Morgan Taylor Research Based Literacy Survey Draft 16 April 2013

Introduction to the "problem" - in this case, the topic you were interested in studying

The topic I was interested in studying for my survey was analyzing students responses to teaching Shakespeare in the classrooms. As an adolescent, I knew many of my peers hated that we had to read multiple Shakespeare plays for class, and after studying abroad and reading works by Christopher Marlowe as well, I was curious to see if students disliked only Shakespeare or just 17th century literature all together. In order to assess this, I created my survey based on two passages, one from Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, and one from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. I then asked a variety of multiple choice questions and open-ended questions to assess the likeability of the passages. Being a secondary education major myself, I was curious to see the results of this survey so that I could apply them to my own future classrooms to aid in student involvement and learning.

Review of the literature - Here is where you indicate what you learned from your outside reading/sources (feel free to also use readings from class, other courses, etc.)

I was able to find several scholarly articles relating to teaching and understanding Shakespeare within the classroom setting. However, it was much more difficult to find Marlowe

Taylor, 2 articles, so I figured both being 17th century playwrights, the ideas from teaching Shakespeare could easily be related and adapted to teaching Marlowe as well. One article I found entitled Using the Original Approach to Teach Shakespeare was an adaptation a teacher had found successful after studying how the actors during Shakespeares time actually preformed his plays. Because scripts had to be copied by hand, and the one or two full scripts were closely guarded to avoid piracy, the actors' scripts contained only their own lines and cues, wound on a stick: the actor's role or part (Robbins, 65). Essentially Tucker (the teacher) was able to utilize the idea of using inferences and stage cues and feeding off the other actors to teach his students to comprehend Shakespeare. Since rehearsing the play would foil the entire idea of the original approach, Tucker had individual sessions with each student after casting them in their role so that they understood the vocabulary and signals for action. This activity helped his students to work as a collective group to understand and visualize the play so that they had a fun way of comprehending the 17th century play. The Shakespeare Frolic Project: Massaging Shakespeare through Multimedia was another article I found that provided an outlet to teach Shakespeare through the use of media such as film, music, videos, etc. The reason that this article coincided so perfectly with my survey was because of its opening lines: How can I get my students to read Shakespeare? My students couldn't care less about literature. Most of them go to work in fast-food restaurants right alter school, have problems at home I can't even imagine, and would refuse to open up Charlotte's Web. Let alone William Shakespeare (Baines). This article really related well to my data also due to the fact that the Frolic Project was presented to a class of ninth-graders, which was my primary focus group for my survey. By using this methodology, students are learning and understanding Shakespeare whilst also learning skills in multimedia. The activity starts with

Taylor, 3 an introductory exercise which is implemented Three weeks before undertaking the study of Shakespeare (Baines). Similar to the previous article, this initial exercise has to do with students actually reading and performing a section of the play, then taking that a step further and creating their own interpretation through many different outlets. Some other activities within the Frolic Project include: A dance, a summary of the act, a short story, a painting, a poem, a final script, a critical analysis paper and then a final performance. This portfolio-style way of assessment allows students to have a range of different activities by which to grade so that students who excel at painting are evenly compared to students who excel at dance, since they may be weaker in a different portion of the portfolio. I found an article not directly related to my survey, but discussed character development in Shakespeare verses character development in Marlowe. I thought analyzing this article might help me to understand why Marlowe is not taught in school yet Shakespeare is. The article argues that the reason behind this is because Shakespeares characters may undergo radical shifts on apparent identity, physic slippages that unsettle a spectators expectation for the unity of person; while Marlowes heroes amaze or dismay us by the sheer tenacity of their will to be always themselves (Danson, 217). The author argues that Shakespeares characters are much more dynamic, thusly we have more to analyze as an audience. Psychological transformation is apparent as the key of Shakespeares genius. It is why more student are familiar with Hamlets to be or not to be speech than any other work.

Methodology - what did you do to study your problem? Participants?

Taylor, 4 To study my problem, I first created a survey via Microsoft Word, and after meeting with you (Dr. Casey) I turned it into a SurveyMonkey questionnaire and posted it on my Facebook asking people to take it. I did not get many responses that way, and since I am also taking a class this semester that involves fieldwork, I met with my cooperating teacher about administering it to students. She teaches freshmen, and told me that if I were to print out hard copies of the survey, she would assign it to her students as extra credit work. I received anonymous surveys; she just had them do it as a hard copy so that she could use extra credit as an incentive. I received about thirty-something completed surveys this way. Then I manually put all of the surveys into SurveyMonkey so that I was able to use the analyze tool. After analyzing the question asking for age, I saw that my data consisted of thirty-five high school freshmen, one high school junior (which I think might have been my brother), six college students, and my dad. I allowed for open-ended questions at the end to allow students freedom to express their ideas and not be confined to a multiple choice answer. I found many students chose not to elaborate on the question Do you think all 16th 17th century plays should be omitted from schools, why? because many of my answers were merely no; yet on the question What would help you better understand this type of text? students were very open to giving me different ideas on how to help them comprehend the material. The best part about this survey was that it was administered to the freshmen as they were in the process of reading Romeo & Juliet during class. This way they had a current familiarity with the type of text I was asking them to read.

