FINAL EXAM

JAYLAN SNAITH
Dr. Katherine Macro
ENG 317: Shakespeare for Future Teachers
Othello; Shakespeare Resource Packet
Create a list of possible projects and assignments – written and/or creative – you could
have students do while teaching a unit on the play you have chosen.
Intertextual Poem: Students can demonstrate how such the case that poetry allows for a strong
building in the expression of themes and messages. Students will create a complex poem out of a
piece of work we read this year. Students have to create a poem that touches on one of the social
issues that Shakespeare conveys in Othello. Students will use the words of a chosen paragraph in
any book of their choice that we read in class to create an original poem that is organized and
arranged in stanzas. Preferably, 12-15 lines.

An Example of this type of poem is Below: This is an example written by me; This poem was
created in response to A Single Man, by Christopher Isherwood. The story I used for my
paragraph is from Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin ((we read earlier that year)

Discharge

We kissed, as it were by accident.

I was frightened. The light so very
Bright, and Hot. My heart, FINAL EXAM

Beating in an awful way.

I feel myself now a faint.

a dreadful Stirring of what so overwhelming stirred me then.
I remember so clearly, so painfully!
Tonight, tells me that I have truly never forgotten.
Of great THIRST, my heart will burst.
It was like a bushed, nearly condemned bird.

I touched him. Our arms eloped with each other.

Something happened in him and in me.
Either of us has ever known.

It seemed then, that a lifetime would not be Long.

Enough for me to act with him.
The act of love!
This intolerable, astounding pain of joy.
Creative Research Essay:
Students will choose any African American historical person and a salient event where he or she
was discriminated, stereotyped, or faced racial prejudice. Similar to Othello! Students will
research the person and the event, and then write a 1,250-1,500-word essay about the role of the
person in the event.
An Example of this type of essay is Below: This is an example written by me; This essay was
created in response to Matthew Shepard, and LGBTQ violence
“Letter to Quantico National Cemetery”

All I can think about is you, an innocent boy tied up to a “fence for eighteen hours in the frigid cold” as if
you were a “dead coyote warding of intruders”. All I can think about is your four skull fractures and crushed brain
stem after I made love to my first boyfriend Ronan. Did I feel like life had a new path for me of mysteries ready to
be explored? Did I feel convicted and ashamed? All I felt was fear. Fear that it would be my brainstem crushed. Fear
that would follow me to St. Peter’s cemetery. Fear of being inferior, prey, and exterminated. To live a life that is a
“danger zone for homosexuals”. I look in the mirror and all I see is the same person you saw. A homosexual boy
who wanted to live his life.

Aren’t we the same? We are two young homosexual men who just want to be free and accepted into
society. To not be segregated from the heterosexual men. To be equal. Do I have a chance in this world to be free
and accepted even though you did not? Will I be next in line to die for being myself? Has society not seen the issue
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in your death? That innocent people like you and I who are homosexual do not have a right to live and be treated as
a human but as an animal. Has our LGBTQ community lost their humanity? Has the Stonewall Riots that made us
free lost its commemoration, where political oppression, cultural rejection, and individual repression among our
LGBTQ community in America would cease? Have the people that we looked up to like Marsha P. Johnson and
Sylvia Rivera become antiquated? Many would look at your bandages and blood around your head and agree. I
know I do.

Why hate people like you and I? We are just as a person as any other person. We have the same aspirations
and yearnings in life, to love and be loved! We have friends and family! We have careers! Why are we seen so
different? We breathe the same air; we talk the same language! Why America? Why? Why must we beg to be free?
Why must we beg to be equal? Why must we beg?

We must blame man and the preceded social constructs of man that was created. Social constructs that
“men should not be feminine, men should restrict their affectionate behavior with other men, and men should restrict
their emotion against other men”. The idea of homosexuality is considered Mephistophelian, sinful, and bestial.
With these social constructs, they create a homophobia stigma, where people like us are rejected in society.

