Native Americans are located geographically across the entire continent of North America. Their culture varies as much as their locations as they each have their own traditions. This lesson focuses on seven Native American groups and their folktales as they relate to generosity of the spirit...
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Unit: Generosity of Spirit Folktales
Even the smallest things, when shared, can be examples of philanthropy. In the folktale, "A Drum," a poor boy gives away his meager possessions when the need arises and receives a great gift in the end. The question of one’s being naturally generous is discussed. In the Palestinian folktale, "Ma...
Through four folktales from different parts of the world and wisdom traditions, learners will look at situations where characters were placed in difficult situations and had to make decisions which would extricate them from their problems. Learners will use decision-making to determine advice...
Using folktales from various American cultures, learners will determine which character traits are valued. They will also debate the advantages of "paying a debt forward" rather than "paying it back." Learners will also determine how stories move from one continent to another based on historical...
There are times when a person learns that it is better not to give a generous gift at all if it will be disrespected by the receiver. There are also times a person may realize too late that there is a cost for bad behavior. These occur in an Indian tale, "A Flowering Tree" and an Inuit folktale...
Sometimes you have to give up what you truly love to get what you really want. That can be a hard lesson when you have almost nothing. This lesson looks at who has the responsibility to be generous and what changes can come about because of one’s generosity. Through a second story one learns...
Unit: Cinderella Stories (The)
Students read an African version of the Cinderella story so that they can compare versions and increase their sense of story.
In this lesson, the class compares a Native American version of the Cinderella story with other versions. Students explore the character traits of good and evil characters and discuss the meaning of good character. Students demonstrate what they have learned about fairy tales by writing original...
Unit: Worthless to Priceless: It's all Relative
The purpose of this lesson is to plan and carry out a service-learning project in which students give something that is needed or wanted by someone else without any expectation of receiving something in return. They use the South Asian Indian folktale "The Drum" as a model.
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Unit: Cinderella Project
The purpose of the lesson is for students to compare and contrast two versions of the Cinderella story and identify philanthropy in the actions of the characters.