Gothic+Literature+Rich+Task

 **Subject:** English **Teacher:** Jan-Philipp Igelbrink **Class:** Year 10 **Age:** 15 **Number of Students:** 23 **Number of Lessons:** 6 x 45 minutes


 * Outline **

During our time at Graf Friedrich Schule, we were incredibly lucky to be given a total of six lessons with the same class, allowing us to design an extended rich task where we could go into a lot more depth than is usually possible. We were working with an English class on the topic of gothic literature and so we chose to base our lessons on a great example from the gothic genre, a short story called “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe. The rich task comprised two main sections, the first was literature analysis accompanied by a discussion and this was then followed by a piece of creative writing which was presented to the rest of the class.


 * Lessons **

__Lesson 1 __

A few days before our rich task we went to the class and asked the students to fill out small forms in order to gather information about how and where they like to learn, what they would like to do in the lessons, etc to help us tailor the rich task for the students taking part. Many of the students expressed a desire to learn in locations other than their regular classroom so we took this into account when planning the first lesson.

The purpose of the first lesson was simply to introduce the topic of gothic literature and familiarise the class with the chosen text. Tales from this era can often be dark, mysterious and frightening and we wanted to find somewhere atmospheric to tell the story for the first time. We located an unused room in the school which could be darkened completely by closing the blinds and brought the entire class there for the first lesson. We lit torches around the room and the students all sat on the floor.

We began by explaining the rich task and talking a little about the gothic genre. We then outlined the plan for the first lesson and asked the students to split themselves into groups. Each group was given a section of text from “The Tell-Tale Heart” which had been further divided into five small parts. Working by torchlight, the students were tasked with arranging the parts into the correct order. Once they were satisfied they had completed this task, we walked around to check if they were correct and to offer help to any groups that needed to make slight adjustments.

In the next part of the lesson the groups took it in turns to read aloud their section of the story, with every student saying a part each, so that by the end everyone had heard the whole story and could see where their section fitted in. This lesson really tested the students’ reading abilities and their understanding and we felt it was far more valuable for them to hear the story this way the first time rather than having it read to them.

__Lessons 2 & 3 __

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The second and third lessons were timetabled together and we used this time to focus on the analysis and discussion part of the rich task. We were back in the usual classroom and began the class by reminding the students what the rich task was about and explaining in more depth what would be expected of them over the course of the remaining lessons. We gave them a handout which included an outline of the rich task, a copy of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, a set of analysis questions and a glossary of words from the short story which they might have been unfamiliar with. Although the students had read the story as a class in the previous lesson, we felt it was important to make sure they understood what was happening in the text and so we read “The Tell-Tale Heart” to the class again and they followed it on their own copy.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">We then read over the analysis questions and split the students into their groups from the last lesson. In these groups they were asked to analyse the section of text they had been given in the previous lesson using the set of analysis questions as a guide. They were told to consider the following techniques carefully when writing their answers:
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Imagery and Symbolism
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Themes
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Form
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Word Choice
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Characterisation

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">We told the class how much time they had to complete the analysis and walked around the class during this part of the lesson. We wanted to check that everyone understood what they were meant to be doing and to offer help, as although the students possessed a very high level of English, the language of the short story was still quite difficult.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">After the analysis was finished, we rearranged the students into new groups so that in every group there was at least one person who had studied each section. One member from the Learning School team joined each group and led a discussion in which the students were encouraged to share their answers to the analysis questions and give their opinions on the author’s writing style and use of literary techniques.

__<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Lesson 4 __

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">With this lesson began the creative part of the rich task. The students were told that they would be doing a writing project in the gothic style and that they could work either alone or in small groups. They were asked to think about the various literary techniques employed by Edgar Allan Poe in the writing of “The Tell-Tale Heart” and to consider what made them so effective. The students had to choose their favourite technique, for example a piece of imagery, a theme, the use of repetition or anything else they felt stood out. This chosen technique had to be incorporated into their own piece of creative writing.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">To help inspire the students, they were also shown a selection of pictures, video clips and sound clips using a projector and were asked to choose one as a starting point for their work.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">After they had decided on the technique and piece of media they would like to use, the students were told that although their creative projects must include a piece of writing, they were free to use other creative elements such as art, music, film or photography as well if they felt it would enhance their work. As some of these options can be time consuming, the students were encouraged to think about their ideas at home and perhaps work on anything they’d like to use before the next lesson.

