Teaching English in the 21st Century

1
Teaching English in the 21st Century

• Using Modern Media as a Support Tool in the
  English Classroom

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Contents

• Introduction/Focus
• History of Media/Television in the Classroom
• Relating to Media
• Media and Shakespeare
• Romeo and Juliet vs. Romeo Juliet (1996)
• Media and Literature
• Life of Pi, vs. Cast Away, and Survivorman
• Video Clips of Selected Film
• Potential Assignments
• Media as Differentiated Instruction
• Learning Types and Media
• Risks of using Video/Film
• Conclusion
• References

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Introduction

• Big Ideas
• In the 21st Century classroom, following the
  advent of the I-pod and portable, personal music,
  students have a shorter attention span than ever
  before.
• Students turn to electronic devices for
  entertainment and joy at an increasingly high
  rate as teachers of English, we should take this
  disadvantage and turn it in our favour to make
  English memorable and fun.

• Enduring Understandings
• As teachers you will understand how technology
  can affectively be applied to student learning
  specifically the use of Romeo and Juliet and
  Survivorman, and Castaway.
• How to make learning fun using film, and the
  complimentary assignments that can be implored
  with this teaching tool.

• Essential Questions
• How can we as teachers avoid using technology as
  a crutch?
• What are the benefits of technology for young
  teachers, and how can we transfer our knowledge
  to our students most effectively?

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Focus

• Two major pieces of literature often used in the
  Ontario English Curriculum, are Yann Martels
  Life of Pi and William Shakespeares Romeo and
  Juliet.
• I chose to examine how the study of each can be
  enhanced with a few pieces of modern film and
  television.
• The most recent adaptation of William
  Shakespeares play Romeo and Juliet, the 1996
  film William Shakespeares Romeo Juliet,
  directed by Baz Luhrmann, can provide students
  with a modern context and help them understand
  some of the complex Shakespearean language.
• Similarly, the modern television show
  Survivorman, created by Les Stroud, and the movie
  Cast Away, directed by Robert Zemeckis, can help
  students explore certain themes within Life of
  Pi.

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History of Media in the Classroom

• Television is the most prevalent and pervasive
  media of our time and will likely remain so
  throughout the next century.
• The youth being taught in classrooms today have
  never known a life without televised media
  (Vetrie, 2004).
• Many educators continue to focus on the negative
  aspects of this medium such as its ability to
  distract and desensitize the listener to other,
  less stimulating media.

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Continued

• As lovers of language, literature, and writing,
  English teachers are sometimes frightened by the
  prospect of integrating new technologies into
  teaching (Firek, 2002).
• Though the use of video in classrooms today is
  more widely accepted, many English teachers
  remain wary of merging modern media into their
  curriculum.
• However, rather than cut out film, we should
  attempt to embrace new modern media and integrate
  it into our English courses.
• By showing modern video containing modern themes,
  which in turn contain modern imagery, we can
  create a culture base one that students will be
  interested in, and more importantly, be able to
  relate to.

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Relating to Media

• The ability to relate to the media being
  transmitted is of the utmost importance for
  students.
• As Michael Vetrie (2004) discusses in his
  article, Using Film to Increase Literacy,
  recent brain research supports this pedagogical
  approach For information to move from
  short-term memory to long-term storage, the
  learner must have two questions answered. First,
  does this make sense?
• In other words, can the learner understand the
  item based on experience? Does it fit into what
  the learner knows about the world (the
  schemata)? (p. 42).
• When selecting a film for an English classroom,
  it is best to find one that relates to the
  students, connects to their social or cultural
  background, and engages them with its story.

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Media and Shakespeare

• One of the main reasons for this difficulty is
  Shakespeares complex and unfamiliar language
  structure which, when misunderstood, prevents the
  proper transmissions of themes.
• For example, William Shakespeares play Romeo and
  Juliet does not have a confusing or complex plot
  - boy meets girl boy and girl fall in love boy
  and girl are forbidden from this love by their
  parents boy and girl marry anyways, eventually
  killing themselves when they believed the other
  to be lost.
• This plot, though extreme, is not dissimilar to
  what many students may experience during high
  school (however to a lesser dramatic extent).
  Often students do fall in love with someone their
  parents do not approve of. Students understand
  this dichotomy what troubles them is the
  language.
• Our goal as teachers of English should be to
  bridge the language gap that keeps so many of our
  students fumbling in the dark.

