LESSON INFORMATION

Your Name: Mara Zornes

Grade Level/Subject: 3 / Reading (Language Arts)
Name of Lesson: Fairy Tale Perspectives
Strategy Used in Lesson: Graphic Organizer/Questioning/Evaluating Primary Sources
Length of Time Required for Completion of Entire Lesson: 50 Minutes
Materials Needed:
Get the Gist strategy template
video of the story The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith https://youtu.be/m75aEhm-BYw
Task page
5 documents : the Wolfs Letter, Wolf Research Page, The Three Little Pigs Readers
Theater script, copies of the story The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane
Smith, newspaper article: Verdict: Guilty! By Piggy Trotter
Graphic organizer for evaluating primary sources
Overview of Lesson: After reading 2 different versions of the story of the three little pigs, the original
story and the story titled The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, students
will focus on the concepts of perspective, perception, judgment and influence. After reading and
evaluating primary source documents, students must make a decision as to whether or not they
believe the Big Bad Wolf is guilty of destroying the Little Pigs homes. Students must develop their
argument and cite examples from document provided to support their decision.
What is the purpose of this lesson? The purpose of this lesson is for students to think critically about
documents by evaluating them based on the purpose of developing an argument and finding
evidence to support that document using primary sources. While doing so, students will also
develop an understanding of perspective and how it impacts how we see the world and how we judge
things around us, not just in fairy tales but in real life as well.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
As a result of this lesson, students will
KNOW:
The difference between point of view and perspective.
The elements of a story/fairy tale.
Perspective includes the thoughts, feelings, and actions of a character.
Students will know that stories are written in first, second, or third point of view.
UNDERSTAND:

Students will understand that every character in a story has a point of view.
Students will understand that perspective impacts how we see the world and how we judge
those around us.
Students will understand how point of view influences a characters behavior and choices in a
story.

BE ABLE TO DO:
Students will relate how point of view affects their daily lives.
Students will explore ways that point of view can change or affect a story.
Students will compare and contrast the point of view of two characters.
Students will compare and contrast story elements.
Students will be able to identify an authors purpose for writing.
Students will be able to describe what valid evidence is.
Students will be able to analyze valid evidence used in support of arguments in text.
Students will be able to do strategic reading in order to make meaning.
Students will be able to consider all perspectives and credible points and choose a side.

STEPS IN LESSON * (provide detailed information on all the steps involved in this lesson leading up
to and following the use of the strategy. Please provide enough detail in this section so that if I were
substituting in your classroom, I could conduct the lesson from this document.)
Step 1: The teacher will write the following essential questions on the board for students to think
about and discuss. Students will be given 1 minute their think about their answers to these questions
quietly, and then 2 minutes to discuss their ideas with a partner. The teacher will then ask 3
volunteers to share ideas with the class as a whole. These ideas can be their own or something they
heard their partner say.

What is perspective or point of view?

How does the point of view of the writer affect the story?
How does an authors perspective on a subject directly affect their purpose for writing?
How do readers know what to believe in what they read, hear, or view?
Can there be more than one point of view in a story?
How will a fairy tale differ when its written in a different characters point of view?

Step 2: The teacher will tell the students to think about these questions as they listen to and watch
two different versions of the story The Three Little Pigs. Make sure the questions are visible
throughout the lesson to refer back.
Step 3: The teacher will ask the class to use their prior knowledge and the Get the GIST template to
answer Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How and provide a 20-word summary of the original
story of the Three Little Pigs.
Step 4. The teacher will ask for 3 student volunteers to read their GIST summary of the 3 Little Pigs.
Step 5: The teacher will show students the following video of the book The True Story of the 3 Little
Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith - https://youtu.be/m75aEhm-BYw
Step 6: The teacher will ask students to compare and contrast the two stories, pointing out how they
are similar and different. Students should realize that the second story, The True Story of the 3 Little
Pigs, is told by the Wolf from his perspective and makes the whole thing look like an accident. Refer
to the essential questions again throughout this comparison.
Step 7: Tell students it is not their turn to decide whether or not the Big Bad Wolf is guilty of