Rejected because our essence precedes our existence; that society has a built-in idea of us before we even
exist to be homosexuals. That we are child molesters, pedophiles, and have AIDS/HIV. At nine years old when I met
you through the Laramie Project, I knew that people like you and I no matter how good we are as people will always
be denied in society. Hearing your story, I felt the clothespin rope being wrapped around me, I felt the rope crushing
my ribs, I felt my mouth sealed shut making it hard for me to breathe. I felt the fear in your heart that you were
going to die. I felt your pain of feeling less than a person, your pain of being hated, and your pain of dejection. We
will always be a “faggot, homo, mook, and sodomite” who will not fit and belong in this world. From your blue
eyes to the size ten of your foot and from the nappy blonde hair on my head to my stubby brown toes, we are both
sinners. We are both a deformity to society!

You were an American college student who lived in Colorado and “studied foreign cultures, languages and
political science”. I am an American college student who studies English and Philosophy. We are both human
beings who have a purpose in life just like everyone else. The only difference between you and I is that society
exterminated you first as the pesticide they made you ought to be. Am I next? Is another young homosexual male
next? Human beings being killed for being themselves? What happened to our country that lived up to liberty, life,
and leisure? We were born into a society where morality is rearranged. The only way for you to get your justice is if
society has a change at heart. If people are still being dehumanized for their sexuality your death will continue to
haunt as an outcry for social reform among us, the LGBTQ community.

Many do not blame our country for this devastation. They blame your parents Judy and Dennis Shephard as
an act of bad parenting. But we know that, as a society they killed you. They shall not blame just Aaron McKinney
and Russell Henderson, your killers for such animalistic behavior. But blame this demoralized society for creating
and fostering a social environment where one cannot express themselves individually, that the only way for one to
be accepted and not to be rejected is to fit under “societal expectations”.

Many say your murder was bound to be the “deadly assault that changed America for good”. Ever since your
death, America has been prone to hate crimes among the LGBTQ community. As of 2018, “30% of the states’ hate
crime laws do not expressly code a victim’s sexual orientation according to the human rights campaign”. That since
your death in 1998, there have been numerous crimes against transgenders, non-binaries, and homosexual men.
Looking at the world and the way it is viewed and ran, completely loses hope for me and the other LGBTQ
members. “Last year was the deadliest in recent history for LGBTQ members, 52 people were killed as a result of
hateful anti-LGBTQ violence, making for an average of one homicide per week”.

Justice will never be served for the LGBTQ community! Justice will not be served until people see what it
is like to feel the pain you experienced, to feel the pain your parents experienced, to see what members in the
community was affected by your death. People will never see the importance of this homophobic stigma and how
it’s dehumanizing LGBTQ members. People need to understand
FINAL EXAM that what happened to you can happen to someone
else’s child, father, brother, and or uncle or even theirs. You no longer exist in this world. I still exist.

Will it get better? Will I live in a country where homosexuality, bisexuality, transsexuality, pansexuality,
and everyone will be respected and not discriminated against? The world is in our hands, and what we
institutionalize in this country. Think about the many lives that are put at risks. Is it worth losing innocent lives
because of this social “norm” or “construct” of homosexuals? Many others have experienced the same as you,
Matthew. People like Howard Efland, who was beaten to death by officers because he was homosexual, Robert
Allen Taylor who was brutally stabbed in the park for being homosexual, and Gwen Araujo, who was mutilated by
his classmates where he was beaten to death and got his genitals cut off, and an African man who was tortured in the
middle of the street somewhere in Africa and then set on fire. What the fuck has this world come to?
Conduct an Interview:
Students will choose a Social Issue expressed in Othello (Racism, Stereotyping, and Prejudice)
that interests them. Students will find a person that is trying to address that social problem in our
city or school or community. The Student will interview that person or group of persons! During
the interview, the student must show how they understand this particular social issue and
describe how they are organizing to change it. Why? This interview would be a max of thirty
minutes.
An EXCERPT Example of a model of an actual interview is Below: This is an example
interview that was TRULY conducted by me; This interview was conducted in response to
African Americans and their Stereotypes:
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION BELOW:
Currently in 2018, African Americans experience violence from other racial groups because of stereotyping. The
study that is being introduced are individuals who have experienced both psychological and somatic aftermaths of
stereotyping. The information and data are collected from 15 African American individuals from the low, middle,
and high social class. The data consists of personal experiences of these individuals and how they were affected. The
Interviewee had to answer the following questions:
FINAL EXAM
1. Have you ever experienced any racial stereotyping? if so, explain.

