Part of Lesson Plan: Aesops Flash Fable

Activity Overview / Details

To get started, students will need to select one of the fables to illustrate. See the attached catalog of Aesop's Tales or one of the numerous online sites that catalog the tales:

http://aesopfables.com/

http://www.umass.edu/aesop/

If students want alternatives from other cultures, have them search online for examples. The story they select should be:

1. Short: no more than a few paragraphs or even a single paragraph.
2. Use an animal or non-human as the primary character.
3. Have a moral.

Some alternatives might be Brer Rabbit from the American South or similar stories from early American folktales. Let students select a story that reasonates with them as long as they are able to articulate the moral of the story.

TASK: Students should review the stories using the below resources and select a story the they feel fits their needs or own philosophy. Once they have selected a story, have students read the story out loud in class and get feedback from other students on the appropriateness and applicability of the moral to today's society. Guiding Questions: Does the story still fit? Why do you suppose those animals are used to present the story? What symbols or metaphors are used to construct the fable?

Pick a few of the sample student animations to view and discuss as a class at http://www.umass.edu/aesop/

Examples:

http://www.umass.edu/aesop/content.php?n=1&i=1
http://www.umass.edu/aesop/content.php?n=6&i=1
http://www.umass.edu/aesop/content.php?n=6&i=2

We are attempting to create something similar with the addition of sound and voice narration.