destroying the Little Pigs homes. Tell students that they will read 5 documents in order to make this
decision. Inform students that as they read these documents, they will complete a graphic organizer
or chart that will help them evaluate the sources and make their decision. Student will then need to
write a paragraph stating their argument. Students must provide at least three pieces of evidence or
reasons for their argument, citing and referring to the document from which the evidence came.
Step 8: Provide students with the following information:
Goal: Your task is to analyze the provided documents. Each document should provide you with
evidence. Based on the evidence, you must decide whether or not the Big Bad Wolf is guilty of
destroying the First and Second Little Pigs home. You must use evidence from the documents to
support your opinion/argument.
Role: You are an investigator who is investigating the case of the Big Bad Wolf.
Audience: You must present your opinion/argument to your boss, the Chief Investigator.
Situation: A terrible crime was committed in Fairy Tale Land. Someone destroyed the First and
Second Little Pigs homes. They barricaded themselves inside the Third Little Pigs home scared and
frightened for their lives. Who committed this horrible crime? Investigators have named the Big Bad
Wolf as their one and only suspect! Did he commit the crime?
Product: Analyze the documents, choose a side, and write a paragraph, citing evidence from the
documents that answers the Big Question:
Question: In your opinion, is the Big Bad Wolf guilty of destroying the First and Second Little
Pigs homes
Step 9: Provide students with a packet that should include the Wolfs Letter, Wolf Research Page,
The Three Little Pigs Readers Theater script, the newspaper article: Verdict: Guilty! By Piggy
Trotter, and the graphic organizer for evaluating primary sources, and a page providing students with
the Big Question and space to respond. Make sure that 4 or 5 copies of the story The True Story of
the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith are also made available to students.
Step 10: Give students the option of working alone or with a partner. Students may work around the
room with clipboards.
Step 11: The teacher should rotate around the room listening to conversations students are having
with their partners and conferencing with students by asking the essential questions as they relate to
the story. The teacher should also be asking the following questions:

How does this (these) documents make you feel about the wolf? Why?
Do the Wolfs actions remind you of something that has happened to you or someone you
know? Where you or someone you know ever accused of something you didnt do?
What were your thoughts when you read each of these documents? Which documents stand
out to you the most? Why?
How do you think the events of the story influences the Wolfs behavior and choices? What do
you know about wolves and their nature that could influence the Big Bad Wolfs behavior and
choices?

Step 12: After completing the graphic organizer, students should make their final argument by

responding to the Big Question on the final page of the packet. Student must write a clear and
concise paragraph with at least 3 reasons with citations from the sources.

