Fantasy Civilizations Day 3/4: Building Fantasy Worlds

1. Context: 10, general, rural

2. Broad, Lifelong Goal/s & Rationale: Understanding the inner

workings of society and civilizations is important for students. When they
learn how civilizations interact they can better look at and judge civilizations
in real life. Through creation and examination of their own civilizations,
students can begin to recognize the elements of societal interactions in
reality as well as learn to articulate these details through their writing.

3. Specific Daily Objective: Students will begin building a civilization

based on the environment they are presented with, setting up a situation
through writing. They will be expected to begin developing a detailed society
through collaboration in groups with guidance from the teacher.

4. Common Core (Ohio) Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3.A

Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or
observation, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a
narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or
events.

5. Assessment and/or Outcomes: Students will be required to fill out

an exit slip before leaving class as a benchmark of their first day in their
writing groups. The exit slip will be worth 5 points and graded on completion
and to ensure they are comprehending the direction of the assignment and
feel comfortable in their groups. Formative, informal.

6. Materials: Images for setting inspiration (Below), Fantasy Civilization

Handout (Attached), Fantasy Civilization Guide (Attached)

7. Methods:

Minilesson Categories:
Day 3:
Anticipation: The teacher asks students to identify their
favorite kinds of fantasy creatures and monsters. The teacher
writes the responses up on the board and asks the student to
explain any potentially unfamiliar creatures. (5 min)

Overview: The teacher reminds the class of some of the

features of animal civilizations and dystopian societies they had
identified on the previous days. The class discusses how these
different pieces can interact and create a whole society. (5 min)

Jackson Aukerman
Wright State University
Modeling: The teacher will explain that the class will be
understanding civilizations and how the interact better by
creating their own based in a fantasy world, not reality. The class
will be building their civilizations using fantasy creatures, such as
they ones they had identified at the start of the class. The
teacher puts up a sample of an arctic terrain setting. The teacher
passes out the assignment sheet for that days work (attached)
and discusses the requirements. The teacher then models the
requirements quickly. (10 min)
The teacher explains the species they chose for this terrain
and why. (Dragon chose for arctic landscape)
The teacher gives a basic physical description of the
species. (Large, scaly, typically lighter blue to blend with
environment, wings, claws)
The teacher explains how their species lives in the chosen
terrain image. (Dragons are larger and breathe fire to keep
themselves warm, have lots of fat to conserve heat, built
themselves warm caves in the ice)
The teacher explains how familys work in the civilization.
(Dragons have tight-knit families, mate for life)
The teacher explains how religion and worship work.
(Dragons worship multiple gods that they see as causing
the world to function)
The teacher gives an explanation of the society and
government functions. (Dragons have a council that makes
decisions for the tribe. Dragons live in broken up tribal
groups)
The teacher gives a few examples of games or
entertainment for the species. (Dragons have flying races,
ice melting competitions, hunt for sport)

Writing Workshop: The teacher divides students into their

groups that were decided on the first day. The teacher posts all
ten of the terrain settings (attached) on the board and asks each
group to come up and choose one picture to take with them to
their seats. Then, the teacher directs students to begin
brainstorming the requirements of the first assignment sheet.
The groups are required to fulfill all parts of the assignment sheet
and write a description of the species civilizations. The teacher
will emphasize that the civilizations should be as creative as
possible and diverge from human societies. The students are
reminded of the previous days activities, specifically the animal
societies they looked into, for inspiration. The students are told
they will be given the remainder of that day and the following
day to complete the writing. The teacher will circulate and ask

Jackson Aukerman
Wright State University
 any questions the students may have about the assignment. (25
min)

Exit Slip: The students will be given the last five minutes of
class to fill out an exit slip. The question will be written on the
board by the teacher, asking the students to self-evaluate how
they are interacting with their group so far. The question also
asks if the students believe they are contributing equally to the
project as their fellow members. The students will be instructed
to be prepared to continue working with their groups on the
following day. (5 min)

Day 4:
Writing Workshop: Students will continue to work on their
fantasy civilization description for the entire class time. The
teacher will distribute the Fantasy Civilization Guide sheet and
go over it with the class. The teacher will also emphasize the
thematic question, asking students to keep this in mind as they
write. If they have questions or concerns the teacher will be
there to help them with their writing. Once completed, the
groups will briefly meet with the teacher, who will inform them if
they have any further requirements or places they need to add
to their description. All groups must have their description turned
in by the end of the day. (50 min) (This activity was primarily
adapted from the book Teaching Adolescents to Write: The
Unsubtle Art of Naked Teaching by Lawrence Baines and Anthony
Kunkel.)

