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What Makes An American Legend?
Evalyn Walsh McLean loved to tell the stories about the Hope Diamond. The diamond's fame heightened the glamour of Evalyn's life, and Evalyn's flamboyance gave the diamond further notoriety. No records of the legend of the Hope Diamond have been found prior to Pierre Cartier's sales pitch to Evalyn. Yet since then, the diamond's history has become legendary.
How and why are legends created? Is the story of the Hope Diamond an American legend? Are their specific characteristics that American legends have in common? Using skills in creative writing, research and critical thinking, students will create their own American legends. This lesson will lead students to explore the following Life-long Learning Question: How do legends embody cultural ideals?
Grade Level: Middle to High School
Study Areas: Language Arts, Social Studies
Lesson Length: one to two class periods
Learning Goals
Students will:
1.define and explain the characteristics of American legends.
(Language Arts Standard 6)
http://www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks/standards/langarts/S6.html
2. explain how legends reflect the values of a culture.
(Social Studies Standard 1) http://www.ncss.org
3. use descriptive language to write a fictional legend based on contemporary cultural knowledge. (Language Arts Standard 2)
http://www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks/standards/langarts/S2.html
Assessment of Student Knowledge and Skills
Students will be able to:
1. determine common characteristics of American legends (see list below) by comparing literary works.
2. identify the purposes and effects of legends on American culture using the example of the Hope Diamond legend.
3. write a fictional legend that incorporates the common characteristics of American legends and is derived from an account of a contemporary event, person, place or thing.
Lesson Materials and Preparation
- view Treasures of the World, Program 2: The Notorious Hope Diamond and review this web site
- literature: examples of American myths (i.e. Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, Johnny Appleseed)
- research materials: newspapers, magazines, Internet
Procedures
1. Begin by asking the question, "What is a legend?" Brainstorm with the students and write their answers on the board or overhead projector. The students may respond with specific examples, such as a folktale or a particular person. Be sure to ask them, "Why is this a legend?" to encourage them to think critically about the characteristics of a legend. (Keep the answer on the board or overhead projector, because you will come back to these initial responses later in the lesson.)
2. To further define what is a legend, have the students break into reading groups and have each group read at least two well-known American legends, such as the tales of Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, Pecos Bill or creatures such as the Loch Ness monster or Sasquatch.
3. In their reading groups, have them use a Venn diagram to record similarities and differences between each legend. What literary elements of plot, character, tone or writing style are shared between the legends?
4. For each element that the students include on the Venn diagram, they should also write in parentheses an example of that element in the story. (For example: Exaggeration - Paul Bunyan was so big and strong that he created the Grand Canyon by dragging his pick behind him.)
5. Have the students come back together to determine key characteristics of a legend. Refer to their initial brainstorming about what makes a legend and see if they can add elements to refine their definitions. These characteristics could include:
- exaggeration
- mystery
- inspiration
- fantasy
- hype
- shared beliefs
- something unattainable or unknowable
- elements of truth
- fame or notoriety
- association with an important historical event
6. Review the legend of the Hope Diamond.
the diamond's notorious past, Cartier's savvy sales pitch, curses!
- Which legend characteristics most pertain to the story of the Hope Diamond?
- How does the legend of the Hope Diamond relate to its fame?
- How does a legend become famous?
- Who contributed to making the story of the Hope Diamond a legend?
7. Once you have analyzed the characteristics of legends and which aspects of the Hope Diamond story fit within those characteristics, expand the students' critical thinking to analyze the purpose of legends. Discuss with them the purpose of the Hope Diamond legend for the various people involved.
8. Remind students that the legend of the Hope Diamond seems to have begun with Cartier and McLean. Discuss what purpose the Hope Diamond legend served for the following people or entities:
- Pierre Cartier
- Evelyn Walsh McLean
- the Smithsonian Institution
- the American public
- newspaper reporters
- diamond merchants
9. Follow up this discussion by asking students to consider the effect of the legend on each of those people or entities.
10. Now ask students to think about how the term "legend" is used in our current American culture. How do we define a "legend" today? (i.e. sports star, celebrity, political leader, business figure, or event.)
11. Legends begin with a germ of truth, but over time are enhanced. Guide students to think about what will become a legend in our contemporary culture? There are several methods you can use to help the students create a contemporary legend:
- Students can consider what event, person or thing in existence today may become a legend for the late twentieth century. Find possibilities by reading newspapers and magazines, or by searching the Internet. (Particularly helpful for finding an American perspective, is to look at "year in review" issues of magazines such as Time, Newsweek and LIFE.) Have the students think about what important events have happened in the last decade that may someday reach legendary stature.
