Unit Plan Overview

Unit:

Folktales

Teacher: Nathan Walters

Stage 1- Desired Results

Connections to Context:
-Builds on literacy and fluency skills.
-Embraces moral values and lessons
that have been taught at home and
school.
-Teaches behaviors that are needed
to be successful in our culture.
-Lessons taught through fables are
lessons that students have seen and
experienced in real life.
(How does this fit with students
experiences, the school goals, and the
larger societal issues? How does this fit
with the broader curriculum- what has
come before and what will come after?)

Established Goals
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.2
Recount stories, including fables and folktales
from diverse cultures, and determine their
central message, lesson, or moral.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3
Describe how characters in a story respond to
major events and challenges.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.5
Describe the overall structure of a story,
including describing how the beginning
introduces the story and the ending concludes
the action.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.9
Compare and contrast two or more versions of
the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by
different authors or from different cultures.

(What content standards and program-

Transfer
Students will be able to independently use their learning to
See what morals and lessons can be learned by fables.
Live out the morals learned from fables in their lives.
Identify parts of a story when they read or watch a story unfold.
Reflect on where they have seen fables lessons in action.
Identify fables when they hear them and predict the moral of the story.
(What kinds of long-term independent accomplishments are desired?)

Meaning
UNDERSTANDINGS
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Students will understand that
Students will keep considering
A fable is a short story with a moral or lesson. How do fables continue to stay relevant?
Fables are more than just a story and can be
What are some values and morals that are seen
taken with them through all of life.
in multiple fables?
The parts of the story (ie. Plot, setting,
What makes a fable?
characters)
Animals take on human characteristics in
fables.
(What thought-provoking questions will foster inquiry,
meaning- making and transfer?)
(What specifically do you want students to
understand?
What inferences should they make?)

Acquisition of Knowledge, Skill and Values/Commitments/Dispositions

Cognitive Objectives
Physical Development
Socio-emotional Objectives
The students will be able to
Objectives
The students will be able to
The students will be able to
Recognize the parts of a
Decide how they can live out
Preform a fable in front of
story.
moral that they have
their peers.
learned.
Identify common themes in
Create crafts to reflect
Identify where their peers
folktales.
characters in a fable.
have lived out morals
Understand how fables are
learned.
Write their own fable.
unique.
Gather a theme from a story.
Illustrate the setting of a Make a commitment to
sticking together.
fable.

Based on Wiggins and McTighe (2011) The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units and Van Brummelen (2002) Steppingstones to
Curriculum

or mission-related goal(s) will the unit

address?
What habits of mind and crossdisciplinary goal(s)- for example 21st
century skills, core competencies- will
this unit address?
Include source and identifying number)

Evaluative Criteria
-Rubric of final fable creation paper

(What criteria will be used in each

assessment to evaluate attainment of
the desired results?)(rubric required)
(Regardless of the format of the
assessment, what qualities are most
important?)
-The moral or lesson from the fable
-Knowledge of what a fable is
-Knowledge of parts of a story
-Thought about the implications of the
moral

(What facts and basic concepts

should students know and be
able to recall?)

(What discrete skills and processes

should students be able to use?)

(What values and commitments and

attitudes should students acquire or
wrestle with?)

Stage 2- Evidence
Students will show their learning by (summative assessment)
PERFORMANCE TASK(S):
Creating their own fable, including identifying all the parts of a story that are included.
(How will students demonstrate their understanding- meaning-making and transfer- through complex
performance?)

OTHER EVIDENCE:
-Various worksheets and activities throughout the unit as formative learning.

(What other evidence will you collect to determine whether Stage 1 goals were achieved?

Topic: Fable CreationSummative

Knowledge and
inclusion of parts of a
story.

No parts of the story

are identified.

Includes three parts

of a story. Example,
plot, characters,
setting.

Includes and identifies

all parts of a story
including the moral of
the fable.

Quality of work.

