Project:

INVITATION

How can we help build students' awareness of the basic elements of a story and give them opportunities to practice the storyteller's art themselves? How can we engage them in storytelling as an act of culture? How can we enable younger students to recognize and value the differences and similarities among cultures?

TASKS

Students read and discuss stories from around the world; they then "read" the interactive "story" in Math Mysteries: Whole Numbers, comparing its storytelling elements with those of the more traditional print stories. After discussing what makes a story, students create new versions of the stories they have read, set in their own community, and "publish" them as illustrated books.

TOOLS

Computers; iMovie (optional).

AppleWorks; Mapmaker's Toolkit; Math Mysteries: Whole Numbers.

Carmen Sandiego Word Detective (optional); Destination: Time Trip, USA (optional); What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin? (optional); World Book Encyclopedia (optional).

Art supplies (optional); journals.

INTERACTIONS

Students work as a class to read and learn about stories; they then form small groups in which they work for the rest of the project. In their small groups, students have discussions, write in their journals individually, and then collectively craft a new version of one of the stories they have read. The teacher, in the role of Master Storyteller, leads discussion and provides general direction throughout.

<STANDARDS

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SITUATIONS

Students work in the classroom, although groups can do some of the work in Phases 2 and 3 outside of the classroom if they have access to computers, the appropriate software, and a place to meet. Phase 1, in which the class reads stories, is open-ended and can occupy from one to many days. Phases 2, 3, and 4 can be completed in one to two hours each.

ASSESSMENT

The teacher can assess groups'; stories with the aid of a rubric that addresses the creativity shown in translating old stories into new settings, the sophistication of the story structures, and the quality of the writing.

Teachers can put copies of each groups' story in students' portfolios.

All stories, no matter their culture of origin, share certain elements, including characters, a setting, a plot, conflict, and a resolution. In addition, storytellers from all over the world use similar devices such as foreshadowing, words indicating time and the order of events, step-by-step unfolding of the story, and so on to guide readers or listeners and allow them to "navigate" the story.

In this project, students examine favorite stories from the different cultures represented in their community. The whole class reads and compares stories, looking for similarities. Then small groups meet to continue discussion and to write a new version of a favorite story, set in their community.

Phase 1: Indulging in stories

As a class, read myths, legends, tall tales, fairy tales, plays, biographies, and stories that explain daily life and natural phenomena. The stories should be taken from the different cultures represented in your community, if possible. Then, as a class, discuss what the stories have in common. How is Cinderella like Lon Po Po, or like Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters? How are Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories like Native American or Latin American fables? Why do people in any culture enjoy hearing these stories and passing them on?

Next, still with the whole class, generate lists of stories that are similar in theme, in setting, or in plot structure; this will help students focus during the next stage of the project. If students are familiar with any of the interactive stories in CD-ROM products such as Carmen Sandiego Word Detective, What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?, and Math Mysteries: Whole Numbers, include these in your list. How do these stories fit with the others? Do they need a category of their own?

Phase 2: Thinking about stories

Small groups meet, each choosing a few stories that its members have decided are similar and that they want to look at more closely. Members of each group should talk about what they like in the stories they have selected. Encourage them to think about each story as something created by a storyteller, using certain "parts," and putting the parts together in certain ways. They may try re-telling the stories together to better understand the nuances and structure of the plots.

After the small group discussions, ask students to write in their journals about their responses to the stories, about their ideas for new stories, and about ways to transform traditional stories by setting them in the modern world.

As a class, discuss what makes a story a story. What do all stories have in common? How does a story guide you along? What clues does a story give you about what may happen next? What is a plot? What is a setting? Encourage students to respond with examples from stories the whole class knows.

Send students back into their small groups to explore the interactive mystery on the Math Mysteries CD as an example of a story without a predetermined narrative structure, or sequence of events, but one that holds together nonetheless. In addition to using math and story clues to solve problems, students can examine the story for what it reveals about the most basic elements of a story's structure: a setting, characters, a beginning, an ending, and a conflict or mystery that gets resolved.

Phase 3: Telling a new story

The small groups meet again to work on writing a new version of one of the stories they discussed in their group. First, the group should agree on what story they will use, and on new characters and a new setting that they know well. Suggest that they set their story in their community and use characters from the community. The students can then formulate the new story once they have learned about storytelling techniques.