2. Following question #1 how did it make you feel? How did it affect you?

However, only two responses were taken as measures for the study due to biases.

If ANY of these responses are copied or posted there will be a PENALTY due to Ethical Dilemmas ***NOTE: ALL
responses are verbatim***

Interviewee 1: “This day was entirely the worst day of my life. I still can’t believe they did that to me. I went to
Cheektowaga Central high school and I was the only black girl in my AP Biology Class; every day the white kids
would just look at me like I disgust them, and I really felt unhappy there I did not know to do. One day I was sitting
there completing a unit test and this girl named Barbara came to me and she told me that a dumb ass nigga doesn’t
belong in this class. After she said that I honestly didn’t know what to do. I didn’t tell the teacher because I did not
want to be known as the snitch or teachers pet. Til this day I never forgot how fucking broke I was. Uhhh later that
day I went to swim. I never really talked to no one in my class, ok so during swim I began to get a weird feeling like
someone was out to get me but maybe I was just a little aggravated or something, I don’t know! Next thing I know
that Bitch Barbara tries to fucking drown me while I’m not paying attention, I was trying with all my efforts to get
up all I can hear her say is “drown you black piece of shit” I thought then and near my life was over... I .... I ...I just
can’t talk about this no more... I know I said I would help you ... I just can’t ... I almost killed myself because .... you
know I have to go {......}

Due to personal emotional complications the rest of the response was never completed

Interviewee 2:

“I went to Sweet home High school and I encountered a racist student, I don’t know why she ain’t like me.... she
called me a nigger in front of the class and told me my parents weren’t shit...sorry to go off on a tangent ...but I
thought... you should know that.... she never got in trouble and every day of my sophomore it was bloody hell.... she
always made racist remarks about how it’s my fault that trump is president and me and my poor people should go
back and pick cotton and get butt fucked. All I remember her saying to me is your mother on crack your father sells
hoe’s and your grandmother sucks cock....true story man.....I really hate to relive this past...I was institutionalized
for 4 years in a psychiatric clinic because of her.....I tries to kill myself 4 times because all I could think about is
people judging me on my skin eventually others kept copying her and it began to get very draining especially
mentally....I started to hate myself and who I was I was very angry that I was black ......ok...let me get straight to the
point I don’t want to keep you here all day....basically she made a fake facebook page and all I can say is this she
fucking humiliated me she did exactly what I was afraid of....she made posts saying that I’m black and gay and that
my mama sold me for a piece of crack...it was absolutely, terrible.....I eventually attempted to kill myself but I
wasn’t effective, my mum walked in on me with the knife at my neck and quickly I thrusted it in my pelvis ....all I
remember is me waking up in a mental hospital...mum said I was in a traumatic coma for 8 months beforehand....

End of EXCERPT

FINAL EXAM
Academic Research Paper:
Students will be required to write a Research essay (1000-1500 words). This essay can be
informative or argumentative. The students are required to use sources or citations. One of the
sources will have to be Othello. This paper is an opportunity for students to research on a larger
inquiry of issue in Othello. Some ideas can be but are not limited to, Stereotypes of African
Americans, African American Inequality, African American Discrimination, and Prejudice
attitude of African Americans.
An Example of this type of essay is Below: This is an example written by me; This essay was
created in response to African American Stereotypes in America:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gnTtOkRWnwXMwCJBR5Me89OSTuUCo4LH/view?usp=sharing
Could not Copy and Paste whole essay as this is only available in a Portable Document file—link is viewable!

