Don't be afraid to be afraid (LS-PL-50)

This lesson scenario is based on Europeana resources. It shows that creatures, beasts and also other creations of fear are elements of our culture. Because of the fact that the LS is built on achievements of literature, art and history makes it an interesting, interdisciplinary project and helps not to be afraid.

Being afraid: exploring the cause and mechanism through cultural heritage

This learning scenario is based on the Romantic and contemporary texts of culture, for instance: a poem, film trailers, songs and themes from films. You can extend it also to other contexts and periods of time, though. Exploring the causes and mechanisms of building scary scenes and pointing most of the reasons of using them in the texts of culture. In other words, it helps to understand and tame fear, as well as enrich the knowledge of culture.

During the lesson, students learn about different ways of showing fear and then try to explore other cultural texts themselves. The lesson combines elements of entertainment and didactics.

In conclusion, thanks to Europeana resources students can learn more about the ancient bestiaries. They can understand that all creations is based on human anxiety and fear. The main goal is to show that fear is an element of culture, and therefore that it is possible to tame it because it is created by human beings.

It is also a lesson of creativity and a chance of using newly learned information in practice

Key words: Beast, fear, cultural heritage, texts of culture

If you would like to know more about this learning scenario, click below:

LS-don-t-be-afraid-to-be-afraid-Rafał-Mazur-pdf Download

LS-don-t-be-afraid-to-be-afraid-Rafał-Mazur-docx Download

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The featured image used to illustrate this article belongs to the public domain. Click here to find it.

andreasgalanos says:

July 2, 2019 at 1:00 pm

What a wonderful LS Rafał! I really love it! Its main advantage is that it is based on students’ interests: most of my students are fascinated by fantasy novels and series (e.g. Game of Thrones) and especially by dragons and other imaginary beasts. I love the way students explore the element of fear, mystery, and suspense through art, music, film, and literature: a really helpful interdisciplinary approach! I have already decided I am going to implement your scenario next year in my Literature class after the necessary alterations! I am sure my students (and myself!) will love it and will benefit a lot from it! Well done once again! Very inspiring!

Rafał Mazur says:

July 11, 2019 at 9:28 pm

Thank you so much andreasgalanos. I’m so happy to hear that you like my LS. Good luck during implementation

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1. andreasgalanos says:
  
  July 16, 2019 at 6:35 pm
  
  I will keep you posted on how it went!
  
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dilajlapavletic says:

July 25, 2019 at 12:06 pm

Dear Rafal,

Perfect LS of yours! Congats! I like the idea of using stigma along with cultural elements, in educational purpose. Using group work in art, music, literature, film is a great start point for examining the problem and research it. It is something that they are familiar with and with this usage of creativitiy the goal of Polish Literature class is scored.
Perfect!

Sincerely,
Dilajla

danielaarghir says:

February 16, 2020 at 3:44 pm

Dear Rafal,
I just read your account very carefully and realised I would like to work with parts of it to teach my students about how to act responsibly when faced with frightening situations such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes etc. Thank you for the inspiration.
Daniela Bunea.

Ksenija Skoric says:

April 24, 2021 at 3:43 pm

Dear Rafal,
The title of your learning scenario drew me to read it in more detail. I was working with students on a SoI where they incorporated several elements that have to do with fear, so I wanted to study this better. My first assumption was that it was a topic from psychology, but it is logical that it is actually related to literature. I think this could be related to a lot more different subjects. I work in a vocational school, I teach tourism. This topic could certainly be implemented in the lessons I teach. It is associated with history and geography, and beasts, fear and stories about it are also a tourist attraction.
You wrote very well how LS is integrated into the curriculum, the goal is clearly indicated. Trends and 21st century skills are described in detail.
The Kahoot quiz is extremely interesting to me, I think it was the same for the students. Of course, it is difficult to fully predict the duration of each individual activity. It often happens to me that students do something much faster than I planned, but also much slower. Sometimes even the same activity in two classes is accepted completely differently.
Conversation in the next activity and using pictures from the Europeana platform in which everyone participates is certainly very stimulating. I really like the examples you used to work in groups. If I could be in one of the groups, it would certainly be the one that study the music. Phantom of the Opera is my favorite musical that I have watched many times, both live and online live during the pandemic. It does not surprise me at all that the students were very interested, the topic is close to them and there are many examples that they themselves, outside of class, study.
I would love to see students’ work on this topic, they are certainly very creative.
I hope this pandemic situation will pass as soon as possible so we can get back to class. This topic is extremely interesting to me and I definitely want to implement it in my class, but I think it would be much better and more interesting to do it live than in distance learning.
Congratulations on a fantastic idea and a great script!
Best regards, Ksenija

Don’t be afraid to be afraid (LS-PL-50)

Being afraid: exploring the cause and mechanism through cultural heritage

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