REFLECTION ON APPROPRIATENESS OF LESSON FOR GIFTED LEARNERS (complete this

section if you tried this lesson out in your classroom)
How is the above lesson appropriate for gifted students? What qualities of appropriate
curriculum and instruction for gifted students does this lesson follow, and where in your
lesson do you see these qualities?
I believe this lesson is appropriate for gifted students because it incorporates the infusion approach to
teaching thinking processes within content lessons (Parks, 2015, p.324). This lesson incorporates
critical thinking skills through the use of structured questions that ask students to reach a judgment
and utilizes graphic organizers to hold students evidence and guide their thinking (p. 324). Students
use their analysis skills to make a judgment about whether or not the Wolf is guilty, and they must
evaluate sources based on their reliability and relevance. Through the use of critical thinking, analysis
and evaluation skills, and higher order questions, this lesson is appropriate for gifted students.
In your estimation, did this lesson provide both rigor and joy for those students who engaged
in it? Where in the lesson were these qualities most evident (that is, what parts did students
find most challenging, and which parts engaged them most?)
This student provides both rigor and joy for students. This lesson is rigorous in that it asks students to
think about concepts and ideas that they do not typically associate with fairy tales: perspective,
perception, judgment, and influence. The higher order questions and thinking skills push students to
do more with the content than just consider the setting, plot, and characters of the story. Students
may also find it more difficult to apply these critical thinking skills to fiction being that nonfiction
usually provides a much richer context for critical thinking (Parks, 2015, p.319). This lesson also
provides rigor in that it asks students to draw evidence from text in order to formulate interpretations
and draw conclusions (p.319). Many students expressed frustration with this lesson because they are
accustomed to right or wrong answers and knowing whether they are right or wrong in their response
to a questions. Students found this task to be difficult due to the open-ended nature of the question
and the task. Despite the fact that students were frustrated by this, I also believe that it was engaging
for them as well. They were being challenged by a task that there was no clear-cut answer to and
where able to express their own thoughts, feelings, and opinions on the subject. Student were also
able to think about a well-known fairy tale in a new an engaging way. Students were provided with a
real-life decision by making a judgement about whether or not someone was guilty or innocent, in
addition to being provided with the opportunity to act like an investigator and solve a crime.
Why did you choose to use the strategy that you used in this lesson plan?
I chose to have students evaluate documents and draw conclusion about the fairy tales because it
involves critical thinking and reflective thinking. The students participating in this lesson are well
above grade level in with their reading abilities, which means their comprehension and story element
analysis skill are also above average. As a result, they needed a task that would be challenging,
rigorous, provide thinking instruction, and engaging, while at the same time incorporating the third
grade standards that focus on fairy tales (Park, 2015, p.326). I also chose to utilize graphic organizers
because students need a way to organize the documents and guide their thinking as it pertains to the
documents in order to help them develop their argument. I feel that teaching this lesson without the
organizer would be chaotic because students may not be able to organize their idea or understand
the purpose of the documents they are reviewing. The graphic organizer helps students to access,
organize, and display the information in order to evaluate the documents and make decisions based
on them (p.328).
Which students in your class responded best to this lesson? Describe their responses, and
why you believe this lesson was a good fit for each one.

I have one student who is diagnosed ADHD and two other students who struggle with writing. I
believe these students responded best to the lesson for similar reasons: the graphic organizer helped
these students to organize their thoughts and ideas, which they were able to then clearly and
concisely articulate into a paragraph. It helped these students to make connections between their
readings and their arguments and express it through writing in the form of a paragraph.
Was there a student in your classroom who had a particularly difficult time with this lesson? If
so, what might you do in the future to tweak this lesson for other students like this one to
make it more appropriate for him or her?
Two students had a particularly difficult time with this lesson for similar reasons: they are
accustomed to tasks that have one correct answer. One of these two students tends to rush through
assignments, answering questions as quickly as possible. With this assignment, he was not able to
do this because he has to take time to read and evaluate each document and complete the graphic
organizer. He also has to write a paragraph as a response as opposed to multiple choice answers
that he could quickly rush through. Another student had difficulty with this task because he could be
considered a perfectionist. This task made him very anxious because of the open-ended nature of
the question. This student asked me multiple times throughout the assignment if his answer was
right and if I knew the correct answer. He was last to submit his paragraph after re-writing it several
times because he was not confident that he was correct.
General reflection on the lesson: (that is, howd it go, howd you like teaching it, how did the
strategy fit in, what would you change, would you use this strategy again, etc.)
The last student that I mentioned in the previous question proves to me that I need to provide
students with more opportunities to complete tasks such as this one. Provided the opportunities and
given the chance to develop his critical thinking skills, I feel that student will become more
comfortable and confident in this abilities, and open-ended assignments will cause him less anxiety. I
believe this lesson went very well. My classroom was humming with excitement and discussion
throughout the lesson. I enjoyed teaching it because I could see that my students were engaged,
challenged, and excited about what they were doing. I also felt like this lesson provided them with
opportunities to improve their critical thinking skills I feel the graphic organized worked very well in
that it helped to organize, structure, and guide the lesson. I feel that this was a lesson centered
around inquiry and discover, and students learned a lot about themselves as well. When I teach this
lesson again, I will change it by adding texts at different, possible more complex, readability levels, as
well as providing students with some options or choice in the product they can create rather than just
writing a paragraph.

