Engaging Male Students: A Case Study

Here is the beginning of a study I will be doing as part of my TE 803 Common Assignment. I will be focusing on two disengaged African American male students in my first hour–in light of our 803 discussions of cultural capital and 804 discussions of male students and textual lineages.

Lesson Reflections

I haven’t uploaded my lessons in a while,  so here’s two and a half weeks’ worth:

January 21-25

January 28-February 1

February 4-8

 I will upload some pictures later–wish I had the cord right now!

Thinking Through Assessment Through My Students’ Eyes

In order to make this assignment most useful for me, I decided to twist it to resemble an essay my students will be writing at the end of this month.  They will have the option of choosing between four prompts.  I chose the following:  In your essay, your job is to put Macbeth, Lady Macbeth on trial for the murder of Duncan.  Develop an argument in response to following question: If the main theme of Macbeth is ambition, whose ambition is the driving force of the play—Macbeth’s, Lady Macbeth’s, or both?  Once you determine who is at fault for the murder, act as the prosecuting attorney for the murderer, and prove who they should be convicted of the crime.  Note: Because the answer to this question is not clear cut, you may find it useful to discuss Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s relationship in order to build your argument.  

1. Form an opinion:

While Lady Macbeth fueled Macbeth’s growing ambition to become king of Scotland, ultimately Macbeth’s desire for power was the driving force in the play.  Not only did he share his ambition with his wife and give in to her goading, but he was ultimately responsible for acting against the natural order by committing regicide, thus setting off a chain of unnatural events. 

1.  
   1. Five reasons: Macbeth’s ambition

                                                               i.      He begins to entertain the idea and shares it with Lady Macbeth in I.iii.                                                             ii.      He gives in to Lady Macbeth’s berating (I.vii.).                                                            iii.      He allows Malcolm and Donalbain to be blamed, giving him clear access to the crown.                                                            iv.      He plots to murder Banquo and Fleance in order to overturn the second part of the witches’ prophecy—without his wife’s suggestion.                                                              v.      He commissions the death of Lady MacDuff and her children.                                                            vi.      He leads Scotland into war without any concern for the state of the country or for his suicidal wife.

1.  
   1. Five reasons: Lady Macbeth’s ambition

                                                               i.      She goads Macbeth on in I.vii by calling him less than a man.                                                             ii.      She uses guilt to manipulate Macbeth by saying that she is going to measure his love for her by his willingness to become king (I.vii.38-39).                                                            iii.      She comes up with the plan to murder Duncan and plants the knives on the guards (I.vii.59-72).                                                            iv.      She encourages Macbeth to put on a façade in order to maintain his authority.                                                              v.      She is embarrassed by Macbeth’s behavior at the party. 

1. Audience:

My audience for this essay would be both fictional and real.   In the play, I might be trying to convince the people of Scotland that Macbeth was truly responsible for murdering Duncan—and is definitely not fit to be the king.  I might also be trying to prove the innocence of Duncan’s sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, since they were originally accused of murder, by proving that Macbeth was the real murderer.  Outside of the text, I would be trying to convince my teacher—in order to receive a good grade—as well as my classmates.   

1. Evidence:

My evidence for the people of Scotland would be the dialogue between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as well as Macbeth’s inner thoughts and actions.  Normally, these things would not be as easy to support, but in the case of this essay, that means I will be using textual support.  This evidence will also prove to my teacher that I have developed a well-formed argument based on my familiarity and engagement with the text.  In both cases, I will be looking for textual support that shows how Macbeth’s responsibility for Duncan’s death grew through the play.  For example, I would cite the scene where Lady Macbeth comes up with the murder—but Macbeth actually goes through with it.  I would also cite his the two soliloquies that appear early in the play (1) right after he talks to the witches, and (2) right before he murders Duncan to demonstrate that he had entertained the idea even without Lady Macbeth’s goading.  I would also cite his dramatic change after the murder, particularly his lack of remorse and his other murders to prove that he knew what he wanted and knew how to get it.  All of this things would demonstrate that Macbeth’s heart was set on being king—and knowing the people of Scotland and my teacher, the idea of regicide and murder would be unacceptable.  Ultimately, I need to paint Macbeth in a very dark light.   

