2: To write self-expressive, narrative and information-based texts. To use writing as a system for communicating and constructing meaning Competency #3: To represent her/her literacy in different media. To follow a production process in order to communicate for specific purposes to a specified audience

Competency #4: To use language to communicate and learn. To interact in collaborative group activities in a variety of role ________________________________________________ CROSSCURRICULAR COMPENTENCIES Competency #1: To use information. To put information to use. To imagine possible uses. To formulate questions. To answer his/her questions using the information

TIME

LESSON Introduction To begin, I will explain that we will be discussing the art of storytelling and the importance of storytelling to the world. o In order to spark the students interest I will ask them probing questions such as: Where did storytelling originate? What are the benefits of storytelling? o Following this, I will give a brief history of storytelling in order to have students understand its importance, binding the students answers to the facts. Next, I will ask the students to gather around me as I tell a story. o They will be told to not only pay close attention to the story itself, but to the storyteller (myself) and how she is telling it.

10 minutes

15 minute

Development 15 minutes Afterwards, I will explain that although I am not a titled professional storyteller, I am able to tell a story in a compelling and captivating way (I hope!) and soon they will too. I will then ask the following while compiling a concept map: o What are the elements of a story? o Describe the layout of a story? I will go on to ask: o What are some key features to a well-told story? o How are some ways a storyteller can prepare for an audience? o How can a storyteller improve upon his storytelling abilities? I will have the students make connections between the importance of what is being told and how it is being told. Next, I will place students in groups with two story choices. The group must decide on one to work on and map out the story using the given worksheets. After completion, they will take turns attempting to retell the story using only their story maps. o After each attempt at retelling the story, they will critique the mapping done and add what the feel is necessary and take away what is not.

40 minutes

30 minutes

Closure After several attempts at perfecting the mapping choices, the groups will present their stories and explain how it was mapped out and what they felt was key about the way they told it. o The class will work together and give tips on how to improve and use different strategies in storytelling.

TIME

LESSON Whats next? (Extension) The continuation of this activity will be to further explain mapping and to have students use different types of mapping, such as pictograms. Following this, students will practice individual stories in groups using only the maps while giving each other constructive criticism, in order to eventually act as a storyteller to an audience. After all of this, students will be equipped to build their own stories and repeat the process with their own literary works of art!

Adaptations As the development of this lesson involves students working in groups and therefore allows students to build off of each others strengths. As far as students with a difficulty reading or writing, as students are placed in groups, they may aid each other with vocabulary. Also, students will soon be learning about story mapping through pictograms, but for the time being students can decide to draw key points of the story in order to recall pertinent information.

Storytelling Presentation
Youve got it (4) Voice You were easily heard all of the time. You kept a strong, effective tone throughout your story. You have effective pacing and breathing breaks throughout; there was a Almost there (3) You were easily heard most of the time. You kept a strong, effective tone throughout most of your story. You have effective pacing and breathing breaks for the most part; there was a good Getting close (2) You were easily heard some of the time. You kept a somewhat strong, effective tone throughout. You have a somewhat effective pacing and breathing breaks; there was a beginning Take another look (1) You were not easily heard. You did not keep a strong, effective tone throughout.

Pace

You do not have effective pacing and breathing breaks throughout; there was a beginning and end, but they were

Body Language

strong beginning and end. You move your body and hands to improve the telling of the story throughout. You make eye contact with the audience throughout; you hold their attention and only concentrate on them.

beginning and end. You move your body and hands to improve the telling of the story most of the time. You make eye contact with the audience most of the time; you hold their attention and concentrate on them.

and end. You move your body and hands to improve the telling of the story sometimes. You make eye contact with the audience some of the time; you hold their attention and concentrate on them at times.

difficult to follow. You do not move your body and hands to improve the telling of the story or you moved them in a distracting manner. You do not make eye contact with the audience; you do not concentrate on your audience enough.

Audience Engagement