Secondary English - Shakespeare in their language!

Making Shakespeare exciting and relevant to today’s teenagers

Another academic year underway, a new timetable to be cautiously navigated… and the same old intractable dilemma  – how to make the words of Shakespeare speak to teenagers born into a world so brave that not even the great man himself could have envisaged it.

‘Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow...’

Well, it can certainly seem that way when you’re caught between the rock of thirty disaffected teenagers and the hard place of the GCSE English curriculum. And yet the plays themselves are full of the kind of stuff that the modern teen thrives upon. Take ‘Macbeth’, for example: intrigue, betrayal, murder, revenge, insanity, all served up with a liberal helping of gore. And, just for good measure, a hefty dose of the supernatural thrown in from the outset!

So what’s the problem? Well, ‘duh!’ it’s the language ‘in it’? No brainer, really. And the average scene length doesn’t help either, especially when our teens have been reared on a quick-fix cinematic culture which frequently puts action before dialogue and changes scenes at a rate that would have made the bard feel dizzy.

One possible solution to the problem is the Teen-Shakespeare approach.

The Teen-Shakespeare project is being developed in order to provide teenagers with a gateway into the most popular of Shakespeare's plays. Comprising a full term’s scheme of work, each Teen-Shakespeare text will incorporate analytical and creative tasks as well as speaking and listening and reading and writing activities.

The Teen-Shakespeare Macbeth is the first in the series and, although suitable for use at any point in the academic year, is especially ideal for that tricky last term in Year 9 when you want to help your students make the transition from KS3 to GCSE… whilst simultaneously keeping them engaged on those sun-drenched afternoons when it can get extremely hot behind the paint-stuck windowsand adolescent thoughts very quickly turn to the long summer break.

Updated to the setting of an exclusive and fiercely competitive Scottish boarding school, and with three menacing rap sisters lurking in the background, the Teen-Shakespeare Macbeth has been designed as a gateway into the original classic. By reincarnating the tragedy of this major Shakespearean character in a realistic contemporary teenage context, and by using language that teenagers can readily understand, this exciting new drama aims to help them better understand Shakespeare, themselves and each other.

Of course, English teachers are notoriously creative – it goes with the territory – and this is an approach that you might wish to develop in your own classroom in entirely your own way. There’s no reason why you and your students couldn’t write your own adaptation of all, or part, of a Shakespearean classic. It might prove to be a fun way of meeting many of those lofty syllabus objectives… whilst simultaneously making Shakespeare exciting and relevant to the modern teen.

If you would like to sample the Teen-Shakespeare project, then you might care to take advantage of the following free downloads:
1) Teen-Shakespeare Macbeth, Act 1
2) Associated teaching and learning activities
3) Exemplar answers to the above

For further information on the Teen-Shakespeare project, please visit:
www.teen-shakespeare.com

Peter Morrisson
English Teacher, author and creator of the Teen-Shakespeare project

Secondary Law - Judge for Yourself!

 You be the judge

Just how far are judges allowed to go in shaping and creating the law?

The traditional view of a judge was of an informed but neutral mouthpiece. Far from creating law they simply uncovered the law in all its pre-formed glory. It was a ‘declaration’ not a formulation.

This is unrealistic. Judges, being human, are far from neutral. If this is so then it is fair to critically examine what they say.

A good early activity is to get students involved at the sharp end of the law making process. Let them be the judge. Let them develop criminal concepts. Compare them with the actual judgments. This is both an empowering and analytical activity which helps to promote a healthy critical approach.

The Escaping Victim

Take the issue of the escaping victim who, whilst fleeing their attacker, does some damage to themselves. How do the courts allocate the blame?

Task:

• In pairs read through the scenarios below.
• Devise an instruction that a judge would you give to a jury before they retire.
• Try to make sure that the jury are not simply deciding out of sympathy for the victim.
• Try to make sure they are not dismissing the acts of the 'attacker' without proper consideration.

Scenario A
Alexia hitches a lift home in the car of a friend’s brother. Whilst driving he makes a sexually explicit suggestion to her. Then he leans over to her as if he is about to grab her. Alexia jumps out of the car. She suffers serious injury.

Play Devil’s Advocate - prompts here could include:

• What other course(s) of action were open to A? 
• What are the downsides of each course of action? 
• Isn’t it obvious that A caused her own injuries?

Scenario B
Whilst being looked after by his abusive relative Martin, aged three, becomes terrified. Whilst running away he falls downstairs and is killed.

Prompts here could include:

• How is this situation different from Scenario A?
• What difficulties arise from the victim being so young?
• How can you be sure that you are not overly influenced by the age of the victim?

The scenarios above are loosely based on the cases of Roberts (1972) and Mackie (1973).

Now compare your tests to the real judgments. How are they similar? What differences do you note? What have you discovered about the role of the judge?

