Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program
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Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program Curriculum Unit Plan Guidelines I. Title and brief description: Give a title and short description. What, briefly, will students be doing in this unit of study? (2-3 sentences) There and Back Again – Fairytales and Our Fascinations: In this unit of study, students will explore the genre of fairytales in a Multitude of ways. Through theatrical perforMance and study of lenses, students will consider the prevalence of fairy and folk tales in our lives and their continued presence even from older tiMes. The lenses focused on will center around FeMinist, Marxist, and Queer Studies. This unit of study will include a focus on the transforMative nature of our understanding of these tales, specifically with the reinterpretation of these stories to fit our Modern tiMes as well as an attempt to take a critical stand towards the original content Material. Students will also consider why these stories seeM to hold such priMal importance in our culture, as well as coMparing and contrasting the patterns that appear through fairy or folk tales in different cultures. Possible texts will include: • “Master Cat; or Puss in Boots” by Charles Perrault • “The Golden Bird” by The Brothers GriMM • “Little Snow White” by the GriMM Brothers • “The Fairies” by Charles Perrault/”Toad Words” by Ursula Vernon/”Toad Rich” by Michael Cadnum/”Precious” by Nalo Hopkinson • Clips from Into the Woods by Stephen SondheiM • “Little Red Riding Hood” by Charles Perrault/”The Werewolf” by Angela Carter/”Little Red Riding Hood, Not Longer So Little” by Agha Shahid Ali/”The Wolf’s Postscript to ‘Little Red Riding Hood’” by Agha Shahid Ali/”Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf” by Roald Dahl • Fairy and Folk Tales from Around the World • Database at pitt.edu • Surlalune.coM • “Beauty and the Beast” by Charles Perrault, “ • “Rapunzel” (1812)/”Rapunzel” (1857) by Brothers GriMM II. Big Idea/Essential Question: Explain your “big idea” and/or essential question. • Why do fairytales have such a strong effect on us in our youth? Why do they stay as a strong influence for so long? • What is the purpose of fairy or folk tales? Are they still iMportant in our Modern tiMes? Are they More or less iMportant at different tiMes in our lives? • What is the purpose of the “fractured fairytales” or reinterpretations of these stories? What are they trying to suggest about the original tales? Why are these so popular? III. Learning Goals: Explain what learning goals you have set for students’ investigation of the big idea/essential question. Consider the following areas: a. DevelopMent of content understanding (key concepts and ideas) May 2013 Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program • Students will be able to identify the archetypes such as the hard working polite hero, tricky rouge hero, outcast trickster hero, virtuous and selfless Maiden, helpful old woMan, etc. in the fairytales that they read as well as analyze their position in the original stories and their contribution to our understanding of our world around us. • Students will be able to coMpare and contrast reinterpretations of fairy tales with their original texts in order to identify and analyze the reasons for the changes as well as their level of effectiveness. • Students will be able to apply their understanding of these tropes and archetypes to their own reinterpretation of a fairytale or creation of an original fairytale for our Modern tiMes. • Students will be able to identify and define a reason for the prevalence of fairytales in our cultures and generate reasons for their lasting power. • Students will be able to analyze both an original text of a fairytale from a specific literary lens such as MarxisM, FeMinisM, etc. as well as analyze a reinterpretation froM a specific lens. b. DevelopMent of habits of Mind and work, including habits of independent or collaborative thinking and doing typical of readers, writers, speakers, creators, researchers and thinkers in the discipline (ways of knowing) • Students will be able to create a working portfolio including several different genres/Mediums of expression either in sMall groups or individually in order to deMonstrate their understanding of the concepts. • Students will be able to generate a narrative with specific adhering to particular tropes of the fairy tale genre as well as reflect on their inclusion of these specific techniques in their creative work. • Students will be able to develop research skills on the internet as they search for their original fairy tale and different versions to compare theM to. c. Literacy developMent, including capabilities of proficient readers, writers, and speakers • Students will continue to develop as readers through the daily reading assignMents of either an original fairy/folk tale and its reinterpretations. • Students will be able to practice peer-editing techniques and revision on their More formal critical analysis of one fairy tale of their particular choice. • Students will practice reading and comprehension skill to develop an understanding of this literary tradition and the world around theM as well as develop their voice as writers. • Students will develop an understanding of the different modes of writing and an ability to Maintain a forMal tone in particular Mediums. Students will develop a Metacognitive reflection on the tone changes. d. DevelopMent of the classroom as a learning comMunity • Students will further develop their skills in collaborating with sMall groups or individual motivation through their ultiMate work on their portfolios. May 2013 Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program • As students have already deMonstrated considerable aMount of cohesion as a whole class and ability to collaborate, I will focus on helping students Maintain that respect during discussions and self- monitoring their participation in discussions and activities. • Students will develop even further in their own personal Motivations and agency in their ability to choose their areas of interest and coMplete their assignMents. (NOTE FOR HEATHER: please let Me know if these sound repetitive to the goals I have listed in earlier curriculuM unit plans or if you have any particular suggestions with regard to Period 6 how I Might help theM develop further) IV. Rationale: Your rationale should show clearly your careful consideration of a full range of factors in planning your unit to ensure equitable support and meaningful, authentic, and substantial learning for all students, as follows: a. Learning goals: Explain why your big idea/essential question and your learning goals are important for your discipline and meaningful for your students. My big ideas and essential questions throughout this year have all focused on the connection of these texts with the world around us. While I do not always feel that I have Made this explicitly clear to My students, I hope to bring the genre of fairytales into this light through the focus on reinterpretations and the continued prevalence of these patterns in our stories to this day. I hope to impress with this unit that narrative and stories and words are really the only way that we understand one another as huMan beings and understanding the foundations of these moral truths or patterns is iMportant to reflect on. In addition, the inclusion of critical analysis of the fairy tale through a particular lens will help introduce students to a particular facet of the discipline of literature as well develop their critical analysis skills in a particular type of writing, which they have as of yet been lacking with the focus on MCAS testing. The portfolio option also allows students a range of freedoM and authentic creative opportunities by allowing several different MediuMs as well as choice. b. Curriculum standards: Explain how the big idea/essential question connects to the Guiding Principles in the MA curriculuM fraMeworks. Identify which learning standards are addressed and how. • ELA.W.9-10.D Establish and Maintain a forMal style and objective tone while attending to the norMs and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing. • ELA.W.9-10.3 Write narratives to develop real or iMagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well- structured event sequences. o ELA.W.9-10.3.C Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole. • ELA.W.9-10.9 Draw evidence froM literary or inforMational texts to support analysis, reflection and resource. May 2013 Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program o ELA.W.9-10.9.A Appy grades 9-10 Reading standards to litearature (e.g. “Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source Material in a specific work.”) • ELA.RL.9-10.7 Analyze the representation of a subject or key scene in two different artistic MediuMs, including what is eMphasized or absent in each treatMent (e.g. Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts” and Breughel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus). • ELA.RL.9-10.9 Analyze how an author draws on and transforM source material in a specific work (e.g. how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic froM Ovid or the Bible or how a later author draws on a play by Shakespeare). • ELA.SL.9-10.B Work with peers to set rules for collegial discussion and decision-making (e.g. informal consensus, taking votes on key issues, presentation of alternate views), clear goals and deadlines, and individual roles as needed. • ELA.SL.9-10.4 Present inforMation, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely,