Objectives
My primary objective is to encourage higher-order thinking. I believe Shakespeare's Othello is a perfect way to reach my goals. I can get students hooked with something familiar and transition to Shakespeare using the momentum. My question objectives aren't from a book or something I invented. I'm taking my wording and targets from data driven by a state test. Using multiple genres and more than one selection to inspire thinking will at once help students practice for the test and develop the skills they need for the writing assignment I've developed.
Questioning and the DSTP
The DSTP or Delaware Student Testing Program is a high stakes test for public school students in Delaware. The actual "stakes" are unclear and developing, but prospectively, the test can affect the type of diploma a student receives upon graduation. As a high school teacher, the primary grades of concern are eighth and tenth. Even though my school is 9 through 12, we are concerned with the eighth grade test. Each year, a portion of incoming ninth grade students haven't passed the eighth grade DSTP. In this case, they must take the eighth grade test until they pass all sections. The tenth grade test is particularly important for a number of reasons, including funding and publicity. With this in mind, much of our curriculum is targeted toward student achievement and the DSTP.
Many educators are worried about "teaching to the test" and although this may be a valid concern, the test does serve a purpose. The DSTP data shows districts, schools, and even teachers how they stand up against one another. This can be frightening, but certainly helpful. If one group is doing much better than another, provided the demographics are similar, we should take a look at why they're doing better and what they're doing differently.
Something else the DSTP data provides is student areas of need. The test's data can show a particular school exactly what students aren't getting when they take the exam. In ELA (English Language Arts), which is the Reading and Writing portion of the test, this boils down to the types of questions students aren't answering correctly. And, in some cases, the data is specific enough to show the percentages of students that are having trouble with a particular type of question.
In looking at the data provided to my school, all students, taking the eight, ninth, and tenth grade exams are having difficulties in the same areas. In some cases, up to 65 percent of students are incorrectly answering questions with a particular style of thinking and responding. Such question varieties include: to extend meaning, to explain text, to elaborate upon a question or scenario, to analyze, to interpret meaning, to infer author's purpose, and to discern a chronological order. These questioning strategies will be the focus for assessments in this unit, both formative and summative.
One last important aspect to recognize about the DSTP and the types of questions students are facing is that the test often uses two reading selections at once. The test asks, often times, that students use two reading selections and their personal life to answer an extended response. This solidifies the idea that using film and literature in tandem is a great approach to student thinking and good practice for this high stakes test.
Howard High School of Technology, Targeted Students for this Unit
This unit is intended and the objectives within are designed for tenth grade students. The culminating project will be for students to produce a research paper, which is one element of the tenth grade portfolio. Each year, in the New Castle County Vocational and Technical school district, English students complete a series of writing assignments working toward the completion of a writing portfolio. These portfolios account for 20 percent of a student's final grade in English, and each year the portfolio is kept in a folder until a student is ready to graduate. Every year students write a portfolio piece assessing their individual strengths and weaknesses in writing. The folder, containing all three years of portfolios, is used when students write a four-year self-assessment during their senior year in English.
All four years, students are expected to produce a research paper as part of the portfolio. Research is a major area of study in the district and an area where, I believe, students have particular needs. I have found that even twelfth grade students tend to struggle with research, both methods and writing, even after completing this portfolio in the previous years. For this reason, my plan is to incorporate a research paper as the final project for this unit. I'm hoping that students will find it refreshing to conduct research as part of a film and literature study.
Our tenth grade students at Howard High School14 are not tracked in terms of ability. Students have selected a shop in their ninth grade year and now have career class for three periods, of eight, per day. These students, as they're scheduled for academic courses, are coming to class with a varying gamut of prior knowledge, skill, aptitude, and intelligence. In one given block period15 the level of student can range from unidentified advanced placement to undocumented special education and/or learning disabled. It's important for teachers in this environment to use differentiated instructional practices for these varying degrees of ability as well as a backwards design approach so that each student understands the expectation prior to the lessons and evaluation.
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