6-12 Inquiry-Based and Student Centered Common Core Aligned Teaching

Strategies to Tackle Difficult TextsCTA Pre Good Teaching Conference Seminar

January 2014Presenters: Leanne Raddatz and Jennifer Ianiero

Available at www.cta.org/ipa

This session will focus on CCSS-aligned teaching strategies that are inquiry based and student centered.  Using

Romeo and Juliet as a model, teachers will be given a variety of ways to attack any complex piece of literature for key ideas and details, craft and structure,

and integration of knowledge and ideas.

SBACSmarter Balanced is committed to lesson plans and

professional development that encourages formative assessment as an integral aspect of any and all design.

“”

Formative assessment is a deliberate process used by teachers and students during instruction that

provides actionable feedback that is used to adjust ongoing teaching and learning strategies to improve students’ attainment of curricular

learning targets/goals.Included in this presentation are the four attributes of

this process:1. Clarify Intended Learning2. Elicit Evidence3. Interpret Evidence4. Act on Evidence

A list of CCSS 9-10 standards covered in this presentation is in your packet (page 14). Many

9-12 standards are also covered.

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity For students to do this according to the CCSS, students have to read

independently. We KNOW that is what is difficult. However, what we know is that by using a variety of engagement

structures and instructional strategies, we can get students to read. Many of these strategies help students to do this:

By giving students something to read for AS they read By giving them fun and engaging ways to express their learning

We hope this presentation gives you new ways to think about how to present literature to help you meet the needs of your students AND the demands of the CCSS

Structure of our Classroom The structure of our classroom is based on the Kagan Model—inherent

in this grouping structure are “shoulder partners”, “face partners”, and group members.

These groups are ability based—one high, one medium high, one medium low, and one low.

Many of our strategies combine times of whole group instruction, individual, partner, and group work.

We like these strategies because it provides multiple opportunities for formative assessment from both teachers and students.

www.kaganonline.com

To Frontload or Not to Frontload

Inquiry Based Approach While we generally agree that frontloading should be

kept to a minimum and students should authentically encounter difficult texts, we have discovered that with difficult or complex texts (like Shakespeare), some frontloading and scaffolding is required.

In an inquiry model, once vocabulary and background have been introduced or a strategy employed, students should be left, as much as possible, to wrestle with the text.

Poetic and other Figures of Speech  Sonnet

Rhyme Scheme Quatrain

Iambic Pentameter Heroic Couplet   Blank Verse   Alliteration   Assonance Consonance Pun Metaphor Simile Personification Allusion Juxtaposition Theme Caesura

Enjambment Oxymoron Foreshadowing Imagery Irony

Dramatic Verbal Situational

Dramatic Terms Dialogue Monologue Soliloquy Aside Doubling Implied Stage Action Comic Relief Character Foil Structure of a Shakespearean Tragedy

Vocabulary (pages 17-19)

Historical and Cultural Context (page 20) Life and Times

Role of Henry VIII—including the use of women as items for exchange and conversion from Catholicism to Protestantism

Role of Women in English society Long, peaceful reign of Elizabeth I Defeat of the Spanish Armada

Role in the rise of nationalism Role in economic prosperity Role in the flourishing of the arts, the English Renaissance

The Globe Architecture Groundlings Company patrons Role of women in the theater Costuming and scenery

AllusionsPlease turn pages 21-22 in your packet.

BEFORE WE READ To help students see how Shakespeare draws on and

transforms source material, specifically Greek mythology and historical figures, we assign each student an allusion.

We ask students to research this allusion and be prepared to present their findings to the class when the allusion is referenced in the text.

We then ask students to determine the function of the allusion at that moment in the text.

Opportunities for this discussion of function include a whole class discussion, partner, or small group activity

Prologue ActivitySonnet Mix-Up and Deconstruction

ActivityPlease turn to page 23 in your packet.

