Gifted & Talented: Fantasy Unit

This unit of work and accompanying series of lessons was designed for a class of Gifted and Talented students in year 8. They were studying fantasy fiction in their general English classes, and withdrawn for 2 separate sessions a week to focus on these extension activities.

This unit can be integrated into a fantasy unit or taught separately. Details are as follows:

• PBL, student-centred model
• Culminating product is a fantasy narrative fiction
• Lots of scaffolds, differentiation and stretch and challenge
• Designed as an introduction to understanding literary theory
• Built around fostering higher order thinking skills, critical and creative writing, and 21st century skills (collaboration, questioning etc).
• Research and digital literacy- some lessons require independent research and inquiry.

Lessons included focus on the following:

• Why have people dissed fantasy? Critical readings of Le Guinn and Tolkien
• Introduction of project and need to knows
• Process of creation: who was Tolkien and what were his methods?
• Introduction of complex terminology relating to fantasy world-building
• Breakdown of critical reading of “On Fairy Stories” and linking to ‘what is the purpose of fantasy?’
• How to build a convincing fantasy world
• How to create unique magic systems
• What are the ethical considerations of fantasy?

Originally, this powerpoint was made using Google Slides, and students all had their own digital copy. This is why some of the interactive “portals” (pictures where students can right-click and will be taken to a separate resource) link elsewhere. I have included the resources in a different form so that you can give these to students in hard copy form instead.