ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS RESOURCES

THE REST OF THE STORY

Planning Points

Approximate Time Needed: 1 day (block schedule)
Correlation to English I SCS 1.02, 2.02, 2.03, 5.02, 6.01
Correlation to NC High School Exit Exam Competencies: C-3, C-4, C-5, PI-11

Lesson Objectives:

Students will further their understanding of storytelling and the oral tradition. Students will demonstrate an understanding of characterization, point of view, and voice and their impact on plot.

Materials Needed:

A text with a time lapse or missing parts (Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales are good examples); a chalkboard or overhead

Description:

• This activity should take place after the text has been read and analyzed. Oral tradition, characterization, point of view, and voice should be reviewed.
• As a group, students should brainstorm about the components necessary to continuing the story. For example, if using Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxon ideals and Beowulf's battles with Grendel and his mother and with the dragon should be reviewed. Parameters should be listed on the board or overhead for easy reference.
• Students should sit in a circle and begin their own addition to the story. Each student should contribute a line of two and then pass to the next person.
• As they listen, students should stop and correct each other if there are inconsistencies in the action or if any of the listed constraints are violated.
• Once the story has been told, the last student in responsible for creating a segue back into the existing literary work.
• After the exercise, students should write a journal entry describing how the activity has changed their understanding of storytelling and its conventions.

Assessment:

Informal assessment of student participation and understanding should go on throughout the lesson. Students might also receive extra points for detecting inconsistencies in the storytelling.

Additional Notes:

There are several options for adapting this lesson. Having the students pass a beanbag or some other object as they take turns talking might be helpful. Taping the story and playing it back for the students to critique would offer higher order thinking practice and would make a good writing assignment. For classes with behavior problems, the activity could be done as a writing assignment, but it would lose its link to the oral tradition.

Teacher's Notes:

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