Meet the Witches

While trolling the Web for  some ideas that include critical thinking, I came across this lesson, which I adapted from the Folger Shakespeare Library website.

Learning Targets
By the end of the period I will...

• formulate an answer to the following critical thinking question: If Shakespeared had used any one of the terms from Holinshed, what would we expect the woodcut to look like?

Agenda

1. Woodcut of witches
2. Holinshead witches in history
3. Read Act 1 Scenes 1 - 3 Macbeth
4. Macbeth's Witches

Success Criteria
Participation in the construction of T-chart contrasting the imagery of the witches and in answering the critical thinking question.

Materials Needed

• copies of Holinshead Macbeth (found on the web and on the Folgers site)
• overhead of woodcut of witches (found on Folgers site)
• copies of T-chart template

Lesson Plan
Place the overhead of Macbeth, Banquo and the 3 Witches from Raphael Holinshead's Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande, London, 1577 (see Folgers site) on the board and ask students to brainstorm a list of adjectives to describe the witches in the woodcut. Compile a list of the adjectives on the board.

Distribute simplified copy of Macbeth from the Holinshead Chronicles (I used one from a writing in role assignment floating around my department entitled "Double, double, toil and trouble..." The only publication information I have on this is that it was copyrighted 1985 by Sundance Publishers and Distributers, Inc. It is from a blackline master from a separate collection of lesson plans). Read the story aloud to the class. Ask students to go back over the story and circle terms used to describe the witches in the passage. Compile this list in a T-chart on the board while encouraging students to copy the notes onto the template provided. Adjectives should include:

• uncouth wonder
• three women
• strange and wild apparel
• creatures of the elder world
• goddesses of destiny
• nymphs
• faeries

Read Act 1 Scenes 1 to 3 with students. I asked for student volunteers to read each part. At key points, I interrupted the reading to explain. Next, ask students to review Act 1 Scene 3 and make a list of terms used to describe the witches in the passage, encouraging students to copy the terms down on the T-chart template provided. Terms should include:

• so wither'd and so wild in their attire
• look not like the inhabitants o' the earth
• chappy fingers
• skinny lips
• bearded women

Show the students the woodcut picture of the three witches and ask students the following question: The woodcut is based on the descriptions in Shakespeare's version of Macbeth. If Shakespeare had used any one of the terms from Holinshed, what would we expect the woodcut to look like? Lead the students in the dicuscussion of this. The intersting point that came out of this conversation in my class was that Shakespeare describes the witches as old beggar women, which is the profile of those accused of being witches at that time. Holinshed portrays the witches as supernatural creatures, akin to faeries and nymphs and/or agents of the underworld. This lead to a discussion of who witches were in Shakespeare's time and the Inquisition and Salem witch trials.

The next day, to underscore our previous discussion, I brought in a handout (also un-cited but floating around my department) regarding Elizabethan Beliefs such as Religion, The Chain of Being, and Myths and Magic, which I read with the students. I showed them a picture of the Cottingley Fairies with an excerpt from Wikipedia explaining what they were and the social and media uproar they caused, in order to show students that, as recently as the 1980s, Francis Griffiths, one of the girls involved in the hoax, insisted one of the photographs was real. This discussion captivated my students and generated quite interesting discussion about religious beliefs, and social and religious mythology.

Works Cited
Cottingley Fairies. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. 12 July 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottingley_fairies>. 15 July 2011.

Gibson, Susan. "What are these...?" Folger Shakespeare Library. 2007. <http://www.folger.edu/eduLesPlanDtl.cfm?lpid=798>. 15 July 2011.

Quote Card Introduction

Hoping to alleviate some of the anxiety the boys were expressing to me about how difficult it was to understand Shakespeare, I tried this lesson, found on the Making My Journey blog site (Wood).

Learning Targets
By the end of the period I will...

• practice reading Shakespeare
• familiarize myself with the plot of Macbeth aqs well as significant quotes

Agenda

1. Quote Card Introduction
2. Brainstorm Macbeth Plot
3. Review Macbeth Plot

Success Criteria
Participation in quote card introduction and discussion of plot that follows.