1. Using Writing to Persuade:

I need to make sure I’m gradually building my argument.  I need to connect my audience to the essay from the start by showing them why they should care about reading my writing.  I should take a clear cut stand on the issue and should support that issue with three or more strong statements.  I should develop these statements with textual support and additional elaboration.  I should also paint Lady Macbeth in a more appealing light to make her a more sympathetic character; in connection to this, I should also address the counterargument.  Finally I should bring my argument to a close, being sure to come back to my original claim.  Besides following this process, I should also make sure that none of what I say is counter to my original argument.  I should also make sure that I follow proper grammatical and mechanical conventions to demonstrate that I am a reliable writer.  Related to this, I must also cite my textual support to show that I am giving credit to my sources.   

1. Outline:

Thesis Statement: While Lady Macbeth fueled Macbeth’s growing ambition to become king of Scotland, ultimately Macbeth’s desire for power was the driving force in the play.  Not only did he share his ambition with his wife and give in to her goading, but he was ultimately responsible for acting against the natural order by committing regicide, thus setting off a chain of unnatural events.

1.  
   1. Body Paragraph #1: Macbeth originally entertained the idea by giving into the witches’ suggestion, continuing to consider it and then sharing it with his wife. 

                                                               i.      Macbeth’s reaction to the witches’ prophecy (I.iii): 1.       “Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more:
By Sinel’s death I know I am thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman; and to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence
You owe this strange intelligence? or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.”                                                             ii.      Macbeth undoubtedly desires to be the king (I.iii): 1.       “If ill, why hath it given me earnest of success.”                                                            iii.      Macbeth commits to the suggestion by putting it to paper, sharing it with his wife, calling her his “dearest partner of greatness,” and asking her to consider it (I.v.)

1.  
   1. With full knowledge of the consequences of regicide, Macbeth responds to his wife’s goading and his desire for power by murdering Duncan—rather than following his conscience.

                                                               i.      Macbeth knows that killing Duncan is wrong as demonstrated in his soliloquy at the beginning of I.vii.                                                               ii.      He shares his doubt with his wife, but after she goads him, he decides to prove his manliness and love for his wife—as well as to fulfill his desire for power—but committing to murdering Duncan in the second part of I.vii.                                                            iii.      Macbeth killed Duncan: “I have done the deed” (II.ii.15).

1.  
   1. Rather than demonstrating regret for killing Duncan, Macbeth pursues his quest relentlessly.

                                                               i.      He allows Malcolm and Donalbain to be blamed for the murder, giving him clear access to the throne.                                                             ii.      He plots the murder of Banquo and Fleance in order to get them out of the way, anticipating the fulfillment of the second half of the witches’ prophecy. (III.i).                                                            iii.      He commissions the murder of MacDuff’s family (IV.i).                                                            iv.      He leads Scotland into war in order to protect the throne for himself (V.iii).    

Beginning Macbeth

This past week, I officially started Macbeth with my students. To a certain degree, I feel a great amount of pressure to plow through it since according to the pacing chart, we should have done it back in December–but I can’t do that to my kids. It’s not their fault that testing and snow days and block scheduling and more has slowly eaten away at our class time. And one thing I have definitely taken away from my own education is that often times a depth over breadth approach is much more productive.

But anyway.

I have tried to plan out our unit on Power and Ambition to make it manageable and to ensure that I am really scaffolding students’ learning–and interest-throughout the unit. This past week, our lessons built their general understanding of the plot of Macbeth through a rap song and predicting about the story–as well as by connecting it back to our previous weeks’ discussion of of power in society today and back in the Renaissance.