How does the new setting change things? How do the new characters alter the conflict? What makes the new story similar to the original one? Working in AppleWorks, each student can write (or dictate to the teacher or an aide) one section (a sentence, a paragraph, or several pages) of the new story. (If you are working with older students, you may want to substitute peer writing groups and independent writing for the group writing activity.) As Lead Storyteller, you can review the students' drafts, and give comments for the next draft.

Students can create a map that shows the physical setting of the story (if that is appropriate), beginning with a blank Mapmaker's Toolkit map and using the drawing tools and icons. They can use the Step-by-Step Card "Starting With a Blank Map in Mapmaker's Toolkit" for help with this activity.

Starting With a Blank Map in Mapmaker's Toolkit

Phase 4: Publishing the story

To publish the new stories as books, groups print each section as a separate page with illustrations that have been created in AppleWorks (or imported from another application), or they can leave space on the pages for illustrations to be created using art supplies.

Put a copy of each finished book in your class and school library, and make duplicate copies to send home with the students. You might want to read these stories during storytelling time.

Vocabulary: Character, Compare, Conflict, Fable, Fairy Tale, Plot, Resolution, Setting.

Phase 3: If the students dictate stories, these stories can be entered in AppleWorks; students can then illustrate them at the computer using AppleWorks painting tools.

Phase 3: Students can make their own "custom" maps from scratch in Mapmaker's Toolkit, using the drawing tools and stamps. In Find Mode, choose Use Blank Map from the File menu to start with a blank map. A variety of icons or stamps can be placed on the map by dragging them from the toolbar to the desired location on the map.

Phase 4: Illustrations can be created using the AppleWorks drawing and painting tools or art supplies; they can also be captured using a scanner or digital camera, or downloaded from the Internet.

PREPARATION

Select a book or group of books to read to the class during their work on this project, offering examples of a variety of fables and stories.

Collect stories that share common themes or plots, such as Lon Po Po, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, Cinderella, Aesop's Fables, and the Just So Stories. For this project you may want to identify a theme or range of themes to help the students focus their work, such as "the origin of the Moon," "the role of the Sun," "animals as characters," or "series of three" (three wishes, three sisters, three tasks). See the "Resources" section, later in this project, for more suggested books and stories.

Discuss the process of comparing and contrasting to help students understand how to find similarities and differences among stories.

Make available interactive stories or activities based on stories you have on CDs such as Carmen Sandiego Word Detective, Math Mysteries: Whole Numbers, and What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?

Learn more about Math Mysteries: Whole Numbers and how it can be used by taking a look at the Math Mysteries Whole Class CD and the Math Mysteries teacher's guide. The Whole Class CD can be used to prepare students for using the Mystery CD.

OPTIONS AND EXTENSION ACTIVITIES

Suggest that students use Mapmaker's Toolkit to print maps of the country or region in which each story they read and discuss is set.

Have groups read or view the biographical stories in What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin? and discuss them as examples of storytelling. Discuss how telling the story of a real person's life is different from and similar to making up a story about a fictional character.

Give groups the choice of telling stories or acting them out as short plays or puppet shows; be sure to use music and art enhancement to accompany the performances. If you have digital cameras and iMovie software, students can film these skits or puppet shows and create a desktop movie that includes all of the performances, edited together. This movie can be saved to VHS tape so that all students can have a copy to keep and share with family members. For help using iMovie, go to the Desktop Movies in Education Web site.

With older students, you might suggest that each member of the group illustrate someone else's contribution to the story.

Student groups can use Destination: Time Trip, USA to create their stories in the form of E-Books, using the appropriate authentic backgrounds and annotating their stories with sound and animated characters. They can work collaboratively to create their stories. See the Step-by-Step Card "Making an E-Book With Destination: Time Trip, USA" for assistance.

Students can look at different versions of the same folk tale, fairy tale, or legend and discuss the differences and how they affect the story.

Working on their own or with an aide, students can gain perspective on stories and storytelling by exploring story-related topics in World Book Encyclopedia. Topics to search include "literature for children," "African-American literature," "Grimm's fairy tales," "mythology," "storytelling," and "Walt Disney."

Making an E-Book With Destination: Time Trip, USA

THE HOME-SCHOOL CONNECTION

To help students develop their understanding of the process of comparison, ask them to work as a class and brainstorm a list of traditional stories that their adult family members might have heard when they were young. Pick three of these stories and obtain copies of them from the library. Read the stories out loud to the class and invite students to ask their family members to pick one of these stories and tell the version of it that they remember from their childhood. Ask students to note in their journals the differences and similarities they observe between the version they heard in class and the one they heard at home, and to share their findings with the class.