ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS RESOURCES

LOCAL COLOR

Planning Points

Approximate Time Needed: 90 minutes
Correlation to English I SCS 1.02, 4.01, 4.02, 5.01, 6.01
Correlation to NC High School Exit Exam Competencies: C2, C3, C6, PI9, PI11, PI13

Lesson Objectives:

Students will learn characteristics of local color fiction and be able to identify them in a short story. Students will also analyze impact of regions on literature.

Materials Needed:

Collection of short stories reflective of local color fiction

Description

• Have students freewrite about the following topic: How do you speak differently to your friends? Family (including older relatives such as grandparents)? Teachers? Others? Why do you select the language that you do for each group? OR Read a short selection that in which the author uses dialect to help define character. Have students freewrite about what the characters' language reveal about them. Discuss impressions and stereotypes, being considerate of students' comfort level with such discussions.
• If students are unfamiliar with reading dialect, model reading another short passage which uses dialect, demonstrating how to sound out the unfamiliar spellings. Discuss with students why an author might choose to write in dialect, even though it may make the reading more difficult.
• Discuss the characteristics of local color fiction, including setting, theme, character, and dialect.
• Assign student groups to read different short stories, representing regions. Some stories that work well are "Outcasts of Poker Flat" (Bret Harte - West), "Under the Lion's Paw" (Hamlin Garland - Mid-West), "A White Heron" (Sarah Orne Jewett - Northeast), "The Bouquet," Charles Chesnutt (South) and "Little Miss Sophie" or "Odalie" (Alice Dunbar-Nelson - South).
• Students should read stories aloud in their groups, working through any language difficulties together. After discussing impressions of the characters and themes in the stories, students should identify the characteristics of local color in the story, being sure to provide textual support for each point. (A 3 column chart - with characteristic, explanation and textual support as the headings - works well for this.)
• Student groups share their impressions and information with the class.
• Discuss with students how they would characterize the modern South (or their local region). Which aspects could/would they represent in a short story for the general population? Why?

Assessment:

This activity can be informally assessed by the group reports to the class as well as their on-task behavior during the discussions (both whole class and small group). Additional assessment could be open-ended or multiple choice questions on unit test.

Additional Notes:

• For more information about authors and characteristics of local color, visit http://www.gonzaga.edu/faculty/campbell/eni311/color.html. In addition to background information, this site includes brief critical commentary about the influence of romanticism and realism on local color fiction and about the importance of local color fiction in the post-civil war nation. These ideas which could lead to rich discussion or debate, depending on students' knowledge of American literature and history at the time of this unit.
• Depending on time, student groups could read additional stories from the assigned region to be able to draw more valid conclusions about the characteristics.
• Follow-up activities could also include students writing their own "local color" stories to reflect their region(s), cultures or sub-cultures. In writing the story, students should consider the use of language appropriate to their purpose, audience, and context.

Teacher's Notes:

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