Learning Sequence

Year Level: 9
Curriculum learning area: The arts - drama
Unit Of work: Carolyn McMurtrie. (2015). Transforming Shakespeare: Romeo and
Juliet. Retrieved from Cobar High School, NSW
This unit of work is identified as an English \ Drama unit that looks at
Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet. This unit will;

Assess students prior knowledge on Shakespeare and his work

Research and analysis Shakespeare- his Life, time period, choices
influences, issues and work
Analysis Key scenes from the play Romeo and Juliet
analysis Language techniques
Keep a log of their learning and development
Interpret and adapt parts of Romeo and Juliet to modern constraints
Discuss social, cultural, and circumstantial issues and implications
Be partially implemented through the use of modern ICTs

Issues: from my discussion with educators about units of work in the public
school system, the over lapping assessment at the end of the selected unit of
work are in contradiction to the expectations of the standards.
I have instead made it that the students get to make a choice of doing either the
group assessment or doing the individual assessment. I made the choice of
keeping both assessments to provide supportive opportunities for students
whom may have learning or social difficulties.

Unit description (as per unit of work)

Students are to learn to analysis classic text (Shakespeare play) and
contemporise the language and settings whilst keeping the original
meaning and intent.

By doing this students will develop an understanding of many aspects of

drama including character, context, situational and social convention
analysation. The activities and assessment will reflect students
development and assist the teacher in adapting the content and
teaching methods to better support the learning of the students.
Before we start, it is important to establish expectations, structure and
discipline in the classroom. Students behaviour can be difficult in the arts
sue to the nature of the work, therefor it is important to establish early the
rules expectations and desired patterns of behaviour early(Lewis, 1999).
Students especially teenagers respond to routine and structure(A. Fuller,
2014)

Section 1 - Setting the scene

Understanding of students prior knowledge and understanding
The students are to be introduced to the materials and evaluation will be
done on their level of understanding. This will help inform the pace and
development(Au, 1998).
Students brainstorm what they know about Shakespeare and his times.
Moving into research using ICT resources enabling them to present their
findings as a group. Maybe move this from a post it note classroom
activity to a collaborative page online, something like scrapit or a wiki
group page.
This is a good opportunity to implement education on copyright and ethics
of claiming others work as their own. For the online content implement
good practices for gathering source information and provide information of
gathering information from credible sources(Catapano, 2017).
The students are to keep a blog or journal where their personal work and
findings are to be stored. Get them to answer questions, of which the first
are
Why study Shakespeare?
Is Shakespeare relevant to you in todays context?

Section 2 - Getting to know the play

In this section, we introduce the play Romeo and Juliet to the students in
small increments starting with the synopsis of the play.
Read through and discuss Play synopsis
It is suggested here to have the students create an individual mind map of
characters and storyline.
I suggest adding an additional layer of creating an activity using the smart
board if available or magnetic printouts on the white board, to walk
through the basic overview of the story using the characters to help the
children that struggle with the work(M. Fuller, Bradley, & Healey, 2004).
Make it an interactive game, using basic images to set the scenes and
locations. This will help with student that struggle and enhance their
understanding of story and timeline.
Comprehension and help alter any misinterpretations students develop in
self-work processes.

Go through the activity Perfect match cards

This activity can be turned into an interactive digital game, or left as is
using the resources attached. The idea is to develop students
understanding of the characters and their interactions.
Moving into reading the prologue, follow activities as outline in the unit of
work. Begin the development of translating the text into modern
language.
Have the students highlight words they do not understand, allocate them
to each student and have them fine the meanings using ICT. Have them
report back so that development of text can proceed. This will help form
good habits in self-reliance, resiliency and prepare the students for the
next section of work.

Section 3 Investigation
Here the students are to begin investigation the story in depth. They are
to use whatever resources that can, including ICT, books and knowledge
of others. Find the students and appropriate play and scene analysis
resources that they can view online or you can print out for them. Keep
these resources handy for future references later in the development
cycle.
Provide the resources and run through the activities as prescribed within
the unit of work.
Students are to start their first assessment item. It is a assessment that
utilises email communication to relate meaning and understanding of the
content. It provides an opertunity for the students to use their growing
knowledge on how to modernise the text using a modern form of
communication, as well s provides an opportunity for teachers to assess
the development, understanding and enthusiasm of the students.

Youve got mail task sheet

Name Class

Task
Your task is to compose a series of emails sent between Romeo and Juliet after their first
meeting. You can transform some of the key lines or completely modernise them. It is up
to you whether you want to focus on a particular scene or try to capture in a few emails
what happens over the course of the play. If you like, you could write actual emails and
send them to your address to print them out, but this is not required. Abbreviations and
slang are acceptable.

You need to write at least five emails per character. They should be of varying length.

