Let's go on a quest!

This week, I finally began teaching my focus unit. I had expected that I would begin about two weeks ago, but first my CT's unit ran longer than expected, then we had all those snow days. So, we work with what we've got and move on.

My CT typically presents background information for a new unit with a Power Point presentation. The students take Cornell notes and fall asleep. OK, so that last part isn't intended, but it is often a side effect. I wanted to do something a little more fun and engaging. I considered doing a book pass in groups, giving each group a subject to research, which they would then present to the rest of the class. For Romeo and Juliet, typical subjects would include Elizabethan theater, clothing, celebrations, and food, and Shakespeare's life and language. I still like this idea, but I wasn't able to wrangle up all the resources I needed with the snow days. I was also concerned with the amount of time it would take. While I believe it is certainly worth taking extra time for engaging and effective activities, time was simply not available. We need to get reading! So, instead, we did a web quest. This allowed the students to gather the information themselves in a structured way and enabled us to used some technology they like, which also increases engagement. I had the students work in pairs, both because we only had a limited number of computers and because their comprehension would increase with the opportunity to discuss the information as they discovered it. We used this web quest: R&J Webquest . I started to make my own, but didn't see the point in reinventing the wheel when Ms. Hogue has already done such a great job with it! She has tons of great materials on her website as well as some insightful blog posts from her years of teaching. Check it out: http://www.mshogue.com/

In doing the web quest, the students were much more engaged than I see them with Power Point presentations. I heard them asking questions and finding answers. They were getting excited about Shakespeare and his times. The Shakespearean insults were very popular. A few groups of students even decided to Google what they actually meant in today's English! I love to see their brains firing up! I also learned a few things from them about how to slide things around on the computer screen so a person can read the questions and have the website with the information on the screen at the same time.

Overall, it was a successful lesson. This coming week, we have a LOT of reading to do, so my challenge is finding ways to help them with the language while using effective reading strategies. Whole-class reading can be boring, but I think that's probably the best way to tackle their first Shakespeare with freshmen. They're going to need a lot of translation, especially at the beginning, and especially at the pace at which we'll be reading.

The next few weeks will be crazy, with all the work of the unit, my portfolio project, and life in general, but we're coming down the home stretch! Let's try to have some fun.