Title: I will tell you a story ...

Lesson plan elaborated by: Magdalena Trysińska

Topic:

How to write a creative story?

Target group

7th‑grade students of an eight‑year elementary school.

Core curriculum

I. Literary and cultural education

1. Reading literary works. Pupil:

1. recognises literary genres: epic, lyric and drama; determines the characteristics of each type and assigns the work to the appropriate type.

2. Receipt of cultural texts. Student:

1. searches for the necessary information in the text and cites relevant parts of journalistic, popular or scientific texts;

2. organises information depending on their function in the message.

2. Differentiation of language. Student:

1. recognises the diversity of vocabulary, including recognizing national vocabulary and limited vocabulary (eg scientific terms, archaisms, colloquialisms); recognizes native and borrowed words, knows types of abbreviations and abbreviations - defines their functions in the text;

2. understands the concept of style, recognizes colloquial, official, artistic, scientific and journalistic style.

3. Language communication and language culture. Student:

2. distinguishes between the standard and functional language standards and applies to them;

3. understands the language error.

III. Creating statements

1. Rhetoric items. Student:

1. functionally uses rhetorical means and understands their impact on the recipient;

2. collects and organizes the material material needed to create statements; edits the compositional plan of his own statement;

3. creates a statement using the appropriate composition for a given form and the principles of linguistic consistency between paragraphs; understands the role of paragraphs as a coherent whole of thought in the creation of written utterances and applies the paragraph rhythm (interweaving of long and short paragraphs);

4. agrees with other people's views or polemicizes with them, substantively justifying their own opinion.

2. Speaking and writing. Student:

2. perform transformations on someone else's text, including shortening, summarizing, expanding and paraphrasing.

IV. Self‑study. Student:

1. reliably, with respect for copyrights, uses information;

2. develops the ability to think critically and formulate opinions.

The general aim of education

The student develops the ability to write creative stories.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• social and civic competences;

• cultural awareness and expression.

Operational objectives

Student:

• explains the meaning of the word „storytelling”;

• explains the importance of storytelling;

• characterises the types of storytelling (creative narrative and reconstructive narrative);

• describes the composition of the story;

• writes a creative story.

Teaching methods / techniques

• problematic: directed conversation, discussion;

• programmed: using a computer and e‑textbook;

• practical: subject exercises.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• collective activity;

• activity in groups, pairs.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

1. The teacher defines the purpose of the course, which is to develop the ability to tell interesting stories. He/she gives students the criteria for success or sets them together with them.

2. Directed conversation. The teacher asks the students questions:

• What stories do you like to read?

• What characterises them?

• How are they written?

• What holds the reader in suspense?

• What elements should a good story have?

Realization

1. Presentation of the short film „The power of story” (Jason Silva) on YouTube. Since the speaker speaks quickly, it is recommended to turn on the subtitles on the playback panel. Then, the students discuss the material watched, referring also to their own experiences. They are wondering what power (what function) the stories have, why they „inhabit the brain”. They give examples of stories that made the strongest impression on them.

Attention, if the teacher can not or does not want to show the proposed movie, he/she can search for any other film about the art of storytelling (keywords: story, storytelling, the art of storytelling), for example on educational websites related to TED or Khan Academy.

2. Students look for the meaning of the word „storytelling” in the „Great Polish Dictionary” (on‑line). Then students check whether they correctly distinguish two meanings – they do exercise 4.

3. The teacher asks students to read the information on the types of stories in the e‑textbook, and then to do exercise 5, which is intended to remind the storytelling scheme.

4. Students (in groups or all together) create a mind map for a phrase “tell a story”. Students draw the map on the board or in the abstract.

5. If there is enough time, the students read an excerpt of M. Musierowicz's blog, in which she described the process of creating her stories. They then present in points, preserving the chronology, how the author writes her texts.

6. Students read an excerpt from Sławomir Mrożek's short story titled W szufladzie. They summarise (preferably in one sentence) the presented history. Then, working in groups or in pairs, they write a continuation of the story according to the instruction from ex. 8.

Summary

The teacher asks the students what they have learned today and if they found the lesson interesting. The teacher asks the students to perform self‑assessment of their individual work during the lesson. The teacher then asks the students to do ex. 9 from the e‑textbook, which allows them to organize the pieces of advice for beginning writers and a list of the most common mistakes made.

Homework

Write a story that begins with the words: I thought I was dreaming ...

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

I will tell you a story...

Since time immemorial, people have been eager to tell real or fictional stories and listen to them just as eagerly. Before the writing was invented, legends, tales and stories about life were passed on verbally and they had various functions, such as conveying knowledge about the world (information function), shaping the development of individuals and social groups (educational function), and serving fun and relaxation (entertainment function).