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Unit I
Defining Terms
Lesson 2 Folk Groups
[Isleños] started naming every lake, every pond, for what they left in the Canary Islands. That's how homesick they were.
----Irvan Perez, St. Bernard Parish
Grade Levels
4-8
Curriculum Areas
English Language Arts, Social Studies
Purpose of Lesson
Students understand the characteristics of a folk group, learn about themselves and their folk groups, and write about a folk group that is meaningful to them. For another way to introduce the concept of folk groups, see Unit III Lesson 2, where students identify various folk groups within the school community.
Lesson Objectives/Louisiana Content Standards, Benchmarks, and Foundation Skills
- Students learn that everyone, including themselves, belongs to different folk groups.
H-1A-M2 Demonstrating historical perspective through the political, social, and economic context in which an event or idea occurred. (1, 2, 3, 4)
H-1A-M3 Analyzing the impact that specific individuals, ideas, events, and decisions had on the course of history. (1, 2, 3, 4)
H-1C-E4 Recognizing how folklore and other cultural elements have contributed to our local, state, and national heritage. (1, 3, 4)
- Students recognize how folklife is passed on and functions in people's lives.
H-1D-M6 Examining folklore and describing how cultural elements have shaped our state and local heritage. (1, 3, 4)
ELA-5-M2 Locating and evaluating information sources (e.g., print materials, databases, CD-ROM references, Internet information, electronic reference works, community and government data, television and radio resources, audio and visual materials). (1, 3, 4, 5)
ELA-2-M1 Writing a composition that clearly implies a central idea with supporting details in a logical, sequential order. (1, 4)
- Students are introduced to the concepts of insider and outsider.
H-1D-M6 Examining folklore and describing how cultural elements have shaped our state and local heritage. (1, 3, 4)
H-1A-E2 Recognizing that people in different times and places view the world differently. (1, 3, 4)
Time Required
2-3 days.
Materials
Students will need copies of What Is Folklife and Why Study It? and the students' journals prepared for Lesson 1. If students will use the printed rather than the online version of the photo, Crawfish Boil in Breaux Bridge, print and duplicate one or more copies. Print and duplicate the worksheets and assessment tools listed below.
Technology Connections
Internet Resources
What Is Folklife and Why Study It?
Thinking About Tradition
Adaptation Strategies
Crawfish Boil in Breaux Bridge
Student Worksheets
Folk Group Inventory Worksheet
Family Pictures Worksheet
Generational Music Communities Survey
Assessment Tools
Folk Group Essay Checklist
Evaluation Tools/Opportunities
Process
- Lists: How Folklife is Passed On; How Folklife Functions in People's Lives
- Folk Group Essay Checklist - completed by students
- Reflections in journals
Summative
- Folk Group Essay Checklist - graded by teacher
Products
- Lists: How Folklife is Passed On; How Folklife Functions in People's Lives
- Folk Group Inventory Worksheets
- My Folk Group essays
- Reflections in journals
Background Information for the Teacher
Review the Folk Group section in the Unit Introduction of Unit I Defining Terms. If you have not done so yet, read the entire Unit Introduction.
To Prepare
Think about your own folk groups, particularly that of "teacher," to offer examples. If the essays are written above your students' reading ability, refer to the Adaptation Strategies for ways to adjust and modify them to levels that students can understand. For another way to introduce the concept of folk groups, see Unit III Lesson 2, where students identify various folk groups within the school community, and prepare materials needed.
If students will be observing the photo Crawfish Boil in Breaux Bridge online, plan ahead to schedule individual students or small groups on classroom computers. Or, arrange for a large screen TV to be connected to one classroom computer for whole-class viewing. Viewing it in the school library may be another alternative.
4th and 8th Grade Activities
- Review the concepts and vocabulary presented in Unit I Lesson 1 What Is Folklife? with students. Remind them of the definition of folklife in the Glossary: "The living traditions currently practiced and passed down by word of mouth, imitation, or observation over time and space within groups, such as family, ethnic, social class, regional, and others. Everyone and every group has folklore." Tell students that in this lesson, you will focus on the "groups" that pass down living traditions.
- Explore students' understanding of the words "folk" and "group." On the board, make two columns. In one column, write the word "folk," and ask students, as a class, to tell you all the words they can think of that mean the same thing as "folk" ("people," "persons," "friends," "relatives"). Then, in the other column, write the word "group," and have them, again, come up with synonyms for this word ("members," "community," "crowd," "clique"). Combine words from each column so that students can see several different phrases for articulating the concept of "folk group." Discuss how a "friend crowd" might be different from a "people community."
