Tracey+Dann

**// EDC 448 //** **// Tracey Dann //**
 * // Diversity Text Assignment //**

** Hamlet: Introduction and Themes ** The materials collected serve in a 10th-12th grade ELA classroom. They frontload an understanding of plotline, themes and the tools needed to fully dissect Shakespeare's Hamlet. While the information on dictionaries and the activities related to Aristotle and the dramatic plotline are used as introductory material, the resources about theme will be revisited as the students progress through the unit.
 * Context: **


 * Objectives: **
 * While reading, student can identify when their own understanding of a word is partial or completely lacking.
 * Student can use varied methods of word attack to ascertain the meaning of a word within context.
 * Students can write about and discuss the major themes in Hamlet.
 * When discussing the themes in Hamlet in class or in writing a student uses evidence found in the text.


 * Common Core Standards: **


 * ** RL.9-10.1 - ** Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
 * ** RL.9-10.2 - ** Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of a text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details.
 * ** RL.9-10.4 ** - Determine the meaning of words or phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings.
 * ** L.9-10.5 - ** Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
 * ** L.9-10.6 - ** Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.


 * Resources: **


 * // A. Print //**
 * // Text: __Aristotle and Plot:__ //**

** Rationale: ** This piece identifies the major pieces of plot advancement. It will be used in conjunction with a simple version of Hamlet to discuss the plot of the play itself.
====** Use: ** Students will identify the major aspects of every plotline and then use their Aristotle's definitions to generate plot examples from work familiar to them. They will then use the chart on the website in order to recreate the plot of Hamlet. ====

Entire Article - included at the end of the list.
====** Specific Learners: ** This text requires little previous academic knowledge. The reading is short and includes visuals making it an ideal bridging text between an understanding of plotline and a very simplified version of Hamlet's specific plot. ====

**Summary:** This is an eleven page illustrated narrative version of Hamlet to be read aloud to the class.
====**Rationale:** The Flesch-Kinkaid Reading scale formula calculates this text at a grade level of 5.25. It is well below reading level as we are using it as a introduction to the characters and the plot of the play. We are also using in conjunction with the more difficult concepts articulated by Aristotle with regard to plot form and structure.==== ====**Use:** As we read this narrative version of Hamlet, each student will receive five post-it notes. On the post-it notes they will write down something they feel is important to the plot. After reading the narrative to the class, the students will add their events to a projected image of Aristotle's plotline.==== ====**Specific Learners:** This text is specifically geared toward students with significant gaps in both academic ability and processing. Yet it is paired with a group task that is more challenging and better suited for students with matchup gaps - particularly those who struggle to see the purpose in understanding a plotline.====

**Summary:** This is a very difficult reading of the play Hamlet. It is fully numbered and footnoted.
====**Rationale:** Much of the media and supplementary reading is simple in an effort to scaffold to the very difficult translation of Hamlet. This particular translation is in the public domain, so it can be altered as needed to increase readability.==== ====**Use:** This text is intended to be translated or paraphrased by the class. In order to increase readability, the text itself has been redesigned into a graphic organizer. The organizer contains three columns, one for the actual text, one column placing footnotes directly across for the lines noted, and one with each speaking characters name followed by blank lines. The text is intended to be photocopied and used as a worksheet throughout the class. Other changes that improve readability are as follows: Stage directions are removed, names are no longer abbreviated and line spacing shifted.==== ====**Specific Learners:** This text will be most accessible for the students with high academic knowledge, high processing ability or both. To that end, the students with asset matches will receive slightly different tools to scaffold or challenge their learning.====

**Summary:** This is a very simple approach and explanation of the themes in Hamlet.
====**Rationale:** The actual text of Hamlet may be very difficult for some readers. The use of the interactive literary chart may also cause some anxiety among the readers. There may be a need for a simpler back up version of Hamlet for some readers. The SparkNotes series also utilizes very simple discussion of thematic elements.==== ====**Use:** For every student in the class, this will be used as an understanding of the thematic elements within Hamlet. Having this available while searching for evidence can serve as a reminder of each of the themes discussed.==== ====**Specific Learner:** This text will serve as an excellent reminder for the other students, but it is ultimately a tool for those students struggling with academic knowledge, processing ability or both.====

**Summary:** This is an accurate and abridged sequential art version of the Hamlet Text.
====**Rationale:** Unlike many of the graphic novel versions of Hamlet, this version covers significantly more dialogue from within the play itself. It will help visual learners, and those having trouble differentiating the characters within the scenes.====

**Rationale:** This collection of idioms is fully explained and illustrated. Along with the idiom itself, the author includes the idiomatic etymology in a way that is frequently very humorous.
====**Use**: This is an added resource to supplement the idiomatic dictionary. It does not contain every idiom in Hamlet, but those that are included are identified by Act and Scene. I also used this work to determine which scenes relied most heavily of figurative language to prepare the appropriate lesson scaffolding.====

