Title: Truth and fiction in the literature

Lesson plan elaborated by: Magdalena Trysińska

Topic: Truth and fiction in the literature. Two ways of creating.

Target group

7th‑grade students of the primary school.

Core curriculum

I. Literary and cultural education.

1. Reading literary compositions. Student:

1.) recognizes the literary genres: epic, lyric and drama; determines their characteristic features and assigns the literary composition to the appropriate genre;

2. Reception of the cultural texts. Student:

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

2) organises the information in relation to their function in the message,

5) recognises the journalistic genres: the reportage, the interview, the article, the column and defines their basic features.

III. Creating expressions.

1. Elements of rhetoric. Student:

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

4) uses the knowledge about creating thesis, hypothesis and arguments in creation of an essay and other argumentative texts;

5) differentiates the example from the argument;

7) agrees with other people's views or discusses with them, justifying his own opinion;

IV. Self‑education. Student:

8) develops the ability of critical thinking and formulating opinions.

The general aim of education

Student learns about the two ways of creating literature: fiction and truth.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• social and civic competences;

• consciousness and cultural expression.

Detailed objectives (operational objectives)

Student:

• explains the meaning of the word “fiction”;

• gives synonyms and antonyms to the word “fiction”;

• explains what literary fiction is;

• recognises the fictional and factual genres;

• speaks about the text, takes part in a discussion about fiction in literature.

Methods/techniques

• problematic: guided conversation, discussion;

• programmed: using the computer, using the e‑textbook;

• practical: exercises on subject.

Forms of work

• uniform individual activity;

• work in pairs;

• group activity.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

1. The teacher determines the purpose of the class: the students will learn about two ways of creating in literature: fiction and truth. The teacher together with the students defines the criteria of success.

2. Introduction to the topic of the lesson. The teacher asks students what literature is for them: truth or invention? Students express their opinions freely, giving arguments and examples. The teacher can ask guiding questions, e.g.

• For what purpose do you read books?

• What needs satisfies the reading of books?

• Can literature help solve everyday problems?

Realization

1. Students think about the meaning of the word “fiction”. For this purpose, they give antonyms and synonyms of the analysed word (ex. 1).

2. Work in pairs: students come up with two versions of the further content of messages proposed in the ex. 2. Then they read out their texts to other students, whose task is to tell which one of them is a figment of imagination and which could be the truth. Students jointly agree on the basis on which this can be determined.

3. Reading of the conversation of Katarzyna Janowska and Piotr Mucharski with Jan Błoński. Then the students talk to the teacher about the text they read. Issues for analysis:

• Indicate the statements in the text proving why people want fiction.

• Describe the emotions accompanying the reading of the first book.

• What were the beginnings of literature according to professor Jan Błoński?

• Do you agree with the professor's opinion on image culture? Justify your opinion.

4. Students formulate a definition of literary fiction (ex. 3). Then they give the titles of the works in which literary fiction occurs. They justify their choices.

5. Identification of the characteristics of fictional and realistic literature. Students perform ex. 7 in the abstract – they assign literary genres to the two types of literature indicated. The teacher checks if the students can recognise the genres correctly.

6. Discussion around two ways of creating the world: fiction and truth. Supporting questions:

• Can fiction be close to the truth?

• Are genres based on facts, such as a report or a journal, really the closest to the truth?

Summary

The teacher asks the students what they have learnt today, if the lesson was interesting and asks them to evaluate their work. He/she asks questions to summarize, e.g.

• Is objectivity in literature possible?

• List the genres characteristic for the fictional creation of the world.

• List the genres characteristic for the realistic creation of the world.

• Why do we read books? What do we want to find in them?

Homework

Prepare yourself to the debate on the truth in literature. Join the group that defends the thesis that literature should describe the world realistically or to the group claiming that the literary works have the right to present imaginary worlds.

Gather arguments and examples of the literary works to support your arguments.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Truth and fiction in literature

Literature (prose, poetry, drama) is usually treated as something closer to fiction and imagination than to truth and reality.

However, inquisitive literature recipients know well that it is not entirely true, because very often in literature they search solutions for the everyday problems. Valuable books refer to reality but through the fictional stories.

Literary fiction is one of the most important determinant of literature. It is the author’s imagination figment and appears in all kinds of literature. Literature is usually placed between the pure fiction and documentary accuracy. When it approaches the second direction it is described as non‑fiction literature that is borderline of literature and journalism. Typical genres of non‑fiction literature are: diary, report, journey, novel‑documentary, journal, letter.

After reading fragments of conversation between journalists and Jan Błoński do the exercises.