Final Annotated Bibliography

What is my goal as an English teacher? Is it to teach the skills necessary to pursue careers as writers? Is it to make students familiar with the characters, themes, and events of famous literature? Is it to prepare them for the standardized tests? Or, maybe it's to provide a venue for students to learn, explore, discuss and write about aspects of people and society. Maybe it's all of the above. But, it's hard to teach a course without having a goal and understanding what one is really trying to accomplish.

More and more, teaching the classics - trying to make students familiar with classic works of literature is becoming less of a priority. Do students really need to have read Shakespeare in order to succeed in college level English courses. Do students even need to take college level English classes unless they choose to do so? Will it make them better, happier, more productive citizens if they can recite passages from Shakespeare? I don't think so. Students do, however, need to read and write effectively. They need literature that is engaging and interesting - literature that they can relate to, discuss and write about. They need to make reading a part of their lives. There is lots of great literature out there that meets this criteria, and, unfortunately, many of the classics use outdated and unrealistic language, dialogue, themes, and characters that fail to capture the attention and interest of our young readers. Still, we English teachers are pressured to teach the classics, mainly Shakespeare. To be honest, I really like ole Bill, and I hope my appreciation for his great poems and plays rubs off on some of my students. But, Shakespeare tends to be more laborious and disappointing for most of my students than it is pleasurable.

The first strategy one needs when teaching Shakespeare is to choose a play that relates to the interests and / or background knowledge of one's students. When I was teaching at an all boys school, I was told I needed to teach A Midsummer Night's Dream. This is an athletically oriented school with boys who tend to be rather concrete, liking math and history more than literature. A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play about fairies and love and does not have the historical relevance of many of Shakespeare's other works. It would be my last choice for the population I was teaching. So, I chose Julius Caesar instead. The students were studying the Roman Empire in history class, which gave them some background knowledge for understanding the events of the play, and Julius Caesar is about politics, murder, and war - engaging themes for young adolescent boys. 

Second, one should provide trade books and websites to supplement and further enrich the lesson and to further engage the students.

Below is a list of trade books that could be used while teaching a unit on Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare:

1. Blackwood, G. (2000). The Shakespeare Stealer. New York: Puffin Books. Reviews of The Shakespeare Stealer on Amazon

• This novel is a great way to introduce students to the historical setting, culture, language, and theater of Shakespeare's time in a way that is appealing to younger readers who are probably unfamiliar with his works. This novel would provide useful background knowledge for students about to read Shakespeare's works and could be used before one teaches an actual play by Shakespeare.

1. Belanger, A. McCreery, C. & Del Col, A. (2012). Kill Shakespeare: The Complete Edition. San Diego: Idea & Design Works. Kill Shakespeare: The Complete Edition on Amazon   Reviews of volume 1 on Amazon

• This is more of a graphic novel or comic book that uses Shakespearian characters and references to creates fables with exciting and amusing graphics and dialogue. Students would benefit from reading this before, during or after reading one of Shakespeare's plays as it would help with background knowledge, would make for an exciting side-read to the curriculum, and it makes references to Shakespeare that would be appreciated after reading a play. 

1. Rinaldo, D. (2010). Julius Caesar: Dictator for Life (Wicked History). London, UK. Franklin Watts. Information on Amazon  Reviews of the book

• This book would be a great way to begin a unit on Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. It provides an easy, even graphically organized, and more contemporary way to learn about the man, Julius Caesar, and his historical significance. Shakespeare expects his audience to know about the historical characters and events in order to appreciate his interpretation and dialogue, which go into more emotional and psychological depth than what he expects the audience to already know. This book provides excellent background knowledge.

Below are three websites that could be used while teaching a unit on Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare:

• The following is a link to a video on YouTube that would be shown to the class in order to provide a multi-sensory approach and to help them better understand and appreciate Shakespeare's work. The link is provided by Spark Notes and is an animated summary of the play. I wold present this to the class before reading the play. Shakespeare's language is very complex and difficult, and I don't want students to struggle to understand the basic plot while they read. In fact, the audience is expected to know the basic events surrounding the death of Caesar before viewing the play. Also, by understanding the event, they can be empowered readers, making better inferences and predictions and appreciating the literature more than if they were to begin reading without any background knowledge. As we know, background knowledge is a key component to reading comprehension.