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Shakespeare in the Classroom

• Remember that Shakespeare's plays are meant to be
  performed and not read.
• There are different ways to accomplish this
  including dramatic readings, acting, and video.
• Dramatic readings and acting can have drawbacks
  depending on the strength of your class, so a
  video re-inaction can often be a good starting
  point for many activities.
• One of the best choices for Shakespeares Romeo
  and Juliet, is a recently created version
  directed by Baz Luhrmann in 1996 entitled, Romeo
  Juliet.

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Engage

• From your personal experiences with Shakespeare
  what are some benefits you have witnessed of
  teaching with film?
• Either as a teacher now, or previously as a
  student.
• Do you see the value of incorporating film when
  teaching Shakespeare?

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Romeo Juliet

• For those who have not seen this adaptation,
  Luhrmann recreates the famous play in modern
  Verona, replacing many historic references with
  witty modern equivalents.
• In this way he provides a context to the drama
  and romance in a more relatable and culturally
  relevant time period.
• The film is undoubtedly a unique Shakespearean
  experience, but what it lacks in visual
  accuracy it more than makes up for in its
  strict adherence to the language of the text.
• Students, regardless of linguistic comprehension,
  were able to understand, based on the scenes
  depicted and the emotions of the characters,
  exactly what is taking place.

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Romeo Juliet

• It is important with this film, as it is with any
  other, to not let the viewing go unguided, or
  without instructional interruption.
• The mere exposure to televised instructional
  material does not ensure that learning takes
  place.
• Because it is still a Shakespearean based film,
  one should stop the film often at key positions
  which will both illuminate and accentuate certain
  aspects of the text, and allow for interesting
  discussion.

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Opening Scenes

• In watching Romeo Juliet, the opening scenes
  immediately immerses the students in modern times
  staging the introduction as a news report.
• Students who were perplexed by the complex
  language initially, completely understood what
  was going on in the film.
• The following brawl scene yielded even greater
  results.
• They noticed that the swords Tybalt and
  Benvolio refer to in Act I Scene I are in fact
  guns, yet still referred to by the henchmen as
  swords, each labeled, Sword 9mm Series 5.
• It was incredible to see their thought process as
  they analyzed and engaged with this contemporary
  resource.

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Romeo and Juliet Conclusions

• Indeed, this new version of Romeo and Juliet,
  despite being set in the modern day, stays true
  to the spirit of Shakespeares work.
• Despite this, most English teachers would still
  agree that a movie adaptation is no substitute
  for the literature itself.
• However, in this case, when the film is coupled
  with the play itself, they provide a richer
  experience for students than either would have
  alone.

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Yann Martels Life of Pi

• Once students have a base knowledge of the work,
  using a comparable form of media with a unique
  plot can help students recognize connections that
  are not immediately obvious.
• For example, grouping Yann Martels Novel Life of
  Pi, with an episode from the first season of
  Survivorman, Survivorman Lost at Sea, produced
  by Les Stroud, and Robert Zemeckis feature
  length film, Cast Away, students are able to
  share in two other depictions of those lost at
  sea.

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Life of Pi

• Life of Pi details a young boys journey across
  the South Pacific after being shipwrecked. In the
  novel, Pi survives on a life raft for over 7
  months with a royal Bengal tiger named Richard
  Parker.
• At the end of the novel it is revealed that
  perhaps Pi was actually alone on the raft, and
  that the Bengal Tiger was imagined, and
  represented a part of his animal instinct.
• At the end of Life of Pi, the reader is presented
  with two versions of the same story, one
  involving human characters doing inhumane things,
  the other involving animal characters.
• It is an incredible tale of survival,
  spirituality, perseverance, and self-discovery.
  

