ANNOTATIONS:
I enjoyed both of the readings that were chosen for this module. Below you will find my annotations for the first reading, "The Modern Quest: Teaching Myths and Folktales".
WRITING TASK:
The task at hand is to come up with our own mini lesson for how we would teach a myth in the classroom. The grade level that I chose was second.
To link to the CCSS, I have found the following standard:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.2
Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.
For my lesson, I chose the West African Tale: Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears.
To begin the lesson, there will be a whole group read aloud by the teacher. The teacher will periodically stop to ask questions in between the story. Some questions that he or she might ask are:
- Vocabulary questions: Does anyone know what a yam is? Mischief? Burrow? Etc.
- Comprehension questions: Why did the iguana put sticks in his ears? Why was rabit terrified and why did it leave its home? Why did King Lion call a meeting of the animals? Etc.
After the story is finished and the teachers answers any questions students may have, then they are placed into pairs of two for a "turn and talk" to discuss the central message, lesson or moral. Students will first summarize the story in their own words and discuss their favorite parts. Then they can try to determine the main message in their pairing. Once they believe they have their idea, they will then raise their hand and tell the teacher. Once all groups are down, the teacher will put every pairings ideas on the board. They will go through and discuss each one narrowing down to what the actual message was. The actual message was to reveal the meaning as to why mosquitoes buzz in peoples' ears and why people "shoo" them away.
To take one more step in this lesson, the teacher will introduce a quick writing component. The students will get the chance for a "Creative Write" period. In this period, students get to write what they think the mosquito would have said if it was brought in front of all of the other animals at the meeting. This would be a great way to end the lesson because students' often love creative writing. They're given a topic and their idea can't be right or wrong. It's their thought.
PARTICIPATION TASK
For this participation task, we are to choose a creative writing activity from the presentation and complete it. The activity that I chose to complete is a biopoem. I'm going to use the template provided for the younger grades because I would like to see how the research goes trying to find that information.
1. Greek name: Poseidon
2. Four traits of character: Bad-tempered, moody, greedy and vengeful
3. Relative of: Zeus & Hades
4. Lover of: Amphitrite
5. Who feels: Vengeful when insulted
6. Who needs: Trident (his weapon)
7. Who fears: No power over the air or land (besides earthquakes)
8. Who gives: Earthquakes, Storms and Horses
9. Who would like to see: People believing in him and horses running free
10. Resident of: Mount Olympus or Sea
11. Roman Name: Neptune
Myths Module
1 min read
Hi guys! Hope everyone is having a great weekend. I know my weeked solely consists of doing homework/projects. The joys of the end of the semester! Below is the link to my Myths Module where you will find all of the components: Annotations, Writing Task and Participation Task. https://
Samantha Monaco, Apr 23 2016 on edu307.networkedlearningcollaborative.com