Turn ravens into swans, academically speaking, with a fable by Aesop and a narrative writing activity. The story a raven that is killed by his desire for white feathers is available to all readers as a short audio recording. After reading, writers create a happier version of the fable where the raven makes better choices.

Concepts

aesop's fables, narratives, active reading

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Help pupils grow by using the activity to conduct a writer's workshop on a skill such as dialogue, organization, or imagery
• Publish writers' creations on a class blog or a school newspaper 

Classroom Considerations

• Learners may need to review elements of a fable before completing the activity

Pros

• With an 8.6 Flesch-Kincaid readability score, the text is rigorous
  
• Downloadable PDF of the passage is available for classrooms without Internet access 

Cons

• Does not provide a rubric for the writing activity

Common Core

W.5.3.a W.6.3.a W.7.3.a W.8.3.a