- As a class or individually, have students read Part II Folk Groups of What Is Folklife and Why Study It? Tell students that a folk group is special because of the living traditions that the members share. They share these traditions because of their similar values and beliefs. Have them copy the definition of folk groups into their journals - "a group of people who share some identity and cultural expressions, a community," and, after reflecting on the definition, write down one or more folk groups that they belong to.
- Using your personal experience, discuss the folk group of "teachers" to facilitate discussion of the essay. Tell them some traditions that you have in common with other teachers. Be sure to provide information for each category used on the Folk Group Inventory Worksheet, which they will complete in the next activity. Ask them to speculate about the shared values and beliefs that teachers have.
- Distribute the Folk Group Inventory Worksheet. After reviewing the provided example, and working through another example together, ask students to complete the worksheet alone so that they can explore their individual folk groups. Have students read aloud the details of one of their folk groups. Point out likenesses and differences between groups and ask students how they, as individuals, differ from other members of their group. In other words, what traditions do they "resist" as well as "share?"
- Discuss the concepts of insiders and outsiders by having students observe the online or printed photo, Crawfish Boil in Breaux Bridge and decide which group they would belong to. Ask several students to explain why they would feel like an insider or outsider if they were attending the pictured function, or perhaps something of both. Ask what they think some of the shared beliefs of this folk group are. If desired, have students write their reflections in their journals.
Technology Connection: Have students find the photo in the Louisiana Folklife Photo Gallery. They will find the photo if they search for "crawfish boil."
- Have students read Thinking About Traditions for an example of one family folk group's shared values and beliefs. Ask them to think about (1) how folklife is passed on and (2) how folklife functions in people's lives, and write their thoughts about this in their journals. If necessary, write the two topics on the board for them to refer to as they write. Have several students share their ideas, and write several on the board under the titles.
- Have students select one of their own folk groups from their Folk Group Inventory Worksheets to write about in an essay titled My Folk Group. Review the Folk Group Essay Checklist with students to remind them what must be included.
- Have students evaluate their own performance on the My Folk Group essay by using the Folk Group Essay Checklist. Explain that they should rewrite the essay if they have not included most of the Quality Features, and that this is their chance to improve both their work and their grade. When the final versions of their essays have been submitted, use the Teacher column to grade the essay.
- Have students write reflections about this lesson in their journals.
4th and 8th Grade Explorations and Extensions
- Have students use their own classroom as an example of a folk group. Make a poster for the classroom about the traits of this folk group.
- Students can create a scrapbook of the folk group described in their essays.
- Connect folk groups to music by asking students to complete the Generational Music Communities Survey in Unit VI Lesson 3.
Unit I Lesson 2 Resources
Brunvand, Jan Harold. The Study of American Folklore: An Introduction. W.W. Norton, 1978.
Lindahl, Carl, Maida Owens, and C. Renée Harvison, eds. Swapping Stories: Folktales from Louisiana. University Press of Mississippi in association with Louisiana Division of the Arts, 1997. Order hardbacks from the Press, 3825 Ridgewood Rd., Jackson, MS 39211, 800/737-7788, $45 plus $5 for shipping and handling for first book and $0.75 for each additional book. Order paperbacks from bookstores, $25. Owens' overview of Louisiana traditional cultures and Lindahl's introduction to the state's oral traditions provide good background for studying the state's folklife. Some stories are online.
Oring, Elliott. Folk Groups and Folklore Genres: An Introduction. Utah State University Press, 1986.
Simons, Elizabeth. Student Worlds, Student Words: Teaching Writing Through Folklore. Heinemann, 1990. A teacher and folklorist, Simons offers background and detailed lesson plans for writing and folklore studies, including games and play, family folklore.*
Spitzer, Nicholas R. Louisiana Folklife: A Guide to the State. Louisiana Office of Cultural Development, 1985. Although out of print, this good overview of the state is available in many Louisiana libraries.
For additional resources, check the Louisiana Folklife Bibliography. If you would like a list of resources that only relate to this unit, select "Only General Folklife Studies."
* These resources are available from CARTS, 800/333-5982, or online.
Unit I Outline
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