Focus/Context

Part of the aim of the unit of study What a Story! has to do with showing students that "Everywhere you go, you will find stories that have been sung, painted, danced and cartooned, as well as those that have been told and written" (What a Story!: Magazine). Urban/Contemporary legends are one of the most popular kinds of narration but in the past they have often been overlooked and considered to have very little importance. Recently however, the fact that such elements help to shape culture in a very powerful way has become more understood in the land of academia, and therefore, options such as those studied during this lesson have become available to teachers and students. By the end of this lesson, students will have a greater appreciation and understanding for the kinds of texts that confront them in their everyday lives. They will be able to define a legend, and describe why a particular legend may be termed to be "urban" or "contemporary." In addition, students will have a heightened sense of criticism - they will understand that it is important to constantly question things and to not necessarily accept them at face value.

Specific Curriculum Outcomes

1. Students will be expected to examine others' ideas and synthesize what is helpful to clarify and extend their own understanding.
   
2. Students will be expected to ask questions to probe for accuracy, relevancy, and validity, and respond thoughtfully and appropriately to questions.
   
3. Students will be expected to respond critically to a range of texts, applying their understanding of language, form and genre.
   
4. Students will be expected to consider the relevance and reliability of information in texts they read and view.
   
5. Students will be expected to describe how cultures and reality are portrayed in texts.

Activities

• Students will listen and follow along as the article "Urban Legends," by Richard Wolkmir is read aloud.
  
• Students will participate in a class discussion about urban legends, comparing them to other similar kinds of narration (i.e. tall tales, legends, etc.).
  
• Students will listen and follow along as the urban legend "The Graveyard Wager," and other excerpts from The Vanishing Hitchhiker (provided by teacher) are read aloud.
  
• Students will participate in a class discussion in which, using what they have learned from the class, they will identify urban legends that they have heard from their own experiences.

Resources

• The Graveyard Wager collected by Jan Harold Brunvand (What a Story! : Anthology)
  
• Urban Legends by Richard Wolkmir (What a Story! : Magazine)
  
• The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings by Jan Harold Brunvand.