Sample Lesson Plans

This section of Dr. Lockett's website is dedicated to providing sample lesson plans for using stories and storytelling in Reading and Language Arts classes.  Visitors to this area can expect to see it develop slowly over time.  It is Dr. Lockett's hope to relate the lesson plans to State Learning Standards in his home state of Illinois.  The lesson plans will also include ideas for extending stories into other areas of the curriculum.

The lesson plans can be used with a wide age level of students. Teachers should plan to use only the parts of the plans that are appropriate for their students. S = Simple level, H = Harder or more complex level

• How the Finch Got Its Colors - (S) Vocabulary Development - Names of birds and color words,  (H) Comprehension - Teaching the skill of using a pneumonic to assist with comprehension and recall.  This lesson plan uses the pneumonic ROY-G-BIV to assist in learning the colors of the rainbow in order. The story is a folktale from Flanders.  It tells how the finch became multicolored.  The story would be very appropriate to use with discussions of good and bad behavior for a lesson on character education.  The text of Dr. Lockett's adapted story can be seen in the folktale section of the stories section of this website.
• The Little Red Hen
• The Mouse and the Elephant - (S) Sequence of Events and Vocabulary Development - Names of animals: dog, elephant, mouse, and lizard (H) Comprehension and Cause and Effect. The story is a folktale from Turkey. It tells how Little Mouse thinks he is bigger and more powerful than he is. Little Mouse thinks he scares other animals, including the elephant. They really move away from him for other reasons. Visitors to this site can find an adaptation of the story by Dr. Lockett in the stories section of this website.

Using storytelling to teach English Language Learners

The following Lesson Plans were developed as samples for teachers to use with Dr. Lockett's Storytelling DVD - Tales of Delight.  The DVD was originally designed to help teach EFL - English as a Foreign Language - in Taiwan.  The listeners in Taiwan are students of all physical ages - from the very young through adult learners.  Dr. Lockett told the stories on the DVD at a slower pace than he normally tells tales.  Words are emphasized more clearly.  The DVD is an asset to students in ANY culture who are trying to learn to understand spoken English.  Storytelling is one of the best ways to teach listening and comprehension of conversational English.  Retelling the stories helps the students to practice speaking English.

The lesson plans can be used with a wide age level of students.  Teachers should plan to use only the parts of the plans that are appropriate for their students.  S = Simple level, H = Harder or more complex level

• Cricket's Supper - (S) Vocabulary Development - names of animals and retelling story in own words, (H) Story elements - Setting, Characters, Plot and Sequence of story events -  The story is based on a little known west Texas folk tale.  It tells the story of elements of the food chain.  Dr. Mike Lockett has adapted the story to include information about animal families and animal babies in addition to the  elements about the food chain.  A recorded version of the tale is in the DVD Tales of Delight.  A free printed version can be found in the stories section of Lockett's website.
• How Bear Lost His Tail - (S) Vocabulary development - names of animals, Comprehension - being able to retell the story in one's own words,  (H) Sequence of Events and Homophones  A delightful Puppet Play of How Bear Lost His Tail has been created for this story by the Northwest Territory Literacy Council to help students practice retelling this story.  This story is toldin many different countries, just as the Cinderella tale and so many other stories.  Visitors to this site can find an adaptation of the story by Dr. Lockett in the stories section of this website and on Lockett's DVD, Tales of Delight.
• Little Red Riding Hood - (S) Comprehension - retelling the story,  (H) Compare and Contrast - Comparing story characters with characters in other stories, Dramatizing the story - Little Red Riding Hood is age old tale of how the young Red Riding Hood finds herself in conflict with a wolf that ate her Grandmother.  Dr. Mike Lockett has created a version of the story that is much less scary than the original dark tale told at the time of the Brothers' Grim.  Dr. Lockett's story is included in his DVD, Tales of Delight. 
• Monkey and Rabbit Together - (S)characters and plot, (H) verb usage (participles) Monkey and Rabbit is available in a bilingual easy-to-read picture book written by Dr. Mike Lockett, ISBN 978-986-6483-63-9  The story can also be found on Dr. Lockett's Storytelling DVD, Tales of Delight.  Another wonderful version of the story can be found in Dr. Margaret Read MacDonald's Twenty Tellable Tales.

