Flipped Lectures and Othello:

Context and Literary Devices

Christina Giarrusso
Florida State University
Running head: FLIPPED LECTURES AND OTHELLO 1
Flipped Lectures and Othello:
Context and Literary Devices
Purpose/rationale
These lessons will be the first flipped classroom videos in a unit on Othello in an
eleventh grade class. They will be posted on the class website. The purpose of the first
lesson is to introduce students to the life of William Shakespeare. Understanding the
author and where he or she is coming from can make students more comfortable
reading the authors work, especially an author like Shakespeare, whom many students
dread. The second lesson will narrow down the classs focus to Othello: I will present
information about when it was written and some contextual facts that will help students
understand the story, and I will go over basic character, setting, and plot information so
that students will be more comfortable reading Othello. The final lecture will define
literary devices to look for in Othello. The lectures will be recorded by me and assigned
as homework for students to view, take notes, write down questions, and otherwise
show that students have watched the lectures in their entirety.
Common Core Standards
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to
support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the
text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and
analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges
and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as
they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the
cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language
evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
FLIPPED LECTURES AND OTHELLO 2
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.6 Analyze a particular point of view or cultural
experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a
wide reading of world literature.
ISTE Standards
1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity
d. Model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with
students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments
2.Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments
a. Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools
and resources to promote student learning and creativity
b. Develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students
to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting
their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their
own progress
3. Model digital age work and learning
a. Demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current
knowledge to new technologies and situations
b. Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using
digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation
c. Communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents,
and peers using a variety of digital age media and formats
d. Model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to
locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and
learning
NCTE Framework Overlap
Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of
purposes; manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous
information
Objectives
SWBAT use the biographical context they know to analyze Shakespeares writing
SWBAT analyze Othello using literary devices
SWBAT define the literary devices in the lecture
SWBAT discern deeper meaning through historical context lens
SWBAT annotate text based on literary devices
SWBAT identify examples of literary devices in Othello
FLIPPED LECTURES AND OTHELLO 3
Materials
Students will need access to a computer, internet, and YouTube to watch these
lectures and engage with the links provided in them.
Teaching Strategy/Procedure/Activity
For homework, students will watch the of the following videos that I have made
using iMovie, YouTube, and Screencast-O-Matic. They will watch one video per day and
turn in the necessary assignments the next day in class.
Video 1: http://youtu.be/kzFq2U6H3eo
Video 2: http://youtu.be/acJxvF2IhvY
Video 3: http://youtu.be/j6pd7aaABBk
Assessment
Formal assessment. I will give students participation points the day after each
lecture is to be watched based on the requirements of the lecture, which are always
posted in the description of the days video. Students will receive 5 points for taking
notes and another 5 points for answering the other questions in each video. Extra credit
will also be available in one of the lectures, and one point will be given for each extra
example of a literary device that students turn in.
Informal assessment. In the next class period, I will be able to tell whether
students have gone through the lectures if they participate, discuss, and ask questions
about what they were to have watched the day before.
FLIPPED LECTURES AND OTHELLO 4
Homework/follow-up assignment
The homework is to bring in notes and questions for the next video, and also to
finish reading Othello.
Accommodations/adaptations
For students who do not have access to the internet or a computer at home, I will
have them watch the video either before school or after school, and I will have the
assignment that goes along with the video printed out for the students to reference. I
will also print out any powerpoint/Prezi/Keynote presentation that I may have used in
the video. If the times before or after school do not work for the student, I will have
them check out one of our classroom laptops for the night.
Attachments/Appendices
All of the slides I created are in separate PDFs that will be available below.
Resources
Ben Florman and Justin Kestler, LitCharts Editors (2014). LitChart on Othello.
Retrieved July 24, 2014 from http://www.litcharts.com/lit/othello
Giovanni Battista Giraldi. (n.d.). In Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Battista_Giraldi
Inman, M. (n.d.). The three most common uses of irony. Retrieved from http://
theoatmeal.com/comics/irony
Insults by Shakespeare - April Gudenrath. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/
vdCjKH5IKJ8
FLIPPED LECTURES AND OTHELLO 5
Marbillard, Amanda. (Aug. 20, 2000). What inspired Shakespeare?. Retrieved from
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/faq/shakespeareinspired.html
Metaphor. (n.d.). In New Oxford American Dictionary.
Mondovi Italy. [Google Maps Satellite Image]. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/
maps/place/12084+Mondovi,+Cuneo,+Italy/@41.6023351,9.0594155,5z/data=!
4m7!1m4!3m3!1s0x12d29fad9f993ab5:0xcd89ea4410f7feaa!2s12084+Mondovi,
+Cuneo,+Italy!3b1!3m1!1s0x12d29fad9f993ab5:0xcd89ea4410f7feaa
Nordquist, R. (n.d.). Personification. Retrieved from http://grammar.about.com/od/
pq/g/personifterm.htm
Nordquist, R. (n.d.). Rhetorical question. Retrieved from http://grammar.about.com/
od/rs/g/rhetquesterm.htm
Plutarch. (n.d.). In Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarch
Rhetorical. (n.d.). In New Oxford American Dictionary.
Seneca the younger. (n.d.). In Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_the_Younger
Shakespeare- The history of English (3/10) [Video file]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/
BMkuUADWW2A
Shakespeares life. (n.d.). In Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare%27s_life
Stratford-upon-Avon. (2014). [Satellite Google Image of Stratford-upon-Avon].
Retrieved from https://www.google.com/maps/place/Stratford-upon-Avon,
FLIPPED LECTURES AND OTHELLO 6
+Warwickshire+CV37,+UK/@54.2319574,-4.5372551,5z/data=!4m2!3m1!
1s0x4870c523f8188037:0xaf31886dcf419977
Whittemore, H. (2011). Othello title page [Image file]. Retrieved from https://
hankwhittemore.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/othello_title_page.jpg
Welgan, K. (2011). Othello rhetorical + literary devices. Retrieved from http://
quizlet.com/9369995/othello-rhetoricalliterary-devices-flash-cards/
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