What could be more fun to watch than a television show about fairytales, myths, and legends?
(Just make sure you provide a trigger warning before using this lesson in the classroom.)
Welcome to the world of Grimm and a lesson on the steps in the writing process.
This lesson is for use at the post-secondary level as the material may not be approved for use in K-12 classrooms. As with most of the lessons posted to this site, this is in the form of a Google slide presentation. As always, you have viewing rights.
You will need access to “El Cucuy,” Season 3, Episode 5 of Grimm. The run time for hour long shows, as the commercials are not included, is about forty-five minutes and I do show the entire episode.
*Normally, I show small parts of films, including documentaries. For this lesson, if you don’t show the entire episode the students may not get the point. Please review this lesson and watch the show before you teach it the first time. And you should absolutely feel free to modify/adapt to suit your needs.
The purpose of this was two-fold: to teach the steps in the writing process and to help students differentiate between academic and content vocabulary. Where necessary, I link to definitions. The links should open in a new tab.
Slide three contains the directions for a definition/example writing assignment. You will note that on the fourth slide I provide the students with a list of words from the Grimm episode. Ideally, if the student chooses to write about the show, they will use one of the words/idioms from the slide for their essay.
You will notice, however, that on slide eight, the sample thesis paragraph does not. Instead, the “idea” that the show is about revenge or abuse (two heavy terms) is the basis for the thesis.
I encourage students to discuss whether this works/does not work in terms of writing a definition/example essay. Is it too vague? Or does it give them room to critically think and write about the themes in a visual or textual reading?
For some students, this is challenging, and they decide to stick with one word, its denotation, and two supporting details. And that is perfectly okay.
Others, however, will take the risk and conceptualize the assignment in a different way.
Feel free to discuss with students the strengths/weaknesses of this lesson. And, as always, let me know if you have any questions.
Contact