**Specific Learner**: This tool is ideal for asset mismatches as well as the ELL learner.

 * // B. Media //**

**Rationale:** This video brings the topic of idioms to a focus within the context of Shakespearean language specifically.
====**Use:** I would use this initially to answer the question "Why are we still reading Shakespeare?" Then I would use this again at the beginning of the second act in preparation for Polonius' heavy use of idioms in his speech to Laertes.==== ====**Specific Learners:** This text will help students who struggle with figurative speech or idioms, like English Language Learners. Yet, it is short and entertaining enough to engage students at all levels.====

**Bibliographies:**
====Rojas, R., & Soloski, A. (2014, March 13). Ghosts, Murder, and More Murder - Hamlet Part I: Crash Course Literature 203. Retrieved March 25, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My14mZa-eq8 Part 2:====

**Summary:** Crash Course creates materials that are not heavily summary oriented, but that focus specifically on explaining some of the themes within Hamlet.
====**Rationale:** I chose these videos in part because of their length. If internet is available for students at home, this can be as homework with a worksheet. If internet is not available to the student, then the video will not take up a huge amount of class time. The video also explores many of the same themes, using the same language as the Literary Theme Chart interactive resource.==== ====**Use:** These videos as a review of themes and model of thematic discussion. I would play the video, listen to the crash course explanation of the theme, then ask the students to use the lit chart program to find text examples about the theme to add to the class discussion.==== ====**Specific Learners:** This piece of media is simple, though fast paced. For students with mismatches, there are visuals to help fill some of the gaps in knowledge, and the language is very common to assist with processing. For students with matchup assets Crash Course provides an excellent model for thematic analysis.====

**Summary:** This is dictionary will help student quickly identify the meaning words not listed in the footnotes of the play Hamlet.
====**Rationale:** As part of the unit's frontloading, students will be taught how and when to use a dictionary. They will use this dictionary along with a traditional dictionary to assist with the translation process.====

**Summary:** This is dictionary will trace the history of any unusual words instead of simply the definition and the word's origin.
====**Rationale:** As part of the unit's frontloading, students will be taught how and when to use an online etymology dictionary. They will use this dictionary along with a traditional dictionary to assist with the translation process.==== ====**Use:** This is used as a backup dictionary tool in two ways. First, Shakespeare is known for coining words and phrases. If a word is not present in a traditional dictionary, an etymology dictionary will give you the history of words no longer in current use in the English language. It can also tell you that a word never existed at all. Second, understanding where a word came from provides an alternate definition of the word, making it easier to understand and break down for ESL students.==== ====**Specific Learners:** This dictionary is also available as an app. It gives the student a word as it is broken down into individual morphemes and also provides a brief history of the word. It is an excellent resource for learners with asset matches.====

**Summary:** This dictionary is an easily searchable compendium of phrases or idioms.
====**Rationale:** This is another means of scaffolding vocabulary for traditional as well as ESL students. The idioms no longer in use are noted within the text's footnotes, but idioms that are considered common are not. Yet those idioms are difficult lower level readers to understand.====

**Use:** A student can search for key words within the context of this page to discover if a phrase is an idiom, who coined the idiom and the exact reference or meanings of the idioms within the text.
====**Specific Learners:** This is a particularly effective dictionary for ELL students studying Shakespeare and his idioms and coined phrases because students can research the meaning of an entire phrase. It is also useful for students who struggle with figurative language.====

Kestler, J. (2015). Hamlet Study Guide. Retrieved March 25, 2015, from http://www.litcharts.com/lit/hamlet
====**Summary:** This page creates a summary of the characters, symbols, plot and most importantly themes in Hamlet. The theme tab gives a detailed explanation of the most important themes within the play. The interactive theme chart tab holds a circular chart of every scene of the play, every time a theme appears in the dialogue there is a corresponding colored square on the literary chart. A student can hover over the colored square and the page shows the theme and a brief summary of how it relates to the plot.==== ====**Rationale:** This colorful and engaging chart is very help in providing simple thematic explanations. But most importantly, if a class is writing or discussing themes within the play, it is easy to find thematic examples without trying to struggle through pages of difficult reading.==== ====**Use:** This is an incredible tool to help with evidence based text inquiry, yet it is vague enough to require critical thinking on the part of the students. I would use this tool to set students on a text based search. For example, our chart says there is reference to the theme of death at the end of Act 1 Scene 1. Can you find the line number our chart is referring to?==== ====**Specific Learners:** This website is particularly flexible in its use. The vibrant color coding and simple format make it ideal for use with student who have matchup gaps or mismatches. However, when used in reverse, the literary chart provides challenge for those students with matchup assets.====

**Use:** This activity can be used before our unit begins to build Shakespearean specific background knowledge. It is intended to accompany this worksheet.