     Mike Lockett and Dr. Margaret Read MacDonald at Tale Spinner Workshop in Normal, Illinois.  What a thrill it was for Dr. Lockett to autograph a book for one of his heroes - author of 60 + books, Dr. MacDonald.

• Magic Eyes of Little Crab -(S)Vocabulary development (names of ocean creatures) and role playing with stories to practice language development. (H) Learning about How and Why Stories

  The Magic Eyes of Little Crab is another easy-to-read picture book for young readers.  Look for the book at Borders and other bookstores - ISBN 978-986-6483-62-2 .  Dr. Lockett's book is English on one side and Chinese on the other.  An audio CD comes with the book to make the book more enjoyable for developing readers.  A different version of the story is available on Dr. Lockett's Tales of Delight DVD.  Still another adaptation is available (with a different title) in Dr. Margaret Read MacDonald's book, Twenty Tellable Tales.

• The Gunny Wolf - (S) Participating during the telling of the story and talking about story characters (H) Learning how to use pronouns, Learning to create a storyboard. -   The Gunny Wolf is an American folktale made popular by Librarian and author Wilhemina Harper.  Many versions of this story exist.   The popularity of Harper's version can be seen by looking on Amazon for the book.  Copies range from $180 to over $600 for collectible copies of the book.  Lockett's adaptation can be found in his DVD Tales of Delight.  Kindergarten-Lessons.com lists several nice activities to accompany the story. 
• The King of the Birds - (S) Vocabulary Development - Names of birds, bird sounds, foods for birds and more, (H) Learning about comparative adjectives.  The story is a folktale from Surinam.  It tells how Little Bird uses his brain to outsmart the other birds to become their king.  Visitors to this site can find an adaptation of the story by Dr. Lockett in the stories section of this website and on Lockett's DVD, Tales of Delight.
• The Seven Happy Villagers -  (S)            (H)    Visitors to this site can find an adaptation of the story by Dr. Lockett in the stories section of this website and on Lockett's DVD, Tales of Delight.
• The Three Little Pigs -  (S) Recall of story, Understanding Plot (H)  Understanding alliteration - Visitors to this site can find an adaptation of the story by Dr. Lockett in the stories section of this website and on Lockett's DVD, Tales of Delight.
• Why Clouds Are in the Sky - (S) Vocabulary development - names of foods, jobs (occupations)  (H) Improve FLUENCY through repeated telling an repeated readings and play with the story - Why Clouds Are in the Sky is adapted from a Hopi Indian tale by the same name.  It is sometimes referred to as Sky Food.  The creator provides food for people at the beginning of the tale.  The clouds are close to the earth.  People reach into the clouds to find the food they need.  Waste causes the creator to lift the clouds high out of their reach and causes people to have to work to get their food.  Visitors to this site can find an adaptation of the story by Dr. Lockett in the stories section of this website and on Lockett's DVD, Tales of Delight.  Dr. Lockett has also adapted the story into book format.  Why Clouds Are in the Sky will be published for younger readers by Santa Publishing (Taiwan) in 2012.  (A special note:  Many people believe that only Native Americans ought to be able to tell the stories that came from their culture.  Dr. Mike Lockett is 1/8 Cherokee.  He feels comfortable that he can retell the stories of his distant relatives and do honor to the Native American people.)
• Why Evergreen Trees Keep Their Leaves - (S) Vocabulary development - names of trees, (H) Use of "I" and "me" as pronouns and comparing characters in the story with the actions of people.  Visitors to this site can find an adaptation of the story by Dr. Lockett in the stories section of this website and on Lockett's DVD, Tales of Delight.
• Why Male Mosquitoes Do Not Bite -  (S) Pourquoi stories, (H) Cause and Effect and cumulative stories Why Male Mosquitos Do  Not Bite is a Filipino folktale.  It is a cumulative tale.  The story is on Dr. Lockett's Tales of Delight DVD.  A slightly different version is on Dr. Lockett's website in the storytelling section.