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Using Media with Life of Pi

• In my experience teaching this novel, many
  students struggled with the complex and confusing
  ending.
• At the end of Life of Pi, the reader is presented
  with two versions of the same story, one
  involving human characters doing inhumane things,
  the other involving animal characters.
• The reader is left to decide which version is
  true. The students needed to know which version
  was the real version.
• They could not accept that both could
  theoretically be true, and indeed spent an entire
  30 minutes debating that very topic.
• To help them with this idea of realism, I decided
  to show pieces of the Survivorman episode,
  Survivorman Lost at Sea, as well as specific
  chapters from the Zemeckis feature length film,
  Cast Away, created in 2000.

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Exploring Media and Literature

• After each of the individual pieces of media, I
  asked the students a series of specific and
  general questions including
• What were the similarities between the
  experiences of each protagonist?
• What were the differences in experience between
  each protagonist?
• What would Survivormans fate have been had he
  been lost at sea for 7 months, rather than 7 days
  could he have survived?
• Why did Chuck Nolland leave the island he had
  called home for so many years?
• What was similar (allegorically) about the
  islands that Chuck and Pi inhabited respectively
• The students listed some incredibly insightful
  answers, surpassing even my expectations.
• Using media is a good way to prompt discussion,
  and further understandings.

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Cast Away Clip
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Survivorman Lost at Sea
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Life of Pi and Cast Away

• When asked how the two respective islands (in
  Life of Pi, and Cast Away) were similar, one
  student noted that both islands were able to meet
  the physical needs of their inhabitants.
• After some adaptation, each were comfortable but
  were not content. We had a lively debate about
  why both Pi and Chuck would chose to risk their
  lives to leave their respective islands.
• Through watching Cast Away, many students
  realized that the need for human interaction was
  paramount! Without it, we were barely human.
• Students were beginning to view and comment on
  the connections without teacher prompting.
• Students were also able to identify with the
  paradigm shift of domination (Dwyer, 2005)
  humans were now dominated by the natural world,
  or at least at the mercy of the natural world in
  the case of Survivorman.

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Media and Realism in Life of Pi

• By viewing these two pieces of video, many
  students were also able to decipher the problem
  of realism posed at the end of the novel.
• The two Japanese representatives at the end of
  the novel find Pis tale using human characters
  to be the more realistic, but claim that the
  better story is the story with animals.
  (Martel, 2001, 317)
• The final question found on the handout asked
  students, Which of the three journeys was the
  most realistic depiction of what life at sea
  would truly be like? Which journey did you
  believe was the most entertaining?
• The results were varied, as I had hoped, and
  again stimulated a very interesting and intense
  debate.
• Once students were able to cross this bridge, it
  was not long before they began to realize that
  both variations within Life of Pi, could be true
  in their own way.
• There can be an allegorical truth and a literal
  truth that are completely different, yet both are
  correct in their descriptions.
• The progress of thought that the students made
  once they were exposed to relevant, relatable
  media was astounding.
• Furthermore, they became genuinely interested in
  the subject material and were visibly upset when
  the novel study concluded.

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Tips for Teachers Potential Assignments

• Using film in support of literature can also open
  up a plethora of assignment options hitting
  various levels of Blooms taxonomy ranging from
  simple knowledge based comparisons, to more
  complex evaluation and synthesis questions.
• Compare and contrast the literature with the film
• Visually recreate a scene you have watched
• Comment on the value of omitting certain lines,
  or scenes, discuss the creative liberties taken
  by the directors
• Discuss themes and how they are represented in
  both literature and film
• Create your version of a modern interpretation of
  a piece of literature
• Create your own scene
• Adapt an ending rewrite lines
• Visually recreate a character
• Create a concept map of the films progression and
  compare that to one of the textual elements in
  the plot
• 5 in 1 !!!!

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Media as Differentiated Instruction

• Using Media to supplement literary instruction is
  an example of differentiated instruction
• When visual media is used, a separate path for
  learning and understanding is created, generating
  more opportunities for students of varying
  abilities, or those who have different interests,
  to absorb the material.
• Just as no two students look exactly alike, no
  two students learn exactly alike either.
• Many students experience great difficulty fully
  comprehending what they read especially when
  studying Shakespeare.
• Using modern video as a support tool can truly
  bridge the gap of understanding for many of these
  students.
• Furthermore, by supplementing your literary
  material with media you are allowing for a
  greater range of learners to absorb the material.
  

