Classroom Activities
The assignment page will be given to the students before the reading of the plays commences. I will go over the assignment, answering any questions. I will also show some examples: things I have drawn or work from previous years when I did a similar project with other subject matter. After the first time doing this unit, I will have many student examples to show. I would caution against showing too many examples because the students' creativity in their own portraits may be stunted as a result. Then we will take a character with which we are all familiar – a character from a fairy tale or a superhero maybe – and do a quick portrait as a whole class. I will be sure to include all the points the students will need to bring out in their own portraits.
Another facet of this unit will be the writing of Dialectical Journals2. Dialectical Journals provide an easy and interesting method to help students write succinctly while developing their own voice. "Dialectical" suggests the art of discourse – and that is the skill they will be developing – talking "to" and about the text. The students will prepare these journals after each act of each play. They will choose a character to discuss in these journals and, preferably, that will also be the character they choose to analyze for the project. However, they may change their chosen character at any time throughout the reading of the play. The students will be familiar with this style of journal writing because I use it throughout the class in many different forms, so the actual explanation of how to write the journal does not have to take place during this unit. I will go over the changes in format that are necessary to adapt the journal to the plays. I will also spend some time modeling one entry, using the first act of Macbeth, but I will choose a lesser character like the witches. In this exercise, I will ask students to provide the summary of the plot of the first act, scene one. Then I will ask the students why Shakespeare chose to open the play with the witches. At this point, the students will have read Act One and should understand what the witches have told Macbeth. So, how does this technique of characterization enhance the meaning of the play? How would the action of the first act be different if there were no witches? Because characters drive the action of the play and cause the conflict, we must assume that the witches are there to externalize the irrationality and inhumanity of Macbeth's temptation. Then the students will choose one of the journal strategies and write a paragraph following the directions given3.
Once the Dialectical Journals have been explained, passages relating to characterization will be selected for close reading and analysis. We will begin the class with a quick read of the passages and then turn to discussion. I use the Socratic Seminar method for discussion. Mainly, that leaves the discussion and analysis to the students with little prodding by the teacher. This method, when taught to the students and used correctly, is very effective in actively engaging the students in analysis and interpretation of the work. The idea is that the teacher, as guide instead of teacher, does not allow for a series of yes/no questions; nor does the process allow for lecture. This idea does allow the students to pass around their thoughts and struggle with the language in the passage being studied. There are many useful websites defining and outlining this process. I like to use poker chips for the first few seminars as "speaking tokens". Some students like to dominate the discussion while others choose not to participate. I give three tokens to each student and allow them only that many times to interject. Of course, I do not hold fast to the rule and some students beg, borrow, and steal others' tokens when they have something they need to say. In the end I find that keeping score works well. I sit with a seating chart in front of me and put check marks on the student's name each time he/she speaks. Those who have not spoken yet towards the end of the seminar are encouraged to do so. The grade for this is part of their participation grade and can mean the decision of bumping up a borderline grade or the offer of extra credit if needed.
Only minimal time will be given for the actual illustration work in class. The students will need to work on their drawings for homework. A presentation of each poster will be given at the end of each play and the other students will need to take notes as the portraits are being presented. The defense paragraphs will be due at the time of the presentations. I will grade those for the same information as the drawings as well as textual evidence in support of the choices made for the selection of detail4.
The presentations will be done in front of the class as a benefit to the other students. The audience will take notes on the characters and they will be able to use these notes when writing the final essay. The portraits will be hung on the wall and their order will decide the order of the presentations. While the presentations are being given, I will grade the posters, using a pre-designed rubric5. I will give this rubric to the students along with the assignment paper so that they will know what exactly is expected of them.
The timed writing will be done at the end of the unit, during one class period (our classes run for 59 minutes). The students will have the entire class period to write and the essay will be due at the end of the hour. The essay will be scored based on the nine point Advanced Placement rubric6. I use this rubric for all essays with slight modifications for content, so the students are aware of the language in the rubric. I have created a rubric for this essay and included it in the appendices. I copy the rubric for each essay and highlight the elements that are found in the essay. I then decide which number to assign as the grade. Because I use a point scale for my grade book, each number on the rubric represents a percentage based on the amount of points assigned to the essay. This particular essay will be worth 200 points.
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