Ridgefield High School
Ridgefield, CT
Lesson Developed by Patti Freeman
________________________________________________________________________
Lesson Four: Using Graphics to Improve Comprehension
I.
Introduction:
All students are responsible for reading a text and developing an
initial interpretation. This section presents a strategy for taking notes,
developing close reading skills, and writing a paragraph using textual
evidence for support. Due to the brevity and focus of a soliloquy, this
activity can help students to gain greater comfort with Shakespearian
language.
A.
Prior Learning:
Freshmen year, students are introduced to Shakespearian drama
through an analysis of Julius Caesar. After the teacher offers an initial group
of lessons on the language of Shakespeare and the historical background of
the play, students begin reading Act I out loud in class together. After
students analyze together the idea of a soliloquy from Cassius’s words in
Act I, students can then attempt an independent analysis of Brutus’s
soliloquy in Act II.
This lesson uses the visual of the 1950’s Marlon Brando Julius
Caesar film to help facilitate the understanding of the soliloquy. By
introducing the graphic organizer to show how the language of Shakespeare
paints a picture, this assignment models close reading skills. As this unit
occurs in the second semester, students will have had prior knowledge of
this strategy, which is particularly useful for students who lack confidence
with close reading analysis and for students who have difficulty explaining
in their own words a complex idea. This lesson particularly appeals to visual
and auditory learners. Although this lesson applies specifically to the
freshmen curriculum, this strategy can be used with any grade or level of
student as it develops elaboration skills and close-reading techniques.
__________________________________________________________________________________
This lesson is based on the Structured Writing & Thinking Program of Robert A. Pauker.
This lesson was generated by: Patti Freeman
1
Ridgefield High School
Ridgefield, CT
Lesson Developed by Patti Freeman
________________________________________________________________________
B.
Current Learning:
Teachers begin by dividing this process into two general categories:
first review how to organize the graphic and, then, teach students how to use
these notes to develop an extended paragraph analysis that can be used
during class discussion or for study purposes in preparation for a quiz or test
on the play.
C.
Outcomes:
Due to the complex nature of this work, this lesson will help to model
how to analyze the images of Shakespeare. Use of this strategy will allow
students to practice selecting important passages, analyzing word choice to
examine how it builds character development or theme, and building an
interpretation that is based in textual evidence.
Students often struggle to recognize text that contains rich interpretive
meaning. By isolating important words within the passage and drawing their
symbolic importance, students will begin to deepen their understanding of
Brutus’s character and the conflicts he faces early on in Act II.
II. Relationship to School/State:
Building an interpretation using textual evidence helps to meet both
state and local curricular goals. This work helps students to understand the
genre of the play and the role of a soliloquy as used by Shakespeare to reveal
internal thoughts and conflicts.
Students can easily apply these analytical skills when using different
genres, as all narratives include characters, conflicts and themes.
Additionally, these lessons help to enrich both the freshmen and sophomore
curricula, which focus on skill-building techniques. However, teachers of
junior and seniors will find this to be an effective strategy to walk students
through a particularly difficult text, like Hamlet or Macbeth. By allowing
students a structure in which to process their ideas, these strategies help all
students to develop their facility with and understanding of complex
readings, like those presented by Shakespeare.
__________________________________________________________________________________
This lesson is based on the Structured Writing & Thinking Program of Robert A. Pauker.
This lesson was generated by: Patti Freeman
2
Ridgefield High School
Ridgefield, CT
Lesson Developed by Patti Freeman
________________________________________________________________________
III. Structure
In order to facilitate the analytical process, the teacher needs to train
the students to answer four basic questions about the symbolic picture they
draw based on a reading. These questions are as follows:
Question 1: What is your drawing (picture, chart, or graph) about?
Question 2: What is one very important idea in the drawing (picture,
chart, or graph)?
Question 3: What are two details you observe in the drawing (picture,
chart, or graph)?
Question 4: One point I would like to emphasize about the picture is…
To prepare for creating this graphic organizer, the teacher prompts the
students to first create the template explained below on a blank piece of
paper or the teacher may hand out this blank template to the class, which is
particularly helpful for students who have difficulty processing directions.
After the class hears the reading aloud, students are then prompted to
draw their symbolic picture of this reading in a box. The drawing should be
small and drawn in a box at the stop left of a blank sheet of lined paper.
Then tell students below their picture to number down the page 1 to 4,
skipping at least five lines between each number to allow for space to
complete and edit the response to each prompt.
When drawing the picture, students should only rely on their memory
and should close the book. After the picture is created, given a thirty second
or one minute time frame, student should then be prompted to answer the
four questions as stated above, allowing time between each question for
processing ideas.
