REFLECTION SHEET
Leah Smith
CYBERLESSON: William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing
1. How did you implement your Cyberlesson?
I teach in a regional school that educates students in grades 7-12. As incoming seventh graders, the students come from four feeder schools. Although their knowledge of my curriculum varies (for example, one town teaches Greek mythology in sixth grade while the rest do not), none of the students have yet been exposed to Shakespeare and his many works.
In seventh grade, my students were first exposed to Shakespeare and his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Though the students enjoy acting out the play and learning strange tidbits about Shakespeare, the main goal is for the students to actually “get through” the language.
After looping with my students to eighth grade, the text (Much Ado About Nothing) and the concepts become more complex. Unfortunately, the textbook that we use for this play does not contain stage directions, so the students struggle with the language. Therefore, to reintroduce the students to the magic of Shakespeare, his language, his works, and the customs of the Elizabethan Era, I created and implemented my Cyberlesson.
Before reading the text, I reserved the middle school computer lab for two days as the students completed the “Before Reading” section. The computer technician was able to install my Cyberlesson on each computer. While reading, however, the students did not partake in this activity; rather, they enjoyed various forms of acting/Readers’ Theater. When we were finished reading/acting out the text, I then reserved the computer lab for an additional three days so the students could complete the “After” and “Beyond Reading Activities.”
2. How did your students respond to the project?
Last year, my students completed an interactive PowerPoint/scavenger hunt as an introduction to my poetry unit. Since they absolutely loved it, I knew that they would enjoy this Cyberlesson. For middle school students, there is nothing “cooler” than playing games on the web, seeing animated pictures, and working on “a mission.”
The students definitely went above and beyond with this unit, which can be seen by some of the student artifacts. For example, though the Cyberlesson simply asked the students to create their own tombstone and epitaph on a Microsoft Word template, many students actually created their own tombstones on poster board or cardboard!
Overall, the students liked insulting each other (Shakespeare style) and the poster/summary presentation the best.
3. What were the strengths of the unit?
This unit definitely allowed for some flexibility. For example, I noticed that the students were getting excited about the poster/summary project. The students actually wanted to do more than just present their summary. They wanted to do skits, make movies, etc. Therefore, I modified the entire unit, created a new rubric, and added a presentation grade to their rubric. The presentations were a huge success. Their goal was to get the rest of the students interested in a Shakespeare play. One student researched Titus Andronicus. After presenting her poster, she passed out a piece of cherry pie to each student in the room. As the students happily ate their pie, she told the story of how Titus killed two boys, chopped them up into little pieces, baked them in a pie, and served the pie to the boys’ mother. You should have seen the students’ faces when they heard this (while eating the pie)!
Another strength was the incorporation of the arts. I knew that the students loved to act, but I was surprised to see them as they diligently choreographed and sang their own songs, made paper dolls, etc.
As eighth graders, my students are often asked to complete PowerPoints as culmination projects for various units/subjects. They are used to creating ABC books and picture books on them; however, this project has enabled the students to see yet another purpose of PowerPoint—presentations, linking, etc. This enables the students to become more proficient with PowerPoint.
Of course, the main strength is that the students love to participate in interactive, engaging activities! It definitely beats the boring handouts and textbook exercises that many unfortunately endure!
4. What were the weaknesses of the unit?
Finding viable “while reading” activities proved to be challenging as my school implements Readers’ Theater while the students are reading Shakespeare. Luckily, however, I chose to incorporate more before, after, and beyond activities to compensate. Why replace great lessons with technology if what I have works great?
Secondly, the rubric proved to be challenging. My eighth graders are used to detailed rubrics for each assignment. To be perfectly honest, I did not use the rubric in the Cyberlesson. Instead, I created a separate rubric for each graded assignment. I personally find that “chart rubrics” don’t work as well, because there are always a few students whose work does not technically fit into any category.
My main problem was the timing with this unit. Several of the activities, such as the paper dolls, were added for the purpose of this assignment, but due to the timing of this unit, I had already discussed Elizabethan fashion with the students. Therefore, I was unable to do this activity—this year. However, it is included in the unit because I definitely plan to incorporate ALL of these activities next time around.
Finally, the only other problem I encountered was the site filters at my school. Though all of the websites I chose as links are appropriate, many were blocked due to the strict filters. Though I was able to get the filters temporarily unblocked, it was a time-consuming hassle.
5. How would you modify the way in which you implemented the project to make it more successful? Recommendations?
The next time I teach this unit, I will make the following modifications:
Ø Check the websites for filters prior to reserving the computer lab
Ø Stress the importance of each individual assignment. Many students were so caught up in the “fun” of the assignment that they did not read all of the directions and skipped several key aspects of the Cyberlesson.
Ø I may also have the students participate in an interactive Webquest that I just found, which shares many of the same goals of my curriculum
Ø This year, several of my students made movie/trailer clips on DVD. If possible, I would love to get at least one of them on the Cyberlesson so the students can see a trailer AND a great example of students work at the same time
Ø Also, though I found this unit to be more challenging than the poetry unit (in which I implemented a similar activity), I felt that there were great handouts, but not enough on-line activities