We also got up on our feet this week with some acting and playing with Shakespearean language (thanks Shakespeare Set Free!). This coming week, we will be moving through Act I, and my intentions are to develop their understanding of the characters, setting and plot. I’m also planning to bring in some of the vocab terms and literary terms, which I will build on the following week. Too much? I hope not…

For the characters and setting, we will establish this together as a class and will construct a character wall showing connections between characters as well as adjectives associated with each character. I’m hoping it will be a useful resource that we can continue building as we move through the play. For the setting, this is fairly straightforward–I can connect it back to our previous discussion of the Middle Ages, show a short clip of the beginning of Macbeth (a little teaser for later), maybe do a quickwrite about what they imagine the setting looks like and feels like, and make sure to emphasize the weather and darkness. I’m really hoping they connect with the imagery in the play since this will make it much easier to visualize and therefore relate to. Out of all of these things, the vocabulary part is the least interesting and most challenging part for me–and to be honest, may well have been neglected had we not discussed it recently with Of Mice and Men. I definitely see the importance of foregrounding new vocab and using it to build reading fluency–and like the fact that I can connect it back to our school’s increased emphasis on test-prep. Here’s what I’m thinking

Reference OMM Lesson: Day 1
Objectives: SW connect new vocabulary words to existing knowledge; SW use vocabulary words in context

1. [continue from yesterday...]
2. QW: What is/are the purposes of learning new vocabulary?
3. discuss their (students’) purposes in learning new vocab – in connecting this to reading a story – in connecting this to writing or speaking -
4. pass out vocabulary list – talk through each word – what does it remind you of? How can we remember it? How is it used in a sentence?
5. Show models of past vocab paragraphs – especially models where past students used words well together
6. Some writing time – use first 8 words in a vocab story or paragraph – due on DAY 3.

I like all of this; for my purposes I intend to adapt this and to do the following as a mini-lesson:

1. QW: What is/are the purposes of learning new vocabulary?
2. Discuss their (students’) purposes in learning new vocab – in connecting this to reading a story – in connecting this to writing or speaking -
3. Pass out vocabulary list – talk through each word – what does it remind you of? How can we remember it? How is it used in a sentence?
4. To build on the acting we did last week in class and that we will continue doing, I will incorporate word charades with words from Act I and II in the same vein as the TE 804 session from a couple weeks ago. Do I want to do this as a whole class activity? Or since I already have group work, have two groups prepare their versions of I.iii while the other groups prepare for charades? And then do the small group question activity with everyone after? Bridge this to a discussion of the rest of Act I. Then the Reading Check Quiz then begin Act II? This could work…

Another idea:

1. act out pages 4-6 (half of room watch Lennie, half watch George – students taking notes on observations of what actors do to bring the characters to life)
2. Discuss what we learn about these characters – what is significant?
3. Act out pages 13-15 – repeat above –
4. create 2 column character chart (character, description) to use as reading guide
5. predict about future –intro chapter 2: why is this chapter going to be important to the book? Why are this chapter’s events going to be important to George and Lennie (possibly tie to imagining yourself entering a new school – you are looking for who may or may not be good friends)

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While I have the two groups performing I.iii, I could have the rest of the class watching Macbeth, Banquo and the witches and creating a list of adjectives to describe them. Prior to this, we could return to a discussion of scenes i and ii and begin constructing a list of adjectives for Duncan and Macbeth. Then after the acting we could post the characters on the wall and then post some of these adjectives around the characters.

OR

 

1. assign key characters (possibly not George or Lennie) to small groups to become experts for: [half page handout: for your assigned character, come up with at least 2 pictures

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I could do the same thing after we move into Act II–we could construct our character wall since the major characters will be introduced by then…So I could save the character wall to aide our analysis of Act II towards the end of this week/beginning of next. My lesson for Mon/Tues could look like this:

1) Students will discuss the following question in their journal: What is/are the purposes of learning new vocabulary?2) As a whole class, we will discuss the students’ purposes in learning new vocab – in connecting this to reading a story – in connecting this to writing or speaking.

3) Pass out vocabulary list for Acts I and II; discuss how knowing this terms will aide their reading; talk through each word – what does it remind you of? How can we remember it? How is it used in a sentence?