Findings - What did you find from your analysis of your survey?

Taylor, 5 Some of the results I found from my survey were that for the most part, over 90% of people who took this survey could not identify where the passages I gave them came from. As far as choosing which play they would rather read, it was almost exactly half. This surprised me because Dr. Faustus isnt taught in school yet it is captivating and has a lot of content for good classroom discussion. This corresponded with the fact that a good portion did not read any 17th century literature other than Shakespeare or werent aware that they read any 17th century literature. As much as students seem to complain about reading Shakespeare, thirty students agreed that 17th century literature should be taught in schools. Students seem excited about it, one answer being yes, it gives historical context to the time period while also giving students an indepth at writing so full of metaphors and symbols. However, thirteen students thought we should omit older literature on the premises that no, because we are not going to remember it in the future or its too hard or it should only be for students who enjoy literature. Yet, over 75% of students still did not find that Shakespeare is being over-taught in schools. My data could be affected due to the fact that I asked freshmen and not seniors, but my biggest part of my survey gave me the opposite of the answer I predicted. Going off of the bias, most students wrote that they did not read any Shakespeare or they only read Romeo & Juliet or Twelfth Night. Again, Im not sure when these students may have read Twelfth Night, but I know that the students taking this survey were currently reading Romeo & Juliet in their class. Only six people though thought that all 16th and 17th century literature should be omitted from schools. Most students saw the value in learning this type of text, even going so far as saying no, its important to learn about literature and quite frankly, the literature that's more modern is terrible.

Taylor, 6 The most important answers I found though were from my final question: What would help you better understand this type of text? About two students suggested reading aloud, and the rest of the students responded saying they would like reading this with a modern translation. I cant tell if this is ironic or not. A modern translation would literally be ruining the point of studying the works because we read them for the language. An example would be in King Lear when Albany says How far your eyes may pierce I cannot tell. / Striving to better, oft we mar whats well. That is a beautiful way of saying that when we try to fix a problem, often we just make it worse. Now, thats an easy translation of it, but you ruin it by translating it because the true essence of the literature is in the way it is written. However, I think if we can get students to read the Sparknotes books with the original text next to the modern English, but focus mostly on the original text and only use the modern if theyre stuck would be an ideal solution.

Discussion - How does what you find link to what you learned from reading about your topic/field

What I found is that students for the most part like reading this type of literature and if I help them and have class discussions and translate it as a group, they will truly appreciate the plays. Additionally, I would like to start teaching Dr. Faustus and The Witch of Edmonton maybe instead of the traditional Shakespeare to enlighten students of different types of 17th century literature. I also know now that it helps students to comprehend the text by acting it out in class; perhaps by implementing the Frolic Project or the Original Approach. I also learned that the reason Marlowe is not taught as much is because there is little to do with characterization.

Taylor, 7 Through Shakespeare, we see characters transform and grow mad or sane. Also, I learned how much I truly appreciate the eloquence that is Shakespeares writing.

Conclusion/Implications - How does this study help you think about your own developing practice?

This study helped me think about my own developing practice by means of what I think is most important when teaching a piece of literature to a class. Do I care more about what I can do with the piece and how I can analyze it or do I care more about the overall history of the piece and how it fits into a piece of literature I want to teach? There are plenty of American stories about things such as the Salem Witch Trials, yet Id rather teach The Witch of Edmonton. This helped me think about how I have a greater interest in British literature, and maybe that is something I want to pursue. Maybe become a professor and get my doctorate in British literature so I can work with something that I know truly fascinates me.

Taylor, 8 APA Bibliography

Baines, L. (1997). The Shakespeare frolic project: Massaging Shakespeare through multimedia. Clearing House, 70(4), 194. Danson, L. (1986). Continuity and Character in Shakespeare and Marlowe. Studies In English Literature (Rice), 26(2), 216. Robbins, B. (2005). Using The Original Approach to Teach Shakespeare. English Journal, 95(1), 65-68.