Decoding William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: Media in the Classroom

William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, is one of the most popular tragic stories to have ever been written and it is a play that is still studied in today’s classrooms. While it is important that the play’s text is explored, watching the play and experiencing it visually is equally important. Bringing the different adaptations of the play into the classroom was a very easy decision to make. Not only does this cater to visual students, but it also brings live, passion, and excitement into the English classroom. I used the 1996 adaptation of the play directed by Baz Luhrmann, and a stage performance from the Stratford Festival 2013. Students were first asked to read the party scene. Second, they watched the 1996 version, and third, they watched the Stratford stage performance. Students were asked to fill in what they understood, what helped them understand, and what they still had a question about. 

The movie adaptation and stage performance, alongside the original text, helped students explore and understand the scene better. With each clip, the students discovered a new layer of the scene that they had not before explored. The students also had a chance to compare and contrast the importance of picking the right cast and how different directors interpreted Shakespeare’s scene differently. They learned about different people may read the same lines and see something completely different. I believe that is the true magic in studying and teaching English. I asked the students to hand in their comment sheets at the end of class. The comment sheets, which included three columns of 'I understood...", "what helped me understand...", and "I still have a question about...", were gives a check mark for completion and a few comments/reactions, and answers to their questions if they had any. The following day, I took the time to begin the class by having a "what did you think" conversation with the students. At this time, and through conversation, I answered some of the questions that they had.

This was a great form of assessment because it tested students' ability to rationalise and interpret a scene from a play and a movie, and to compare and contrast the two. This is an exercise I would certainly repeat in future classes.

Going Gradeless

In his article on the widely popular Edutopia, Matt Weyer, a grade six teacher, explores the idea of going gradeless self-assessment. Weyer writes about Mark Barnes who "Barnes advocated using narrative feedback to enter a feedback loop that would culminate in the mastery of specific learning targets within the context of a larger project" (Weyer 2016). This large project consisted of teaching an entire school year and administering different forms of formative and summative evaluations without assigning a grade level on any of the assignments. The teacher and the student, according to the written feedback given in the duration of the school year, would arrive at the final grade, Weyer states. And what a fascinating idea this is. Reading Weyer's article, I was reminded of Dave Petro's talk about the importance of written feedback, because really what does a 77% mean, and what is the difference between a 3- and a 2+?

Often, teachers mark students' work through a rubric that has been written according to various learning goals and ministry standers. This rubric would have been communicated to the students (and I believe there is a great benefit in telling students what you will be looking for when marking an assignment), and the students then take the rubric and develop the assignment in order to "hit" all the rubric requirements. Later, teachers receive the assignments and match the assignment with the rubric, assigning a grade level. Without communicated this grade average, it really means nothing other than students knowing that he or she did well or not so well. Instead, Weyer started using Barnes' SE2R model to provide feedback.

It was very interesting to read Weyer's article, where he outlined his goals for this experiment. His main goal was to see how students apply themselves when grades are completely removed from the daily equation. Weyer found that students actually more interested and more invested in their learning process. Suddenly, students stopped asking about their grades and started asking about what they can do to improve.

Matt Weyer's Article Link: Going Gradeless: Student Self-Assessment

More about SE2R Model of Feedback: SE2R Feedback Model

Newspaper Report

 

 

During my practicum, I taught two grade 10 English (university prep.) classes where we read William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Since the practicum took place a month before the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT), I decided it would be beneficial for my students to include OSSLT teaching moments throughout the Shakespearean play.

Before my practicum began, the grade 10 students wrote a practise OSSLT and the results of the tests were determined two weeks after my practicum began. While many students performed well on the test, the results for the newspaper article were quite low across all those who wrote the test. It was clear to me that writing up a lesson plan that focused on newspaper writing was vital to the future success of my students. The first scene of act one of Romeo and Juliet takes the audience to the marketplace where a fight breaks out between the Montague and the Capulet men. This was the perfect place to start my lesson on newspaper articles. After exploring the scene with my grade 10s, I introduced them to their next assignment. Using a large model of the inverted pyramid, I explained the form and structure of a newspaper article. Next, each student was handed a copy of the day's newspaper and a question sheet. By answering the question, the class was able to explore and dissect the structure of that is included in a newspaper article. They also had a chance to differentiate between a good newspaper article and a bad one. This was a vital part of the lesson because it gave students a chance to look at a newspaper. I know, this sounds a little silly; however, with online journalism (which has its very own reporting rules and structures) and news feeds on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, students have less of a chance of picking up a print newspaper. This exposure to newspaper articles gave the students a base to model their own news articles.

