Leszek H. Ward
Reading Logs
Reading logs are one of the standing assignments in my English class throughout the year. Reading logs ask students to respond to what they read by choosing to write about questions they have, characters/themes they have encountered, or connections they can make to previous logs or outside sources. Students must support their conclusions on whatever topic they choose by using and explaining evidence from the text. Furthermore, they are required to consider questions, themes, and characters from multiple perspectives; they should anticipate different answers to the same question and consider how the views of the author or a character may differ from their own. For our study of The Tempest, I would add the perspective of the audience to this list. I was introduced to reading logs by a colleague at New Haven Academy and have found them to be an extremely valuable means of having students think about the literature we read. I often assign these one-page writing assignments along with reading to be completed at home or in class; students periodically choose their best two logs to submit for grading. These assignments clearly reinforce the school's goal of encouraging specific habits of mind (perspective, evidence, connection) and ask students to think deeply about one question or perspective rather than answering a broad but shallow series of questions prepared by someone else at the end of each reading assignment. Reading logs also teach independence in that they require students to choose their own direction and to recognize what they need to explore further, rather than conditioning them to rely on guiding questions. Because the thinking involved in these assignments is deep and complex, teaching students about and introducing reading logs takes some time, but this assignment could be modified to fit the needs of different kinds of classrooms.
The particular strength of these logs in the context of this unit is the requirement to consider multiple perspectives. Students are likely to see various events and characters in the play quite differently, particularly because of the pre-reading "postcard" activity. Reading logs will encourage students to become aware of their own views and also challenge them to recognize that others in the class will see things from an entirely different perspective. In this way, students will use logs to keep track of what various characters see throughout the play and consider how this variety of viewpoints contributes to their understanding of the island. These logs are often shared and form the basis of informal discussion in the classroom. Such sharing of perspectives will further help students consider the events of the play from many different angles and appreciate the complexity of the illusions that drive The Tempest.
Seminars
Another staple of the work done in my English classes is seminar discussions, which would be useful to apply to the study of The Tempest. These discussions are almost entirely student directed; I participate only as a member of the group, usually saying very little during the course of the conversation. Seminars take many forms, but they are typically characterized by an opening question, a lack of predetermined speaking order or structure, and communal exploration of the ideas raised by a text. I use a rubric to grade these discussions that very closely resembles the one used for reading logs because I am assessing the same aspects of student thought in each case. Although one assignment requires discussion with classmates and the other is written individually, in each case I am looking to see if students are able to explore multiple perspectives, use evidence, and make connections based on what they have read. Often the class is divided evenly into an inner circle and outer circle. The former is responsible for discussion, while the latter is responsible for taking careful notes to be reviewed at the end of the discussion. I find that this arrangement makes the discussions more intimate, and it draws students who would not otherwise participate into the discussion, but seminars could be organized in many ways, and they can also be easily modified to suit the needs of any particular classroom.
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I would choose at least two points in the unit at which to have four such discussions, two based on the text of the play itself and two based on supplementary readings. The first such discussion would take place at the end of Act 1, scene 2, focusing on Prospero's treatment of Caliban and the question of whether or not his slavery is justified. The next day the inner and outer circles will switch roles and conduct a seminar discussion of their own. They will discuss Montaigne's essay "On Cannibals" and consider the question of how this material relates to the play. These two days of discussion complement each other by addressing similar questions of colonization and equity, both in the play itself and in the primary source documents that helped inspire it. I would also pair two more seminar discussions near the conclusion of The Tempest, after Prospero's magical illusions have largely played themselves out. The first of these discussions would be based on Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," which questions artistic manipulation such as Prospero's from a philosophical perspective. It would be useful to begin such a conversation with the unit's essential question regarding sight and knowledge, leading students to make connections among Plato's work, The Tempest, and their lives. At the play's conclusion, the final seminar would address the resolution of the conflict by exploring the unit's other essential question regarding forgiveness. Ending with the discussion of these two essential questions would cause the class to consider the play as a whole in relation to the ideas that guide the unit and pull together all they have learned in studying the play.
Staging
Students are often asked to perform scenes from various plays studied in English class. This common activity takes on new importance based on the visual and auditory nature of The Tempest. I provide students with a list of requirements whenever they are asked to perform in class. This list typically includes a variety of components designed to encourage students to make interpretive choices; performances must often include laughter, crying, movement in unison, direct address to the audience, unexpected entrances and so on. For our study of The Tempest, I would modify this assignment to highlight what the audience sees and hears. Each three-to-five minute performance would include many of the usual criteria, but it would also require students to play music at some point in their production and make special use of lighting, costume, or props. In doing so, students will be engaging in the types of decisions that would have been particularly salient to those performing The Tempest at the Blackfriars theatre. After each performance the audience is asked to write a one-paragraph "review" of what they saw; these reviews would be focused on the question of how the visual and auditory effects shaped their experience of the scene. These performances would emphasize yet another perspective critical to Shakespeare's play: that of the audience.
Picturing Characters
Having students study and create depictions of the characters of the play would also be appropriate, allowing for further examination of the relationship between sight and knowledge. I would devote a sequence of two class periods to this activity. The first class is to be an opportunity to choose a character and depict him or her visually through drawing or collage. Working in groups, students first choose and discuss their character, finding at least five examples of description in the play itself relating to that character's physical appearance or temperament. Group members then settle on at least five adjectives to describe their character based on these passages. They then go about creating a visual depiction that is true to their characterization and Shakespeare's language, seeking to incorporate quotes into their visual depiction whenever possible.
In the next class period we would study the way each character was represented by students and notable artists. This lesson also provides the opportunity to differentiate between observations and inferences. I chose to focus this activity on depictions of Prospero, Ariel, Miranda, and Caliban. Not only are these characters central to the action of the play, but they also seem to provide the greatest latitude in terms of artistic interpretation. Images are available online through Google, but searching Artstor yields results of a much higher quality. I chose four images found on this database, created by William Rimmer, Heinrich Fuseli, Joseph Wright, and William Hogarth. Each image features Prospero and Miranda, and most also include both Ariel and Caliban. These images not only allow students to discuss an artistic interpretation of each individual character, but also allow them to critically examine relationships that exist between the characters. For each image, students are first asked to list observations describing what they saw. They are then be asked to make inferences and conclusions about the character based on their observations. In doing so students will recognize the difference between these two processes and also become aware that what we see and what we know is open to both interpretation and manipulation. Students will undoubtedly focus on different aspects of each character, again stressing the differences of perspective in the play. This aspect of the activity could be heightened by asking students to make observations only about the character from whom they received postcards, while leaving the interpretation of the character in the image up to the rest of the class. This would challenge students who may be particularly invested in a character to be objective in describing only what they see in the painting, while allowing other students to possibly "project" various interpretations onto the image. Examining the differences between these viewpoints would lead to fruitful discussion. A concluding activity (one that could be completed in class or for homework) would involve writing about the differences or similarities between the images students created and those they studied in class or defending one of the images as the most accurate depiction of a character.
