A Short History of Story:

Evolution of Narrative Writing

Wendy S. Girnis

This is a writing unit for 3rd grade classrooms and will cover Common Core State Standards W.3.3, W.3.5, W.3.6, and W.3.7 for writing. The goal of this unit is to have students create their own written folktale or pourquoi tale after investigating the power of storytelling throughout history. Third grade students have difficulty revising and editing their own writing. This unit will help students edit their stories as they travel through the history of storytelling. Students will be introduced to a pourquoi tale and a folktale in whole group and will pick one type of tale they would like to tell a story about. In pairs, students will begin researching the storytelling methods throughout history. These methods will include body language, cave paintings, oral storytelling and finally the written word. Using these various methods, students will work with their partner, as well as individually, using a blended learning model, to produce stories that showcase the power of storytelling throughout the ages. Students will use the drawings, illustrations, and the elements of a folktale or pourquoi tale that was learned in class as a prewriting activity to help them write their own folktale or pourquoi tale.