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Legend

Legend


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Definition:

A subgenre of folktales provides an historical story (before recorded history) about a hero, (protagonist), a people, or a natural phenomenon. Perceived to be true by the teller and listener, it centers around the lives and deeds of famous individuals, embellishing traits of strength and bravery.

Purposes:

  • To present models of behavior and ethics
  • To explain and transmit aspects of origin, life, culture, historical events, creation and nature to each generation of a culture
  • To illuminate positive character traits
  • To present a deeper truth

Characteristics:

  • Traditional story patterns
  • Historical basis, either secular or sacred
  • Good triumphs over evil
  • Challenges are overcome through tests or struggles, heroic deeds
  • Forms: hero myths, sagas, epics
  • Humans or animals acting like humans
  • Protagonist is human or personified with historical significance
  • Set in time period more recent than a myth

Themes:

  • Perseverance
  • Bravery
  • Strength
  • Kindness
  • Cleverness
  • Sacrifice
  • Good versus evil

Characters:

  • Human with positive character traits (e.g., hero; saint; well-known character of historical significance, e.g., Johnny Appleseed) as opposed to supernatural
  • Exaggerated character qualities
  • Personified characters with historical significance

Setting:

  • Historical time and place are integral to story
  • Recognizable regional, national, or international geographic settings

Plot:

  • Traditional story structure
  • Inclusion of miraculous events

Author’s craft:

  • Narrative elements
  • Embellishment of traits of strength and bravery
  • Patterns of traditional tales
  • Believable/possible
  • Establishes a focused purpose
  • Evidence of voice or suitable tone
  • Depth of idea development; evidence of reflection or insight
  • Elaborated, relevant details

Grade Level Instructional Scope for COMPREHENDING the Genre and Text of Legends:

Grade 2

Opportunities to Teach:

Grade 4

Opportunities to Teach:

Grade 7

Opportunities to Teach:

  • Story grammar
  • Patterns of traditional tales
  • Similarities between legends
  • Plot development
  • Characterization (motives, actions)
  • Time and place
  • Problem/solution
  • Story sequence
  • Purposes for illustrations
  • Metaphors and simile in characterization
  • Comparison of characters’ relationships
  • Comparing/contrasting key ideas
  • Cross-text similarities and differences
  • Questioning the text or author
  • Visualizing
  • Comprehension skills and strategies (before, during and after; summarize, infer, predict)
  • Narrative structure and elements
  • Purpose
  • Theme
  • Shared human experience
  • Role of dialogue (thoughts, motivations revealed) in characterization
  • Role of hero, anti-hero and narrator
  • Conflict, tensions, resolution
  • Theme
  • Manipulations to time (flash forward and flashback)
  • Techniques for creating suspense
  • Compare/contrast
  • Sequential organization
  • Questioning the text or author
  • Interpreting
  • Shared human experience
  • Patterns of traditional tales
  • Differences between myth (gods) and legend (human protagonist)
  • Comprehension skills and strategies (summarize, infer, connect, contrast, classify)
  • Draw parallels across time and culture
  • Visualizing
  • Narrative structure, elements, style and purpose
  • Exaggeration
  • How literature reflects life
  • Author’s use of literary devices
  • Antagonists/protagonists
  • Overstatement and understatement
  • Abstract theme or universal truth
  • Perspectives
  • Internal/external conflict
  • Issues from the text related to students’ experiences
  • Cross-text conclusions, inferences and syntheses
  • Comprehension skills and strategies (reread, summarize, conclude, infer, connect, relate, synthesize)
  • Visualizing
  • Interpreting
  • Shared human experience
  • Patterns of traditional tales
  • Differences between myth (gods) and legend (human protagonist)

Grade Level Instructional Scope for COMPOSING the Genre and Text of Legends:

Grade 4

Opportunities to Teach:

Grade 7

Opportunities to Teach:

  • Writing process
  • Audience awareness
  • Leads/openings to hook the reader
  • Developing the hero (traits of strength bravery)
  • Character roles
  • Planning the subject (theme)
  • Planning the overall plot
  • Descriptive passages
  • Developing conflict, complications, climax, resolution
  • Using dialogue effectively to accomplish writing purposes
  • Researching for details
  • Exaggeration
  • Writing process
  • Leads/openings to hook the reader
  • Planning the subject (theme)
  • Capturing the heroes’ “essence”
  • Plot planning and development
  • Descriptive passages
  • Audience awareness
  • Introducing characters
  • Replication of authors’ styles and patterns
  • Researching for details
  • Effective endings
  • Rising and falling action
  • Organization of events
  • Personal style/voice
  • Coherence
  • Literary devices
  • Developing traits of strength and bravery
  • Exaggeration

Booklists:

Access to the Documents:

Complete K-8 Genre Project
From the Michigan Department of Education

Complete K-8 Genre Booklist
From Kent Intermediate School District


Page last modified on February 05, 2009, at 11:47 AM