Best Lesson

By Michael Allan

Romeo and Juliet

Act II Scene II

Line 38-49

JULIET:
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

Wellington Secondary College

Government School
82% of students language background other
than English
Predominantly south east Asian first
generation Australians
Strong perceived maths culture
Every subject unit must follow 4 resources
model (Luke & Freebody)

My class
Year 10 English
15 students
Very diverse student needs
Nearly all students below expected reading
levels
One student reading at a grade six level
Strong resentment towards English

The Unit
The history of English language
Implemented due to extremely poor response to year 10 text Romeo &
Juliet
Main goal is to show students that language is constantly evolving and not
stagnant
Major summative oral presentation on the etymology of one old word,
one new word and a word they had created

AUSVELS
Understand that Standard Australian English in its spoken and written forms
has a history of evolution and change and continues to evolve (ACELA1563)
Understand that peoples evaluations of texts are influenced by their value
systems, the context and the purpose and mode of communication
(ACELA1565)
Create literary texts with a sustained voice, selecting and adapting
appropriate text structures, literary devices, language, auditory and visual
structures and features for a specific purpose and intended audience
(ACELT1815)

The theory behind the unit

What good readers do (Beers)

Many readers think good readers just are

Good readers
They know many meaning of many words and when they dont automatically
recognise the meaning, know how to use the context as a clue or word parts such
as root words and affixes to discern meaning p. 35
What limited readers do :
has few or no strategies for recognising unknown words
Has a difficult time expressing thoughts or ideas in small or large group settings
Expects you to explain what texts means instead of working to explain text to self
Thinks good readers understand a text with little or no effort

Four Resources Model code breaker

break the code of written texts by recognising
and using fundamental features and
architecture, including alphabet, sounds in
words, spelling, and structural conventions and
patterns.
Involves the nature of the relationship
between spoken sounds and written symbols
and the contents of that relationship

Lesson Outline
Scaffolded learning approach learning the meta
language to talk about language
Give class an unfamiliar text passage to decode
Read aloud passage to class
Go around class what words dont we understand
Decode unfamiliar word What? Where? When?
Why??
Rewrite the passage in a different way

Text types and activities used

Grammar and meta language worksheets

A Clockwork Orange
Dr Suess The Lorax
Diary entries
The Ricky Gervais Show
Text messages
Contradictory paragraphs
Word of the year
Words recently added to the dictionary
The Meaning of Liff

This is a dog.

This is a cat.

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

 85 words
11 unfamiliar words
74 familiar words

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

Works Cited
K. Beers, When Kids Cant Read What Teachers Can Do, p.25-39
Hienemann, Portsmouth, NH. 2003
Peter Freebody, Further Notes on the Four Resources Model 19992000 International Reading Association, Inc.
http://www.readingonline.org/research/lukefreebody.html
Peter Freebody, A socio-cultural approach: resourcing four roles as
a literacy learner, http://www.myread.org/readings_freebody.htm
from Prevention of Reading Failure, Alan Watson and Anne
Badenhop (eds) 1992, Scholastic Australia Pty Limited
Terry Underwood, Chapter 5 Understanding Reasoning
Comprehension in Secondary Schools through the Lens of the Four
Resources Model, ed. M. S Yoo and P. David Pearson, University of
California, Berkley
http://ww.scienceandliteracy.org/sites/scienceandliteracy.org/files/
pdf/Underwood_Yoo_Pearson.pdf