Lesson Overview:

Students will write original fables using the stages of the writing process and, in small groups, perform their fables as skits.

Length of Lesson:

Three 45-minute periods

Instructional Objectives:

Students will:

• write to express personal ideas.
• pre-write, draft, revise, and proofread as part of a strategic approach to effective writing.
• focus on sentence form, word choice, grammar, usage, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.
• use the stages of the writing process: prewriting, drafting, revising, and proofreading.
• demonstrate grade-level proficiency in writing to express personal ideas by being able to do the following: choose a literary form, use its appropriate elements to create a complete whole; follow a plan in which ideas are logically ordered; direct writing to the intended audience; and frequently choose vocabulary to clarify and enhance the form selected using language purposefully.

Supplies:

• Copies of Aesop's Fables. (See Teacher References and Teacher Internet Resources sections for more information.)
• Copies of Jean de La Fontaine's poem, "The Fox and the Grapes" (optional).
• Image of Edward Hicks' painting, Peaceable Kingdom (optional).

Instructional Plan:

Reviewing the elements of a fable

Review the elements of a fable (characters, setting, events and moral) with students. Then ask students to write a paragraph showing why "The Fox and the Crow" or "The Fox and the Grapes" can be called a fable.

Review the writing process (prewriting, drafting, revising, and proofreading) and have students use it as they write their paragraph.

Pre-writing

Suggest that the students divide a piece of paper into two columns. In the first column, they should list the elements of a fable; in the second column, they should list the characteristics of their chosen fable that reflect these elements.

Drafting

Suggest that the students refer to their charts as they write their first drafts.

Revising

Students should work in pairs as they revise their drafts.

Proofreading

Remind students to check spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and word usage.

Work with students to develop a checklist or chart outlining the elements of a fable and the outcomes desired when writing a fable.

Updating a fable

Review with students the fables they have read. Before students proceed with writing steps, discuss different ways in which each fable might be updated (for example, the characters might be portrayed as animal characters in a television sitcom or cartoon show). As students present their ideas for updating the fable, write these ideas on the board to help the students who may have more difficulty imagining these fables in a modern setting.

Prewriting

Tell students to make these entries on a planning list:

• Characters (for example, a cat and a dog)
• Setting (for example, a vacant lot)
• Events (for example, a dog encounters a cat who has a piece of meat)
• Moral (for example, pick on animals your own size)

Encourage students to follow the order of the original fable or the order of events they listed and to begin writing a first draft.

Drafting

Direct students to follow the order of the original fable or the order of events they listed and to begin writing a first draft.

Revising

Have students pair up and help revise each other’s drafts, using the checklist or chart created with the help of the teacher.

Proofreading

Students should check spelling, capitalization, punctuation and word usage.

Writing an original fable

Using the stages of the writing process, have students write an original fable that teaches one of the following morals:

• Pride leads to a fall.
• The early bird catches the worm.
• Haste makes waste.
• A stitch in time saves nine.
• Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.
• Honesty is the best policy.
• You can’t judge a book by its cover.
• Look before you leap.

Before they begin writing, have students choose one of the fables and determine the point or moral, that it tries to make. If necessary, narrate a fable with animal or human characters involved in the situation in which the moral applies. Remind students that the the action of the plot leads up to the lesson of the moral.

When students complete the writing process for their fables, have them split up into small groups to perform the fables. The author of each fable should serve as the narrator, with other students portraying the key characters. Allow time for the students to rehearse.

Have students perform their fables for the class. If time is limited, each small group should choose one fable to perform.

Assessment:

Evaluate students on their written responses to the activities and on the completion of their original fable, as well as their participation in the small-group performance.

Extensions:

Writing a fable as a poem

Students read Jean de La Fontaine’s poetic version of "The Fox and the Grapes." Point out how La Fontaine uses detailed and specific word choices, as well as rhyming, to enhance the fable.

Have students rewrite Aesop’s fable, "The Fox and the Crow," as a poem, following the instructions on the accompanying Writing Activity handout.

Using art as inspiration for an original fable

Show students a print of Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks. Hicks lived during the optimistic years of American independence (1780-1849). His paintings depict an ideal world in which all creatures live in harmony. His "Peaceable Kingdom" is one of more than 100 different versions he painted to illustrate the Old Testament prophecy: "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb; and leopards shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them" (Isaiah 11:6). He gave his paintings to friends as tokens of peace and friendship to hang in their homes.

Ask students to study the print of Peaceable Kingdom and choose one or two of the animals pictured in the painting. Describe what human quality (or qualities) the animal or animals seem to have. Students then write a fable about the animal they have picked. As a prewriting activity, students list the important events in their fables and write the moral of the fable. After the fable is written, each student's work should be reviewed by a partner. Each student should comment on his/her partner's choice of details, and on the events and moral. Taking their partners comments into consideration, students should make appropriate revisions.

Sources:

Print

• de la Fontaine, Jean and Sir Edward Marsh (trans.). Fables. New York: Everymans Library, 2001.
• Zipes, Jack (ed.) and J. J. Grandville (ill.). Aesops Fables. New York: New American Library, 1992.

Authors:

• Kathy Cook, Teacher
  Thomas Pullen Arts Magnet School
  Landover, MD