Lesson Plan

Lesson ____ of _____

Subject/Grade Level: 9 English Romeo and Juliet

Date: 6-29-15

Topic: Bringing Shakespeare into the 21st Century

Student: Charity Dotson

Content Standards & Correlating lesson objective

NAGC STANDARD 3.2. Talent Development. Students with gifts and talents become
more competent in multiple talent areas and across dimensions of learning.
3.2.1. Educators design curricula in cognitive, affective, aesthetic, social, and
leadership domains that are challenging and effective for students with gifts and
talents.
3.2.2. Educators use metacognitive models to meet the needs of students with gifts
and talents.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.10

By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including

stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 9-10 text complexity band
proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
Assessment(s):
Final website will be assessed based on accuracy of information, quality of research citation,
visual appeal of the information presented, effort shown during class, and creativity.
Consideration of Technology Use:
This lesson could have integrated technology, but it was not considered to be an
effective pedagogical choice for this content.
XThis lesson integrates technology as an effective pedagogical choice for this content.

It has been integrated in the following way(s):

This Lesson uses Xcode and/or a Windows based coding environment to build a
platform for the student research projects. Students will be given access to reference
books, links, and software to learn web development at their own pace, and
ultimately students will not be overly penalized for not attempting beyond putting
their basic text and a picture into their web environment.

Meeting all Learners Needs:

Description of students
Creative Thinker A

General
Intellectual Ability
A/B

Specific Academic Ability

B

Independent thinker
Exhibits original thinking in oral and
written expression
Come up with several solutions to a given
problem
Possesses a sense of humor
Creates and invents
Challenged by creative tasks
Improvises often
Does
not mind
being different from the
Formulates
abstractions
Processes information in complex ways
Observant
Excited about new ideas
Enjoys hypothesizing
Learns rapidly
Uses a large vocabulary
Inquisitive
Good memorization ability
Advanced comprehension
Acquires basic skill knowledge quickly
Widely read in special interest area
High academic success in special interest
area
Pursues special interest with enthusiasm
and vigor

Adaptations required to meet learning

needs for this lesson
Students will be allowed to use the web
space as a sandbox for their project.

Students will not be required to work in

pairs, but will be given plenty of
cooperative collaboration time during
class.
Encourage students to add hypothetical
sections to their site (i.e. Was
Shakespeare one single person? Was
Aphra Behn an actual spy? etc.)
Perhaps include a drama-specific game
using vocabulary.
Encourage the students specifically
gifted in the history of drama to work in
partnerships, and emphasize that
partners will be held to a higher content
standard than those working solo.
Ideally, this will help another student
deepen their research and encourage
the specifically gifted to stretch
themselves to be twice as knowledgable
as other students.
A student specifically gifted in web
designed will be held to the same
standard as other students in that every
student should should growth in
computer languages from where they

Leadership A

Visual/ Performing
Arts B

Assumes responsibility
High expectations for self and others
Fluent, concise self expression
Foresees consequences and implications of
decisions
Good judgment in decision making
Likes structure
Well-liked by peers
Self confident
Organized
Outstanding in sense of spatial
relationships
Unusual ability in expressing self, feeling,
moods, etc., through dance, drama,
music, etc.
Good motor coordination
Exhibits creative expression
Desire for producing own product (not
content with mere copying)
Observant

This student should be allowed to

choose their own partners, which will
most likely be current friends. If that is
not possible, attempt to steer them
toward the Visual/Performing Arts type,
who will need some encouragement in
research and will present an opinionated
but flexible partnership. Remind student
if necessary about respectful
communication.
This student, while they may gravitate
to the seemingly more artistic job of
design, should really be pushed into
research. Their passion for drama and
expression is well-suited to channeling
into applicable research.

Do not allow this student to chose a

topic they dont feel absolutely
passionate about; they will be much
merit of their depth than they realize.

Materials Needed:
Teacher:
1 Mac computer equipped with Xcode software per solo venture or partnership.
Adequate TEXT-BASED resource material for researching their topic *** It is
important to not allow web resources for the bulk of the content to encourage synthesis and
restructuring of material for grade/age assigned ***
Xcode manual, HTML + Javascript handbooks, Principles of design guides, etc.
Chicago reference guides
Students:
100 index cards per student
writing utensil
outside reference material as desired
Lesson Opener:
Beginning of Unit: Journals on Content and to stimulate research (i.e. What did your
playwright do before (s)he wrote his/her very first play? Why do you think your playwright
wrote in a specific city/country use evidence from references to support! What was
happening with the country politics during this persons lifetime?)

Middle of Unit: Logic Puzzles and/or mini-programming challenges (5 min max)

End of Unit: Discuss audience in journals from having a memory recording from the age
they are trying to reach to watching a short clip about that age child.

Summary of Lesson
What will teacher do?

What will students do?

Teacher will facilitate respectful

collaboration.

Students will form partnerships as

desired.

Teacher will attain resources as

requested.

Students will choose a historical

playwright to study and explore.

Students will work together over many

weeks to create an age-appropriate (for

a randomly assigned age group) website

Teacher will be available for critique and making their stuffy old playwright fresh
guidance.
and fun.
Students will be encouraged to use the
Codebuilding resources in the appendix
as needed.
Students will follow appropriate
researching techniques and
documentation using Chicago style
footnotes where needed.
Students will refer to the principles of
design notes from previous lectures.

Closure
Teacher will consolidate websites into single literature-based playground for K-3.
Reflection of Teacher:

Appendix
Basic Code-building websites:
codecademy.com

code.org
http://www.crunchzilla.com/code-monster (Javascript specific)
https://www.khanacademy.org
Create Games and/or animations:
https://scratch.mit.edu
http://www.stencyl.com