THE CONTEXT OF THE UNIT

SCHOOL

King Philip Regional High School is a public high school in southwestern Massachusetts that services students in the rural/suburban towns of Norfolk, Plainville, and Wrentham. The school is in the process of implementing a technology plan that will eventually bring computers and web-based resources into most classrooms. As an outcome of Netday in 1996, school rooms are wired for a network connection. There are clusters of computers for use in wordprocessing, graphic design, and desktop publishing. The media center supplies VCR's and recording devices to teachers, and students can utilize the local cable studio to design their own projects.

TEACHER

This unit grew out of the teacher's interest in utilizing technological resources to support performance-based learning and metacognitive growth. Christine Greenhow, has an advanced degree in Education and was introduced to performance as a strategy for developing understanding through her work at the 1996 NEH Summer Institute "Shakespeare in Ashland: Teaching from Performance." Interested in deepening her approaches to student learning she consulted colleagues and educational researchers who affirmed for her the Teaching for Understanding framework (Wiske, 1997).

Knowing that in past years her students had difficulty in reading drama, particularly Macbeth and The Crucible, she wanted to design a curriculum unit that developed students' ability to interpret dialogue, stage directions, and overall theme through active engagement with these plays. She also wanted her curriculum unit to reflect her students' multiple learning styles and give them several opportunities to reflect, refine, and succeed. Finally, she sought to record the acting performances for ongoing assessment, publication in the community, and future reference.

STUDENTS

Ms. Greenhow's students were high school juniors in college preparatory American Literature. The unit involved three sections of juniors with 24-28 students in each 50 minute class. Much of the rehearsal time was spent in the high school auditorium or in the cafeteria. About 20% of these students were classified as Special Education students, and many of them had trouble visualizing the play and staying focused on main ideas. Most students knew next to nothing about stage theory and dramatic techniques, although about five students were in the high school Drama Club. The students' biggest fear was speaking for an audience.

Moreover, "Bringing Text to Life" is the outcome of two years' work. While this unit uses Macbeth as its text, Miller's The Crucible was used in the following year. The final student performances of Macbeth were broadcast on the local Cable channel and featured in the community newspaper. Bringing Text to Life was the first of several units to use the TfU framework to develop speaking to communicate, reading for meaning, and writing for discovery skills. Students worked collaboratively in this unit to scaffold their public speaking and moved later in the year to individual speaking presentations.

On to:

• The TfU Framework