Mod 8 Discussion: Tiering and Scaffolding in My Classroom

I use an “I Do, We Do, You Do I Watch” to model literacy for my students and then apply that understanding to a tiered use of graphic organizers in small groups. This approach has worked very well with my 11th graders in our study of Shakespeare’s Othello. In a real sense, teaching Shakespeare to any ELA student is like teaching them to read in a new language, so initially I must provide a great deal of context. I put the text up on the white board screen for our initial reading; we read along with the audio version. I then stop the audio at key passages and annotate the text on screen so the students can copy the annotations. As we proceed through the scene, students have the opportunity to make the annotations themselves and we discuss collaboratively. One we have completed the 3 or 4 scenes of a single ACT of the play, we apply our understanding with the use of graphic organizers. For example, for ACT 1, which ahs three scenes, we used a graphic organizer for each scene; however, the graphic organizers are themselves tiered. The graphic organizer contains three columns ( Column 1-a key passage; column 2-a blank space to paraphrase the text; column 3-a blank space for an interpretation or discussion of significance.) For heh scene 1 graphic organizer, I provide 5 key passages and paraphrases and interpretations for 3 of those 5. I model how to do this on the white board. For the scene 2 graphic organizer, I provide only the key passages. For the scene 3 g.o., students must identify the key passages for themselves. This process allows the students to gradually begin to feel a mastery of Shakespeare and his language.