Each of these questions is designed to elicit a specific type of
thinking. Each question is answered in one or two sentences. Encourage
students to answer the questions as the teacher prompts the class and to not
jump ahead of the process. To facilitate class discussion the students will
__________________________________________________________________________________
This lesson is based on the Structured Writing & Thinking Program of Robert A. Pauker.
This lesson was generated by: Patti Freeman
3
Ridgefield High School
Ridgefield, CT
Lesson Developed by Patti Freeman
________________________________________________________________________
share responses one question at a time. The teacher should allow time in
between each question for students to both complete responses and to share
their ideas with the class. Students can be chosen randomly or asked to
volunteer. Students should first explain their picture to the class and then
read from their numbered response. For example, if the class is on question
two, the student volunteer would first explain the symbolic picture, and then
read through both response 1 and 2. Students should be encouraged to add
missing information to improve the quality of the response. Below is a visual
to show how this template looks.
1. My picture shows
Box for
Symbolic Picture
2. One important idea in my picture is…
3. Two specific details in the picture are…
4. One point I would like to emphasize about my picture is…
__________________________________________________________________________________
This lesson is based on the Structured Writing & Thinking Program of Robert A. Pauker.
This lesson was generated by: Patti Freeman
4
Ridgefield High School
Ridgefield, CT
Lesson Developed by Patti Freeman
________________________________________________________________________
IV. Procedure:
Step 1: In this activity students first view the film to show Brutus’s
soliloquy. At this time, students can jot down words they hear while viewing
the scene and are encourage to read along in their books as they listen to the
reading being acted out on the screen. However, once the teacher prompts
the students to draw their symbolic picture, students should only rely on
their memory and should close the book.
Step 2: Students should be prompted to draw a symbolic picture in
the box based on the ideas presented in the reading. This picture should be
merely emblematic of Brutus’s words and should capture one of the lasting
images that the student noticed from the reading. It should not attempt to
recreate the entire soliloquy, rather only a significant image or idea that the
student heard. Allow only thirty seconds to a minute for this step.
Step 3: Students should then be prompted by the teacher to answer the
four questions. The teacher should allow time in between each question for
students to process ideas, share responses, and complete their answers.
Below is a passage from the soliloquy that a student addresses in the
examples that follow:
“So Caesar may.
Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel
Will bear no colour for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus; that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities:
And therefore think him as a serpent's egg
Which, hatch'd, would, as his kind, grow mischievous,
And kill him in the shell” (II.i. 27-34).
The student drawing of this part of the soliloquy might be of an egg with a
snake inside. Then the student might depict some type of killing of the egg either
by a knife or by smashing it. The picture might label the snake as Caesar and the
“killer” as Brutus, since these lines show Brutus’s final decision to kill Caesar
and to join with the conspirators in order to carry out this plan.
__________________________________________________________________________________
This lesson is based on the Structured Writing & Thinking Program of Robert A. Pauker.
This lesson was generated by: Patti Freeman
5
Ridgefield High School
Ridgefield, CT
Lesson Developed by Patti Freeman
________________________________________________________________________
Question 1: What is my picture about?
This question requires the students to determine the purpose of the drawing.
Responses need to move beyond the obvious.
Obvious response: This picture is about Brutus’s soliloquy in Act II.
Initially the students tend to give these obvious response statements.
However, the teacher wants to encourage a more in-depth answer.
In-depth response: This picture shows the final lines of Brutus’s soliloquy
where he compares Caesar to a serpent in a shell, which he plans to kill.
The in-depth sentence shows a better level of observation and supplies more
categorical information.
Question 2: What is one very important idea in the picture?
This question requires students to draw one conclusion from the graphic.
The conclusion from the graphic becomes a main idea that the students can
use to help them categorize a key concept from the learning. Responses,
again, need to move beyond the obvious.
Obvious response: One important idea in this picture is that Caesar is a
serpent.
This statement is true; however, it does not reflect a deep level of thinking.
In-depth response: One important idea in my picture is how Brutus
compares Caesar to a serpent because serpents are often considered evil.
Brutus has determined that Caesar is so evil that he must be killed.
The in-depth response shows a higher level of inferential thinking and
analysis of the picture.
Question 3: What are two details you observe in the picture?
This question requires the students to observe the picture for details.
__________________________________________________________________________________
This lesson is based on the Structured Writing & Thinking Program of Robert A. Pauker.
This lesson was generated by: Patti Freeman
6
Ridgefield High School
Ridgefield, CT
Lesson Developed by Patti Freeman
________________________________________________________________________
Obvious response: Two details are the egg and how the serpent dies.
In-depth response: The picture shows how Brutus depicts Caesar as a baby
serpent in a shell and the idea that he must kill this “baby” serpent before it
grows too big or before Caesar is crowned king.
This in-depth response contains more than just a simplistic analysis of the
picture.
