Poetry Out Loud
The Tabloid Ballad
What do the theme song from Gilligan's Island, the nursery rhyme "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat," and the poem "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" all have in common? Why, they're ballads of course! Challenge your young balladeers to compose their...
Curated OER
From Remus to Rap: A History in Theory and Practice of the African-American Storytelling Tradition
Students examine the specific form and function of tall tales and toasts.
They discover the importance of performance in the telling of a story and the importance of rhythm in the telling of toasts. They create stories of their own, in...
Curated OER
Digital Storytelling: At-Risk Students Find Their Voices
High schoolers use digital cameras and software to create a digital story which consists of a series of digital images paired with a narrarated soundtrack. They focus on relevant images and a presecribed sequence of steps to provide a...
Curated OER
Language Arts, African Americans, Oral Tradition and the Blues
When slavery took Africans from their land, they were separated from the rich musical and oral traditions native to each country and region. While working as slaves, Africans found they had two places where they could use these musical...
Curated OER
Culture Creation vs. Culture Consumption - Finding Voice Through Digital Storytelling
Ninth graders explore the power of media in culture and Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence. In this nonviolence and media lesson, 9th graders analyze Gandhi's nonviolent methods for social change and discuss the media's power to create...
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Stories of the American Experience
Students interview a veteren of any of the major U.S. wars. They must identify one quote from the veteren that sums up their experience.
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Sunday School Inspiration Lessons
Many activities related to the Chrisitan religion are included in this lesson about storytelling; students create their own Bible related art from stickers, stamps, t-shirts and hats. Puppets also help to to retell Bible stories and...
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Writing Lyrics
Pupils examine the themes and structure of a bluegrass song and identify the common themes in bluegrass music. They practice songwriting by rewriting the lyrics of "Oh! Susanna" as a bluegrass tune.
Curated OER
I'm Tellin'!: Kids Bringing Folktales Alive
Young scholars participate in a reading lesson that works on social and academic skills. They increase reading comprehension with direct instruction with the group reading of a folktale. Then students research their own stories to tell.
Curated OER
Storytelling With Artists
Students retell a legend orally, illustrating it with the art style of the source culture.
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Music And The Related Arts / Fiesta
Second graders investigate the concept of a celebration through the experience of music and culturally relevant conversation. They have a class discussion about thankfulness and tie it the tradition of celebration. Then students listen...
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New York State Testing Program English Language Arts Book 1--Grade 7 (2006)
In this New York State Testing Program English Language Arts worksheet, students read several passages and two poems and answer reading comprehension questions. Students then write an essay response to one of the passages.
Curated OER
Tone Poem Composing Project
Students explore role of music in storytelling by watching and discussing effect music has on perception of scene from movie, and using Sibelius program to compose single excerpt of music, considering dynamics, timbre, and articulation,...
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Our Small World
Students explore indigenous and Native cultures, and promote appreciation for the contributions from these cultures. They explore the concept of cultural conservation and gain more understanding about the issues that tribes face today. ...
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The Cleverest Thief
Students practice their reading comprehension while listening to a classic folktale from India. In this cultural storytelling lesson, students read the book The Cleverest Thief and complete word identification worksheets based on the...
Curated OER
Classroom Guide for the Redwall Series
Students participate in cross-curricular activities and readings to become familiar with the works of Brian Jacques. In this heroes lesson, students discuss the character traits of legends and how their characters develop through events...
Curated OER
The Ogre Bully
Students listen to the book, The Ogre Bully, and discuss the problems the farmer and his family had during the story. In this garden themed instructional activity, students examine different fruit and vegetables and plant them in soil...
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We of the Sea: Tribal Native American Stories
A video featuring members of Oregon’s Astoria Native American fishing community launches a study of the oral tradition of poetry, and how traditions are passed down within different cultures. Activities, assessments, extensions and...
Louisiana Department of Education
Fahrenheit 451
In his 2013 introduction to Fahrenheit 451, Neil Gaiman states, “Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over.” In this extraordinary unit plan, readers "explore the power of written language to educate and influence...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Arabic Poetry: Guzzle a Ghazal!
Students research the evolution and cultural significance of the Arabic ghazal form of poetry. They, in groups, compose an original ghazal poem and read it aloud to the class.
Scholastic
Narrative Writing
If you're looking to start a unit based around narrative writing, make sure to consider this resource while you're planning. This book covers five topics: writing personal narratives, writing narratives about others, writing narratives...
Curated OER
Literature Through Silent Movies
Students participate in an engaging, alternative assessment activity: making a silent film of an Edgar Allen Poe story. This project offers them an additional way to demonstrate their mastery of the topic.
Curated OER
The Travels of Babar: An Adventure in Scales
Students become familiar with the musical notify that are associated with the character in Monstel's The Travels of Babar: An Adventure in Scales, so that they can listen attentively to the performance and understand and appreciate ow...
Curated OER
Similarities Between African Folktales And French Folktales
Students study the importance of the Storyteller in ancient times as well as in modern times. They realize that this is an art essential to the development and evolution of the mind and that today more than ever we need to rely on...