Theory in Practice
Eighth Grade Language Arts
Below are an Assessment, a Rubric, and a Lesson Plan for the play A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. I have created these examples to be implemented in an eighth grade Language Arts classroom. Texts written in old English can be challenging for young readers, but they do not have to be. By making use of new types of literacy we can create content that is engaging and interesting to middle school students. When student's realize that Shakespeare is responsible for most modern day story lines it places their prexisting knowledge into a new lense. These stories are timeless and if we use our new literary theory to shape our pedagogy our students will notice too.
In Class Lesson: Cornell Notes
For the Cornell Notes, we will be listening along to the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream and pausing to take notes. This allows the instructor to explain things as the plot develops. This also allows for guided note taking that will ensure that every student has a complex understanding of the play. The assignment asks them to draw the images and write down quotes and formulate their own commentary on the plot. This will allow the kind of supplemental instruction that will make reading an old text more accessible.
How does this relate to
our new definiton of
literacy?
This allows students to take notes in a way that demonstrates their individual literacies. It also helps guide student understanding and allow them to formulate thier own meaning and understanding of the texts through a guided platform. It engages in auditory, visual, and textual learning.
Potential
benefits:
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Students like hearing the text being read aloud and it makes the text easier to understand
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Students get to engage in an old standard of English and learn how to interpert texts like this in the future
Potential
Drawbacks:
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Student's may make fun of the actors on tape and lose focus on the assignment
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Student's may lose focus listening to the text
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Student's may find guided note taking as redundant
Examples:
How does this relate to
our new definiton of
literacy?
A one pager assignment allows students the opportunity to showcase their understanding of a text in a visual and spatial way. It also requires students to translate their print literacy into a new format and to use different literacies. The assignment also allows the student to adjust the visual element to either a print or digital creation of meaning.
Potential
benefits:
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Students engage in different literacies to express understanding
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Students are engaged in the creative aspects of the assignment
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Students emjoy the assignment more
Potential
Drawbacks:
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Students may not be particularly creative and may see it as out of their depth
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Students may see coloring as busy work and not an expression of understanding
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Student's may not want to participate if they feel the assignment is not challenging
How does this relate to
our new definiton of
literacy?
This rubric weights the artistic elements and the written elements equally so that no one student gets a better grade for having a piece with better artwork than thier peers. The majority of points comes from their ability to demonstrate a complex understanding of content.
Rubric : One Pager Assignment
Assignment : One Pager
Potential
benefits:
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Students will see that the visual and written aspects are weighted equally and will see that all aspects are equally valid
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Students will learn from other stuent's work
Potential
Drawbacks:
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Students may lose points becasue they refuse to engage in in the artistic aspect
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Student's may be too interested in the artistic aspect to engage in the critical aim of the assignment