4) To build on the acting we did last week in class and that we will continue doing, partners will receive a word from the vocab list and must prepare a short skit to illustrate the word. Everyone will have five minutes to prepare. Then the class will be divided into two halves; each partner set will present their short skit and teams will have a chance to guess the word. After guessing the word, they must justify their reasoning.

5) We will return to Act I with our new knowledge; we will watch beginning clip of Macbeth to discuss setting and what the setting of the play suggests about how the story will unfold.

6) In small groups, students will receive an envelope with instructions. They will either (a) respond to five questions and post their responses on the appropriate butcher paper, or (b) prepare a short skit of I.iii. They will have 15 minutes.

7) We will reconvene as a class to go over the answers to the five questions, using this to build our understanding of Act I.iii. We will also discuss the remaining scenes in Act I.

8) Our acting groups will perform their skits; during their performances, the remaining groups will be responsible for watching an assigned character: Macbeth, Banquo, or the witches. They must focus on two things (a) how their characters are portrayed differently in the two versions, and (b) how they would describe their characters. We will return to this discussion in the next class period.

9) Students will complete Reading Check Quiz I.

10) We will begin listening to/reading Act II in class.

HW: Students will read II.1-2; they must come up with a list of five adjectives for Lady Macbeth.

804 Thoughts for Today: Discussion Practices & Vocab

McCann Ch. 7: “Discussion that Extends Our Experiences with Literature”

Guiding Questions:

1. Why is authentic discussion so rare in a classroom?
2. What can we do to generate more authentic discussions–rather than lapsing into recitation?
3. How does participation in authentic discussions aide/increase students understanding?

• Authentic discussion promotes higher order thinking rather than simple recall or reactions.  It is founded on open-ended, meaningful questions, allowing students’ comments to set the agenda, and prompting students to elaborate and build on their responses.
• Our students are trained for IRE as the privileged speech genre in a classroom; how do we “untrain” them? (Sidenote: I need to take a look at Bakhtin again…)

Belief: Students should grapple with texts and engage in the process of inquiry through discussions.

Potential Process:

1. Prompt individual student responses (e.g., short answers, surveys, opinionnaires)
2. Compile responses and share
3. Invite discussion
4. Refrain from evaluating–let students take it away!

This is more or less the process I followed this past Wednesday and Thursday, and it went tremendously well.  Seeing it in “step” form helps me think about how to create future discussions of the same nature.  I want to talk to my students about that discussion and ask them to think about why they enjoyed it, why I allowed it, and how they were thinking during the discussion…

• Make it transparent that there are different types of questions–and explain why it is important to use different types of questions.

This makes me think about a comment Rob Petrone made in the past–why don’t we make what we do transparent to our students? Why do we make them guess?  I agree–I believe that we are teaching students how to learn and how can we do that without EXPLICITLY discussing it?  I feel like my students are much more engaged in–or at least accepting of–what we do in class when I explain my reasoning.  For example, today I gave my Period 2 a quiz that included five multiple choice and five short answer questions–and they GROANED since short answer questions were not typically used by my mentor teacher last semester.  I asked a few of them that I had again in Yearbook how the quiz went, and they complained about the short answers.  When I told them that they are more likely to get more points with short answer since they can give me everything they know in relation to the question rather than having to narrow it down to one out of four choices.  When I explained this–getting at the fact that short answer allows me to assess them more effectively–they were a little more accepting…

Idea: OAR (p. 79)–I really like the procedure used with this: discuss OAR with students, push them to explain their thinking to justify labeling different questions with O, A, or R, and then ask them to describe processes they used to find answers to questions to help them define the types of questions.  This really gets them thinking about their learning…

Belief: My job is to help students see how discussion can be a process of collaboratively “figuring out” or constructing meaning.

