Do you know why woodpeckers have red heads? Why the possum has no hair on its tail? Why a cat has nine lives? Find out by downloading this resource that uses Zora Neale Hurston's collection Mules and Men as the basis of a study of folktales.

Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• To prepare readers for Their Eyes Were Watching God examine the dialect in several of the tales from Mules and Men using the provided pronunciation guide
• Audio tapes of Hurston reading some of the tales can be downloaded from Florida Memory

Pros

• Of particular value is the introductory mini-biography of Zora Neale Hurston
• The intro also includes summaries of several of the tales in Mules and Men
• The suggested activities can be easily adapted to any folk tale unit

Cons

• Rather than a unit plan, consider the resource a collection of activities that can be used with Hurston's tales or any study of folktales

Common Core

SL.7.1.a SL.7.2 SL.8.1.a SL.8.2 SL.9-10.1.a SL.9-10.2 SL.11-12.1.a SL.11-12.2