Summary of Julius Caesar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgyAPrv30eg

• This next link is also a link to YouTube. This is a video taken from the television series Rome on HBO. After reading the murder scene in the play, I would present this video not only to offer a multi-sensory approach tot he unit, but also to offer a different interpretation of the event. The different versions shed different light on the characters, motives, and themes. By experiencing both, students can make different interpretations about the characters and make different evaluations of the murder scene

The Murder of Julius Caesar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwGDXp24uWo

• Fun is not a word that most students use in describing Shakespeare. In fact, his work can be downright frustrating! This site provides some fun, interactive activities and quizzes about Shakespeare, the play, and the characters. Students will take these quizzes during class, individually and in groups, to asses and guide their reading. Hopefully they will have some fun with these online activities and will associate Shakespeare with something fun. These activities provide some good spirited competition, which can motivate students to read and have better reading comprehension.

Online Quizzes for Julius Caesar

http://www.funtrivia.com/quizzes/literature/shakespeare/julius_caesar.html

Writing On the Web

If there was only one aspect of my English curriculum that I could choose from and teach my students, it would be writing - how to write with unity, coherence, creativity, and elaboration. Writing is not only important in all classes across the curriculum, but writing also is an important skill in life. In today's technological age, we write more than ever. Text messages, emails, online forums, and blogs have become widespread. Though some of these forms of writing do not always utilize proper grammar, spelling, mechanics, and structure, they still offer useful means of written communication. Moreover, they can be utilized by teachers to supplement and enhance their writing instruction.

Blogger.com

To improve one's writing, a student must be willing to share his or her work with peers. Students can learn a lot from reading each others' compositions. They can see how their work compares with that of their classmates, they can learn from examples presented by peers, they can pick up specific styles and strategies used by classmates, and they can help each other improve. Many students, however, are not comfortable sharing their work, and asking students to trade compositions can present a stressful situation. An alternative is to have students set up personal blogs to post their work. Classmates can access each other's blogs and post comments. Have students post two comments on a classmate's compositions - one for praise and one for polish. Not only do blogs create a less stressful class environment, but blogs also save time in the classroom. It takes a lot of time to conduct peer reviews during class, and having the students do this on their own makes for an effective, interactive, engaging, and meaningful homework assignment, and it saves class time for more, better instruction. Have your students log on to www.blogger.com and have them create an original blog to use for peer reviewing!

Online Discussion Forums

Another effective way to supplement the writing curriculum is to have each student become a member of a discussion forum on a website that pertains to a personal interest. Research shows that instruction and student productivity improves when students are given material that is meaningful to the students, that the students can choose themselves, and that activates the students' background knowledge. A teacher can accomplish this by asking each student to find a website devoted to one of their interests and requiring each student to be an active participant on the websites discussion forum. Teachers could access the websites to see what the students are writing, or students could present to the class certain discussion threads in which they participated. Using discussion forums is a great way to get students to read and respond about information that interests them and to participate in discussions in a constructive manner.

What is Grammar's Role in the Writing Process?

With differentiated teaching, students are offered a variety of different questions, lessons, activities, and assignments so that all learning styles and strengths are represented in the classroom and in the curriculum. A lesson in a standard secondary school English class that takes a break from the literature and the writing and focuses solely on grammar exercises and assessments can provide such differentiation. Such grammar lessons give students who struggle with the critical and creative aspects of an English course a chance to showcase their ability to succeed on more factual, objective assignments and tests. But, for grammar lessons to be effective, at least in secondary school, research shows that the relevance and importance of the grammar must be made clear; a connection to the reasons for knowing the grammar must be inherent in the lesson (Weaver, Bush, Anderson, & Bills, 2006). This means that grammar must not be taught in isolation where students become conditioned to think of grammar as a skill disconnected from the writing process (Weaver, et al., 2006). Grammar must be part of the writing process. Let's first look at how grammar is an important part of the pre-writing process.