• Uptake involves turning a student response into a statement or a question in order to encourage further elaboration.
  • Restate student comment
  • Use student comment to frame question

Idea: Design student-run discussions (e.g., use fishbowl process on p. 84)Take Away: In order for a discussion to work, the teacher has to design key questions for the particular students and context–keeping in mind the students’ age, level, sophistication, interests, reading skills, social relationships, etc.  Then, use these open-ended, meaningful questions to push students in discussion, asking for elaboration and promoting uptake between students–without evaluating comments, etc.

McCann Ch. 8: “Joining a Big Conversation: Discussion and Interpretations of Literature”

Do my students realize that they read texts differently? That they see life differently?  That it’s possible to have these different views and to discuss them–without arguing or getting mad?  That sharing these views is beneficial to them?

•  ”Discussion about interpretations, which necessarily involves argumen, is crucial to understanding a text and to recognizing where one’s interpretation and opinions about a text fit into a broad conversation that has likely been sustained for years.”

Guiding Questions:

• How can teachers assure students that it is all right to argue, especially when discussion focuses on the interpretation and judgment about texts?
• How can teachers foster an environment in which students recognize that there are several reasonable and legitimate ways to read the same text, and where it matters how one has interpreted that text?

Idea: Use children’s books and guiding questions to prompt student to model academic discourse (p.89)

•  ”The controversies surrounding the text, or the notion that some critic might attack the text or its author, provokes students to care about interpretation, to reexamine their own interpretation, and to engage in serious discussion with others.”
• “Faced with the challenges, students are introduced to the world of literary criticism and intellectual academic discourse.” I love this–this is one of the million reasons I teach English…
• The reader’s “thought bumps into the wall of its own inadequacy”–THIS is learning.  Keep pushing your thoughts, beliefs, values–refine, reflect, build.
  

I think this chapter is full of a ideas that could build a complete unit on literary analysis…

Ok, shifting gears–

“Mastering the Art of Effective Vocabulary Instruction” (Janet Allen) 

Guiding Question: How do we make vocabulary instruction meaningful, engaging, and contextualized?

• How does having a large reservoir of vocabulary terms lead to effective reading, writing, and communication?
• What does it mean to know a word?
  • Four Stages:
    • I’ve never seen a word.
    • I’ve seen the word, but don’t know what it means.
    • I have some knowledge of the word and can use it in limited contexts.
    • I know the word–multiple meanings, uses, contexts, and word forms.
  • Teaching words (labels) vs. teaching concepts (ideas)
  • Surface-level knowledge vs. in-depth knowledge of words.
• How do we learn words?
  • Experiences, reading, direct instruction, multiple encounters in meaningful contexts, independent research, strategies.
  • Graphic organizers–familiar words, but incomplete understanding of uses (see  p. 94)
  • Choosing words for instruction is contingent on  whether they are important for comprehension, can be defined in usable terms, are useful and interesting, and whether they are of general interest, but are not crucial to the text.
• What instruction makes words meaningful, memorable, and useful?
  • Multiple encounters
  • Organized word walls (see “Portable Word Wall” on p. 97)
• How can we use vocab instruction to increase content knowledge?
  • Fill in the blank with less complex reading to build word familiarity
  • Possible Sentences activity
• How can we provide strategies for students to learn words independently?
• How can we assess vocab knowledge as a part of all assessment?
  • Concept Circles
• The value of effective vocabulary instruction
  • Language is power

Teaching With Inquiry: Days 3-4

This is my reflection after teaching this lesson to Period 1…

As I have been planning this current unit, “The Triumph and Corruption of Ambition,” I have been very preoccupied with thinking about how to design a cohesive inquiry-based unit. This has been very challenging due in part to the fact that we are just beginning to talk about this idea in TE 804 (although it is very much grounded in what I have learned over the past couple of years). In addition, framing my teaching around inquiry has been somewhat cumbersome as I attempt to merge the district expectations based on the pacing chart, my teacher’s expectations, and even the textbook with what I would like to do with my students. Granted, I realize that this is exactly what Jeffrey Wilhelm says many teachers say in protest, but I think thereis some grain of truth—how to you reformulate a coverage-based unit of study into one of inquiry?

