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The Pack contains associated resources for the learning experience, typically in the form of articles and videos. There is a teacher Pack (with only teacher information) and a student Pack (which contains only student information). As a teacher, you can toggle between both to see everything.
Here are the teacher pack items for Nineteenth Century Literature:
Overview In this experience, students are introduced to tall tales via the Paul Bunyan story. Then they read four brief excerpts from nineteenth century literature and comment on how each excerpt reflects the period. Finally they write an opening for a short story or poem that expresses life in the United States during the latter half of the nineteenth century. The short passages are from the following literary works: You can combine this history lesson with an ELAR lesson and have students read a larger portion of these works. You may choose to read the excerpts aloud as a class, or use a reading workshop model to support students with weaker reading skills. Estimated duration: 60 minutes or longer, depending on how you choose to teach the literature Vocabulary words: Objectives
There are many ways to learn about the lives of people who lived long ago. You can listen in a history class, read a history book, or look at old photographs. One interesting way to learn about events and people of the past is to read literature written during the time about which you want to learn. In this experience, you will read excerpts from a poem and three stories to learn about life in the United States following the Civil War.
Objectives
Do you know the name of the character shown above? If not, make up a name for him.
Ask students what they know about Paul Bunyan. If they are familiar with the character, ask if they know who created it or what genre his character belongs to. The Student Pack contains a recorded reading of the tale of Paul Bunyan.
The character’s name is Paul Bunyan. No one knows who originally told the story of Paul Bunyan. His story was popular among lumberjacks. He was known for his strength, speed, and skill. Tradition says he cleared forests from the northeastern United States to the Pacific Ocean.
The Paul Bunyan story belongs to a genre called a tall tale. A tall tale is a story about a person who is larger than life. The descriptions in the story are exaggerated to make the story funny. Tall tales were popular with storytellers in the frontier areas. After a hard day of physical work, people gathered together and the tall tales made them laugh.Ask students: What does the popularity of tall tales tell you about life along the American frontiers? The people lived a hard life and they were looking for entertainment. Their heroes—such as Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill—excelled at the same work as the settlers. Explain that this is one way in which the literature of the time reflected the American identity.