====**Specific Students**: There is enough information available within this webquest to support students with asset matches. Yet the associated task it simple enough to engage those students with matchup gaps or mismatches.====

Mabillard, A. (2014, January 1). Shakespeare Online. Retrieved March 25, 2015, from http://www.shakespeare-online.com
====**Summary:** This website is a resource for the life and times of Shakespeare, but more importantly provides a very thorough analysis of themes as the run through each of Shakespeare's plays, including a scene by scene and themed analysis of Hamlet.==== ====**Rationale:** While vocabulary research and study is an important element in the design of this unit, as a teacher I will still need to enrich the reading with reference to thematic ideas throughout the piece. This site will keep me informed of varied aspect of Shakespeare's Hamlet as we progress through the work.==== ====**Use:** I am using this site as a personal review to check my interpretation for accuracy and to add to the enriching experience of my students. The more I know about a subject, the more flexible I can be in front of my classroom.====

**__A r i s t o t l e + P l o t __** Aristotle indicates that the medium of tragedy is drama, not narrative. Tragedy “shows” rather than “tells.” According to Aristotle, tragedy is higher and more philosophical than history because history simply relates what //has// happened while tragedy dramatizes what //may// happen, “what is possible according to the law of probability or necessity.” History thus deals with the particular, and tragedy with the universal. Events that have happened may be due to accident or coincidence; they may be particular to a specific situation and not be part of a clear cause-and-effect chain. Therefore they have little relevance for others. Tragedy, however, is rooted in the fundamental order of the universe; it creates a cause-and-effect chain that clearly reveals what //may// happen at any time or place because that is the way the world operates. Tragedy therefore arouses not only pity but also fear, because the audience can envision themselves within this cause-and-effect chain. Aristotle defines plot as “the arrangement of the incidents”: i.e., not the story itself but the way the incidents are presented to the audience, the structure of the play. According to Aristotle, tragedies - where the outcome depends on a tightly constructed cause-and-effect chain of actions - are superior to those that depend primarily on the character and personality of the protagonist. ** __ELEMENTS OF PLOT__ ** **1. ** 1. The plot must be “a whole,” with a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning, called by modern critics the incentive moment, must start the cause-and-effect chain but not be dependent on anything outside the compass of the play (i.e., its causes are downplayed but its effects are stressed). The middle, or climax, must be caused by earlier incidents and cause the incidents that follow (i.e., its causes and effects are stressed). The end, or resolution, must be caused by the preceding events but not lead to other incidents outside the compass of the play (i.e., its causes are stressed but its effects downplayed); the end should therefore solve or resolve the problem created during the incentive moment. Aristotle calls the cause-and-effect chain leading from the incentive moment to the climax the “tying up” (//desis//), in modern terminology the complication. He therefore terms the more rapid cause-and-effect chain from the climax to the resolution the “unravelling” (//lusis//), in modern terminology the dénouement. 2. The plot must be “complete,” having “unity of action.” By this Aristotle means that the plot must be structurally self-contained, with the incidents bound together by internal necessity, each action leading inevitably to the next with no outside intervention, no //deus ex machina//. According to Aristotle, the worst kinds of plots are “‘episodic,’ in which the episodes or acts succeed one another without probable or necessary sequence”; the only thing that ties together the events in such a plot is the fact that they happen to the same person. Playwrights should exclude coincidences from their plots; if some coincidence is required, it should “have an air of design,” i.e., seem to have a fated connection to the events of the play. Similarly, the poet should exclude the irrational or at least keep it “outside the scope of the tragedy,” i.e., reported rather than dramatized. While the poet cannot change the myths that are the basis of his plots, he “ought to show invention of his own and skillfully handle the traditional materials” to create unity of action in his plot. 3. The plot must be “of a certain magnitude,” both quantitatively (length, complexity) and qualitatively (“seriousness” and universal significance). Aristotle argues that plots should not be too brief; the more incidents and themes that the playwright can bring together in an organic unity, the greater the artistic value and richness of the play. Also, the more universal and significant the meaning of the play, the more the playwright can catch and hold the emotions of the audience, the better the play will be. 4. The plot may be either simple or complex, although complex is better. Simple plots have only a “change of fortune” (//catastrophe//). Complex plots have both “reversal of intention” (//peripeteia//) and “recognition” (//anagnorisis//) connected with the catastrophe. Both //peripeteia// and //anagnorisis// turn upon surprise. Aristotle explains that a //peripeteia// occurs when a character produces an effect opposite to that which he intended to produce, while an //anagnorisis// “is a change from ignorance to knowledge, producing love or hate between the persons destined for good or bad fortune.” He argues that the best plots combine these two as part of their cause-and-effect chain (i.e., the //peripeteia// leads directly to the //anagnorisis//); this in turns creates the //catastrophe//, leading to the final “scene of suffering”.