Question 4: One point I would like to emphasize about my picture is…
This question is parallel to the second question. Students must now evaluate
the picture drawn impacts Act II and explore why this particular image is
important to the play.
Obvious response: One point I would like to emphasize about my picture is
how it shows Brutus’s decision to kill Caesar.
This statement is true; however, the students need to provide a more specific
response.
In-depth response: One point I would like to emphasize about my picture is
how Brutus decides to kill Caesar because he fears that he will grow too
powerful, therefore Brutus will join the conspiracy and will help to kill
Caesar before he is crowned king.
At this point the teacher should call on another student to explore how the
other images build to this conclusion and to predict how this type of decision
might impact the rest of the play.
Add-on In-depth response: One point I would like to emphasize about my
picture is how Brutus decides to kill Caesar because he fears that he will
grow too powerful, therefore Brutus will join the conspiracy and will help to
kill Caesar before he is crowned king. However, since the people want
Caesar so badly as their king, this decision might provoke anger from
the plebeians and from Antony, Caesar’s good friend.
The response must not duplicate the answer in the second question.
__________________________________________________________________________________
This lesson is based on the Structured Writing & Thinking Program of Robert A. Pauker.
This lesson was generated by: Patti Freeman
7
Ridgefield High School
Ridgefield, CT
Lesson Developed by Patti Freeman
________________________________________________________________________
V. Trouble Shooting:
To avoid underdeveloped responses, set a two or three sentence minimum
guideline for each response. Encourage students to really examine the word
choice and how it matters within the soliloquy and how it develops a conflict
in Act II. If students have trouble linking into the underlying reasons behind
why these images are important to the play, students should review the
following concepts in order to develop their ideas:
(1) Character: What kind of character is Brutus and why would he uses
these images?
(2) Imagery: Consider the connotations behind these words: i.e. why use
“serpent” and not “robin” or other creature in an “egg”.
(3) Theme/Conflict: Can you see what words were used to describe both
Caesar and how Brutus feels about Caesar?
VI.
Evaluation Process:
The responses will fit together into a post-learning paragraph that can be
used during class discussion or for study purposes before a quiz or test on
Act II:
This picture shows the final lines of Brutus’s soliloquy where he compares
Caesar to a serpent in a shell, which he plans to kill. One important idea in
my picture is how Brutus compares Caesar to a serpent because serpents are
often considered evil. Brutus has determined that Caesar is so evil that he
must be killed. The picture shows how Brutus depicts Caesar as a baby
serpent in a shell and the idea that he must kill this “baby” serpent before it
grows too big or before Caesar is crowned king. One point I would like to
emphasize about my picture is how Brutus decides to kill Caesar because he
fears that he will grow too powerful, therefore Brutus will join the
conspiracy and will help to kill Caesar. However, since the people want
Caesar so badly as their king, this decision might provoke anger from the
plebeians and from Antony, Caesar’s good friend.
__________________________________________________________________________________
This lesson is based on the Structured Writing & Thinking Program of Robert A. Pauker.
This lesson was generated by: Patti Freeman
8
Ridgefield High School
Ridgefield, CT
Lesson Developed by Patti Freeman
________________________________________________________________________
If the teacher were to collect and score each student graphic, the
following guidelines can be used: score each box a possible 2 points, for a
total of 10 points (the picture can count as a “box” and each of the four
answers counts as a box). A score of two would be earned for the in-depth
response or for a picture whose content is well chosen. Never grade students
on the quality of their drawing, rather on the quality of thinking that the
picture represents. A score of 1 would be earned for an obvious response,
and finally a zero would be earned if the box is incomplete or left blank.
This process might be completed if the class did not have time to fully
discuss their completed pictures and graphics as a way to check for initial
understanding.
VII. Post Learning:
After the class shares several pictures and responses, the class can
open up their books to Act II, scene i, lines 10-34 to review the soliloquy
line by line. As the different images are seen in the soliloquy the teacher can
lead a discussion on the importance of each image and what it reveals about
Caesar and Brutus’s conflicts regarding his friend. Or students can be
grouped together based on their similar drawings and share ideas. Then each
group can be responsible for teaching to the class their interpretation of the
picture and why they think it is important to Act II and to the rest of the
play.
If the teachers collects and evaluates the pictures, the teacher may
decided to either review the concepts introduced in the soliloquy or the
teacher may allow students to use these pictures during a quiz or test. These
pictures should help students to understand the internal conflicts Brutus
faces, the purpose and importance of the soliloquy as revealing the Act’s
prominent character’s internal thoughts, and the actions of Brutus and how
they will impact the rest of Act II.
__________________________________________________________________________________
This lesson is based on the Structured Writing & Thinking Program of Robert A. Pauker.
This lesson was generated by: Patti Freeman
9