 

Thinking about this takes me back to why I think studying English language and literature is important to begin with; we study language and literature in order to understand ourselves and our world better, to develop our critical thinking in a way that will aide our future growth and learning, to learn how to communicate. Therefore, these are overarching objectives that should be guiding all of my lessons.

 

Looking back at today’s lesson, I can see how I tried to push towards these goals—as well as towards my lesson goals—but definitely didn’t quite get there. In the case of today’s lesson, this makes me wonder if my goals for today should have been reformulated to focus on building students’ understanding of the Renaissance and then to use that to push them to think about the power dynamics and connections of the period in the next lesson (so maybe my goals were too lofty for one lesson?). At the same time, however, I definitely think that I didn’t weave my objectives into every step of the lesson the way I could have. For example, I could have explicitly told my students the lesson objectives as a start. I could then have come back to this to ask them to hypothesize how the opening activity would tie to the other activities in the lesson, to come back to the objectives and opinionaire after establishing the background information for the Renaissance, and finally to return to them at the very end after the discussion thread to see if we accomplished the objectives (and to do this as a group).

Another thing that I think is interesting about teaching with an inquiry focus is that I automatically do not have all the answers to my questions since they are not clear cut and that I am learning right along with my students. This could have been a valuable tool to tie into my lesson today—to say to my students that I need help answering a question: “How do the power dynamics during the Renaissance connect to other events and movements during the period?” Then together, we could answer the question; while I certainly have my own ideas and opinions, my students could know that I value their contributions as we examine this together. This also makes me think that rather than telling my students the specific objectives for the day, I could frame the objectives as questions—and I could come back to this question throughout the lesson and build on our thoughts about it (e.g., have a butcher paper on the side of the board that we keep adding to). This would build continuity throughout the lesson and push towards higher order thinking.

After Period 7 and 2…Reflecting on Period 1 really helped to think more thoroughly about the kinds of questions I needed to ask to push my students further in their thinking–particularly after my discussion with field instructor. Based on our discussion and this reflection, I knew I need to think about how to make connections in my instruction between the activities (or rather to have the students make connections), to make my objectives more transparent, and to force the students to do the thinking. I have to be honest–I’m soooooooo proud of my Period 7 and Period 2 kids after our lesson–I wish I videotaped our large group discussion based on the opinionaire question activity. They were all so engaged and were doing such a fantastic job of building off each other; they were connecting personal experiences, mentioning the text, thinking critically–man, it was so good. And they all told me after how much they enjoyed the lesson. It’s really making me tear up right now… Knowing how well it went, I know it’s critical for me to reflect on today if I want to make it a part of my lessons regularly. For one, I think the gateway activity was so important; it was exciting and fun–and the kids could really connect to it personally. Even though it went longer than I would have liked in all three of my classes (taking up about 45-60 minutes), I feel like it established an excellent foundation for the rest of the lesson. And I can use to build off in future lessons. I think it also helped that I told all of them that they would have to contribute at some point–and that I would call on them randomly towards the end if I didn’t hear from them. I also told them what my objective was after the activity–to bridge their understanding of power to the period we were studying. I gave high fives when they brought in the text and told them how happy they would make me if they kept doing it. The discussion after that continued to carry this momentum, even though we were talking about a less familiar and less personal topic, the Renaissance. But they all had something to build off of…. The bell is going to ring in a moment and I know that no matter how much I write, I won’t be able to capture yesterday and today’s lesson here. But I just want to be able to look back on this entry when I have much less encouraging days–and to be able to smile.

