• By observing each student working in small groups, you can redirect or reteach individual students or a small group having difficulty with an element of fiction. As you walk among the groups, have a list of student names and record anecdotal notes and data about students’ participation, knowledge of literary elements, and reading strategies (needs). Collecting the Comparing Folklore Charts and the extending activity will offer the opportunity to assess each student’s needs.

• Use the following checklist to evaluate students’ understanding:
  • Student demonstrates the ability to identify the key literary elements (setting, characters, conflict, resolution, theme).
  • Student can accurately compare/contrast at least three literary elements in multiple stories of the same genre.

Focus Question: How does understanding literary elements improve comprehension within and across texts?

Ask students to draw a picture of the setting in one of the versions of the Cinderella stories they have read. Display pictures around the classroom. Have students identify the stories based on the pictures.

Part 1

Hand out the Comparing Folklore Chart to each student (L-5-1-2_Comparing Folklore Chart_student.xlsx).

Explain to students that they will work in small groups to read another version of the Cinderella story and complete the Comparing Folklore Chart for their particular story.

Display the following stories and/or others from the list in the Materials section:

• Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper (France)
• Conkiajgharuna, the Little Rag Girl (Georgia)
• Cinderella (Italy)

Explain that these are different versions of the Cinderella story. In some ways, they will be like the two stories you have already discussed, and in other ways, they will be different.

Arrange the class into small groups and provide each group with a different version of the Cinderella story. If possible, have multiple copies of each version so that each student in a group may have a copy. Instruct students to record the title of their story in the second column on their Comparing Folklore Chart. After they read the story, instruct students to fill in the literary elements on the chart.

After the small groups have finished reading the story and completed the Comparing Folklore Chart, display the charts in the classroom. Have students do a “gallery walk” to compare the literary elements in each story.

Display the Cinderella Stories Chart on an overhead transparency or on the computer (L-5-1-2_Cinderella Stories Chart_teacher.xlsx). Discuss with students how literary elements have important roles in making a story complete and interesting. Ask questions such as “Why is it important to tell where the story takes place? Why is it important to have characters?” Continue this questioning for each literary element.

Ask, “What are the themes in the Cinderella stories?” (Don’t give up on your dreams. Be nice to everyone. Good things come to good people.) Lead students to discover that the theme in each version is similar.

Conclude the discussion by asking, “What can we learn about different cultures based on the similarities and differences in literary elements among stories of the same genre?”

Part 2

Explain that students will use the information on the Comparing Folklore Chart to produce a concise summary of a story. (The summaries can be written or presented orally.) As an alternative, display the Cinderella Stories Chart as an overhead transparency or on the computer (L-5-1-2_Cinderella Stories Chart_teacher.xlsx). Students may use information from the chart to complete the summarizing activity.

Have students work with a partner to develop a topic sentence to introduce the summary, for example, Cinderella was a brave person who overcame hardship by being true to herself and others. Then have students develop the summary by using the plot (conflict/resolution) to support the topic sentence. Tell students to list the most important events in the story, utilizing temporal words and phrases (first, next, before, after, last) to provide a logical account of the story. Finally, have students develop a conclusion that states the theme of the story.

Extension:

• For students who are ready to move beyond the standard, consider using the following activities, which may be done individually, with partners, as small groups, or as a class:
  • Rewrite the story by changing the personality of an important character. Then explain what happens to the plot as a result (for example, make Cinderella’s stepmother a kind and caring person, and the main conflict of the story disappears).
  • Remove a key event (remove the event of going to the ball and meeting the prince, and the whole story has to shift in another direction).
  • Have students who need additional practice find other versions of the Cinderella story or other folklore they have read, either on the Internet or in a book. One Web site is http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0510a.html. Have them identify the literary elements in their chosen version of the Cinderella story.