You will be assessed on how well you:

appropriately use language forms and features

convey the original attitudes and personalities of the characters
reveal understanding of the ideas of the original play

imaginatively transform the ideas and characters in the play.

Optional extension
You may want to add extras to your emails, such as photographs that the characters
have sent to each other.

Assessment taken from unit of work (Carolyn McMurtrie, 2015)

Section 4 - Teaching and learning activities

In this section, we revisit the students blogs \ journals. By this point, they should
have information pertaining to the work achieved in class already.
Several questions and activities that need to be addressed and added to the
blogs \ journals outlined in the unit of work.
This section is about developing an understanding of how Shakespeare
developed his stories and why they are designed that way they are. Be
investigation Shakespeare influences, it provides context to how and why he
wrote, and provides insight to situational information the students may not
understand at this point.
Context is required, for it will enable the students to competently interpret and
transform the play from its original text into the modern error. Context helps
them understand and relate materials, and provides them information so that
their work can be clearly understood by an audience.
Having grater knowledge about how and why the play is written and set,
provides the basis for understanding dramatic structure. Informed decisions
about the type and style can be made with relevant arguments. Here the
students will look at what type of play it is, and come to understand what
aspects of style and theme are used.
Use this opportunity to address cultural diversity and influence in students lives
as well of those in the wider community. Investigate how different cultures and
situations might alter the dynamics of the text. Have students identify how they
might interpret the situations in relation to their own cultural backgrounds.
The activities in this section reinforce this development. Having the students
interpret and adapt the fight scene allows them to give meaning and
understanding to how the language is written.
Note : personal development in the skills of stage combat is beneficial for any
teacher working in drama, The Australian Stage Combat Association runs courses
in combat for stage including safe ways to fall and visual cueing of movement.
By the end of this section students should be developing an understanding of
language used in the play. Looking at what iambic pentameter is? How language
alters in different scenes and situations.
A good activity to include here is to have the students record themselves
speaking the language, than alter the speed and rhythm. Have them play back
their sections of the text to the class, so that they can guess what the context of
the scene. Have them look at what happens when you slow down the pace of a
fight scene, or speed up a love scene. Join the recordings in sequence and
discover what happens.
Relate this discovery to some of Shakespeares sonnets. Have them use the
rhythm of the language to help them interpret the content.
First assessment due: email interchange between Romeo and Juliet

Section 5 - Modern interpretations

Students are to discover who has copied the ideas of Shakespeare and
envisioned them in the modern error. What movies, plays and books use his story
lines?
Have students do research on the theory of there being only a limited number of
stories available.

Overcoming the Monster.

Rags to Riches.

The Quest.

Voyage and Return.

Comedy.

Tragedy.

Rebirth.

(Len Wilson, 2016)

Look at what Romeo and Juliet is, does it have more than one?
Group assessment task
Students are to utilise the learning and skills developed through the unit of work
to create a 5 min modern interpretation of scene from Romeo and Juliet.
They are to create a written script, staging design and incorporate modern
aspect such as technologies into the scene. The original message and concerns
of the play are to be retained.
This assessment will assess the students development in areas of group work,
analysis and interpretation on the script, adaptability, presentation skills and
understanding of drama.

Individual assessment task

Students are to individually create a visual representation of aspects of the play.

This will be based on the idea that they are entries for the the Optus and Bell
Shakespeare Make a Scene competition. A visual interpretation for a
Shakespeare quote is required and changes each year.
This provides a great opportunity for students to develop work using ICT. It is
important that the teacher develop skills and understanding of the required \
available resources. Skills used and developed here support cross curriculum
learning
The students have a choice of creating a picture, a movie or an animation. All
projects require an actors log of their development.
The students individual journals \ blogs need to be evaluated.

Assessment marking criteria is contained within the unit profile.

 References
Au, K. H. (1998). Social constructivism and the school literacy learning of
students of diverse backgrounds. Journal of Literacy Research, 30(2), 297-
319.
Carolyn McMurtrie. (2015). Transforming Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet.
Retrieved from Cobar High School, NSW:
Catapano, J. (2017). Teaching Strategies About Source Credibility Retrieved from
http://www.teachhub.com/teaching-strategies-about-source-credibility
Fuller, A. (2014). Tricky teens - neurochemistry and habit. Sydney: Finch
publishing.
Fuller, M., Bradley, A., & Healey, M. (2004). Incorporating disabled students
within an inclusive higher education environment. Disability &
Society, 19(5), 455-468. doi:10.1080/0968759042000235307
Len Wilson. (2016). There Are Only Seven Stories in the World. Retrieved from
http://lenwilson.us/seven-stories/
Lewis, R. (1999). Teachers coping with the stress of classroom discipline. Social
Psychology of Education, 3(3), 155-171.

Appendix
Carolyn McMurtrie. (2015). Transforming Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet.
Retrieved from Cobar High School, NSW:
http://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/R11474/index.html