For Decades, media has been censured for their imaging and representation of African Americans. Since
the inception of the United States, African Americans have always been viewed as third class citizens. Both African
American women and men have always been stereotyped and still are today. Media portrays an image of African
Americans that is misrepresented and biased. Arguably, the media changes how society treats and views African
men and women in their social endeavors of life. ThisFINAL
raises the question: Does the media correctly represent
EXAM
African Americans in our country? Does the media portray an image that is discriminating and skewed? There are
various television shows, music entertainment, cinemas and social media that proves that the representation of
African Americans are very much discriminating and racist.

The bias of media has not only negatively affected African Americans’ relationship with the law and
judicial system but also, the way that they are viewed in society. This social mechanism is allowing for African
Americans to struggle in society through socialism, being denied rights and social privileges. It could be argued that
there is a cyclic pattern between African Americans and criminality, especially in the news where African
Americans are not only represented and imaged as criminals but violent and threatening to the social environment.
During the 19th century, African Americans in media were stereotyped as “dirty and useless”. 1However, these
stereotypes in media have gotten inferior in American society. For example, today African Americans in media are
seen as violent, drug traffickers, ghetto, poor, uneducated, and thieves.

Evidently, the public chooses not to view African Americans as who they really are because of what the
media has labeled them. Arguably, this emphasizes Durkheim’s Labeling theory. Labeling theory is an act when an
individual pre-judges another individual based off what they see, hear, and sometimes interpret. Sociologically
speaking, this allowed many other racial groups other than the whites to start to draw conclusive observations that
are inconclusive about African Americans. “Irish, Hispanics, Italian, Jewish, and Middle Easterners make up 12% of
the individuals who stereotype African Americans”. Emblematically, African Americans are constantly
discriminated against in America today because they must fit a specific criterion in the social environment.
Meaning, African Americans are forced to represent themselves under another racial groups’ approval whether
discriminative or non-discriminative.

Media represents African Americans in ways that are erroneous. For example, the hip-hop industry. African
American men are viewed as thugs or being a murderer. Likewise, African American women are viewed as “gold
diggers” and a “ride or die chick”. Evidently, African American women in these music videos play multiple sex
roles. Studies have shown that “African American women are represented in music as voluptuous and disparaging”.
Then again, studies have further shown that since females are treated poorly in music videos, they tend to be more
tolerant to sexual abuse and sexism. Arguably, this engenders a misogynic on African American women. How?
Because in a music video with multiple African American women, men are “respected” or “commended” to having
multiple women being a player while the African American women are seen as promiscuous and desperate. Clearly,
this is normalizing sexism towards black women which is both demoralizing and inhumane. Because this is seen in
so many music videos this is effortlessly displaying to men that sexually objectifying a woman is okay which it is
not”

FINAL EXAM
Research materials you might use in a classroom to teach various aspects of the play (video,
articles, poems, songs with lyrics, images, etc.) Include them and annotate each one as to its
contents and significance to the play and your potential instruction.
Single Story Video
The danger of a single story | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