Materials Needed

• copy of plot summary close exercise (see Wood's blog site)
• index cards
• copy of quotes from Macbeth (see Wood's blog site)
• scissors
• tape

Lesson Plan
 Follow the lesson plan as outlined on Wood's blog site.

Works Cited
Wood, Jenny D. Quote Card Introduction. Making my Journey Blog. 10 Mar 2010. <http://jennydwood.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/teaching-macbeth-quote-card-introduction/>. 5 May 2011.

Why Gender Matters

A few years ago, my board began an initiative based on the findings of Dr. Leonard Sax which found that boys learn differently than girls. The theory behind this work is that boys' brains are different than girls by virtue of anatomy and rate of development, which affects how they learn (Sax 14). In order to help boys to be successful, Sax suggests the teacher employ the following techniques when teaching boys:

• Sit down next to boys when helping them, spreading out the materials in front of you while adopting a shoulder-to-shoulder stance. Avoid eye contact unless disciplining and don't smile (Sax 86).
• Avoid small group learning (Sax 87).
• Speak loudly; seat boys at the front of the class as boys don't hear as well as girls (Sax 88).
• Make sure the work is relevant and has intrinsic interest or boys will not complete their work (Sax 81).
• Boys are more kinaesthetic than girls and they enjoy competition as this is similar to the way they play (Sax 83). This should be taken into consideration when planning lessons.

Sax suggests that coed classes shortchange boys and girls because they learn differently and mature at different rates (Ripley 5). Boys are less likely to ask for help in mixed gender classes lest they be perceived as being less cool or appear as stupid in front of the girls in the class. Boys were also more likely to act out when they were in mixed gender classes in order to cover for their shortcomings (Sax 242). In order to test Sax's theories and collect data, grade 9 students are separated into three streams for the core curriculum: all girls classes, all boys classes, and mixed gender classes. Students follow through with the same stream until graduation. Last year I had the pleasure to teach classes in each of these streams and the results were eye opening.

While teaching the all boys class, my observation was that boys are indeed less mature than girls. Whereas girls are most always prepared for the lesson and expect to take notes and to have homework, many boys routinely attend class without paper, pencil or notebook. Contrary to what you might think, boys tended to be less independent than girls, and it was a constant struggle to get boys to operate independently of the teacher and each other. Routine was difficult to establish and the smallest disruption in the class (be it a call from the office, an unexpected remark or a sneeze) set the whole class into a frenzy. That's not to say that the all boys class wasn't without its rewards. The boys were very social which meant it was easy to build a rapport with them (much easier than in the all girls class). Once the rapport was built, they were eager to complete any and all activities, be it paper and pencil work or a kinaesthetic activity. Occasional surprise rewards for scholarly behaviour helped motivation (as did the occasional threat to call home). On the whole, the experience was entirely enjoyable.

That's not to say that this method of instruction doesn't have its detractors. Some people suggest that, if the teacher uses instructional techniques that accommodate the learning styles of both genders, there is no need for same-sex classes. They argue that there is the potential to stereotype, making assumptions about how the group will learn as a single body, rather than as individuals (Rutka), but this negates another concept my board has embraced, that of Differentiated Instruction (which I will discuss in my next post).

The purpose of this blog is to document the journey I took this past semester while teaching the dreaded Shakespeare/Drama unit in my grade 10 academic, all boys English class, as well as my continuing journey as I teach the all boys class in the coming year. I have chosen to focus on the Macbeth unit, as it is one I enjoyed teaching, and one I thought worked well. I may expand this in the future to include essay writing, short stories, and To Kill a Mockinbird, time and response permitting. I will try to include as many references as I can and apologize in advance for those I have misplaced and cannot provide. If you recognize your own un-cited work, please let me know and I will correct the problem immediately. If this blog helps you to teach Macbeth or any Shakespearean unit in your class, whatever the gender make-up, please share it here as well.

Works Cited
Ripley, Amanda. Who Says A Woman Can't Be Einstein? Time Magazine. 27 Feb 2005. <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1032332-1,00.html>. 2011.

Rutka, Mari. A case against single-gendered schools. The Toronto Star. 31 May 2011. <http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters/article/1000395--a-case-against-single-gendered-schools>. 2011.

Sax, Leonard. Why Gender Matters. Random House: New York. 2005.