American Literature • M. Sierra-Perry
Arthur Miller's The Crucible fits in with the theme of "Rights and Responsibilities." While Nothing but the Truth touches on freedom of expression as a right that must be protected, The Crucible challenges the students to think of protecting and respecting the rights of others as a part of citizenship and to ensure social justice for others as well. In the play, John Proctor and the Reverend Hale find that personal choices and responsibility are strongly interconnected. The play is a classic that appeals to students of all ability levels. Many students make personal connections with the girls who call out "Witch!" These girls have no status in the village, but when they are sought out as members of the court they attain the status of modern day celebrities. Many students make the connection between Abigail from The Crucible and Philip from Nothing but the Truth. Both are trying to avoid trouble and lie to do it. In the lie comes tragedy. They are not able to control the lie, and its consequences for innocent people. Others take on the lie for their own personal gain.
Since this is the end of the semester, students are expected to be able to demonstrate research and writing skills on their own. I have helped the students to develop prior knowledge through a video on the Salem Witch Trials, audio-tapes of the play, and finally through the screenplay written by Arthur Miller and released in 1995. Since many of the stars in the film are familiar to the students, the level of engagement was quite high.
To assess the students' meaning making I decided to have them go on a Webquest.
The Crucible Webquest not only gave them some choice in their evaluation, but it also gave them practice in note taking, reading informational text, experiencing what it would be like to be charged as a witch. The simulation not only peaked their interest, but also caused quite a bit of discussion about whether or not to confess in order to save your life. Students sent me postcards from Salem reflecting their thoughts about the Puritans and the Salem hysteria. Many said that they would stand with John Proctor and not confess.
We are still in Salem. The students are finishing up their group assignment and are in the process of writing their essay on one of the main characters. They took an objective test from the text, and I know that I will have to curve it. The essay they are working on will provide the other part of their test grade. In order to make sure they know how to put an essay together from a prompt (a la Prairie State), I have used a guided approach to writing this essay. Students have created a spidergram to identify what they know about the character. I am using the spidergram as an informal assessment. Some have created artistic ones and do not want me to write on them. It does, however, give us a starting place to talk about their writing. . .very low key. They were getting tired of KWL as the organizer, so we have added a new one to their repertoire.
We will complete group assessments that I will add later and self evaluations. I hope to have some of their materials to share on Saturday.