__<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Lessons 5 & 6 __

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">For the majority of the final two lessons the students were left to work on their creative writing projects. We gave them a deadline for finishing their pieces and made sure everyone knew what they had to do. All the students had chosen to work in groups.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Once their time was up, the groups were asked to present their work one by one in front of the class. They had to say what they had used as inspiration and which technique they had included in their writing, then read out their work. Some of the groups had produced pieces of art or photography as well and these were also shown to the class.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">As usual, at the end of the lessons we asked the students to complete a short evaluation sheet to let us know what they thought about the lessons.


 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Links to Personalised Learning[[image:DSC06095.JPG width="400" height="763" align="right"]] **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">This rich task was personalised in the respect that the students were given a lot of choice during the creative part. They were allowed to decide what they wanted to use as inspiration for their creative writing piece and what direction they wanted to take it in. They were also given the freedom to use any creative element they liked to help tell their stories. Hence there are strong links to the ‘Curriculum Entitlement and Choice’ component of Personalised Learning. Another successful aspect of the lessons was the fact that they incorporated other disciplines such as art.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">‘Teaching and Learning Strategies’ was another main component as we used a large variety of teaching methods throughout the course of the six lessons, including group work, discussions and presentations. We also asked the students to fill out forms before the lessons to help us plan tasks around their preferences.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">During the literature analysis part of the rich task the students had to explain and defend their answers to one another which is a good example of ‘Assessment for Learning’.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The ‘Learning Environment’ component was also brought in during the first lesson of the rich task as we chose to venture outside of the normal classroom for the introduction to ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’. This decision was made in response to the students’ comments on the forms they were asked to complete before the rich task and resulted in a very different and atmospheric learning environment which most of the students really enjoyed.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Finally, over the duration of the rich task the students were given the opportunity to practise their English with native speakers and also expand on their vocabulary. Being able to speak another language is a very useful skill in everyday life and so this task also links to the ‘Strong Partnerships Beyond the Classroom’ component.


 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Feedback **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The students rated the lessons between 2/10 and 10/10 with the average rating working out at 8/10.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">From the evaluation sheets we found that many of the students liked that they were allowed to work in groups and also that they had the opportunity to present their stories or poems to the rest of the class. Another clear favourite was the creative element of the task, with students saying that they had good materials to work with and that it was a very free task. Finally, it would appear that the students appreciated the variety across the lessons as they said the lessons were interesting and they didn’t do the same things every lesson.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">However, the students also disliked certain aspects of the lessons. The main complaint was that there wasn’t enough time for the tasks, especially the creative part. Also some of the students felt that we didn’t speak loudly enough and that they didn’t always understand the vocabulary being used in the lessons. Another negative point noted by the students was that some of the class did not contribute as much as they could have, saying: “There was not enough courage to talk from the other pupils from my class.” Finally a few students simply did not like gothic theme and one mentioned they disliked the lesson where we read the story in the darkened room.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">In order to improve the lessons the students said we could have given them more time to work and we could have spoken more loudly. They thought we should have encouraged the people who were very quiet in the lessons to speak more often and perhaps we could have explained the language being used a bit more.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">In general I think the rich task was very well received as the students seemed to enjoy the lessons and get a lot out of them. The comments about having to work to a tight timescale are something we come across quite often and it is one of the main difficulties we encounter when planning classes. We want to give students plenty of time to work on things but we also want to cover a lot in our lessons and go into as much depth as possible so it becomes a compromise between time constraints and content. However, at the end of the day we want to give students the best introduction to a topic that we can and so while we do give them adequate time to finish tasks, the result is that the students often feel a little rushed but we think that it is worth it as it enables them to try their hand at a greater number and variety of challenges. Another piece of feedback we found particularly useful was the students’ remarks about the need for us to speak more loudly when addressing the class. Making sure that we project our voices and speak clearly is something we need to remember for our next rich tasks, especially if we have more classes with students who have English as their second language. Something which is also interesting to note is that one of the students really did not enjoy the lesson in the darkened room and this reinforces the point that while the majority of a class may for example want to learn in a location other than their usual classroom there are going to be students who don’t want that, so it is almost impossible to design tasks in a way that will work for everyone all the time. Finally, it has become clear from our research so far that Personalised Learning is not always just about choice. Students must learn the basics before being allowed the freedom to expand on things in whichever way suits them best. This need for balance between structured elements and parts which are more flexible was something we tried to address while designing our lessons, resulting in the combination of analysis and creative tasks, and I think it was striking this balance that made the rich task a success.


 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Thank you **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">We would like to take this opportunity to thank Jan-Philipp Igelbrink for giving us so much time with his class and also thanks to all the students for taking part!