ARTIFACT #1-CLASS DEBATE
This is a photo of Honors 11th grade students at Rochester preparing to host a debate. The teams for the debate were split down the middle. Half argued that Maus by Art Spiegelman should be banned and the other half argued that Maus shouldn't be banned. The students pulled from multiple credible sources to create their arguments. This included a New York Times article and several interviews with Spiegelman. I was very pleased with the outcome of the debate. It was not one-sided and the pro group in particular made some very intelligent arguments. The rubric used for the activity can be found below.
ARTIFACT #2-CHARACTER TRAIT ANALYSIS ACTIVITY
Below is a pre-reading engagement activity I used with my students at Rochester. I used this to interest the students in the text we were about to read and help them think about the themes of the play. This activity took the traits of characters from The Merchant of Venice and compared them to the traits of the students in the classroom. I really like activities like this one, which help the students empathize with the points of view that they are reading. This is especially true when reading Shakespeare, who is typically very difficult for today's students to understand. Pieces of curriculum like this can help students understand and appreciate the richness of classic writers.
Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.