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Lesson 8

We will finalize our original narratives and will present a dramatized version of the story to our peers.

Lesson Goals

Reading and Knowledge

  • Analyze Relationships: How well do I understand the relationships among cultures, personal experiences, and storytelling?
  • Evaluate Effects: How well do I understand the art of storytelling and the effects that narrative elements have in producing a good story?

Writing

  • Organize Ideas: How well do I establish a narrative context, structure, and voice in a short legendary story?
  • Use Language to Convey Meaning: How well do I use vivid, descriptive images and words to tell a legendary story in a dramatic way?

Texts

There are no texts for this Lesson.

Materials

Tools

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Write

We will revise our original narrative for organization and details.

Revision is the process of seeing your work with fresh eyes. Revision is a challenge for all writers—the art of making writing better is hard work that can feel messy at times.

Reread your draft original narrative, asking yourself the following questions:

  • Is my story organized in a way that my audience will be able to follow?

  • Does my story include vivid details and sensory language to develop the characters and plot?

  • Does my story include details that will engage my reader?

Use your reflections to make revisions to your story as needed.

Activity 2: Write

We will work with writing partners to edit our original narratives.

Review the Section 1 Diagnostic Checklist,paying particular attention to the expectation to “maintain consistent verb tense.”

Review as a class the conventions associated with time frames in a narrative and the use of past and present verb tenses. Consider examples from stories you have read and how authors either maintain a consistent time frame and verb tense throughout a story or intentionally shift tenses for effect.

Read through your draft narrative, highlighting, underlining, or circling all of the verbs you have used in your sentences.

With a writing partner, review all of your verbs and determine if they are in past or present tense. If you have shifted tenses, be sure that you have intentionally done this for effect.

If not, correct the tense of any verbs that are in a different time frame so that your narrative is consistent throughout.

Finalize your story so you are ready to share it with other students and your teacher.

Activity 3: Present

We will present our stories for a group of other students.

Join a small group of other students with whom you will present, share, and discuss your stories. Your groups might be organized by the type of stories you have chosen to retell or the cultures from which they come.

Determine an order for presenting your stories. In that order, individually do the following:

  • Introduce your story by talking about where it comes from and why you have chosen it as a legendary story to retell. Explain why it is meaningful to you and how you have tried to bring your own storyteller’s voice to your retelling of it.

  • If you found an image or produced an illustration for your story, share it with the group and explain how it connects to the story you retold.

  • Read and present your story dramatically to the group, using your storyteller’s voice (modeled after a storyteller you admire).

As a group, respond to each storyteller and story by telling them what you found interesting or meaningful in the story. For one other storyteller in your group, do a peer assessment of the story’s presentation, in a format suggested by your teacher.

Activity 4: Reflect

We will reflect on our progress and the knowledge and skills we have developed in preparation for the Culminating Task at the end of the unit.

Submit your original narrative to your teacher.

Choose at least three of the questions below and respond to them in your Learning Log:

  1. How well did you take the necessary action to prepare for the task?

  2. What went well for you during the completion of this task?

  3. What did you struggle with during the completion of this task? How did you push through that struggle?

  4. How well did you actively focus your attention during this independent task?

  5. How well did you develop and use an effective and efficient process to maintain workflow during this task?

  6. What would you do differently during the next Section Diagnostic?

Review your Culminating Task Progress Tracker. Think about all you have learned and done during this section of the unit. Evaluate your skills and knowledge to determine how prepared you are for the Culminating Task.