8. Adaptations: Students with an IEP or other needs could be given

more support in way of an assigned species or extended examples of what
goes in each section of the world building (society, religion, family relations,
etc). Gifted students could be expected to provide a deeper exploration of
their species, including more complex topics and nuances of the society.

9. Possible Problems & Solutions: Possible problems could be issues

with how the groups are set up. This would be taken into account after class
and not be allowed to interfere with the first day of important work. The
students would be traded around in groups early on only if all group
members were comfortable with the switch. The teacher would handle any
transfers between groups.

Jackson Aukerman
Wright State University
 Fantasy Civilizations Guidelines

Directions: In your groups, choose a

fantasy species or group to build a
society from. Be creative and use your
imaginations when choosing your group.
The setting for your civilization will be a
fantasy world similar in makeup to Earth
and based on the terrain picture your
group selected.

Some examples of possible species or

groups are as follows (Also refer to our
list on the board):
Dragons, Griffin, Imps, Nymphs (could be woodland, volcano, water,
etc), Centaurs, Minotaur, Werewolves, Vampires, Trolls, Phoenix, Mermaids,
etc

Make sure to be creative! Take the common stories behind these creatures or
groups and put a fresh spin on them. For creatures that appear somewhat
human stretch your ideas and make them look more like animals than
people. Once you have chosen your species, please write a description that
answers the following:

What does your species look like? Be specific and give a nice, detailed
description.
How does your species survive in this terrain? How do they adapt to
the environment and utilize it for survival?
What kind of family structure does your species have? Does it have
marriages? Are they arranged?
What, if any, religion and worship practices do your species follow?
What are the society and government like? What is the social
structure?
What are any other aspects of the species culture? Does it have
music? Games? Any forms of entertainment?

Make sure to think through all of these questions and any more that come to
mind. Work to create as solid of a picture of your species as you can. It is all
up to you, be as outside the box as you can. Try and make these civilizations
as far from the realities of humans as you can. This is your chance to go to
completely new places and make something that is entirely your own. Feel
free to add any additional information that you feel is important to your
species. Make sure you make them as expanded as possible and solve any
potential problems in your location. This will make the societies you create

Jackson Aukerman
Wright State University
engaging and interesting for your fellow students to learn about as we move
through this project.

Jackson Aukerman
Wright State University
 Fantasy Civilization Guide

Over the coming unit, we will be examining several aspects of how

civilizations exist and interact with one another. Below is the guidelines for
how we will be progressing through the building of our fantasy civilizations.
We will be examining the following question during this unit:

How should civilizations grow and interact with other groups who are
different from themselves?

Keep this question in mind as it will be our guide throughout our project.

Fantasy Civilization Parts

-Fantasy Civilization Descriptions (Basic building of fantasy unit, including

description of species)

-Fantasy Civilization Origin Myths (Myths of how your particular civilization

was built and where it originated from)

-Fantasy Civilization Hero Poem (Epic poem about a mythical hero in your
civilization)

-Fantasy Civilization Presentation (Groups will present their civilizations to

the class)

-Fantasy Civilization Interactions (Groups will interact with their fellow

civilizations through writing in various ways)

These various activities will all interconnect. You will be writing about the
same civilization you create from the first description and building upon it
with each writing assignment. Keep in mind that you will want to pay special
attention to the group presentations as the later interactions will depend on
your knowledge of all the other civilizations.

Jackson Aukerman
Wright State University
 Jackson Aukerman
Wright State University
 Jackson Aukerman
Wright State University
 Jackson Aukerman
Wright State University
 Jackson Aukerman
Wright State University
 Jackson Aukerman
Wright State University