FINAL EXAM

I was first exposed by this resource as an excellent professor showed this in class. The Single
Story I think would be an interesting and thoughtful pairing to Othello and the notion of
stereotypes. In the video, she discusses the danger of stereotypes and its effects, and how
stereotypes affect us. I think this would be an excellent way for our students to dive into the
context and setting of the play to see how Othello feels when it comes to stereotypes. Although
in the play Othello did not initially validate any of the stereotypical qualities that people labeled
him with, he began adapting to them as he started to doubt himself.
In the beginning of the play, Othello begins the play as a model general. However, the racism
provided by Iago further enhances his insecurity of his race, leading Othello to succumb to the
racial slurs and stereotypes in the closing scenes. In Othello, once the racism increases as the
play progresses, Othello begins to accept to the stereotypes. Lago targets Othello throughout the
whole play. An example of Othello being stereotyped is in 2.2, lines 300-302, Iago says “Make
the Moor thank me, love me and reward me, for making him egregiously an ass.”
The purpose of these metaphors is to dehumanize Othello by reducing him to an animal level.
Also, it is important to notice that Othello isn’t even called by his own name, he is either referred
to by racial slurs or as a “Moor”, highlighting that he is not a Venetian and he does not belong
there. It is not only just Iago against whom this relationship is against, but the entire status quo
and the view of the “Moor” which all Venetians embody. The connection with “The Single
Story” video I think connects here because of how the stereotypes eventually “attack” Othello to
where sometimes stereotypes take over is.
As Othello came with the assumption that he is in a racially inferior position, Othello began to
struggle in dealing with the stereotypes appropriately, thereby only increasing his own struggle
with his race. After being polluted with Iago’s racist attitude and prejudice, Othello’s insecurities
of his race surface as he acts irrationally and kills Desdemona next to her bed. Doing this,
Othello now lives one of the African American stereotypes; a man who’s violent and full of
animalistic behavior as the Venetians thought initially with this term, Moor.
I think teaching this along side Othello, will give our students a better visual on how African
Americans are indeed affected by stereotypes and prejudice. I think this is a good way for
students to see in the perspective of African Americans and stereotypes because they always see
the academic side of African American stereotypes, they never see the personal intimate side on
this issue of African American stereotypes. In the video, she delivers really well the importance
in the danger of stereotypes, and Othello a character similar to her, I think can leave a more
serious note to our students on a social issue that is still prevalent today in society.
Some questions I would ask my I would ask my students— just as a way for my students to
draw connection from the single story to Othello is by asking……
1. What racist stereotypes are expressed in Act I, scene 1? Early in the play, does
Othello’s behavior support or refute these beliefs about him as “The Other” in
Venetian society?
2. How does Othello compare himself with Desdemona? What do we learn about
FINAL EXAM
Othello’s view of himself and Iago?

OTHELLO: This fellow of exceeding honesty,

And knows all qualities, with a learned spirit,
Of human dealings. If I do prove her haggard,
Though that her jesses were my dear heartstrings,v
I’ld whistle her off and let her down the wind
To prey at fortune. Haply, for I am black
And have not those soft parts of conversation
That chamberers have, or for I am declined
Into the vale of years—yet that’s not much—
She’s gone. I am abused, and my relief
Must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage,
That we can call these delicate creatures ours,
And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad,
And live upon the vapor of a dungeon,
Than keep a corner in the thing I love
For others’ uses. Yet, ‘tis the plague of great ones;
Prerogatived26 are they less than the base;
‘Tis destiny unshunnable, like death:
Even then this forked plague27 is fated to us
When we do quicken. Desdemona comes….
(III, iii, 289-308)

3. In a Sociological lens, do you find Othello to be more of a culpable dupe or a

noble victim? Why or Why not?

