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beautifulstars
Unregistered User
(4/26/06 6:39 am)
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Creating A Fairytale Retelling Mini-Course-- Ideas?
Hey there. Being a high school teacher, I have taken it upon myself
to do a mini-course (2-days) this coming week which revolves around
the idea of rewriting fairytales, or using them to inspire creativity.
I am planning on doing both writing exercises with my students,
as well as drawing/creativity exercises. I will be giving a lecture
on the history of fairytales, looking at the history of a few (I
am thinking 'LRRH'
as I know it well, as well as 'Little
Mermaid' as I am teaching this course in Newfoundland, so the
tale works nicely in the context). Also, we will be looking at the
symbolism of blood, snow, woods, etc in fairytales. And looking
at illustrations. Busy, busy.
So far, some of my ideas are:
- Choose a character with which you most identify. Explain why that fairytale character, in particular, is one with which you like to represent yourself. Create a mask which you feel represents that fairytale character.
- Freewriting Exercise. 'Once upon a time...' Write for at least fifteen minutes straight without thinking about what you are writing. Try to use 'magical' language.
- We are going to create a 'fairytale museum.' You must donate an article to this museum. Choose any item from a fairytale which you feel should be put on display in this museum and explain how it should be displayed. If necessary, draw a picture.
- Write a journal entry from the point of view of a fairytale character who has been misunderstood.
***- Rewrite a fairytale. You should choose how you want to approach the tale, and who your audience will be. Will you change the p.o.v, the setting, the inclination of the characters? Will you make it a children's story, a horror tale, a modern or futuristic tale?
*** this will be their biggest project.
This is a first-time for me and I am a little concerned, as it is only Junior High students. I know at least two of them are very creative writers. I only have two straight days and I don't want to overload them, but I want to give them just a sampling of all the things they can do with fairytales. Any ideas on how I might frame this course?
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calisia
girl
Registered User
(4/26/06 7:20 am)
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Re: Creating A Fairytale Retelling Mini-Course-- Ideas?
First of all I think that it all sounds great and inspiring, I'm sure most students will be at least slightly inspired even if they don't show it.
You could think about aspects of fairytales that reflect life, (not just teh obvious, but symbolism on morals and more importantly dreams and ambition) so that they can relate to things and then perhaps look at the most obscure and fantastical elements in contrast.
You're afraid of there not being enough time, and you have quite a long list, what about giving the students flexibility - having a main workshop and then letting them focus on a task of their own choice until they feel it's done?
Visit my reading website http://www.freewebs.com/calisia_girl |
Elizabeth Genco
Registered User
(4/26/06 1:29 pm)
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Re: Creating A Fairytale Retelling Mini-Course-- Ideas?
Wow, that sounds fabulous -- just the kind of thing I wish I'd had when I was in junior high.
Your exercises sound great, but there are quite a few of them. Maybe give them a few to choose from? And they could do the others later if they were so inclined.
I'd come up with something along the same lines as "write your own retelling", to give them a choice between a couple of larger activities, too. Maybe something working in other mediums, like creating a drawing, painting, or collage. Give 'em some options!
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beautifulstars
Unregistered User
(4/27/06 10:47 am)
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thanks for the ideas
Thanks for the ideas. I think it WOULD be much better to let the kids choose an activity they would like to do. I am currently finding suggestions for 'peep boxes' which I think would be great fun. Unfortunately I am in a place where getting pretty paper, etc, for them would be difficult.
It is quite difficult to find activities on fairy tales online that are not for 4 year olds.
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cwfaerie
Registered User
(4/27/06 11:50 pm)
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Re: thanks for the ideas
I used to teach four-year olds; now I teach college students, but I have used the exact same activities for fairy tales for both age groups - it's just a matter of execution.
-read a "classic" fairy tale and a contemporary version and discuss/write about the differences and why they exist
-tell/write your own fairy tale (for little ones, they narrated and drew pictures while I transcribed - time consuming, but worth it)
-define a fairy tale - what is it? what do we expect from fairy tales? why are they important? are they important?
-find a fairy tale that you like and rewrite it from a specific character's perspective (for little ones this meant describing what kind of fairy tale character they would be - "I would be like Cinderella, only I would save the prince from a dragon" - actual response from a kid)
-for the little ones, we did lots of drawings, paintings, collages, etc. of fairies, "once upon a time time" places, etc.
I think that your ideas are great, and for that time span, I second (third?) giving students a choice. I've found that the best discussions tend come from students looking at different versions of one tale type OR exposing students to a tale that they probably haven't read ("Six Swans," "Donkeyskin," etc. - though I avoided incest stories with the little ones)
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beautifulstars
Unregistered User
(4/28/06 7:28 am)
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good ideas
These ideas are great, and I plan to borrow some. I think since these kids are sort of in that middle space, I might discuss some of the gruesome natures of fairy tales, but certainly not incest. I'd like to expose them to stories that are less known here, such as 'Snow Queen' or even 'Snow White, Rose Red.' And also, branch-offs, such as 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Peter Pan' that use elements, but aren't necessarily fairytales in the strictest sense.
I bought some great scrapbooking stuff last night for them to use.
I have also been considering lately that I would love to have a fairytale wedding -- a 'mad hatter' cake, red roses everywhere with thorns left on (no touching, obviously), cupcakes that look like apples, etc. any other ideas?
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Angie
Registered User
(5/3/06 12:56 am)
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Re: Creating A Fairytale Retelling Mini-Course-- Ideas?
I work as a Secondary School Teacher Librarian - and our School Library is a place where magic exists, our Library is swamped by voracious readers, cybernauts and bean-bag junkies.
I have created a little unit on work that I have called 'Telling Stories.' My unit is for 12-13 year olds which in Australia we call Year 7.
To introduce them to the topic I read to them 'Ella's Big Chance," a retelling of the Cinderella tale by Shirley Hughes. I play jazz music (as it is set in the 1920's) in the background and use my love of story telling to embellish characters, sounds and movements in the tale. (I also believe that environment is very important to immerse them into this world and suspend disbelief so we do away with tables and chairs and sit and lie on bean bags and cushions with the music in the background.)
After the tale, we spend a couple minutes eyes shut and musing and then discuss the differences between this version of Cinderella and the version of Cinderella that they are familiar with. This generates great discussion as many children know many different variants of the tale - insisting that their tale is the "real" and "original" Cinderella.
This is followed by going back to the "Computer room" in the Library and I ask them to read in pairs some online fairy tales and present them a theme chart. They need to identify what themes are present in the fairy tales they read.
They then are given a template on how to write a fairy tale and we scaffold a tale as a group.
Finally, using the scaffold and the themes chart, they must write their own fairy tale, the final product will be published in their own book.
This is a great unit of work to do with Year 7. At the moment I have some students designing the book cover for their fairy tale collection. It gives students the opportunity to explore fairy tales, look at how stories are told, discuss and evaluate their work with their peers and feel a sense of achievement - (We have a book launch party in the Library and then make the book part of the School Library Collection).
I do a similar thing with Tales of the Arabian Nights and have bellydancing in the Library, baclava, oud music and story telling.
Being a School Librarian can be great fun!
Cheers,
Angie
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