Probably the most important objective of pre-writing is developing a focus - a specific topic or opinion that the essay will support. This focus often is communicated in a thesis statement - a clear, concise sentence that articulates the essay's topic and / or opinion. The key words here are clear and concise. Research indicates that a grammatically simple sentence is one that prevents cognitive interference for the reader and is easy to understand and process (Wagner, Jescheniak, & Schriefers, 2010). When teaching thesis statements, teachers can take advantage of this part of the writing process to teach grammatical concepts such as sentence structure, and the proper use of modifiers. Using simple structure and limiting modifiers are ways of writing a clear, concise thesis statement.

References

Wagner, V., Jescheniak, J. D., & Schriefers, H. (2010). On the Flexibility of Grammatical Advance Planning during Sentence Production: Effects of Cognitive Load on Multiple Lexical Access. Journal Of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, And Cognition, 36(2), 423-440.

Weaver, C., Bush, J., Anderson, J., & Bills, P. (2006). Grammar Intertwined throughout the Writing Process: An "Inch Wide and a Mile Deep". English Teaching: Practice And Critique, 5(1), 77-101.

Websites for English Teachers

Using Google Maps to Enhance the Literary Experience

Settting - The Call of the Wild

In addition to helping students become more convincing, creative, and effective communicators, English class allows students to experience the world, its history, and its people through the various, creative forms of literature - probably the main reason why English is superior to all other subjects! The characters, settings, themes, and figurative language found in the literature are not only educational, teaching us important lessons about the world, people, and ourselves, but they are entertaining, exciting and fun to read. As any competent reader will tell you, books take you to another world. Sometimes, however, the world presented in a piece of literature is unfamiliar. This unfamiliarity can be an obstacle to one's reading comprehension and, thus, to one's appreciation of the work. Everyone knows that reading comprehension  largely depends on one's knowledge of vocabulary, but another important component of reading comprehension is one's background knowledge. Background knowledge allows a reader to relate to the story, to picture the setting in one's mind, to have a better understanding and appreciation for the characters' challenges, dialogue, and experiences. For example, take the classic novel The Call of the Wild by Jack London - an epic adventure of a dog's journey from southern California to the wilds of the Yukon. The setting is is an integral part of the novel as it provides the obstacles necessary for the plot, character development, and theme. The geographical scope of the adventure is immense and difficult for young students to fully grasp and appreciate unless they themselves have made such an epic journey. Of course, we can't take a field trip to the Pacific Coast and trace the character's long, dangerous journey. But, there are ways to take virtual field trip using the power of the Internet.

Using Google Maps, students can view satellite images of the geography, topography, and terrain of a novel's setting. Of course, it's not like actually visiting the setting, but the detailed maps provided by Google are impressive, and they provide readers with good background knowledge for understanding and appreciating the literature. As an assignment, teachers can have students add place marks on the map where important events from the novel take place. They can add titles, descriptions, and links to the place mark and gain a deeper understanding of the setting, the characters' challenges, and the themes.

Google Maps

Using Purdue's Online Writing Lab to Supplement the Writing Curriculum

For me, the most important aspect of an English curriculum is the writing. Whether it's a writing assignment for school, a letter to a friend or family member, a set of directions, a college application, a job application, or some type of professional proposal, effective written communication is an essential skill that all people need to use at some point in life. As English teachers, we need to come up with relevant and engaging ways to teach students how to write properly and effectively, but who want to add another text book to the students' backpack?

Fortunately, the Internet provides some very useful resources for developing effective writing skills. One such site is Purdue's Online Writing Lab, or OWL. In addition to providing detailed information, explanations, and exercises for writing essays, research papers, resumes, and job applications, including the writing process, grammar, and mechanics, students and teachers can contact OWL with writing related questions for personal help on assignments. Teachers can use this site in lieu of a text book and provide students with a comprehensive, interactive, and engaging way of supplementing the curriculum.