The Test in Roberts [1972] Crim. L.R. 27 
The jury had to choose between two possibilities:
1. Was jumping from the car a reaction that was reasonably foreseeable?
2. Or was it ‘so daft’ that no reasonable person could have been expected to foresee it?
(NB. Comforting to note that judges do sometimes use ordinary words too!)

The Test in Mackie [1973] Crim. L.R. 438
3 stages:
1. Was the boy in fear of Mackie?
2. Did that cause him to try to escape?
3.Was the fear well-founded?

Both Roberts and Mackie were found guilty.

Nigel Briggs
Teacher of Law

Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College

All Secondary - Podcasting made simple!

Podcasting  is as easy as pie!

Students like to learn using an audio format. There are many benefits for them; it’s something they can do whilst sitting on a bus or walking to school, they don’t require a pen and it means they can stick their headphones in and no one knows they are actually revising rather than listening to the latest drum and bass track. For some, it’s an invaluable method to digest and retain information.

However, teachers can feel they have neither the technical knowledge nor the confidence to make audio recordings. I felt this way initially, but after taking the plunge, I’m now a podcasting convert. Here’s a quick starter guide…

The Recipe

The Ingredients

• A computer/ laptop
• Audacity software (free download, VERY easy to use) 
• LAME software (also a free download)
• Headphones
• Microphone 

The Method

1. Planning
   Draw up a mind map of what you want to cover. It doesn’t have to be too detailed at all. I give a copy of the mind map to students as they like having the framework in front of them when they listen through initially. This aids memory by organising the information for them. I tell them to listen and pause the recording so that they can make notes onto the mind map. It gives them a visual record of what is said too, which they can add to their files.
   
2. Record 
   Press ‘record’. Talk your way round the mind map. Don’t worry about mistakes, simply correct them. You’re aiming to make it natural. Talk as you would in class. It does feel weird initially, but ignore any self consciousness and babble away.
   
3. Upload
   For MP3 format you will need the LAME software. Follow the instructions or enlist help if needed, you’ll only need to be shown once!

Three Top Tips

• Don’t edit!
  Students hear all your 'umm's and 'ahh's on a daily basis anyway. It also saves time. My recordings are not slick, but natural!
• Don’t listen back!
  Listening to yourself is excruciating. I think I sound like Minnie Mouse. Be brave. Just upload!
• Don’t forget to personalise!
  You are making recordings for your students, so refer to class activities they may have experienced. 

I can’t emphasise enough how easy it is once you’ve got going. Try it when you have some time... (now there’s the main problem). Happy podcasting!

Eleanor Hills
Subject Leader Psychology and Sociology
Roundhay School

Secondary English - The end of lesson endings?

To be Continuum...

Two things that I am already tired of this year: the lacklustre endings to my lessons; and my students dreaming through the lacklustre endings to my lessons. So, what am I going to do about it? Follow the advice of a colleague and stop ending my lessons altogether but instead finish with a continuum.

The idea is that students have to demonstrate their learning through sorting elements into a continuum. One possible activity is to ask A-level English Language students to sort a range of texts on a continuum to show how formal/ informal they are; whether they appeal to male/female audiences; if they are closer to speech or writing. Another potential use for this activity is for GCSE students to place characters on a continuum to show which one is ‘most/least important’ to the plot. Students could be asked to place statements on a continuum according to how much they ‘agree/disagree’ with them. Quotations could also be sorted according to two different themes.

What I like best about this activity are the kinaesthetic possibilities. Students can work in groups to sort cards. They could then swap groups to evaluate each other’s continuums. Students could even come out to the front of the class to ‘be’ the texts/statements/characters and a ‘director’ could be chosen to arrange them on the continuum and explain his/her choices.

I have recently tried the text continuum activity out with my year 12 class. And yes, I selected students to stand up at the front. Despite some initial awkwardness at having to peel themselves off their seats and actually look at each other, I was really pleased at how it forced them to engage with the previous 45 minutes learning. I asked more than one student to act as director and we discussed as a class their different choices. It was an excellent plenary for the beginning of the academic year, as it made them talk to each other and, most importantly, talk about their learning. Plus it certainly curbed any end-of-lesson catnaps!

Naomi Hursthouse

Advance Skills Teacher 

Steyning Grammar School

Secondary Geography - Creating Landscapes

Box Clever

I recently purchased some burger boxes from my local cash and carry, for a few pence each. The following lesson, Year 7 pupils were each issued with an empty box, and an instruction: I asked them to put a ‘landscape’ of some kind inside the box.

There were a few ‘rules’:
The box lid had to close. On top of the box went the words: “Contents: One landscape”, and on the bottom was a map to show where their landscape was located. The inside of the box lid contained the ‘background’ and the base the ‘foreground’ or aerial view. The students could use 3D materials in their landscape, printed images, papier mâché, miniature figures and animals, even smells and sounds if they could think of a way of making it work. They could draw on the inside of the box, or assemble something inside. The landscapes would stay secret until they were revealed in the lesson.