Teaching With Inquiry: Day 1

I started teaching again today, and overall it went fairly well–although I have definitely learned a few things. For one, I am simply not a morning person. And neither are my Period 1 students. This dynamic makes first hour seem really difficult for me. There were moments during my lesson and especially afterwards where I was trying to figure out what wasn’t working. We didn’t get through two activities that I felt were very important–largely in framing our work for the upcoming lessons, but at the time, they seemed like the easiest to get rid of. I’m also wondering how much was my fault in terms of not making my expectations clear cut. Basically, we were starting this new unit about power and ambition with a focus on the Renaissance and Macbeth. I was hoping that they would walk away today thinking about how much drama there was during the Renaissance. And I think they walked away more confused by all of the names and relationships. Granted, I don’t think this was everyone; but I know it was at least one student, who I’m sure represents others. I was planning to come back to this anyway in the next class period because I recognize how mystifying it can be at first, but I still feel like first hour didn’t quite hit the mark in terms of my lesson. So we need to come back to this on Wednesday before we can move on. Fortunately for my self esteem, Period 7 went much, much better. Maybe it’s because their brains were already going. As a side note, this makes me wonder how I need adjust my teaching first thing in the morning. I wonder if I’m simply more frazzled in the morning and if this projects onto my students…is my demeanor different? My classroom management? I need tips on on how to de-fog my brain first thing in the morning (coffee doesn’t seem to be sufficient).   Here’s my lesso and reflection  for January 14-15…

Subject two: I’m trying my hand at creating an opinionaire about power and ambition; I’m going to make it a little more active by posting the quotes around the room and having students write agree or disagree on the poster. Then they will choose one to write about in their journal. I’m hoping this will work especially well in first hour since (1) it’s interactive and gets them on their feet; and (2) will give them a chance to talk during discussion. I’m excited about how it will go–and look forward to building on it for our unit. I need to make sure I keep in mind Wilhelm’s tip to frame why this activity is important.

English 7: Semester Goals and Upcoming Unit

Over the next semester, I am responsible for accomplishing the following with my students:

Reading:

• Macbeth
• Shakespearean sonnets (?)
• Excerpts from KJ Bible
• Gulliver’s Travels
• “A Modest Proposal”

Tasks:

• Soliloquy
• Group Newspaper
• Literary Analysis Essay
• Comparing concepts of love
• Describe a good Samaritan
• Compare two versions of Psalm 23
• Writing about the release from captivity
• Editorial essay
• An ironic modest proposal
• Writing a handbook; oral presentation
• Research paper

What are my goals for students?

• My students will be able to draw connections between the time periods we have studied and how the literature composed during this periods reflects those periods’ beliefs, values, etc.
• My students will be able to see the big picture development of the English language and English literature from the Anglo Saxon period to today.
• My students will understand the power of language and literature to influence society and culture.
• My students will view themselves as writers who are familiar with a variety of genres and techniques; they will see themselves as legitimate, published writers.

Essentially, all of these goals are connected–almost sequenced. These are reasons I think it is important to study these texts and to study them within their historical contexts. How do I convince my students that this is a worthy reason to invest in class? In looking at my last two goals, I see some hint of this. If I take an even bigger step back, the reason my students are in an English class is to learn about language and how to manipulate language in order to communicate, persuade, discuss, connect, plan, connect, write, speak. This is necessary in all professions. All of my students are interested in communicating, convincing, and connecting. And so this is why they should be interested in English. How do I frame this into a provocative guiding question?

-How do I communicate? Why do I communicate?
-How do I convince others to see my perspective?
-How do others perceive me? How do I want them to perceive me? How does this connecting to writing/speaking? (Brittany McCree)
-How do I leave my mark on the world? How do I want to be remembered? How do I want my generation to be remembered?

These are still rather broad and lofty goals/questions. (Note to self: This is really making me think about how I will run my own classroom. When I start out the year, I will need to establish these goals/questions, and then to gradually break them down throughout the semester. The first few weeks of school will be focused on community building of course, but also on establishing these. Having a unit on the power of language and rhetoric through contemporary writing, ads, etc. will be useful in gaining student buy-in. The rest of the unit can consistently be tied back to this as a sort of “study” in a variety of genres and contexts of how previous writers successfully communicated, swayed, etc.)