FINAL EXAM
Movie: Get Out

Shakespeare I think created Othello to represent the problems that African Americans face
in a predominantly white society A film thatFINAL
I thought
EXAM would be interesting to use alongside this play
is “Get Out” “Get Out” is an ironically humorous film about the emblematic and covert racism African
Americans go through every day. The director of the movie puts it in a context of real-world situations so,
that the audience can understand the discomfort that comes from social horror and racial discrimination.
Symbolically, Jordan Peele is emphasizing that African Americans should not ignore racism around them,
but instead acknowledge the real problems and fight against them. In the film, there are many allegorical
disciplines when viewing assimilation, residential segregation, suburbanization, and micro-aggressions. A
film of significance such as this amplifies the problematic reality that African Americans are socially
awaken to and that is of “ratified” racism. I think teaching this will nicely highlight the notion of Racism
and how even though it may be hard—we must confront it, and fight from these stereotypes and Racism. I
think this connects to Othello because Othello himself fails to fight from these stereotypes. He simply
submit to the prejudice and stereotypes of his race.
I honestly would not teach the whole film but just show certain scenes... One scene through the film I
would use is where he was tied up in the chair. This shows that African Americans as a whole
embodies a lack of representation and a voice of reason in society. In other words, African Americans are
socially imprisoned through the lens of sociability and stratification. Because African Americans are
constantly discriminated against (As Othello is by Lago) they find it nearly impossible to strive on
society. Why? Because an African American in modern America must fit a specific criterion in the social
environment. Likewise, African Americans are “socially constructed” in society by the means of
assimilation. Socially constructed meaning, that African Americans are forcibly behaving to follow the
socially conventional rules of society. Many African Americans are battling, or fear battling the choice to
uphold their own identities or assimilate so that they can attempt to accustom themselves into whatever
version of themselves they think would be least offensive, threatening or unacceptable to white America.
Arguably, African Americans who willingly affirm their humanity and embrace their Blackness by
allowing their African features and cultural norms to be part of their self-expression are viewed as
“ghetto” or “ignorant”. In terms of Othello, animalistic and disgraceful.
A second scene I would show in the film to bring ALIVE the content of ideas in this play is the scene
where Chris had taken picture of a black guy on his phone. This scene emphasized the importance of
how African Americans in society go through micro-aggressions. Micro-aggressions in this context
simply means subtle behavior of discriminatory, derogatory, and harmful effects to African Americans.
African Americans today are constantly captured and through that capture characterized based on the
ideals of prejudice and stereotyping. We see this is Othello! In both opening and closing scenes, Othello
is only defined as racial slurs spoken by Iago. These racial slurs often focused on Africans being
considered savages, blackness was equivalent to savagery and the notion of savage heroism an …
oxymoron. In America, many hold this savagery view today. African Americans on the basis of the belief
that all African Americans break the law, are relatively poor, poorly educated and several other false
assumptions. Some, if not all, are negative and have stayed largely unchanged in the history of African
Americans living in America. Society fails to oppose and condemn these misunderstandings and therefore
many believe that they are true and act on these misunderstandings leading to acts both racist and
discriminatory. As a result, African Americans struggle in society through socialism, being denied rights
and social privileges.
Ultimately, pairing this alongside Othello, I think would create a great and memorable learning
experience for the students—as students would learn and see that a play written many years ago and these
issues behind African Americans are still prevalent today. This idea that African Americans will always
struggle socially in society. I also think exposing this movie to our students will solidify their information
on the different issues discussed and the importance of knowing these issues;
FINAL EXAM
Select 3 scenes or speeches from the play to design activities for that would help your future
students with understanding of character/theme/action etc. Write up an explanation of
these activities.

In 1.1, lines 87-93, Iago speaks,

“an old black ram
Is tupping your white ewe. Arise; arise;
Awake the snoring citizens with the bell,
Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you”

With this scene, I would read the scene aloud to my students; While doing this I would instruct
my students to focus on the two colors of the scene. With doing that I will then ask my students
to choose two words as I read it aloud. After doing this I would ask my students, “Focusing on
the colors, white and black, what can you infer about this scene? What is happening?
FINAL EXAM
An example in a way a student could do this is—“I chose the word “ewe” and “arise” I
think what is happening is that a black man is trying to have relations with a white women
—that’s why they say “arise” as this could be an outcry that Interracial relationships are
not “right”
In this scene it simply is Lago—essentially warning individuals of interracial relationships. Lago
uses a vivid imagery of Othello and Desdemona performing their matrimonial rights in which
Othello is symbolized as the black “devil” and this “inhumane beast” will consume the innocent
white Ewe (lamb), a metaphor used for Desdemona. This indicates how the Venetians viewed
Othello and this cross-racial relationship, where Othello was the devil and Desdemona was the
white innocent being.” Thus, we can see how morals and race combine in these slurs, where
Othello always ends up as the devil because of his skin color. I think the activity I chose for this
would be an excellent introductory activity in starting the play because it gives our students a
general Idea on one of the most important themes of the play (my class would be studying this
one) . I think it also allows our students the ability to foreshadow; I could ask a follow up after I
gave a brief analysis if this scene—asking the students, “What is this play going to be about?
What do you think is going to happen with Lago and the relationship between Othello and
Desdemona? Why is Lago so Against their marriage? What is the bigger picture? What bigger
issue of inquiry is showing in Lago’s action thus far?
Othello says, (3.3.267-272):
“Haply, for I am black
And have not those soft parts of conversation
That chamberers have, or for I am declin’d
Into the vale of years (yet that’s not much)
She’s gone. I am abus’d: and my relief
Must be to loathe her.”

