8th Grade Honors English March 19, 2015

Bellringer Read “From the Post Office” and complete the questions which follow. You have 10 minutes from the time the tardy bell rings.

Word of the Day dearth scarcity; lack of Mr. Walker’s class has a dearth of fun now that we’re reviewing for the STAAR test.

Lines We Love “The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.” ~T.H. White, The Once and Future King

Objectives Block 1 We will review Literary Elements and Techniques including story elements, literary devices and drama, poetry elements, and comparing texts. Block 2 We will begin a unit on Folktale as a literary genre. We will learn and review the characteristics of myths, legends, fairy tales, tall tales, and fables. We will make inferences and draw conclusions. We will understand and make important connections regarding the importance of folklore to cultural traditions around the world.

Literary Elements & Techniques Authors can use a variety of helpful and interesting techniuqes to write in many different genres. Authors use different narrators, sentence structures, sounds, images, language, and formats to craft their art. The result is a wonderful world full of different types of literature. Literature refers to all the artful stories, plays, and poems that have been written. When you want to read a piece of literature, you have a bounty of options to choose from— narrative fiction, historical fiction, drama, lyric poetry, epic poetry, haiku, and much more. In this lesson, you will learn about a wide variety of literary elements and techniques that authors use. Knowing these techniques can help you better understand the literature you read. These literary texts, or works of literature, become even more enjoyable when you know about how they are structured and what devices the writer used to bring the writing to life.

Story Elements Break into your study groups. Read pages 92—110. Working together, answer each of the questions. Take about 25 minutes to complete this activity. We will review them once you are finished.

Folktale As A Literary Genre Myths, Legends, Fairy Tales, Tall Tales & Fables ~or~ Cinderella, Zeus, and a big blue ox walked into a library!

What exactly is folktale? A folktale is a type of traditional story that tries to explain something, or which is meant to help people behave well in the world. Such stories usually are fiction-based with magical or supernatural elements, and they often are woven around talking animals, royalty, peasants or mythical creatures. Initially passed down through oral tradition, they were a major means of educating and entertaining prior to the development of printed materials and modern technologies, and they remain instrumental in preserving aspects of the culture in which they develop.

What exactly is folktale? Main Characteristics Exactly how to define what is or is not a folktale is subject to interpretation, but stories that fall into this category generally exhibit some very distinguishable characteristics, such as starting with "once upon a time" and ending with "and they all lived happily ever after." They traditionally feature fantastic elements or magic, as well as creatures such as giants, goblins, fairies, elves and dwarfs. They are usually fairly short, often taking just a few minutes to tell or read, and the plots often are melodramatic in nature, featuring a conflict between a hero and villain where everything ends happily, good triumphs and justice properly is served.

Folktale: Sub-Genres WoW04

Myths Folktale that is considered sacred and that attempts to explain how things came to be. Gods & Godesses No specific setting Good is rewarded, evil is punished Features magic or unusual creatures Often used to teach a moral lesson

Legends Folktale that is based on a real person or event. Everyday people Animals often the main character No specific setting Attempts to explain why or how something came to be Magic Sometimes teaches a lesson

Fairy Tales Folktale that usually includes magical elements and features royalty and animals. Setting almost always in castle or forest Good vs evil Magic Not the Disney version

Tall Tales Folktale that is usually humorous and usually considered to be untrue. Everyday people with superhuman abilities Linked to a real historical time period Problem solved in a humorous way Exaggerated details Tells about a person’s accomplishments

Fables Folktale that teaches a moral or a lesson. Often features animals acting like people. 3 or fewer characters Set somewhere outdoors Problem or conflict involves trickery Moral or lesson is often given explicitly at the end of the story

Folktale Quiz In which type of folktale would the good characters be beautiful and the evil characters be ugly? Answer: fairy tale

Folktale Quiz In which type of folktale might hyperbole** be used a lot? **What do we do if we don’t remember or don’t know what a word/term means? Answer: tall tale

Folktale Quiz In which type of folktale are you likely to find gods and goddesses used? Answer: myth/mythology

Folktale Quiz People often believe which type of folktale to be historical? Answer: legends

Folktale Quiz Which type of folktale is likely to feature characters who are elves, witches, or giants? Answer: fairy tale

Folktale Quiz Which type of folktale is likely to feature characters who are immortal**? **What do we do if we don’t remember or don’t know what a word/term means? Answer: myth/mythology

Characteristics of Folktale It is important to remember that many, even most of the characteristics mentioned cross over from one sub-genre to the next. Whether or not a particular story is a fairy tale, legend, myth, etc. is very often up to the interpretation of the reader. What is most important to know about folktale (or, folklore) is that it is ALWAYS an important part of the culture from which it comes, and that folktale exists in all cultures around the world. In fact, many of the folktales which are part of our own culture originated elsewhere and made their way to America with immigrants from those other cultures.

Today we... Examined Literary Elements & Techniques Learned about the characteristics of the literary genre folktale (or, folklore) and its various sub-genres.

Tomorrow We Will... Examine our first two examples of folktale while we observe a belated St. Patrick’s Day! Don’t forget to wear green and come ready to have some fun while we’re learning!