The following week, the students arrived, with their box lids closed. Each student came to the front and revealed their landscape. I took pictures with a digital camera and made a slideshow of them. The students explained what their landscape was, and why they had chosen it. For many if was their first time presenting to the whole class.

When they were back at their desk, each student was asked to describe their landscape, and to imagine spending time in it. They were also asked to suggest what changes might take place in their landscape over time. There was a little light ‘peer-assessment’, as they were asked to explore their neighbour’s landscape and ask them questions.

The activity could be adapted for other circumstances: a city, region, culture, river, climate zone, ecosystem, farm etc. could all be used. One school developed the idea as a competition with the theme of countries.
If a visualiser was available, this would allow the landscape to be seen by all on the whiteboard.

A great example of thinking ‘inside’ the box.

Alan Parkinson
Secondary Curriculum Development Leader of the Geographical Association 

Secondary English - Reading Lessons

Reading the best bits!

Ah the Reading Lesson! As an English teacher, I fight to have them protected, but then dread each week as I face another hour of bored-looking year 7s, dragging their heels around the library bookshelves and not-so-discreetly whispering behind their tomes.

In a bid to make this time more constructive, over the years, I have developed written activities to test students’ understanding of what they have read and (hopefully) to develop their reading skills.  However, this seems to detract from the whole purpose of the reading lesson - to read - and from promoting the enjoyment of this for students of all abilities. And as recent studies have proven (what all English teachers already suspected) that reading for pleasure is a greater indicator of academic success than social background, encouraging students to read for the sheer hell of it is now officially important.

Nevertheless we still have to answer to the powers-that-be about lesson outcomes. I have a plan. This term, we are going to throw away the pens (well, keep them in their pencil-cases) and just read. And talk. And listen. And then read some more. At the beginning of the reading lesson I am going to tell students that in the final 15 minutes, they will be asked to read out the ‘best paragraph’ they have read during the lesson. For the more able students, I will ask them to explain why it is the ‘best paragraph’ they read that lesson and as the weeks go on, I will ask students to explain why other students’ ‘best paragraphs’ are successful.

With any luck this will lead to discussions about tension, genre, writers’ style, and craft.  It should also link to the texts we read in class and help students to transfer their skills of analysis independently. By the end of the year, I hope to report that my year 7 students are now engaging with their reading in a more critical way. And most excitingly, for one hour a week, there will not be a pen in sight!

Naomi Hursthouse

Advance Skills Teacher 

Steyning Grammar School

Secondary History - Industrial Revolution starter activity

What can you do with an advert from a Trade Directory?

You know the feeling - you are looking for a good starter activity that will promote discussion and debate, then lead to more detailed thinking about the topic under consideration – in this case the [to many people] dreadfully dull Industrial Revolution. Try using this source – or find something very similar in one of your own County Trade Directories.

This is a tiny, one-eighth of a page advert from the rear section of Kelly’s Lincolnshire Directory 1885. Try projecting it on the whiteboard and asking pupils to tell you their reactions to it.

Normally, it is one of surprise - who would want to order ice, and by train from Grimsby? And intrigue. What size would the blocks need to be in order not to melt? How do you move blocks of ice? How do you carry them? How long would it take? Where do you store them when they arrive from Norway, presumably in the winter, until they are wanted in the Spring and Summer? How much of the ice do you lose in the process? How do you get ‘Pure Norwegian Block Ice’ from Norway to Grimsby? How much would it cost to transport? And then how do you deliver it by train? And then from the station? Without it melting? Who would be able to afford it? Lots of questions which your students may or may not be able to answer. History does not always give us the answers!

Link the discussion back to that grand Tudor or Stuart or Georgian House they visited or studied. It almost certainly had an Ice House in the grounds, usually underground and well insulated. Where did the ice come from? Why did they need so much ice anyway?

The 1880s is the time New Zealand [frozen] lamb started to arrive in the UK, and beef from South America, butter from Australia. Steam ships and railways opened up the world. What part might ice from the more frozen parts of the world play in this process?

Now turn specifically to Victorian housing in the new industrial towns. What were living conditions like - many families lived in one room, most houses were shared. No electricity. No cooker. No freezers. How do you keep food fresh? Tinned food was just beginning – and expensive. There was an insatiable demand for ice.

So you see a simple advert from a trade directory can open the door to many aspects of life in the Victorian period. And liven up your study of the Industrial Revolution too!

Alf Wilkinson
CPD Manager for the Historical Association and previously National Strategist for Key Stage 3 History. Alf has over 30 years history teaching experience and was lead author for Collins Key Stage 3 History resources.