Angela Ristow
ENGL 5922
Linda Miller Cleary
November 5, 2008
Scary Story Unit
Prefatory Statement
Rationale:
The unit I am designing is about scary stories. It a unit balanced in reading and writing with a little bit of research built in. I think it will be a great community builder in the classroom as well as an opportunity for students to explore a genre that is not always discussed in school. The decision to cover scary stories was inspired by Edgar Allen Poe and solidified by my belief that literature teachers should be trying to inspire students to become life-long readers. By getting into the spirit of the season (Halloween- this lesson takes place in October), looking at a non-traditional English classroom genre, and digging into literature that many students find fascinating (based on my own experience) I hope get more students into literature and writing.
Also, this unit is fitting for the many different dynamics of a class. Socioeconomic status, race, gender, and personality differences can make this lesson great and would not limit it in any way. One of the main focuses of this unit is to find universal truths, if there are any, in the conventions of scary stories, or “scaryness,” and explore differences in cultures as well. If a classroom is very diverse, many different discussions might take place that get us closer to those discoveries before any research is done at all, and that is a great thing! Even in an ESL classroom, this lesson can be interesting because it feeds off of input from many cultures. There are all sorts of stories that are found around cultures, whether Chinese, Australian, Floridian, Minnesotan, or Texan, which can be used in this lesson and evaluated or cross-referenced to look for similarities in other cultures.
Description of Unit:
This unit will include a lot of student choice. It will start with a lot of brainstorming because students will be presenting a story of their choice to the class as well as writing a scary story. We will be brainstorming movies that are scary, aspects of a story that make it scary (as in setting and tone which we will look at with Edgar Allan Poe stories), and things that we could write about. In a sense, we will brainstorm ways in which we can “steal” the comfort away from ordinary things (in the manner that Stephen King often does).
The long term assessment will be a presentation of a scary story that they will choose from the book pass or from another source. This assignment is about interpretation as well as adaptation; so students are not just reading the story to class, but they are retelling it in their own words, and accompanying that retelling with things like music, images, or dramatization. Another option for this assignment would be to present a story in graphic novel form, for the artistically inclined.
Aspects of short stories will be discussed as this unit will rely heavily on short stories. For a short term assessment, they will have the opportunity to research a conventional type of scary character, so to speak, such as vampires, werewolves, or ghosts. This research will be done in a jigsaw and webquest format so that the students will share their research (in groups) with the other students and thus learn the history, uses in popular culture, and conventions of each type of character often found in scary stories. One aim of this research is to address the essential question of “Are there things/conventions that are universally frightening?”
Another short term assessment will be to interview an adult who can tell them a scary story that they know. This can be a phone or email interview as a last resort, but ideally the students will be able to interview someone in person. The interviewee will tell the scary story to the student and the student will write it down. Then the student will continue with the interview by asking questions about why that story was scary to the interviewee and what other things are scary. After the interview, the students will write down the story as a short story instead of as it was narrated to them. In this manner, the students will get to focus on the extra details besides character and plot that make a story scary in their writing. And by doing these interviews, we are working towards our goal of finding universal truths in “scaryness” across cultures and ages. The students will discuss their interviewing experiences in class as well as write about them in their journals and hand in the stories they wrote down and the interview script. This is a scaffold because students are writing a scary story without having to come up with all of the elements at once. Instead, they are embellishing on a story that was told to them. After this, they will take the next step and write a story themselves.
The culminating project will be to do a sound recording of a story that we write as a class. This is a fun way to go through the writing process together and to preserve their work in a unique format that all can take home and enjoy. Everything from brainstorming to recording will be done as a class and the students will be able to apply the same processes to their own writing.
Finally, the students will be reading a few selections.
I am the Doorway by Stephen King
The Tell-tale Heart, The Fall of the House of Usher, and “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe.
The Monkey’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs
The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell
And selected others that they will choose to retell.
Class Specification
I believe this unit is appropriate for any type of student and any age of middle school or high school students. For younger students, the choice of literature as well as the workload might be different than the choices for seniors, but the bare bones of this unit are appropriate for everyone in general. This unit is written for tenth grade students, but would be easily modified for younger or older students.
The reason I believe this unit is appropriate for all types of students in all walks of life is because, based on my experiences, there seems to be a universal appeal to scary stories. I think everybody is afraid of something, so everyone fan give input and really feel like a valuable part of the class and discussions. This topic/unit is great for a diverse student body as well because one of the main focuses is to find universals in what is “scary” so the more diverse the classroom… the less research the students will need to do! If the classroom is full of students from various countries, for example in an ELL classroom, it is even easier to find universal truths in “scariness” and highlight differences as well. The universality of many aspects of scary stories brings cultures together and brings the class together in a really fun way.
Significant Assumptions
Some assumptions concerning this unit are that students are able to read and respond to literature. By that, I mean they can understand concepts like tone, foreshadowing, setting, and character analysis. Also, this unit requires use of the internet to do the webquest, (possibly) cameras to do videos, and a tape recorder to do the final radio recording, so it assumes that computers and a tape recorder are available to the class and that video cameras are available to the students if they choose that option for their final project. This unit also assumes that students have had some experience with the writing process and know how to proofread their own papers. Finally, this unit assumes that students will be respectful to each other and value one another’s input and opinions as well as each other’s writings and presentations. (**know how to poop themselves while searching the internet**)
Desired Outcomes
Standard:
D) The student will actively engage in the reading process and read, understand, respond to, analyze, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate a wide variety of fiction, poetic, and nonfiction texts.
