My Favorite Form

Age
9-12

Materials
Project triptychs, rulers, markers, scissors, construction paper. Three-part card material. Books as needed.

Preparation
Presentation One, and Presentation Two. Students should be able to group the literary forms into families, and have a working knowledge of the basic chronology of traditional forms and genres. They need to have worked with the three-part card material.

Presentation
—Today, we’re going to go back to our first presentation in the timeline of literature. I’ve kept a list of your favorite literary form. Now, I’d like you to write down your favorite book, the best book you’ve ever read. This could also be a favorite tale or story your parents read to you when you were little.

—Students share. Teacher writes down titles and student’s name.

—Let’s classify these titles according to their form. Teacher writes the name of the traditional form or genre next to the student name.

—Now let’s go back to the choice you made for your favorite literary form. Teacher reads a few of these back to students. Observe with students whether the form of the book is the same or different from the form they chose as a favorite.

—Why do you think you have an attraction to mystery, science fiction, realistic fiction, etc.? Have students share their ideas.

—Now, we are going to begin a project based on your favorite literary form, or the literary form of the book you like best.

—Show students the project triptych. Demonstrate how the top can be cut so that the “doors” of the project can be made beautiful. Show how title can be made across the doors, and that inside the triptych there are three panels to place pictures and information, one large in the center, and two narrow panels on the side.

—Decide with students some criteria for what they would have in their projects.

—For example: Use of definition card of their particular form from the three-part cards. A summary of the book that is their focus. For example, they might choose to study Fantasy, and use the book Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling. What are the elements in Chamber of Secrets, for example, that make the book a fantasy? Biography of author. List of books for further reading. Lettering. Make the lettering decorative and beautiful, using construction paper, colored paper, stenciling, etc. as needed. Graphics. Use drawings and downloaded graphics. Decide on how many pictures is the limit for downloads. Backing. When placing text, do we need to back the text with construction paper? Decide if you want to have the student each do their own projects or work together. I’d recommend having them each do their own, but they can support each other during the process.

Control Of Error
Apply the definition of their favorite form to an actual book, and to be able to analyze elements within the book that characterize the literary form they chose.

Points Of Interest
This presentation can reveal to the teacher something new about each student.

Purpose
This work prepares students for author study, and for a comparison of books in different genres.

Variation
N/A

Links
N/A

Handouts/Attachments
N/A