Proposition 4: Teachers Think Systematically about Their Practice and Learn from

Experience.

Rationale:

Across the United States, most tenth grade English curriculums cover
Antigone by Sophocles and explore the idea of the hero. My classroom was no
exception and, though I found the play interesting and thought-provoking, I rarely
found any excitement among my students. After I completed my coursework for my
first master’s degree, I decided to incorporate technology into the unit. Even
though I presented the preliminary information in first a power point presentation,
and then a windows movie project (complete with great sound and awesome
pictures) my students still confronted Antigone, Ismene and Creon with little
interest.

I reviewed the objectives and goals for the curriculum against Antigone and
weighed the importance of reading such a classic play and tossing it. The characters
presented and the themes imbedded in the play relate to the objectives and
standards for tenth grade English and I decided to keep the unit. Next, I compared
the goals I wanted my students to reach against the original publishing company
materials and my first teacher-created materials. The first artifacts I would like to
share are the post-reading sheets developed by me for my students. At that
point I realized a key part was missing from the lesson: student involvement. Yes,
my students read the play and answered questions regarding the characters, but
few of them owned the lesson, the play, or the characters.

Using my technology background from my first master’s degree and

strategies from my coursework at UNE, I developed a highly interactive and
focused lesson that students responded to very well. The lesson is the second
artifact I am sharing for this Proposition. I focused my students on the key issues of
the play and what was meant by the actions of the characters in each of the scenes.
I decided that the language (aside from the vocabulary) and the construction of the
text were not as important as my students understanding the themes and
characters within the play.

Finally, artifacts three and four are two very different student examples of
remixing the play. While very different, the students identified the main events, the
characters, the character relationships, and created a multimedia project.

Reflection:

Once I moved myself away from the traditional delivery of a classical play
and identified the main objectives for the lesson, I found it easier to modify the
lesson to truly meet the goals and objectives of the curriculum, the anchors and
standards of the state, and the interests of my students.
 Letting go of the purists approach to instructing in classic literature was at
first very awkward. The voices of English teachers past and English professional
present haunted my brain as I tried to create the lesson. For my students, though,
Antigone represented the first venture into classic literature. Focusing on them
allowed me to silence the voices and provide the lesson they needed.

After Antigone, my students embark on journeys through plays such as

Cyrano de Bergerac, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Julius Caesar. I noticed once
they survived Antigone, they anxiously confronted each play to follow. And this
confrontation included their reading in class of the play as written, analyzing the
elements of the play, and relating the themes to modern life.