Think~Pair~Share…
Describe a particular text or
data that is difficult to teach.
~what makes this text challenging to teach and
for students to comprehend?
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Shakespeare What????
Quick Time™ an d a
TIFF ( Un compr ess ed ) de compr ess or
ar e n eed ed to s ee this pic ture .
“Mere mention of his name is likely
to make a class of freshmen panic,
so it’s important that a student’s first
encounter with Shakespeare’s plays
be dynamic and engaging”
( Biondo-Hench, 1993).
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Language and Comprehension
Problems with Shakespeare
Language is distant from the student Late Middle-English.
Syntax~ reversed word order. “I must
upfill this osier cage of ours” (Romeo
and Juliet, 2.3.7).
Word phrases are long (wordy).
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
The Challenge Continues…
Classical allusion
“Titan’s fiery wheels” (Romeo and Juliet,
2.3.4)
Reversed sentence construction
“Within the infant rind of this small flower/
Poison hath residence and medicine
power” (Romeo and Juliet, 2.3.23-24).
The “Yuck-Factor”
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Principles of Engagement…
Situated Cognition:
~ “most learning occurs naturally through activities,
contexts, cultures” (Lave, 1988).
*Evoking prior knowledge in students
Pop Culture:
~ “[…] that popular culture is an element of their own
lives and can be ‘fertile ground’ [for engagement]”
(Newkirk, 2009).
*Close to home
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Principles of Engagement…
In order to engage reluctant learners, his
or her learning must have a purpose“Without purpose, significant learning is
difficult if not impossible to achieve”
(Wilhelm, 2007).
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Principles of Engagement…
what I’ve discovered
 Learning needs to take place in a safe environment
 Learning is social
 Learning should be fun
 Learning needs to occur within the
student’s zone of proximal development
 Learning needs to be purposeful
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
The Process
Autobiographical Writing
Journal write:
Write about a healthy, dating relationship you have had
in the past or that you’ve observed.What made this
relationship fun and exciting? What is something you
questioned about this relationship?
Think~Pair~Share
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
What’s the BIG Question?
Reframing Shakespeare with inquiry:
Romeo and Juliet
“What makes a great relationship?”
“What is maturity?”
“What makes a good decision?”
Othello
“Who do we trust?”
“How does one reveal his/her essential character?”
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Schema Building
Theme Prompts
Think~ Small Group Discussion ~Whole Group
Discussion
 Define “feud” as you understand it.
 Under what circumstances is it permissible to kill
another person?
 Is it possible to be in love at the age of 14? Explain
your answer.
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Visualize
Bulletin board:
Functions as an Anchor Chart
 Students stake their claims
 Opinions
 Characterization
 Discoveries--through journal writes, etc.
(This is something that the students continually build
upon throughout our exploration of relationships)
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Working with the Language
Choral reading--Prologue, Romeo and Juliet
1. Read the Prologue in unison~
Discuss and define confusing words or phrases
2. Read one word at a time
Read as one voice (one word at a time)
3. Read half-line as Montagues vs. Capulets; Boys vs. Girls
4. Read with style
Southern drawl, rapper, redneck…
5. Read to punctuation stops--semicolons, colons, and
periods,but NOT COMMAS
6. Wrap-up: Have one student read the prologue in its entirety for
closure.
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Working with the Language
 Moving beyond choral reading: Othello
Exploring words and motifs
 Word search activity:
Working in groups of two--students were given the
challenge of exploring various words/motifs that
occurred in Othello. They picked one word and then
created a log quote and cited each time the word
occurred in the play, who said it, and lastly, the word’s
connotation and denotation. They then had to present
their word in a creative way to the class.
 Possible presentations: poster, choral reading, rap
etc.
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Working with the Language
List of words for word search activity:
Soul
Hate
Heaven
Devil
Damn(ed), damnation
Monster
Moor
Hell
Honesty
Love
Jealous, jealousy
** Othello Rap example
Handkerchief
Faith
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Inferring
Helping students connect to the BIG PICTURE
1. Subtext activity*
2. Graffiti journals (Monologue about Queen
Mab)*
3. Journaling in character or from the
Dear Abby perspective*
4. Insult hurling activity
5. Guided think aloud activities
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Determining Importance
supporting comprehension
Romeo and Juliet
The letter
Othello
The handkerchief
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Handkerchief Activity
Passing the handkerchief:
The Script
o The handkerchief originally comes to Othello before the action of the play begins, from his
mother--who had it either as a gift from an Egyptian or as a gift from Othello’s father,
depending on which account of Othello’s you believe
o Othello gives it to Desdemona, his first gift to her.
o Desdemona tries to bind Othello’s head with it, and accidentally drops it.
o Emilia picks it up.
o Iago snatches it from Emilia…
o Then leaves it in the lodging of Cassio’s
o Cassio finds it and gives it to Bianca… (adapted from Shakespeare Set Free,1995).