Writing is not legible

and cannot be read.

Includes one to two

parts of a story and
identifies them.
Example, setting and
characters.
Writing is very sloppy,
only a few words can
be read.

Writing and
penmanship is legible
and all words can be
read.

Grammar

No complete

Complete sentences

Complete sentences

Penmanship and
writing is extremely
neat. Attention to
detail was taken and
evident.
Complete sentences

Based on Wiggins and McTighe (2011) The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units and Van Brummelen (2002) Steppingstones to
Curriculum

Illustration

sentences. No end
marks are used.
Capitalization is not
done and incorrect.

are present. End

marks are sometimes
used. Capitalization is
done partially correct.

are present. All

sentences have end
marks. Capitalization
is done correctly.

Illustration is not
present.

Illustration is sloppy
and done in pencil.

Illustration is done
and colored in.

are present. All

sentences have end
marks. Capitalization
is done correctly.
Writer uses
paragraphs in fable.
Illustration is done
neat and with color.
Illustration includes
parts of the fable.

Stage 3- Learning Plan

-Multiple choice handout on fables and parts of a story

Pre-assessment- due __1 week before unit?______

(What pre-assessments will you use to check students prior knowledge, skill levels, and potential misconceptions?)
(Toward which goal does
Learning Events
each learning event build?)

Student success at transfer, meaning, and acquisition depends upon their

Progress Monitoring

(How will you monitor students

Based on Wiggins and McTighe (2011) The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units and Van Brummelen (2002) Steppingstones to
Curriculum

Acquisition
-Lesson 1, reinforcing parts
of a story. Introducing fables
and what makes them
unique.
-Lesson 2, more practice
with the same ideas above.
Meaning
-Lesson three as the
students learn what it
means to stick together and
start connecting dots as to
how these morals look like
as they are lived out in real
life.
Transfer

Lesson 4- student
preforming fables for
their peers and
discovering the morals of
their classmates fables.
Lesson 5-Writing their
own fable with a moral
they want to teach
others,

participation in these learning events

Initiating or Introductory Phase
-Lesson 1 and 2.
-Introducing parts of a story, what a fable is, what a moral is in a story and
how to decipher what it is.

progress toward acquisition,

meaning, and transfer during
lesson events?) (Formative
Assessment)

Their answers verbally doing

work as a whole class
Their ability to answer questions
in small groups and
partnerships (handouts)

Developmental Phase
-Lessons 2 and 3.
-Giving students more practice and hands on experience with fables and how
to determine a lesson from a fable.
-Also activities such as the ant craft and worksheets to help identify parts of
a story and the moral of a fable.

Their ability to get the

moral/lesson from groups
performances in front of class
(both verbal and on
worksheets)

Culminating Phase
-Preforming fables for their peers in lesson 4. Having peers decide the moral
that was told in the fable preformed.
-Lesson 5. Creating their own fable including all parts of a story and a moral.

(Have you included multiple means of representation, multiple means of

action and expression, and multiple means of engagement?)
(Are all three types of goals (acquisition, meaning, and transfer) addressed in
the learning plan?)
(Does the learning plan reflect principles of learning and best practices?)
(Is there tight alignment with Stages 1 and 2?)

(How will students monitor

their own progress toward
acquisition, meaning, and
transfer?)(Assessment as
learning)(rubric?)
Rubric for a potential project/art piece
on a fable

(What are potential rough spots

and student misunderstandings?)

Being able to differentiate a fable

from a folktale or regular story.
Knowing all parts of a story and
not getting them mixed up.
Discovering the moral from
stories that are not as explicit
about what it is.

Based on Wiggins and McTighe (2011) The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units and Van Brummelen (2002) Steppingstones to
Curriculum

(How will students get the

feedback they need?)

From me both verbally and on their

worksheets

Based on Wiggins and McTighe (2011) The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units and Van Brummelen (2002) Steppingstones to
Curriculum