With this scene, I would have my students do a DRAMATIC READING!! The reason I would
do an activity such as a dramatic reading because this is one of the parts of the play that holds the
most emotion, and it is also one of the most famous parts of the play—so I think having each
student do a dramatic reading, to this can help them feel the emotion that Othello is indeed
feeling in this moment. This scene particularly builds anticipation, the reader can see the
hopelessness of Othello. However, I feel like my students would get a better sense of the self-
doubt he is developing among himself. FINAL EXAM

An Example Student Dramatic read could be…….

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o3SunPsFJ37k7QT4F2B5PdPe2wFdDBa-/view?usp=drivesdk
In this scene, Othello neither criticizes Desdemona for her cheating nor condemns her for it. In a
way, he justifies her actions by assuming that it was his weakness of having a black skin that she
had to have an affair with another man. It is at this point where it hits the audience that “Othello”
is a domestic tragedy where the title character becomes the target of the Venetian viewpoint of
race and starts doubting himself thus. Far as the themes I would focus on which could be but is
not limited to, stereotypes, racism, prejudice, and/or discrimination. I think doing a dramatic
scene on this part of the play really shows our students the feeling of feeling rejected because of
the skin color he is—that his wife had an affair because she did not date black individuals. He
embraces his blackness as a sign of weakness. Thus, he begins to doubt himself in which follows
him beginning to eventually succumb to the stereotypes that Lago impose on him and all African
Americans during this time. I think an excellent question to ask out students when discussing
these ideas is—why are African Americans sometimes forced to live their stereotypes? What
social circumstances are they in that causes this?
(3.3.234-242)
“Of her own clime, complexion, and degree,
Whereto we see in all things nature tends - …
Her will, recoiling to her better judgement,
May fall to match you with her country forms,
And happily, repent.

With this scene, I would have students watch the scene https://youtu.be/W1c_HQijEBo
and Answer the following question—Is this a really good representation of this scene—why
or why not? What would you have done differently? Then after students complete
question, students will split in pair of two students, and the students will create a more
“ALIVE SCENE” to this scene.

In this scene Lago implies that Desdemona compares Othello with other white Venetian men and
FINAL EXAM
regrets her marriage. He goes on to say that she compares Othello to men with her own
“complexion” and she curse her judgement for having chosen Othello. I think this is a scene that
deserves a much more interesting acting of this scene as I think speaks to an important idea of
the play itself. With this activity, students will be able to create a more engaging enactment. I
think doing so, will give students a more accurate depiction on how one is supposed to feel when
reading this specific part and it speaks to the bigger notion of how a black man could never
equate to a white man. Desdemona regrets her marriage because she is socially blinded with
African American prejudice. Desdemona represents an individual in society who follows the mis
conceptional stereotypes of African Americas. Essentially, she plugged in the “racial matrix” of
American Society. A question I would ask my students is what do you think I mean by “racial
matrix” and how does this help us understand the play overall? How is the play significant in
contemporary society? I think this will help our students see the relevance of why they are
reading and learning the play in the first place—asking themselves, what am I taking out from
reading this play? How does it connect to my everyday life? Following this idea of cultural
responsive learning!
Reflection, Final

Jaylan Snaith

I chose and decided to do my play choice on Othello. I chose this because I wanted to do

something different and I am happy that I did. I always heard the story of how good this play is,

and the stories definitely DON’T lie. I also chose this play because it touched on the inquiry of

study that I always wanted to do with my potential students; focusing on stereotypes, prejudice

and even discrimination. I wanted to focus on this theme of inquiry, because it is one of my

favorites that is taught inside of the English Classroom. My choices and what I picked for this

exam—I chose by actual teacher preparation.