Option:
Have the students write and perform a sports play for the letter scene or the scene that
leads up to Juliet taking the poison in Romeo and Juliet
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Synthesizing
Putting it all together
Students overcoming difficult texts and
making connections
~ ‘Cowboy’ Othello
written and performed by 10th grade
students
~Prologue II, Romeo and Juliet
performed by 9th grade students
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Breaking it down…
The Process
Conceptual frontloading:
1.
2.
Framing Shakespeare with inquiry
Schema building/starting with what students know
(pop culture)
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Breaking it down…
The Process
Procedural:
1. Breaking down the language~ short to long
(Choral reading)
2. Finding patterns in the language
(Choral reading)
3. Inferring (subtext activity)
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Principles of Engagement
What I’ve discovered…
Social
Play
Simple task gradually moving toward difficult
task
– Apprentice students with difficult texts
Limited time frame
Choice
Creativity
Less is more
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Other Ideas for Engagement
PSA announcements (advocating healthy dating relationships)
Visual Tableaux with math concepts/vocabulary words
Act out a difficult text, i.e., Declaration of Independence
Role Play a scientific concept (metamorphosis, mitosis, etc.)
Use music~ ‘rap’ a concept (historical event, mathematical
formula, grammar rule, etc.)
Graffiti journals
Board games and/or video games
Video diaries
Music videos or soundtracks about event in history or
mathematical formula
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
The Engagement Continuum
(Saxton & Morgan, 1994)








Interest: being curious about a problem or a topic
Engagement: wanting and striving to be involved in the tasks associated with the
problem
Commitment:[…] wanting to adhere to community and disciplinary norms
Interpretation/Internalization: explaining, interpreting, and merging objectives. [In
other words] the content and processes to be learned to complete important
tasks […] with the subjective experiences --what is already known, felt, and
believed--resulting in deepened understanding and new insights and abilities
Application: finding new situations where the new understandings can be used
Generation: generating new data and interpretations that build on established
sets of information
Communication: wanting to represent and communicate new understandings
and questions to others
Evaluation: willingness to critique and refine understandings of one’s own
learning process
(as cited in Wilhelm, 2007, p. 153)
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Application
Reflecting: Think back to your opening journal write
about a difficult text that is hard to get students
engaged…
1. Identify the challenge
2. Consider how you can reframe this lesson with
inquiry
Examples:
Is war necessary?
What is maturity?
Who do we trust?
What makes a good home?
What’s worth fighting for?
How does music reflect society and culture?
( some questions were adapted from Wilhelm,2007)
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Application
3. Schema building- How can you activate
students’ prior knowledge about this lesson?
Examples:
Journal writes
Theme prompts
Concept maps
Opinionnaire
Ranking scenarios
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Application
4. Breakdown the task
a. What is the purpose of this
lesson…state it________________.
Example: The purpose is to get students comfortable and comprehend the
complexity of Shakespearian language.
b. Reconsider how this text can be taught in
smaller parts
Example: Choral reading--playing with Shakespeare’s language from Romeo
and Juliet, Prologue 1
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Think~Pair~Share
Get into groups of two or three,
and discuss your ideas.
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Bibliography
Lave, J. (1988). Cognition in practice: Mind,
mathematics, and culture in everyday life.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
retrieved June 20,
2010:http://www.edtech.vt.edu/edtech/id/models/
powerpoint/cog.pdf
Newkirk, T. (2009). Holding on to Good Ideas in
a Time of Bad Ones: Six Literacy Principles Worth
Fighting For. Portsmouth,NH: Heinemann.
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Bibliography
O’Brien, Peggy and Jeanne Addison Roberts et al.
Shakespeare Set Free: Teaching A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth.
Washington, D.C: Washington Square Press.
Watterson, B. (1996). Free Clip Art/cksinfo.com.
retrieved June 24, 2010:
http://www.cksinfo.com/cartoons/calvinandhobbes
/index.html.
Wilhelm, J. (2007). Engaging Readers & Writers
with Inquiry. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing
Additional Resources
Wilhelm, J. (2002). Action Strategies for
Deepening Comprehension. New York, NY:
Scholastic.
Netflix: The Reduced Shakespeare
Company
Denise A. Braswell, Teacher
Consultant, Boise State Writing