- Students may want to begin with something rather mundane and use their creative writing skills to elevate the event, person or thing to legendary status. For example, how can you make what you did last weekend an event of legendary proportions?
- Break students into groups and have them write "circle stories" to build a legend. Again, they can start with something very mundane, so the first sentence may be very factual about something that happened. The student who writes the first sentence passes the paper to the next student who writes a sentence to embellish the first sentence, and then folds the top of the paper over the first sentence and passes it onto a third student. The third student sees only one sentence on the paper, and so on. Read the entire story to the students to demonstrate how wildly the legend has grown.
- Students can research a "local legend," a person, place or event that people in the community talk about. It could be someone who inspires other people with his or her actions, or it could be a local legend about a haunted house or some other sort of mystery. Students can research the facts about the story and then write creatively about the legend that has developed in the community.
(Whichever form of legend the students write, it may be easiest for them to take the point of view of someone in the future, beginning with the phrase: "Have you heard the legend of ________. It is said that long ago...")
12. Encourage students to take creative liberties, as Pierre Cartier did, in embellishing their legends. They can follow the list of legend characteristics to guide the development of their stories. These characteristics can also be used for students to self-assess whether they have included enough characteristics to elevate the stories to the status of legends.
13. Students will probably want to share their contemporary legends, as they may prove very humorous.
Vocabulary
characteristics
exaggeration
hype
fame
legend
notoriety
shared beliefs
status
treasure
Web Links
Resources for learning more about American legends:
American Folklore Society
http://www.afsnet.org/
Encarta: Paul Bunyan
http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=04152000
Encyclopedia Mythica
http://www.pantheon.org/mythica/
Resources for learning more about the Hope Diamond:
Encyclopedia Smithsonian: Hope Diamond
http://www.si.edu/resource/faq/nmnh/hope.htm
Gem of a Story On-Line Activities
http://www.bsu.edu/teachers/academy/gems/activity12.html
http://www.bsu.edu/teachers/academy/gems/activity14.html
Extension Activities
Family Legends
Grade Level: Middle School
Subject Area: Language Arts, Social Studies
Another direction you can take the lesson outlined above is to have students investigate family legends. Ask them: Is there a story that your family tells again and again? Which elements of it seem true and which are more difficult to believe? Why does this story have legendary status in your family? Is it an exaggeration? Perhaps a grandparent has told about his or her wilder, younger days. What is the difference between the way people remember themselves and the way we see them now?
Students can write a family legend and consider the following questions: Why is this story a family legend? What does it say about my family? What does it say about the person telling the story or the person involved with the story? How is the legend similar or different from the way I see this person? How does this legend affect me and my beliefs? Does the story inspire me or caution me? What is the purpose of this legend for my family?
Provenance: Tracing the History of an Object
Grade Level: Middle to High School
Subject Area: History, Visual Arts, Critical Thinking
The history of an object from the time of its creation to the present is called its "provenance." This normally includes documentation about who created it, who owned it, etcetera. Often there is no documentation, which can create mysteries in an object's past. The Hope Diamond's past was not always well-documented, but each time the diamond "reappeared," experts were able to look at it closely and know from visual clues that it was, indeed, the Hope Diamond.
Have the students bring an object from home that has some mystery associated with it. Perhaps it is something that is owned by a parent or grandparent. Ask students to look closely at the object, to examine it like a scientist looking under a microscope and to record detailed observations. These detailed observations can serve as clues in a game to be played with the other students, in which players use the clues to deduce the history of the object. This could be the real history of the object (which the student has learned from the object's owner), or a history they have made up or embellished. The game could be designed as a board game, and the players could travel back in time until they find the original creator of the object.
The Long Range View of History
Grade Level: Middle and High School
Subject Area: Math, Science, History
The earth has been around for billions of years, but we tend to think about history as events that have occurred in the last few hundred years. This point is made very clear when the Smithsonian curator points out that the Hope Diamond's history most likely began three billion years ago, much earlier than its recorded human history. The Hope Diamond is a good example of taking a short-term view of history. A longer view of history not only enhances our understanding of the past, but also our responsibility for the future.
Have the students create a timeline that lays out the history of the diamond from three billion years ago until now. (Students should decide what increments to use to represent the passage of time. For example, if one inch were to represent one year, the timeline would extend 3,000,000,000 inches, or 250,000,000 feet, or 47,348 miles. How many times would you cross the Pacific Ocean if you were to travel in the same direction around the earth for 47,348 miles?) Have students fill in the important known historical moments of the diamond, from 1668 to 1999. Challenge them to think about the most creative and accurate ways to give concrete expression to how long three billion years is.
Follow up discussions could include: When have the important events in your lives occurred relative to the important events in the history of the world? Why might it be beneficial to have a longer view of history?
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