So after I taught the "Best Lesson In the World" I had a hard time thinking about how I could follow up with something that wouldn't feel like a gigantic let-down. Here's what I came up with.
My objectives for this unit are to 1:) assist the students in learning about folklore from all over the world, including some stuff from their family culture that they may not have heard before 2:) Get the point across that all human experiences are valuable (regardless of cultural origin) and can make interesting literature 3:) help the students realize the value in oral history and 4:) get the students to start telling/writing down their own family's oral history.
I decided to breach these topics through the medium of storytelling. We talked about how Myth, Legend, and Folklore are all forms of great storytelling and we talked about the role of stories in culture and identity. I showed them some funny clips of Brian Regan telling stories from his childhood and recent past. Today I told them the story of the time I saw a ghost at my old work. We talked about the craft of storytelling- how to engage your audience early on by teasing them with details, how to hold their attention, and then how to build the story up to a climax.
Right now I have 25 7th graders anxiously engaged in writing down a story from their past and family. They will be telling their stories to a partner shortly.
I would say so far, it's a great success.
3 comments:
See? This is why you are such a cool teacher. Mrs. Shipper would have NEVER let us listen to Brian Regan. I'm pretty sure she didn't know how to laugh. But I guess she did tell some funny stories. Whether she thought they were funny is another matter.
So fun! Great job, sis.
Really great idea and you are fantastic! Thanks for sharing Brian Regan with a younger generation. It's so great to know that there is good, clean comedy available. And, speaking of Brian Regan -- Tiff and I pretty much laughed ourselves into hysterics and stomach cramps Thurs. night. I wasn't sure if it was just our family that 'got' his humor -but I can tell you that Bakersfield people were laughing themselves silly too! Thank you so much for the Christmas present - it was awesome!!! BTW all his jokes were new ones - except for the audience requested encore where he did the 'Frig salesman' - with some ad libs due to audience participation while describing the "Meats" drawer and the 'broken femur-Say '8' bit. So wonderful to laugh so hard at good, clean comedy. Love you, Mom
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