Description of Task: Day Two The teacher will guide the whole class in a discussion on the importance of West Virginia settings and setting that are county specific (Flatwoods, The Greenbrier, Central City, Dolly Sods, Seneca Rocks, etc.) Students will help lead a classroom discussion on how landmarks, culture, and economy can drive the plots of narratives. Divide students into groups and assign each one of the settings discussed above. Students are to create a brainstorm about how this setting could drive the plot of a narrative. Share out with the class and add details during the discussion. Description of Task: Days Three and Four Students are given a fourth ghost story to read silently. You may assign all students the same story, or differentiate as you see necessary. Students are then presented with the following prompt: You have recently been hired as folklorist for your local library to adapt a West Virginia ghost story for a children’s program. Rewrite the narrative provided using a local setting. Be sure to change elements of the story that are setting-specific to match local landmarks/culture/economy. Technology can be used to enhance the presentation. Students will submit their final adaptation to be graded with the attached Ghosts of the Past Rubric. Links and Other Resources: Student Materials: Copies of ghost stories such as The Tell-Tale Lilac Bush or the Greenbrier Ghost or collections such as Haunted West Virginia or Legends of the Mountain State: Ghostly Tales From The State Of West Virginia Related Websites: - This website contains an archive of dozens of West Virginia ghost stories. - This website contains stories from all over the state of West Virginia. Related Rubrics: Ghosts of the Past Performance Task Rubric 4 3 2 1
Setting Details The story contains many creative details and descriptions of the new setting that add to the reader’s enjoyment. The new details make the local setting unmistakable. The story contains some creative details and descriptions of the new setting that add to the reader’s enjoyment. The details make the local setting recognizable. The story contains a few creative details and descriptions of the new setting that add to the reader’s enjoyment. There are a few details about the local setting included. There is little evidence of creative details within the story. The local setting is not recognizable. Original Storyline Adaptation The reader can clearly recognize the original story sequence throughout the new narrative. The reader can recognize most of the original story sequence throughout the new story. The story wanders a bit, but is essentially the similar to the original. Some of the narrative seems familiar, but the reader does not recognize the original story sequence. No attempt has been made to relate the new narrative to the original story. Organization The story has an interesting exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and conclusion. The parts of the story make sense in the order they are presented without any gaps. The exposition, climax, and conclusion work well together, but could grab the reader’s attention more. There are a few problems with gaps and order. The exposition and conclusion are under developed and do not grab the reader’s attention. The story has gaps that make it hard to understand. The exposition is confusing to read. The conclusion is not developed – the story just ends. There are large gaps in the story events that make it hard to understand. Spelling and Punctuation There are few, if any, spelling or punctuation errors in the final draft of the adaptation. There are some spelling and punctuation errors in the final draft, but they do not impede understanding. There are frequent spelling and punctuation errors in the final draft that makes the narrative difficult to understand, The final draft has very frequent spelling and punctuation errors that make the draft difficult to read. It seems no proofreading has been done.