Each student received a copy of the assignment guidelines and rubric. Students were encouraged to peer assess and self-assess their news articles before submission. I feel very confident in my students writing and I am glad to notice a significant difference between their OSSLT practice test and their Romeo and Juliet act 1, scene 1 fight scene articles.

While the assignment fulfilled its purpose and the students grasped newspaper article writing, I encountered many issues while marking the assignments. These issues revolved strictly around the rubric. Even thought I wrote the rubric twice before checking back with my associate teacher, I still had a very difficult time with grading and trying to match students' work with the rubric. I should take the time to clear up the fact that some assignments were very easy to mark because they followed the rubric exactly. Others, however, were very difficult to mark. The entire grading process revolved around trying to pinpoint where the students' work fit on the rubric. This is also where I started to question the difference between a 3- and a 2+. Because, really, the difference is so small, it might as well not exist at all. Checking back with my associate, the response consisted of a shoulder shrug and a "well that's rubrics for ya". For the sake of providing proper feedback to my students, I made sure to include lots of written feedback on their sheets and their assignments. The feedback consisted of what I thought was done well, what needed improvement, and what did not work at all. This and the "interviews" I held after the marked assignments were handed back out, really helped the students understand the assignment and their grade better.

While I am not dismissing rubrics all together, I'm simply saying that they work best alongside written feedback.

Josee's Resource #13: TRIBES Activity - Creating Empathy

This TRIBES (unofficially) Learning Community Activity can be used for mindfulness and empathy development.  Students can take a moment to think about the importance of the randomly chosen loss, and discuss their thoughts and feelings with their TRIBES group.  In turn, this will deepen the connection between group members and promote a sense of care and understanding. 

Peer Assessment Table

Peer Assessment Table
(Best used in "science fair" type presentations)

The above peer assessment table serves a wonderful alternative form of summative assessment. Usually, the course instructor performs summative evaluations in a rather traditional manner through examination or a project. Students are always instructed to write or create with their audience in mind, the audience being their teacher and other class members, and peer assessment, such as the table above, provide students with the chance to be assessed by their target audience.

This type of peer assessment resource could be used during project presentations. After a reading a novel, students would conduct critical analysis by applying a literary criticism theory and present it to the class. The audience would record their likes, dislikes, and possible areas of improvement for each presentation as they travel amongst the stations.

The peer assessment table can be used for any grade level and any subject area. At the elementary grade level, students have the opportunity to reflect on the presentations they witness, while at the secondary grade level, students are encouraged to critically think about their peers' presentations instead of merely sitting witness them. This is a great resource to use in a student-centered classroom where the students are transformed from the audience into active members of the classroom.

Balancing Chemical Equations

I have used this quiz as a formative assessment tool while I was teaching Balancing Chemical Equations (SNC2D). Some students found this quiz to be challenging so I gave them to opportunity to rewrite it as long as they came in for help during lunch hour or after school. For this reason, I have two versions of the assessment.

Balancing Chemical Equations Quiz 1
Balancing Chemical Equations Quiz 2

SNC2D Cell Structure

During my first placement, I had the opportunity to teach a small portion of the biology unit. I taught the Cell Structure chapter. I love using technology in the classroom so I used a PowerPoint to teach the content. Rather than having students copying notes from the PowerPoint and not paying attention, I provided them with the link to the PowerPoint. Before I started the lesson, I let students know that the PowerPoint was available on-line so they did not have to take notes if they did not want to. I found that this was very effective because I had the student's attention at all times.

Attached you will find the PowerPoint.

Cell Structure PowerPoint