Ok, so this is a start. This is making me think about the disconnect that has existed between asking the kids to read about and regurgitate about the historical/social context, the literature we read, and then the writing they produce. I need to show how all of this is connected and why they should be invested in each segment. I need to be honest with myself. Why does Elizabeth I matter? Shakespeare? Swift? Do they? I really think so. Knowing this context and the influence they have gives weight to the reason we are studying the literature. And we’re studying the literature (1) because we have to, (2) to consider how they left their mark, and (3) how this aides our goal to leave our mark. And for my students–as a part of the minority–this could be powerful.

So over the course of this semester, my students will focus on two questions:
(1) What mark do I want to leave on the world?
(2) How do I leave this mark?

We will study the Renaissance and how the big players left their mark on this pivotal period. We will move on to the Bible and how it has continued to play such a great role in history and society. We will discuss Swift and how one man has left his legacy. Then we will try to leave our own mark through a research paper. Does this make sense? Kind of…

Collection 4: Under a Hand Accursed
Theme: The Dark Side of Human Nature
Two great writers explore the tragedy of evil, a subject which continues to fascinate humankind. Both selections take the reader on an inner journey that descends into the darkest abysses of the human psyche.

Many human relationships are marked by intelligence, warmth, and wit. However, when possessed by power, ambition, or greed, normally noble people may perpetuate truly evil acts. This collection examines how such vices set the stage for a tragic downward spiral into evil.

Collection 5: The Power of the Word
Theme: Words to Live By
In seeking an understanding of the human condition, people have turned to traditional words of wisdom. Whether divinely inspired or not, these words have offered guidance, comfort, and knowledge to readers over hundreds of years.

Words can be very effective teachers, providing advice, consolation, or explanation. The KJ Bible provides excerpts that offer insights into the nature of humanity and illustrate the eloquence of this version of the Bible.

Collection 6: The Sting of Satire
Theme: Satire as a Corrective Force
Although sometimes called the Age of Reason, the period from 1660 to 1800 offered the antithesis of a reasonable and just society. Several writers of conscience turned to satire to remind readers of moral and social concerns.

Gulliver’s Travels spoofs the popular genre of travel literature; Swift pokes fun at the inflated view the English have of themselves. In A Modest Proposal, Swift provides an outrageous solution to the problem of the poor in Ireland, underscoring the callous attitudes of the English toward the Irish. In Pope’s heroic couplets, the writer provides bits of wisdom while offering different examples of satirical techniques.

Time for a step back. If I’m using inquiry as my focus, then these texts are not at the center of my planning. The themes provided from the textbook are a good start. If I’m thinking about helping my students to see how to leave their mark on the world and to ensure they are leaving the right mark, it might be interesting to think about this in terms of human nature–which all of these collections sort of get at. How so? Well in discussing human nature in light of Macbeth, the Bible, and Swift (and others?), we can identify what components of human nature we want to show–and to be a part of our mark (does this make sense?). I guess I’m getting at the idea that my kids should want to be ambitious without vicious, moral without pushy, critical but diplomatic. Right?

So am I trying to frame behavior? I guess…but I’m also thinking about this literature in terms of strategy–how these writers have illustrated their opinions…have left such a legacy…why their writing is so powerful and poignant….Blah. I think I’m stuck. I’ll have to come back to this part.

But I can start to think about guiding questions.

Collection 4: Under a Hand Accursed

• Are humans inherently evil?
• Are curses real?
• What leads to evil?
• What is evil?
• What leads people to evil?
• How does power influence people?
• What sort of power do you want to have–or rather what are your greatest ambitions? How will you go about obtaining that power or reaching those goals?
  
• Who has more power: men or women?
  

I think I’m happy with the question, “How does power influence people?” This ties to the Renaissance period as well as Macbeth. I can also extend it to other texts (maybe connect to current events and upcoming presidential election?). I can also tie it to the power of writing. Power influences writing; writing influences power. And this can get get at what I was talking about earlier in terms of my seniors leaving their mark as they consider how those in the past have left theirs. We can only leave our mark through our interactions with each other…through writing and speaking. Through communication.

Ideas:

• Survey for students: Why do we study English? Why do we need to study this literature? Technology.
• Discussion of these goals/questions
• http://shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/