Watership Down Lesson Plan

More Stories Than Passages

Kind of Activity:

Performance

Objective:

Understand the significance of folklore in Watership Down.

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.9, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.7

Structure:

The rabbit heroes of Watership Down place great value on stories passed around through oral tradition. Each new storyteller may affect the way the tale is told, and since the rabbits do not have a written language, there is no 'official' version. For much of human history, oral recitation was the primary method of sharing stories; spreading culture, religion and/or morality tales.

As a class, consider how the development of print media (and later,...