Critical Literacy in Action:

Fractured Fairy Tales

2013 Spring C&T 820 Gulinna

Linda A

Introduction

I hypothesize teaching in a 6th grade language arts class in Kansas.

I will encourage students to explore stereotypes in fairy tales. Students will revise the stories in their distinctive voices.

This thematic unit includes 5 sessions. Each session will last 50 minutes.

Rationale

Critical literacy not only helps students to develop critical thinking, but also encourages students to be active learners in the class. (McDaniel, 2004)

Multiliteracies designs learning experiences that “afford learners to the opportunity to develop strategies for reading and writing diverse textual forms, whether in print or medium of the screen” (Ajayi, 2011, p. 7).

“Critical literacy serves as a useful framework for conceiving and implementing a multiple literacies curriculum that has an explicit goal of social justice and equitable participation in democratic societies” (Larson, 2006, p. 322).

A multiliteracies perspective could transform ESL/EFL/FL instruction and assessment from “Language as Problem” to “Language as Resource”. Teachers can assess students’ literacy progress through e-portfolio and language portfolio. (Davis et al., 2005)

Target Student Group

My target students will be 6th graders in a middle school in Kansas.

There are 16 students in my class, 9 girls and 7 boys.

8 students are English only students. 3 students are from Mexico. 2 students are Native Americans. 2 students are from China. And 1 student is from France.

All ESOLs have been in the U.S. for one year. Their English language abilities are at intermediate level.

Unit Objectives

Discuss and analyze various stereotypes in society, such as gender, race, and ethics.

Develop critical thinking skills by learning to identify an author's voice to develop characters and the plot in his or her writing

Compose alternative viewpoints of a selected text

Adjust their use of language to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences for different purposes, while exhibiting style and voice to enhance their message

Unit Objectives

This unit will be aligned with the requirements of Kansas Common Core Standards for English Language Arts in 6th grade curriculum (Common Core Standards for English Language Arts)

This unit will also be aligned with Kansas Curricular Standards for Reading, Writing, and ESOL (Kansas Department of Education)

Session OverviewSession Topic Intercultural

Objectives Language Objectives

Stereotypes in fairy tales

Comparing fairy tales in diverse cultures in order to see the similarities and differences of the characters and plots, such as Disney Princess Collections

• Using past tense (e.g. “The Princess was locked in the tower .”)

• Offering suggestions (e.g. “Physical attractiveness should not be the only measurement of beauty.”)

Gender equality and social justices in fairy tales

Sharing fairy tales and cartoons, such as Paper Bag Princess, Pocahontas, and Hua Mulan, to analyze the differences between the stories learned in this session and the last one

• Using past tense (e.g. “The Paper Bag Princess went to rescue the Prince.”)

• Using perfect tense (e.g. “I have read similar stories in my home culture.”)

Differing viewpoints of the fairy tales

Identifying authors’ voices by discussing the similarities and differences of the stories that wrote from different perspectives, such as cultures, characters. (e.g., The Three Little Pigs, The Three Little Cajun Pigs, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs)

• Writing passive sentence (e.g., “The author wrote this story from the perspectives of the pigs.”)

• Compare/contrast (e.g., “The wolf was sneezing instead of trying to blow down the pig’s house.”)

Session OverviewSession

TopicIntercultural Objectives Language Objectives

Fractured Fairy Tales

Using Fractured Fairy Tales tool to create stories in their voices

• paraphrasing the plots in the original fairy tales.

• Using past tense (e.g., “The Princess found a pea on her bed.”)

• Writing S+V+O sentence (e.g., “The Little Red Riding Hood knocked the door.”)

Wrap-up and presentations

• Reading fractured fairy tales to the class.

• Creating electronic portfolios

• Using past tense (e.g., “The Prince kissed the frog Princess and turned to be frog too.”)

• Using perfect tense (e.g., “She has revised the story of Beauty and the Beast.”)

• Using future tense (e.g., “I will create a portfolio via Blogger; I will present my reflection papers in each session in my portfolio.”)

Target Vocabulary/ConceptContent vocabulary Academic

vocabularyCohesion words

fairy, stereotype, bias, gender, tradition, character, plot, trait, characteristic,intelligent, independent, brave, kidnap, fiancé, ungrateful, appreciate, affection, colonist, straw, brick, chimney, boiling, revised, prison, sneeze, Venn diagram, Fractured Fairy Tale, hooded cape, cloak, axe, presentation, e-portfolio, reflection, peer review, journal, interface, comment

describe, discuss, brainstorm, compareanalyze, list, contrast, distinguish, imply, perspective, vision, summarize, conclude, present, demonstrate, revise, adapt, critique, evaluate

Once upon a time, ever after, before, since, at last, compared with, since, eventually, besides, compared to, in contrast, overall, differ from, on the one hand…on the other hand…, then, while, when, in the end, overall, moreover, additionally, furthermore

Materials

Venn diagram http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/venn_diagrams/

Fractured Fairy Tales http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/fairytales/

A wide selection of fairy tales for reference

Blogger www.blogger.com/start?hl=en

Google Sites http://www.google.com/sites

Assessment

Formative Assessment

• In-class brainstorming activities and discussion participations

Summative Assessment

• Self-reflection papers, peer evaluation journals, oral presentations, and e-portfolios

• Students will have instructions and rubrics for each assignment

ReferencesAjayi, L. (2012). Video “Reading” and Multimodality: A Study of ESL/Literacy Pupils’ Interpretation of Cinderella from Their Socio-historical Perspective. The Urban Review, 44(1), 60-89.

Davis, K. A., Bazzi, S., Cho, H. S., Ishida, M., & Soria, J. (2005). It’s our kuleana”: A critical participatory approach to language minority education. Learning, teaching, and community: Contributions of situated and participatory approaches to educational innovation, 3-25.

Larson, J. (2006). Multiple literacies, curriculum, and instruction in early childhood and elementary school. Theory into practice, 45(4), 319-329.

McDaniel, C. (2004). Critical literacy: A questioning stance and the possibility for change. The Reading Teacher, 57(5), 472-481.