Primary Source Evidence

Document

Readers
Theater
Script

Wolfs
Letter

The True
Story of
the 3 Little
Pigs

Newspaper
Article,
Verdict:
Guilty!

Factual
Research

What
Who
When
Does it
type of created
was it
contain
source
it?
created?
any
is
factual
this?
evidence?

Why was What point

it
of view or
created? perspective
Who is
does it
the
convey?
audience?

How
What
does
evidence
the
does this
point of
source
view
contribute
effect
to your
the
argumanet?
source?

Get the GIST

Name ______________________________________________________
Fill in the 5 Ws and H.
Who:
What:
When:
Where:
Why:
How:
Write a 20-word GIST summary.
__________ __________ __________
__________ __________ __________
__________ __________ __________
__________ __________ __________

__________
__________
__________
__________

__________
__________
__________
__________

Whats the Verdict: Guilty or Innocent?

A terrible crime was committed in Fairy Tale Land.
Someone destroyed the First and Second Little Pigs
homes. They barricaded themselves inside the Third
Little Pigs home scared and frightened for their lives.
Who committed this horrible crime? Investigators have
named the Big Bad Wolf as their one and only suspect!
Did he commit the crime?

Directions: Using the various provided documents, you

must decide if you believe the Big Bad Wolf is guilty or
innocent. Each document should provide you with
evidence that will support your opinion of guilty or
innocent. Make sure to take notes on each of the
provided documents. These notes will help you
support your decisions in the final response.

Big Question: In your opinion, is the Big Bad Wolf

guilty of destroying the First and Second Little Pigs
homes?

Document #1
The Three Little Pigs Readers Theater Script

Based on the script, is the Big Bad Wolf guilty or innocent? What is your proof?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
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Document #2
The Big Bad Wolfs Letter

Based on the letter, is the Big Bad Wolf guilty or innocent? What is your proof?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
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Document #3
Story: True Story of the Three Little Pigs

Based on the story, is the Big Bad Wolf guilty or innocent? What is your proof?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Document #4
Newspaper Article: Verdict: Guilty!

Based on the newspaper article, is the Big Bad Wolf guilty or innocent? What is your proof?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Document #5
Factual Research

Based on your research, is the Big Bad Wolf guilty or innocent? What is your proof?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Big Question: In your opinion, is the Big Bad Wolf

guilty of destroying the First and Second Little Pigs
homes?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
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Evaluation Criteria for Strategy Applications/Lessons

This lesson plan

___ uses a strategy for gifted learners appropriately (that is, it combines the strategy with high-level
content). 10 points
___ is cohesivethat is, it is clear that all of the learning activities described in the lesson would
result in students knowing, understanding, and being able to do the lesson objectives outlined at the
beginning of the lesson. 10 points
___ is detailed enough so that a competent substitute teacher with appropriate content knowledge of
your area would be able to teach your class from this lesson plan. 10 points
___ reflects an understanding of the principles of appropriate learning experiences for gifted
learners.20 points
___ provides evidence, in the reflection piece, of the appropriateness of the learning experiences
outlined in the lesson plan for gifted learners (that is, you have made clear and explicit the link
between specific activities in the lesson plan and why they are appropriate for your gifted learners).
30 points
___ provides learning experiences that are potentially both rigorous and joyful for the population of
students for whom its meant. That is, it combines purposeful, high-level content with learning
experiences designed to engage and interest students. 20 points
___ reflection piece responds in detail to the questions provided in the reflection section of the
assignment. 30 points

General Comments on Strategy Application:

Points Earned for this submission:

/130