Activity 1 (in your handout)Sonnet Mix-Up Directions

These fourteen lines are mixed up. They are a famous part of Romeo and Juliet. Your job is to put these lines in the correct order. They form three sentences; the last two sentences have a semi-colon in the middle. These lines form a poem called a Shakespearean or English sonnet. The rhyme scheme of the sonnet is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. That means that every other line rhymes, except at the end in which the rhyming lines come one after the other. We ask students to cut apart the lines and arrange them in order—paying attention to the patterns they have been given and THINK about what they know about the story and the possible order of events. Once they think they have them in the correct order, we check their work. If they are in correct order, we have them glue the sonnet on a separate piece of paper.

Mix-Up This is an activity that can be used for any form

poem. It allows students to play and manipulate the language using a pattern and sensitivity to meaning that they experience for themselves.

This can also be done with chapter titles or key events of any complex piece of literature—allowing students to think about the craft and structure of a text before they actually read a text.

Activity 2 (page 24)Deconstruction Activity

After students have completed the mix-up activity, we give them a clean copy of the prologue for this second activity.

We also provide students with a packet of three markers and a red pen.

Would you please turn to your clean copy of the prologue on page 25.

You need a pen and you may work with a partner.

Student Directions Mark poem for structure: box the quatrains and the couplet Mark poem for syntax: underline each sentence—circle each verb

and put a box around the subject—please paraphrase each sentence in five words or less on the right side of the paper

Mark poem for alliteration: circle the recurring letters with the red pen

Mark poem for puns: highlight these in pink Mark poem for any and ALL types of rhyme: highlight these in

yellow and be sure to put the rhyme scheme at the end of each line Mark poem for words that denote or connote the number two:

highlight these in green Mark poem for repetition—including word forms: double underline

these

Let’s do one for ourselves Rhyme Repetition

Now take the words you have found repeated and create a sentence that states the plot of Romeo and Juliet—you may add prepositions, articles and ONE verb (make it count!)

Can we share one or two?

Queen Mab: Bringing the Images Alive

Please turn to page 28 in your packet.

Scaffolding the Lesson To begin this lesson, we have students read the section individually. Inquiry Sheet: We ask students to make a three columned piece of note

paper. On the top of the left side, we have students write the word “Difficulty”; on the top of the middle column, “Explanations”; and on the top of the last column “Resolutions.”

We ask students to note words or phrases they do not understand on the left and the reason WHY it is DIFFICULT in the middle.

After reading, we ask students to work collaboratively, in partners or groups, to resolve as many difficulties as they can using their resources. These resolutions need to be recorded on the far right.

Teacher debriefs any remaining “difficulties”. Next, students use their text and their self-created glosses to complete the

next activity which highlights the imagery of the Queen Mab speech by Mercutio in Act I, Scene iv. This is in your handouts.

Students are required to staple the inquiry sheet to the Queen Mab worksheet.

The Balcony Scene: Performance Task

Please turn to page 31 in your packet.

Fate vs. Free-Will One of the major topics upon which Shakespeare builds a theme

is the destiny of the lovers. Despite being told in the Prologue that they are star-crossed, there is plenty of evidence that the lovers are victims of their own free-will.

Inherent in this discussion, often for the first time for many young students, is the idea that there can be two RIGHT answers.

The fact that ambiguity exists is a fact for any student of literature and life and is relevant to both fiction and non-fiction.

This assignment allows them to explore the evidence that exists for both options.

This assignment can, if the technology exists, use alternate forms of media.

Directions This activity begins with a 10 question quiz to gauge student attitudes about

victims. Students then debrief the activity by sharing and justifying their responses in a

structured engagement activity. Students will then be ready to read the balcony scene and mark their evidence for

fate or free-will as it appears in the text. Students will do this on a columned piece of note paper.

Students then share and add to their own evidence in a structured group activity or whole class activity.

After marking their texts, students should then be directed to the two interpretations of this theme by Taylor Swift and The Killerz. I’ve included links to the song lyrics and videos on your handouts (pages 34-37).

As students listen to each song, either on their own papers (with two columns) or copies of the text, they should mark the evidence of fate or free-will in each of the lyrics.

Finally students write a persuasive essay as a performance task.

Mystery Envelope: Friar Laurence’s Soliloquy or the Play as a Whole

Please turn to page 38 in your packet.

Mystery Envelope: Friar Laurence’s Soliloquy

This activity has room for multiple layers of scaffolding, depending on the skill level of your students.