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Benefits Learning Types and How Media Helps

• Visual learners will reap a huge reward with this
  additional material. Watching the play being
  acted out or a theme being explored will greatly
  enhance their retention rates.
• In my class, students who had never raised their
  hand to volunteer information were actively
  participating in discussions, pointing out very
  specific things they had seen in the video, and
  posing insightful questions.
• The auditory learners will also benefit from this
  type of learning as an integral part of each
  video are the sounds, words, and music that
  accompany it.
• Indeed the only type of learner who will not
  benefit greatly from using media in the classroom
  are the Kinesthetic learners.
• To supplement kinesthetic learners it is very
  important to include types of activities that
  speak to their learning style.
• For example creating their own video version of
  an event in Life of Pi, or acting out part of
  Romeo and Juliet.

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Risks When Using Media

• As with any teaching practice, there are always
  risks we must be aware of.
• It is paramount that a teacher does not allow
  video and film to take over an entire class.
• A teacher should not show a film or video simply
  because they are tired, have no other plan, or
  need to fill up a class.
• Teachers are given a very limited time to impart
  a very large amount of information and need to
  use all of it to their advantage.
• Media cannot be a stand in for good teaching it
  can be used, and should only be used to augment
  it.

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Conclusion

• Students truly do love modern media, and it is
  not surprising that using this media in an
  educational setting can greatly increase both the
  effectiveness of the teacher, and the ability of
  the student to comprehend new material .
• Students today do tend to have shorter attention
  spans than ever before because their mind is
  bombarded with extraordinary amounts of visual
  stimulus from a young age.
• By using their fascination with this medium, and
  showing relevant course material that both
  directly and indirectly relates to course
  material, we as educators can help bridge the
  academic rift that often stretches between
  students and their texts.
• Used correctly, modern media can be an excellent
  support tool for the study of academic
  literature, can greatly enrich and liven
  classroom discussions, and can open up a wide
  variety interesting assignment options.
• It can take a lot to reach some of the students
  in the modern world of podcasts and live
  streaming video.
• But by using media in the English classroom, we
  can give the literature a 21st century touch that
  will both increase interest in the subject, help
  students understand the material, and increase
  their ability to create in-depth connections from
  the text to the modern world around them.

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WIKISPACE

• Instead of providing a handout, for the sake of
  the environment, this power point is posted on
  our English Wikispace.
• If you would like a handout instead I would be
  more than willing to make you one.
• Also, attached to this power point on the
  Wikispace I will include a list of movies/shows
  that are deemed compatible or appropriate for
  teaching with certain literary works!

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References

• Anderegg, M. (2003). James Dean meets the
  Pirates Daughter Passion and Parody in
  William Shakespeares Romeo Juliet, and
  Shakespeare in Love. In R. Burt and L. E. Boose
  (Ed.), Shakespeare, the movie, II Popularizing
  the plays on film, TV, video, and DVD (pp.
  56-10). New York Routledge.
• Bechervaise, N.E. (2001). Teaching Shakespeare on
  Screen. Vancouver Pacific Educational Press.
• Brandon, L. (1971). Using Media Creatively in the
  English Classroom. The English Journal, 60(9),
  1231-1233.
•  
• Costanzo, W.V. (2004). Great films and How to
  Teach Them. Illinois National Council of
  Teachers of English.
•  
• Dwyer, J. (2005). Yann Martels Life of Pi and
  the Evolution of the Shipwreck Narrative. Modern
  Language Studies, 5(2), 9-21.
•  

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References Contd

• Firek H. (2003). 10 Easy Ways to Use Technology
  in the English Classroom. Portsmouth Heinemann.
• Lorenz, S.L. (1998). Romeo and Juliet The
  Movie. The English Journal, 87(3), 50-51.
• Martel, Y. (2001). Life of Pi. New York
  Harcourt.
• Martin, J.L. (2002). Tights vs. Tattoos Filmic
  Interpretations of Romeo and Juliet. The
  English Journal, 91(1), 41-46.
•  
• Vasche, V. A. (1977). Utliizing television in the
  classroom A guide for Teachers and
  Administrators. California Pacific Coast
  Publishers.
• Vetrie, M. (2004). Using Film to Increase
  Literacy. The English Journal, 93(3), 39-45.