I collected and planned to use more than five resources during this unit. I explained some of their uses in the descriptions on my calendar pages. I will reiterate those here though. I planned the lesson to being on November 17.
For day one of the Unit I planned to have the students explore stories and elements of a story. We will begin by using this interactive website "http://www.learner.org/interactives/story/" to discuss the elements of a story based on the story of Cinderella. This website allows the students to interactively click through the story of Cinderella and make notes about the parts of the story. For each element of the story the students are "quizzed" on the parts and asked to select the correct parts. For example, the student is asked to select from a large group of characters which characters were in the story of Cinderella. Once they have finished their selections, they are told if they chose correctly or not.
After, we will discuss and possibly re-read some common stories (other fairy tales and stories we have been reading in class). When finished reading the stories we will analyze them and make note of each important part or element of the story. We will use this website: "http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/gen_act/pigs/story_mp.html" to help the students break down the story into the important parts. This is a link to an image of a worksheet called a story map. This can be printed out or the students can simply use the outlines and create their own version of the story map. This map allows the students to collect their information in a cohesive manner and visibly see which areas might need more work. For today's work they will be taking the stories we discussed and analyzing it to find each of the parts.
On day 2 of our unit, our class will write stories of our own creation. The students will be in 4 groups and create 4 individual stories. The groups will have to work together to create their stories. I will allow them to start from where ever they would like but I will suggest that they begin by brainstorming basic ideas for stories that they would like to write. They will again be given a blank story map but will be working in a different direction than they did yesterday. Today they will be starting their stories by filling out the map rather than analyzing an already written story.
To help us further develop the elements of our stories and characters, we will use this website "http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/engramja/elements.html" and this one "http://msansbach.edublogs.org/the-study-of-english/8-elements-of-character/". The first site will help the students by providing them with detailed descriptions and things to think about when working with each of their story elements. It gives the students a more concrete definition of the elements beyond the brainstorming and labeling that they did yesterday.
The second site will help the students to develop their characters in a fuller more rounder manner. By working with characterizations the students will be able to create a stronger story and ultimately a stronger script and performance. The site is actually a blog that asks a lot of questions that will help the students think through their process. At the end of the blog, the students are able to reply to the posting but I doubt the students will find the desire to do this.
On Day 3 of the unit, each group will present a dramatic reading of their story. I could not find a useful site to help the students with this aspect of the unit. However, using my experiences I will help the students work on voice projection, posture, and when and where to use emphasis when reading. I will also have the students provide suggestions for each other.
Also on this day, after their dramatic readings, each group will transform their stories into scripted pieces that they will perform. They will continue to work on the development of their stories and think about the structure of their scripted play using this website: "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dramatic_structure". This wiki site will help the students to see the parts of a play and think about how these might be similar and different to the parts of their stories. They will be able to use the information to determine if the order of the action in their story fits within the dramatic structure.
The students will also use this site: "http://homeworktips.about.com/od/homeworktopics/a/play.htm" This site depicts the parts of a script and a story and puts it into more kid-friendly terms. It also make emphasis on dialogue and how it can help tell a story much better. This site helps to define the difference between storyline and plotline using the basis of causality.
On Day 4 of this unit, the students will continue to edit their scripts and start rehearsing them. The groups will be given the option of performing through puppets and will be provided supplies and help to create these puppets. Some websites that we will use include:
All of the students will work on expressionism through characterization. We will use these sites to help us with our work: http://www.dotolearn.com/games/facialexpressions/face.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emotions. The first site is an interactive site on which the students can create animated characters to view various expressions and emotions. The students will be asked to then recreate these expressions on their own faces and view them using mirrors. The students will be asked to think about what their character will look like at different parts of their script. The second site provides a list of emotions. The students will be asked to incorporate a variety of emotions into their characters. The students will be able to use the two site collaboratively to make a visual representation of an emotion.
On this last day of our unit the groups will perform their pieces and will provide feedback for all of their classmates. Collaboratively the entire class will create a feedback form that will be used by all of the students to give a base analysis of the performance. They will each be asked to fill out a storymap for their classmates' performances to see if what the group performing read well or not. The students will be asked to think about all of the things that went into the creation of this performance to help provide the most in-depth feedback. To assist in the productivity and sensitivity involved with providing feedback we will use the following sites: http://home.earthlink.net/~hopefull/i-statem.htm and http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle/id-622.html. The first site describes the "I" statement philosophy and how to use these statements. The students in my class should already be familiar with this form of feedback and use of the "I" statements in conflict resolution, but this site can serve as a reminder and as additional proof that others use the same approach. The second site is a "for dummies" approach to giving constructive feedback. Although I do not want my students to feel that I think they are dummies, the site provides a simple approach to giving feedback. With the popularity of these types of books and instructional methods, I believe that a disclaimer statement by myself before sending the students to this site will counteract any negative feelings about the use of this site.
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