I chose prompts in my resource packet that

FINAL I thought would be a nice way to end, reflect,
EXAM

and incorporate on some of the teaching pedagogy that I learned in this class. This project serves

to become a model of what good teacher preparation is. I thought that choosing to create writing

prompts and assignments for this Play, would be extremely difficult. However, it was rather a

really amusing learning experience. I created four different writing assignment/projects. I created

these assignments by what I learned this semester in all my education preparation classes I

learned in whole.

Each project and assignment idea comes from what I have learned. in this class, Ethic

Minority Literature, Methods of Teaching Language, and my integration of technology in

Education class. I thought that bringing all those skills together to create this masterpiece would

simplify what good English teacher future planning looks like. I think that this is an excellent

model. Similarly, with researching other sources that could be used to teach alongside Othello.
We indeed did some work like this….this semester—especially for our midterm where we had to

find pairings.

However, for this exam I did more of an extensive research on extra outside resources

and how they would help my students understand the overall themes and ideas of the play, by

choosing resources that will help them build critical conversation, and be able to make

connections within the play and other outside resources. I think this is better than just a pairing

which I think just help students understand the context of the play better. A third thing I did was

finding three scenes and/or speeches from Othello and explaining what activities I would do

when going over with students that specific part of the play. Doing this, was a bit challenging!

My initial ideas were way to unrealistic to teach to my students. However, I based my

FINAL EXAM

activities in what we learned this semester from Fiona Banks and that consists of interactive

pedagogy. In other words, teaching Shakespeare in a more ALIVE and active way. The three

things my students would be doing as activities—is doing a dramatic speech reading, performing

a scene, and activities such as the first where the teachers facilitate the activity. What I have

learned about teaching Shakespeare is that it doesn’t take for an educator to have a PhD in

teaching Shakespeare to teacher it meaningfully.

Teaching Shakespeare requires educators who care beyond whether their student

understand the play. A good teacher of Shakespeare is a teacher who makes sure that their

students are given a great impression with Shakespeare; that when they crack open those plays—

it’s an environment of distinct learning— of doing theatre Arts, doing meaningful and creative

projects, and lastly making amazing connection from plays written over 300 years ago and how

those issue still affect us today— or even in another 20-30 years.

 A good teacher of Shakespeare is those who end the year with students that if you say

they are doing Shakespeare , they are eager and ready to learn and face the amazing theatrical

experience of Shakespeare, rather than it being boring, outdated , and too complex! An

assignment that left the most impression on me that I really enjoyed doing is the Play Responses.

When I read Shakespeare in high school, I never got the opportunity to really do as many things

with Shakespeare’s plays! In my perspective, I think the plays responses is what helps solidify

the students’ knowledge of the play.

It gives students “alone” time with Shakespeare, and really gives them a time to reflect

and become intimate with the piece they have read. It gives a time for students to connect to the

play with both personal perspectives and experiences. I really did enjoy doing those this
FINAL EXAM
semester! One thing I think should be changed in this class—is the mini lesson; I think as a good

“midterm” project, I would be having students create a mini unit plan with three lessons on any

play of their choice, and present one of those lessons—as if they were teaching it to the class. I

think this will allow students to actually dig deeper in the modules.

We definitely had a chance to go through the modules. However, I mean going deep

inside and critiquing what they would not include in their unit plan and not. Just a suggestion!

But this class was perfect and Amazing!  What am I taking about teaching Shakespeare as a

whole? To simply, answer this question. Teaching Shakespeare is about reflection and growth as

an educator. Teaching Shakespeare and reflecting on how you are teaching as the educator—

asking yourself—am I allowing for students to be creative when thinking about Shakespeare?

When I plan and create lessons for teaching a play by Shakespeare; do I think about the

pedagogical potential? In other words, how will I teach this play and invite the voices and

perspectives of my students?