This is based on SOAPSTone—adapted from the College Board website, but available as an open source on the web.

We’ve also provided to you in the handouts a Mystery Envelope (page 40) for use with the play as you see fit. Many of these questions can be used after specific acts or the entire play.

Pedagogically, Mystery Envelopes can be constructed to address many needs in a classroom—creativity is limited only by the teacher.

SoapSToneWho is the Speaker?

What is the Occasion?

Who is the Audience? 

What is the Purpose?

What is the Subject? 

What is the Tone?

Directions This activity can be done after an initial inquiry approach that addresses

difficulties in the text if necessary—please use your discretion in regards to the level of scaffolding, if any, that needs to be provided.

Hand each group a “Mystery Envelope” that contains an index card with question(s) that each group must answer (OPTIONAL: YOU CAN GIVE STUDENTS THE SAME QUESTION(S) OR DIFFERENT ONES).

After discovering their answers, they will share them with the class and ALL students will write down the answers for each question or supplement their original answers with fresh information provided from another group.

This follows the SOAPSTone approach to poetry as advocated by the College Board. This can be a part of a scaffolded lesson or an independent lesson, depending on the level of your students.

I’ve also included an optional Mystery Envelope activity that can be used after a specific act or at the end of the play.

Literary Dominoes: A Culminating Activity

Please turn to page 42 in your packet.

Literary Dominoes This is a wonderful activity to make students think

critically about the way a text has been constructed by discussing the sequencing of events.

Students must think about both key ideas and details and the craft and structure of a text.

Directions

After reading a challenging text, give students the content of the last three dominoes (illustrating the key events at the end of the story).

Ask students to go back and consider, “What are the key events that lead to the end of the story?”

Using their text, they write the key plot points on individual cards and then place them in order.

Thinking About Key Ideas and Details and Craft and Structure

If you were to line up your dominoes of plot events, would they be in a straight line, or would there be curves and offshoots? What does your domino trail look like? How sophisticated is the plot structure?

Of all the dominoes leading to the tragedy, which single domino do you think was the key? Which domino carried the most weight in leading to the tragedy? Explain your answer and cite text references to support your response.

Flip to domino number seven (or choose any other random number). If you were to remove this domino from the chain—if this specific event did not happen—how would the outcome of the play have been different? Explain your answer and cite text references to support your answer.

Of course, at any point in this activity, students can be asked to discuss or compare dominoes with a partner or group members as a check for understanding.

Students can also be asked to rate someone else’s set of dominoes for accuracy. Students can also be required to write on the back of their dominoes their rationale

for the particular plot point evidenced on the front.

Our Turn You should see three index cards in your packet. I want you to think about the next significant piece

of literature you will be teaching. On your own cards, give the last three plot points of

the text that you would provide for your own students.

Samples?

Responsibility Pie Chart: A Constructed Response or

Performance TaskPlease turn to page 44 in your packet.

Pie charts This activity helps students discuss their

interpretations of a text in a variety of formats using textual evidence of key ideas and details.

This activity also allows many possibilities for the teacher in terms of the final product required from students—while still requiring all students to think deeply and critically and use the text to justify their responses.

Directions: AFTER reading a text with a strong ending, in shoulder partners, have

students brainstorm all of the people or characters that are responsible for the end.

Allow students to brainstorm their list for defined period of time. Once partners have created a list, students work in small groups to

compile a single list and rank it in order of MOST responsible to LEAST responsible (using 100% as the total amount of responsibility that must be shared among all of the various characters).

Students must find 1-2 pieces of evidence FROM THE TEXT to justify their rankings (this usually takes the rest of a regular class period).

The next day, each student draws and shades a pie chart representing their rankings and their reasoning.

Students then post these pie charts around the room. From there, students can be directed to activities that range from oral

to written constructed responses or a culminating performance task.

Leanne Raddatz English Teacher GATE/AP Coordinator Professional

Development Leader Smarter Balanced SNE

Digital Library Leanne_Raddatz@khsd.k

12.ca.us

Jennifer Ianiero English Teacher CASHEE Interventionist PLC Leader Jennifer_Ianiero@khsd.k12

.ca.us

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