Objective/Benchmark (1): Read, analyze, and evaluate traditional classical and contemporary works of literary merit from American literature.
Objective/Benchmark (6.): Analyze and evaluate the relationship between and among elements of literature: character, setting, plot, tone, symbolism, rising action, climax, falling action, pint of view, theme, and conflict/resolution.
Additional Ojbective: Demonstrate knowledge of typical characters in scary stories throughout history, their uses in popular culture, and conventions pertaining to those characters.
Whole-Class Activities
Book Pass
The class will have many discussions about what they find scary as well as on the selected readings for the unit.
The class will write a story together and record it at the near-end of the unit.
Small-Group Activities
The class will participate in the jigsaw webquest and teach each other about vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and zombies.
Students will read each other’s stories and give feedback and constructive criticism.
Students may work together in the final project by making a movie, acting out a skit, or presenting in some creative way a scary story that they found interesting.
Individual Activities
Students will read the assigned selections as homework.
Students will interview an adult.
Students will re-tell the story that they are told in their interview and expand on it in a way that makes it scary to them.
Students will write a scary story or poem
Ongoing Activities
Students will write in their journals every day except those with presentations and the day of the webquest. Journals will include:
Mini-lessons:
1.) Movies vs. Film… what makes each scary and how do those techniques transfer?
2.) Fear- the physical realities of what happens to our bodies when we are afraid.
3.) Poe
4.) Stephen King
5.) Other authors of scary stories and their inspirations
6.) The Gothic Tradition
Student Resources
Students will need to be able to contact an adult that knows scary stories. This might mean that they need access to a phone or email, but it might also mean that they need to be able to physically go to someone’s house and interview them… meaning they might need transportation. Students will also need access to these stories whether via handouts or books. Finally, students will need access to the internet for their research.
Unit Launch
Students will brainstorm scary movies and write them on the chalkboard (or white board or transparency). Then, the class will discuss what makes those particular movies scary. Finally, students will write a very brief scary story based on a prompt I give them. The prompt will be that they have to write about vending machines, texting, bus rides, or turning on the heat or air conditioning. This is to introduce the strategy of “stealing” something mundane and ordinary, possibly even something comforting, away from the reader so that when they interact or come across these things in their everyday lives they will think of the scary story and a chill will run up their back. The first story assigned will be “I am the Doorway” by Stephen King in which he does just that. Another option would be to do a literature circle type of activity where the students read a few stories by Stephen King or a mixture of authors who attempt to rob us of our usual comforts…
Organization of the Unit
Week One:
Unit Launch: Brainstorm of things that are scary and ideas for the story they will write
Lesson Topic: _______________________ Grade level:_10___________
Length of lesson: __________
Stage 1 – Desired Results |
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Content Standard(s): FOR THE UNIT The student will actively engage in the reading process and read, understand, respond to, analyze, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate a wide variety of fiction, poetic, and nonfiction texts
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Understanding (s)/goals Students will understand:
There is an abundance of literature designed to scare the reader that has overarching themes across cultures.
Setting and tone play a big part in making stories scary.
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Essential Question(s):
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Student objectives (outcomes): Students will be able to:
Demonstrate knowledge of typical characters in scary stories throughout history, their uses in popular culture, and conventions pertaining to those characters.
(Today’s lesson will access the prior knowledge of these things and give us a starting point for our research)
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Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence |
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Performance Task(s):
Interview Assignment (assigned today)
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Other Evidence:
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Stage 3 – Learning Plan |
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Learning Activities:
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Stephen King’s “I am the Doorway”
Mini-lessons:
1.) Movies vs. Film: The “tool belts” of authors vs. directors
2.) Stephen King
3.) The effect of Fear on the Body
Interview Assignment Due on Friday
Final Project Proposal/Plan due on Friday
Stage 1 – Desired Results |
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Content Standard(s):
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Understanding (s)/goals Students will understand that:
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Essential Question(s):
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Student objectives (outcomes): Students will be able to:
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Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence |
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Performance Task(s): |
Other Evidence:
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Stage 3 – Learning Plan |
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Week Two
Assigned Writings: Poe’s “The Tell-tale Heart,” “The Raven,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” (The Raven will be read in class or an audio recording will be played… this will give students an understanding of how it is to present a piece of literature in an interpretive way)
Mini-lessons: 1.) Edgar Allan Poe 2.) Elements of short stories and conventions of writings (with a discussion of how those things worked in Stephen King’s and Poe’s writings)
Webquest
Presentations based off of Webquest research
Week Three
Assigned Readings: “The Most Dangerous Game” and “The Monkey’s Paw”
Discussions on those readings relating to the emotional responses that students had while reading and after reading—then relating that to setting, tone, rising action, falling action, climax, etc…
Mini-lessons:
1.) Scary Story Writers (including W.W. Jacobs and Richard Connell)
2.) The Gothic Tradition
Students present their adaptation/interpretive presentation on a scary story that they read (2 days).
Supporting Materials for Teachers Who Teach the Unit
A great Edgar Allan Poe website: http://knowingpoe.thinkport.org/default_flash.asp
Stephen King’s Homepage: http://www.stephenking.com/
A great book and resource is “A Dark and Stormy Night” published by D.C. Heath in 1995. It includes short stories in it and outlines ways to use them to teach things like story progression, irony, and foreshadowing primarily through journaling and mini-lessons.