English Language Arts and Reading.4.9.A

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The student is expected to

demonstrate knowledge of distinguishing characteristics of well-known children's literature such as folktales, fables, legends, myths, and tall tales;

multiple genres TEKS talk image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--genres. The student recognizes and analyzes genre-specific characteristics, structures, and purposes within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse texts.

A teacher may wish to pair SE 4.9.A with SE 4.9.F and assess both SEs at the same time. For SE 4.9.F, students recognize characteristics of multimodal and digital texts. Place students in small groups and task them with writing a folktale. Assign each group a different mode of delivery. Examples might include creating an audio recording of a student reading the folktale, a live theatrical performance, a song, an electronic document using hyperlinks and features of the software, or a video depicting the folktale. As groups share their folktales with the class, ask them to identify the genre-specific characteristics that are present in the folktales. Then, have students discuss the distinct types of modalities used to present folktales.
 

Further Explanation

This assessment requires students to develop their own folktales that include the features that qualify a text as a folktale. Students demonstrate proficiency in this skill by going beyond identifying distinguishing characteristics to writing folktales that include appropriate distinguishing characteristics.

material written and produced to inform or entertain children and young adults
Students should explain the particular features that qualify a text as literary and give examples of those features. Students are expected to know why well-known children’s literary books such as folktales and fables are different from each other or how myths, legends, and tall tales, even if they share some commonalities, have their own distinctive traits. For example, students should know that a legend is presumed to have some basis in historical fact and tends to mention real people or events (e.g., the legend of Johnny Appleseed). On the other hand, a myth is a story that was never based on fact and typically includes supernatural elements (e.g., Greek gods).
a short tale in prose or verse that teaches a moral, especially a tale using animals and inanimate objects as characters (e.g., the tale of the wolf in sheep’s clothing teaches that appearances can be deceiving.)
a story, tale, or legend of unknown origin that becomes well known through oral tradition and repeated story telling (e.g., the Pied Piper)
a traditional story that provides an explanation for a cultural belief or a mystery of nature
a story about impossible or exaggerated happenings related in a realistic, matter-of-fact, and often humorous way (e.g., the tale of Paul Bunyan)

Research

1. Freeman, J. (2016). Story is king: how to be a great storyteller. School Library Journal, p. 40+. Retrieved from https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A453920020/PROF?u=tea&sid=PROF&xid=1ff34e81

Summary: The author uses storytelling to build reading skills, such as plot analysis and understanding characters. She provides concrete examples for storytelling in the classrooms and gives a list of 21 classic folk and fairy tales that can be adapted for storytelling.

2. McDonough, S. (2013). Playing with poetry: Figurative language in action. Practically Primary, 18(2), 27+. Retrieved from https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A334276548/PROF?u=tea&sid=PROF&xid=75cf65b2

Summary: As part of a lesson on myths and lessons, students are asked to produce poems about characters in the myths. In brainstorming exercises, students were given specific prompts to generate figurative language about their characters. The explicit focus is on figurative language as a narrative device.