Arturo Schomburg Satellite Academy English Course |
Shakespeare and Short Fiction Teacher: Noah Narrative Overview of the Course: In Shakespeare and Short Fiction, we focus both on decoding Elizabethan English and discussing/responding to Shakespeares themes in Othello and Hamlet, specifically issues of race, gender, trust, betrayal, angst, and family difficulties. The plays are treated as scripts, texts that can be performed or interpreted in many ways. As a result, there is no focus on the right answer, and the shared texts of the classroom become conduits to pressing issues in the learners lives. We continually imagine what these scripts might look like if performed in the context of the Bronx in 2002, and what differences, if any, this shift would cause for the themes of racism, trust, betrayal, angst, or family difficulties. Film versions of Shakespeares works allow for a comparison of staging and editing differences in disparate accounts of the plays. We also compare and contrast the themes of the plays to issues raised in short fiction by Langston Hughes and Julia Alvarez. Using Shakespeares plays and fiction from this century allow us to examine our questions concerning personal relationships (trust, betrayal, racism, family) through several genres and points of view. Topics to be Included: This course will be broken into eight units, which are as follows: Introductory activities Reading and Responding to Othello Reading and Responding to Langston Hughes Father and Son Reading and Responding to Hamlet Reading and Responding to selections from Julia Alvarezs How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Writing Literary Analysis Essays ELA preparation and assessment Portfolio preparation and practice Skills to be mastered: The skills we work on in Shakespeare and Short Fiction stem from a focus on critical thinking: each skill revolves around empowering the student to look at and understand the world in new ways. Group discussions necessitate the skills of active listening and tolerance for differing viewpoints, provided those points of view are supported and adequately debated. Students often work in groups to decide how to re-write a passage or create a character analysis. This necessitates cooperative learning and working toward common goals with those who may have a different perspective or skill level. Thus the students are given the opportunity to teach each other and add to each others knowledge and skill base. In their writing, students navigate the revision process through peer editing, and students learn to assess each others writing through rubrics similar to those used on the ELA. Students improve their writing, comprehension, and decoding abilities through interacting and responding to the text. Instruction Strategies and Assessment Strategies
Week one: Introductory and group-building activities Week six: Reading and responding to Langston Hughes Father and Son, letter-writing, making comparisons between Othello and Father and Son in terms of the racism, interracial relationships, the role of women, and the betrayals Weeks seven through ten: Reading and responding to Hamlet, writing scenes in contemporary English, multi-genre project (persuasive essay, critical lens essay, poems, artwork), letter-writing, character analyses, newspaper project, vocabulary decoding activities, writing conventions, film comparisonsWeek eleven: Reading and responding to selections from Julia Alvarezs How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, letter-writing, making comparisons between Hamlet and Alvarezs work in terms of angst, loss of faith in the world, overcoming difficulty, relationships, and family problems Weeks twelve through fifteen: Working on Literary Analysis Essay, comparing or contrasting characters or themes between two of our four pieces of literatureWeek sixteen: ELA preparation: taking and assessing practice ELA Regents exams Week seventeen: Portfolio preparation and practice |