Chinese Folk Tales Mini-Unit: Literature

Objective:

To have the students demonstrate synthesis of Chinese folktales by creating their own folk story of why something is.

Materials:

Procedure:

To begin, ask the students if they know what a folktale is.

Can they give any examples of American folktales? Ask them if they know when folktales began in China remembering their Chinese dynasty timelines. Have them get out their timelines and give them some dates of the earliest records of Chinese timelines (4th century B.C. to 3rd century A.D.). Ask the children why there isn't an exact date? After discussing this, introduce the story, The Wife of the Monkey, and then read it aloud to the children. After reading the story, ask the children is they believe the story. Why or why not? Discuss folktales and their accuracy according to us and the Chinese.

Explain to the children that they are going to write a folktale which explains something. It can be about anything they want. After they do a rough draft they are to meet together with another person or a teacher and proofread their paper.

After they have done their revisions, they are to write their final draft on the paper I provide for them. Also, we are going to do an art project later and then combine the two and make a class book!!

Evaluation:

I'll evaluate the students understanding of folktales by the stories they write.

Evaluation of Lesson:

Overall, I think the lesson went well. The class always has great discussions and therefore many ideas always come out of the discussions. One point I wanted to bring up was when the first records of Chinese folktales began. I had found a book which have a time period. I had the children look up the time period on their Chinese dynasty timelines because I wanted them to tell me the dynasty. However, when they looked it up, it was different from what the book said. I didn't want to tell them "no, you're not right" because they were looking at the correct year. So, quickly it came to my mind that one probably doesn't know the exact time these folktales originated. I explained this to the students and then we discussed why there is no right or wrong answer. I felt relieved that I was able to pull something from this, even though it wasn't what I had in mind. My teacher said it was another "teachable moment."

The children were very excited when it came time for them to begin writing their own folktale and have eagerly been working on it. However, I need to keep in mind that I probably won't be teaching a gifted room next year and I should think through my lesson plan so it would work in a regular classroom. The story I read had to do with why monkeys have bare buttocks. I didn't think twice about using this story in this classroom because I knew they could handle it. However, in a regular room, I should set the story up and explain to the students what the story is about and that I know they will be able to handle it and so forth. Also, I didn't brainstorm with the students to think of ideas after I gave them their assignment. Mrs. Douglas suggested that in a regular classroom I would need to do this because many children have trouble starting out. These kids had no problem, yet I need to keep in mind every type of child. That is the only suggestion that Mrs. Douglas gave me. She thought the lesson went very well and the students came up with great topics. What she liked most was that I will be turning their work into a class book. The children are pretty excited about this, too.!!

My supervisor, Marylyn was there to observe the lesson and she thought the lesson went well. She thought my lesson plan flowed very well and that the students knew the direction I was going in. The only suggestion she had that was in a regular classroom, I might need to approach the subject matter in the story before I read it so that the students would be prepared and would behave. The story explains why monkeys have bare buttocks. My classroom handled it very well, yet I might need to set up other students for the story and let them know that I trust they will behave.

After teaching this lesson, I realize how important it is to be able to think on your feet, because when something goes wrong or a child brings up a new aspect on the topic, you must be able to respond. I hope I get better at this as I go along, because it is very important!