From Benin to Birmingham
- Moving Beyond
Developed
By Gail Desler
As 6th graders, you will
soon be leaving elementary school and going on to the middle school
experience. What lessons and warnings would you want to pass on to
the next generation of 6th graders? What would they need to know in
order to survive life in your school's culture? What issues have you
had to confront on a daily basis? Unreasonable teachers? Demanding
parents? Play yard bullies? Fickle friends? Latchkey worries? Discrimination?
Task
Your task is to choose
an African tale and retell it as a modern tale. Your tale may give
future generations the confidence that they too can survive their
middle school years.
Use the following list
of questions to guide you in developing a storyline that illuminates
the historical time period:
- Setting - Where and
when does your tale take place?
- Conflict - What would
be a typical problem experienced by middle school students today?
- Protagonist - What
type of character or animal could best experience the challenges
of life in today's public schools?
- Antagonist(s) - What
type of character(s) or animal(s) would benefit from thwarting or
bullying your antagonist?
- Solution - How would
your protagonist use cunning and humor to overcome his/her problems?
- What is the message
of this folktale?
Evaluation
- Step One: Complete
a written script of your folktale.
- Step Two: Prepare for
your oral presentation. Your presentation will be evaluated with
the Storytelling
Scoring Guide.
