Multimedia Study: How Sweet is that Fairy Godmother?

I'm not going to go through every element of a language curriculum you could hit with this unit, because I'd basically be copying and pasting the entire grade five literacy document. It would work equally well for any junior or intermediate class and could probably be adjusted down to grade three. You want a rich, engaging critical-thinking unit? This is it. (Copyright E. van Hiel, 2009. Go ahead and use any or all of the ideas presented here, but only I get to publish it.)

Resources include, but are not limited to:

Ella Enchanted, book first, supported by the movie if necessary;
Shrek II, movie and/or books about the movie for later reference;
Two or three versions of Cinderella from your school library (I recommend searching out a Grimm Brothers version and a Perrault version)
The Disney version of Cinderella, with its Bibbity-Bobbity-Boo
The Rogers and Hammerstein Cinderella

1) Lesson One: Introduction

Choose a Cinderella book that you think will be fairly familiar in its storyline to your students. Before reading, ask them to think about what they know already; get a quick story outline onto a piece of chart paper. Ask students to think about the character of the fairy godmother as you read, and especially think about the question: why does she want to help Cinderella? Introduce the phrase "character motivation," and explain it as the reasons a character has for acting certain ways. Point out that they're going to have to infer, because stories usually don't come right out and tell the reader why people do things.

As you read the story, stop at various points to let students discuss their thoughts (think-pair-share) and write them down on sticky notes or in notebooks. You might take more than one day for the read-aloud, if students are getting bored. At the end of each session, gather up students thoughts and get students to organize them and summarize them. You will probably get motivations like, "Cinderella's parents chose the godmother to look after their daughter, so it's her job," "She helps because she's a nice person," and "She helps because Cinderella deserves to be helped." (If you don't get this last one, do your best to lead the kids around to it, because the rest of the unit depends in large part on the concept of "deserving.")

Possible extension for older grades: consider the character of Cinderella. Why does she do what she does? Why does she do whatever she's told to do? What is it that makes her deserving of help in the Fairy Godmother's eyes? What is it that makes the stepsisters less deserving of help? Again, summarize into a few motivations that are easily posted.

2) Guided lessons: using the resources gathered, have groups in your class read, view, or both, at least two other versions of the Cinderella story. Their task is the same each time: examine the motivations of the fairy godmother (and Cinderella, if you did the extension.) They are to present to the class what they see as the three key motives of each character. As they do the presentations, have students discuss each one and summarize the main motives given so far. It is perfectly acceptable for students to repeat the motives other students already found, since they'll be worded differently and students are still going to have to compare them against all the others to figure out which ones are saying the same things and which ones are different.

3) Ask students to choose one more version of Cinderella to study (or show the movie Shrek II or Ella Enchanted to the whole class.) Ask students to compare and contrast (or if they're younger, do a Venn diagram - it's the same thing) the fairy godmothers and the Cinderella figures in two or three of the resources they've studied. They can use software such as Powerpoint or Smart Ideas to create a Venn diagram for display. Ask students to focus in particular on the motivations they found in the very first version of Cinderella they read, especially the one about "deserving."

4) Reflection questions: What qualities did each Fairy Godmother focus on when deciding whether or not Cinderella and her stepsisters deserved help? Analyze the Fairy Godmother's evaluation of Cinderella. Was each fairy godmother being fair, in your opinion? Why or why not?

Do other versions of Cinderella give different motivations or qualities that were valued? Why do you think those versions changed the story that way?

The answers to the reflection question(s) chosen can be presented in a variety of ways. For example, students could:
1) Write an essay
2) Stage a debate between a group of students, defending or charging the Fairy Godmother with unfairness;
3) Create a visual representation of their arguments, using computer software or making a poster;
4) Write a journal from the point of view of a character of their choice, explaining their feelings on being helped or not being helped, and whether or not they deserved to be helped by the fairy godmother;
5) Rewrite the story of Cinderella to reflect the qualities you think Cinderella should have shown;
6) Another format of their choice, provided it adequately answers the reflection questions they chose and you approved.

You may wish to make up a rubric with your kids ahead of time, that will cover the expectations you're marking regardless of the format they choose.