OWL

How Can Teachers Make Grammar Instruction Effective?

     Clearly, the reasons for teaching grammar are valid. We owe it to our students to provide them with all the tools we can in order to help them develop academically and intellectually; a solid foundation of grammar is such a tool that students can use for success. But, grammar is boring and difficult. It involves unfamiliar terminology, repetitive workbook exercises, and confusing directions asking students to circle, underline, label, and diagram a variety of different words, phrases, and clauses. Points are deducted on tests for misspelling the terms, not labeling exactly right, or drawing a straight line instead of a slanted one when diagraming sentences. And, to top it off English grammar is difficult; it lacks the clarity and consistency needed for easy comprehension. It's no surprise that teachers fail to spent sufficient time teaching grammar; it's hard to teach, hard to learn, and hard to grade. With all the great literature, discussions, and compositions, grammar is often put on the back burner. But, what if I told you that grammar could be the most fun and most anticipated aspect of your curriculum?

     The first strategy a teacher must employ when teaching grammar is to engage the students by helping them understand that having a good foundation of grammar has real world applications. As Broderick and Blewitt (2010) explain, the research in human development shows that adolescents are at a stage of development where they now have the formal thinking ability to construct abstract possibilities and to form powerful ideals, but they lack the experience to understand the limitations and consequences of the real world; they lack the pragmatism and foresight of adults. An ideal English course for an adolescent probably does not include what seems like a pointless grammar lesson. When this student is presented with the grammar, s/he becomes cynical and frustrated with the course and the material since it contradicts the teen's ideal that s/he has constructed for an English course. In this case, the student is going to be very resistant to learning; the lesson is doomed from the start. Broderick and Blewitt (2010) also describe how teens become intensely self-focused and gain a feeling of invincibility, which empowers them to ignore rules and conventions that do not support their ideals. Before presenting the grammar lesson, the teacher must make an effort to show how important the material is so that the students will be receptive.

Here are some possible strategies for helping students see the importance:

• Prepare two fictional letters proposing changes in school policy. One letter is written with common grammar mistakes that affect he clarity and effectiveness of the proposal, and one is written properly. Have the students pretend to be school administrators charges with deciding which proposal to accept based solely on the quality of the letters. Discuss how grammar affected their decisions.
• Ask a parent to come in and talk about the important of good writing / communicating in the workplace.
• Have former students or upperclassmen come in and discuss how grammar is important for standardized test and/or the writing expectations in college.
• Have them write letters to each other without using any punctuation then reading them and discussing the purpose of grammar
• Present the following sentence with a dangling modifier: While putting on my pajamas, an eagle flew by my bedroom window. Have them sketch the scene implied by the sentence and discuss how the sentence means that an eagle is putting on your pajamas while flying by your window.

These are just some ways to introduce grammar so that teens can see its real world application and be more engaged. The next task is to find lessons, activities, and assessments that teach essential, formal grammar but that are creative, fun, and meaningful. This is where using technology can really help. It turns out that research supports the incorporation of computer-based grammar instructional over conventional instruction as it relieves anxiety, improves critical thinking, and improves performance (AbuSeileek & Rababah, 2007). 

Reference:

AbuSeileek, A. and Rababah, G. (2007). The effect of computer-based grammar instruction on the          

          acquisition of verb tenses in an EFL context. Jalt CALL Journal, 3(12): 1–17. 

Broderick, P. C., & Blewitt, P. (2010). The life span: Human development for helping

          professionals (3^rd  ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.

Why should we teach grammar?

