Twelfth Night and She's The Man!

Al Merkley

Mark Dressman

CI 401

31 October 2012

Twelfth Night and She’s the Man: A Comparative Unit

Standards

Reading Standard for Literature #3: Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.

Reading Standard for Literature #4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

Writing Standard #2-B: Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of the topic.

Writing Standard #10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Procedures

Context: Students are in the middle of a unit in which we are reading Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night while watching She’s the Man, which is a modern film adaptation of the story that retains many important textual details, such as place and character names. On a typical day, we spend the first half of class reading and discussing scenes from the play, and then we spend the second half of class watching the corresponding scenes in the movie. During movie viewing, the students (who are seated in small groups) are required to keep a group reading log chronicling the differences between the play and the movie. Since we are midway through the book and movie, students have a good sense of how each story has been progressing. Today, instead of watching the movie/keeping a reading log, students will be given a creative writing assignment to be completed in groups. Procedures are explained below.

1.     Have students take out their copies of Twelfth Night to begin class.

2.     Class will start with an analysis of Act III, Scenes I and II of Twelfth Night. I will be using directed reading to teach these scenes to the class

a.     In this reading/discussion, which should last approximately 20 minutes, I will use directed reading to advance through these two scenes. Students will follow along in their books as I read and analyze the important points.

b.     I will stop frequently and ask for student input and opinions about the happenings in the text, and I will also describe the events in an easy-to-understand, relevant manner so that students can better connect with them. We will be sure to review characterization, vocabulary, and plot structure. I will frequently ask students to rephrase lines in standard modern English so that they gain experience with reading and interpreting archaic English writing.

c.     Directed reading will ensure that students have read the important parts of the text. It will also ensure that they understand what occurred in the text.

3.     After completing directed reading of these scenes, have students get into their assigned small groups in which they have been working during this unit.

4.     Explain today’s creative writing assignment (to be completed individually, but group discussion and brainstorming is required):

a.     It is the student’s job to predict how the scenes that we read today in class (3.1 and 3.2) will be cast in She’s the Man.

b.     Students have seen enough of the movie and read enough of the play to have a sense for how the movie adjusts the play’s plot to fit into a modern high school setting. Students are also familiar with the characters of the play and movie, which is necessary for this assignment to be successful.

c.     In their groups, students will brainstorm possibilities for how 3.1 and 3.2 are cast in She’s the Man, and each student will submit a one page handwritten account of their predictions.

d.     Students can consult their reading logs that we have been completing which chronicle the differences between the play and the movie. Based on what they’ve written so far on these logs, they may be able to make inferences about what will happen next in the movie by citing patterns and trends that they have noticed regarding discrepancies between the play and the movie.

e.     Students will not be graded on accuracy; instead, points will be awarded for effort and for thoughtful, logical, detailed predictions that mesh well with the scenes from the movie that we have already watched.

5.     After using the remainder of the class to write their responses, students will turn in their responses to me at the end of class. If it is apparent that much more time is needed, students will be allowed to finish the assignment at the beginning of class tomorrow.

6.     Finally, students will be told that tomorrow’s class will begin with watching the corresponding scenes of She’s the Man; this will allow students to test their predictions for accuracy.

Evaluation

Reading Standard for Literature #3: Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.

·      This standard will be assessed through our discussion and reading of scenes 3.1 and 3.2 during the first half of class. We will analyze the major plot events and examine how characters are essential to the story. We also will discuss character depth and interaction.

Reading Standard for Literature #4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

·      This standard will be assessed during our discussion and reading of 3.1 and 3.2 during the first half of class. Through my leadership of directed reading, we will pause at important/unusual words and phrases and determine the meaning of the passages that we read. This will help students improve their textual comprehension skills. They will also develop a better understanding of textual elements such as tone/setting through our discussion and analysis.

Writing Standard #2-B: Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of the topic.

·      This standard will be assessed through the students’ creative writing responses. Students will be asked to consult their reading logs during the writing activity to search for patterns and trends that we have seen thus far when comparing the play and the movie. They will have to use these facts, as well as context clues and background knowledge, to make their predictions about what will happen next in She’s the Man. Perhaps the most important element of the writing responses is the requirement for students to make inferences and think creatively; their responses will be assessed based on effort and attention to detail, as well as creativity.  

Writing Standard #10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

·      The ongoing nature of this unit allows for a series of reading log entries and writing responses that will satisfy this standard.