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Is That a Fact? A Comment on Modern Fables (Grades 9-11)
Master Teacher
Lana Parris
Time Allotment
One class period
Overview
This lesson should be included with a unit on fables. It can also be combined with Stephen King's essay "Now You Take `Bambi' or `Snow White' —That's Scary." Students will use the Internet to research and read different modern fables (also known as urban legends). After reading and evaluating these urban legends, students will share their findings and then write their own.
Subject Matter
English/Language Arts
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
- determine the validity of some content on the Internet
- write their own urban legends
South Carolina Standards
These Standards can be found online at Office of Curriculum Standards.
IV. C. The student will critique professional and peer writing.
1. Analyze the writing of others.
2. Describe how writing accomplishes its intended purpose.
J. The student will recognize, evaluate, and demonstrate variations in intent, purpose, and audience in written text.
Media Components
Web Sites
Urban Legends and Folklore is an archive of urban legends and net lore hosted by About.com.
Humorous Stories is a site that contains humorous urban legends.
Stuff and Things for You: Urban Legends rates urban legends like movies for content.
Animals. Urban legends about animals are located on this site.
When using media, provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction, a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites, or other multimedia elements.
Materials
Per student:
copy of Activity Sheet 1: "Urban Legends
Exposed"
Equipment
computer with Internet access
Prep for Teachers
Make copies of the "Urban Legends Exposed" handout.
Check computers for compatibility with Web sites
Bookmark Web sites
Introductory Activity
Step 1: Tell the students the following urban legend. Make sure that they do not know it is not true. Read it as though you are simply relaying information.
As told by Kayla Pruett . . .
This one was told to me by a former co-worker. And who knows, here in the South, home of fake tans and big hair, it might have happened.
A young woman was approaching her wedding day. She decided that she'd look better in her wedding dress if she had a little color, so a week before the wedding she went to a tanning salon. The salon staff, however, told her that for her own safety, she could only tan for 30 minutes a day. After she'd tanned for her 30 minutes, she decided it wasn't enough, so she went to another tanning salon the same day to tan. They told her the same thing. She still wasn't tan enough after that 30 minutes, so she went to a third tanning salon, and a fourth.
She did this for the next four days. Even though she was getting a little bit red, she kept thinking how good she'd look in her wedding dress.
The day before her wedding, she was found dead. Her internal organs had all burned up from the tanning beds.
Step 2: Have a discussion about the story. Guide the discussion by questioning students. Use some of the following questions: Why didn't the woman heed the warnings? Do you think she realized her mistake before she died? How important is vanity? Do you know anyone harmed by a tanning bed?
Step 3: Tell the students that the story that you read wasn't true. It is an urban legend. Urban legends sometimes have some basis in fact, but are not true stories. They have become more accessible as the Internet expands. What was once only told around a camp fire, is now shared by email. It is difficult to distinguish between the fact and the fallacy, much like the fables of the past. Also like fables, these urban legends have a purpose. They warn the readers of unseen danger.
Learning Activities
Step 1: Assign a computer to each student. Then assign each student a number 1-4 and give him or her the "Urban Legends Exposed" handout.
Step 2: Read the directions aloud and tell the students to begin their search.
Today you will be reading urban legends on the Internet. When assigned a number, use the indicated Web site and read the legends posted. After reading the urban legends, choose one and make notes about its content so that you can share the legend with the class. You should also answer the questions at the end of this handout.
(Note to Teachers: The answers to the "Urban Legends Exposed" handout will vary depending on the legend that the student chooses.)
Step 3: Circulate and help any student who may encounter technical problems.
Culminating Activity
Step 1: Ask some students to share their answers to the questions on the handout and share the legend that they picked.
Step 2: Discuss the details, or lack of details, of which urban legends are comprised. Use the questions on the handout.
Step 3: As an assessment of their understanding, ask students to write their own "legends" and share them during the next class.
Cross-Curricular Extensions
Math: Take an opinion poll of those who believe selected urban legends. Calculate the data and make a graph.
Science: Find science-specific legends and prove or disprove them using actual scientific data.
Community Connections
Students will research local legends by interviewing local residents, and visiting the city library. Compile a class book.
Student Materials
one computer per student
one handout per student
paper and pencil
FACEBOOK
YOUTUBE
FLICKR PHOTO
TWITTER
BLOGS