     When many teachers begin a unit of grammar instruction, they will have at least one student who raises his or her hand and asks, "Why do we need to know this?" In a way, if a teacher gets this question, the lesson is doomed from the start. The question insinuates that the material has not been introduced in a way that promotes enthusiasm and that engages the students' interests and needs. McKenna and Robinson (2005) cite the following quote by Sternberg (1987): "'In most of one's life, one learns because one wants to or because one truly has to, or both'" (p. 285).  If the students cannot see a meaningful reason for learning it, they probably won't learn it, at least not well. Instead of shoving the grammar lesson down the students' throats and ignoring their legitimate resistance and frustration, a teacher should ask him or herself if the lesson is really necessary. Does grammar really need to be taught? The answer is yes, but that doesn't mean that grammar needs to be boring and frustrating.

     As an English teacher, I often hear the complaints: "Young people can't write anymore!" "I sure hope you plan on teaching grammar. I've got young lawyers at my firm who graduated from top law schools but can't write a proper sentence!" The research on whether or not people are worse writers today is mixed. I know that my students who have received good grammar instruction not only write better but are easier to teach and improve at a faster rate than students without formal grammar instruction. Those who with good grammar knowledge are more skilled at taking their ideas and breaking them down into clear sentences. Also, I can give them concrete recommendations for improvement, such as telling them to turn a long sentence into a compound sentence or to begin some sentences with subordinate classes in order to vary the writing. Students who have the knowledge to understand these comments have concrete ways of improving their writing. For other students, a teacher might say that some sentences are awkward or that the writing sounds repetitive, but these comments are of no use unless the students have actual ways of correcting the mistakes. So, teaching grammar gives students important tools that allow them to write better and improve faster.

     Another reason why grammar instruction is important is because there are grammar sections on standardized tests. I am not a fan of these tests, but they exist, and it would be irresponsible to ignore them. I would be doing my students a great disservice if I did not prepare them for these tests. As Christy (2005) writes, “With the widespread institution of standards and high-stakes tests, students are expected to recognize and use correct grammar. Educators can no longer afford to assume that students acquire an accurate understanding of formal language structures through reading, writing, and speaking” (p. 1).

     So, grammar should be taught. I have seen first hand how it benefits students' writing development, and it is an important part of the most important tests the students may ever take. Therefor, don't just teach it; teach it well. Make it engaging; make it important; and, make it fun.

     

References

Christy, J. (2005). To Teach or Not to Teach (Grammar)—No Longer the Question. Teaching Today.   Glencoe/McGraw-Hill. New York, NY. Retrieved from http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/subject/to_teach.phtml

McKenna, M. C. & Robinson, R. D. (2005). Teaching through text: Reading and writing in the content       areas (4th ed). Allyn & Bacon.

Content Area Websites

Here are two additional websites that will be used for the unit on Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare:

• The following is a link to a video on YouTube that would be shown to the class in order to provide a multi-sensory approach and to help them better understand and appreciate Shakespeare's work. The link is provided by Spark Notes and is an animated summary of the play. I wold present this to the class before reading the play. Shakespeare's language is very complex and difficult, and I don't want students to struggle to understand the basic plot while they read. In fact, the audience is expected to know the basic events surrounding the death of Caesar before viewing the play. Also, by understanding the event, they can be empowered readers, making better inferences and predictions and appreciating the literature more than if they were to begin reading without any background knowledge. As we know, background knowledge is a key component to reading comprehension.

Summary of Julius Caesar

• This next link is also a link to YouTube. This is a video taken from the television series Rome on HBO. After reading the murder scene in the play, I would present this video not only to offer a multi-sensory approach tot he unit, but also to offer a different interpretation of the event. The different versions shed different light on the characters, motives, and themes. By experiencing both, students can make different interpretations about the characters and make different evaluations of the murder scene

The Murder of Julius Caesar

• Fun is not a word that most students use in describing Shakespeare. In fact, his work can be downright frustrating! This site provides some fun, interactive activities and quizzes about Shakespeare, the play, and the characters. Students will take these quizzes during class, individually and in groups, to asses and guide their reading. Hopefully they will have some fun with these online activities and will associate Shakespeare with something fun. These activities provide some good spirited competition, which can motivate students to read and have better reading comprehension.

Online Quizzes for Julius Caesar