Brute Force - Author(s):F. Scott McDonald, Sean R. Burton - Grade Level:9 - 10 - Subject Area: English - This unit is designed to be implementes in a ninth or tenth grade ELA class. Under ideal settings, the activities should be completed in block periods of 70 to 80 minutes. The activities work much better in a fully integrated approach where students would be learning the content in a World History class as well.

Planning Guide

Creating Learner-Focused
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* Madison-Oneida BOCES- This document may not be reproduced in any form without the expressed written consent of the District Superintendent or his designee.

LU Title:Brute Force	Author(s):F. Scott McDonald, Sean R. Burton
Grade Level:9 - 10	School Address:1335 Washington Street Watertown, NY 13601
Subject Area:English	School Phone/Fax:(315) 785-3810/(315) 785-3733

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

Declarative	Procedural
Character development:	Identify steps in a process of decision making
steps and occurances necessary which leads Brutus from Caesar's friend to leading the conspiracy
Specific events (act, scene, line number) that leads to Brutus' conversion.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

What would it take to make you kill your friend?
Why would you be willing to participate in something that you know is wrong?

INITIATING ACTIVITY

Students will have the opportunity to experience life and moral dilemma in Imperial Rome. The classroom will be transformed into a 60 BCE Roman Villa using structural props, clothing and music. Students will be divided into groups of three and each group will assume the persona of a Roman attending a dinner party. Student personas will include slaves, patricians, plebians, praetors and senators, and a sooth sayer. Students will be provided with a set of general parameters and vocabulary for their character. Beyond these general guidelines students will be responsible for researching the historical precedence for their character as well as understanding their relationship to other roles. Students will then connect to http://www.emory.edu/CARLOS/ODYSSEY/ and http//www.ancientsites.com/ to gather character related data for the simulation.

The simulation will involve the solving the murder of a prominent Roman citizen. Each group will attempt to discover the identity of the murderer by selecting a clue-containing envelope from the teacher. The information inside will be used to solve the mystery. If the available clues are not sufficient, students may request another clue from the teacher, but only after answering a Rome-related question gleened from the two websites. Appropriate responses will be rewarded with another clue. Incorrect responses will be referred to the appropriate website to discover the correct answer. Each character must act within the established confines of his/her persona and decide which other personas will provide them with viable clues to the identity of the murderer. Students will continue to collect and assemble clues while avoiding red herrings. When a given group is confident enough to accuse a persona they will query the teacher. If the group's accusation is wrong, their group wi ll become victims of the murderer and surrender clues. The new clues will then be divided evenly among the remaining personas.

The activity will close when one of the persona groups has assembled enough clues to identify the murderer correctly. At this time the winning persona group will present their finding to the class as a whole, explaining the process of their logic. Any remaining time will be spent engaged in a "what I have learned" activity.

Connection to State Learning Standards

Content Area: English

Level: 9 - 10

Benchmarks: 1. Interpret and analyze complex informational texts and presentations, including technical manuals, professional journals, newspaper and broadcast editorials, electronic networks, political speeches and debates, and primary source material in their subject area. 2. Synthesize information from diverse sources and identify complexities and discrepancies in the information. 3. Use a combination of techniques to extract salient information from texts. 4. Make distinctions about the relative value and significance of specific data, facts, and ideas. 5. Make perceptive and well developed connections to prior knowledge. 6. Evaluate writing strategies and presentational features that affect interpretation of the information. 7. Write and present research reports, feature articles, and thesis papers on a variety of topics related to all school subjects. 8. Present a controlling idea that conveys an individual perspective and insight into the topic. 9. Use a wide range of organizational patterns such as chronological, logical (both deductive and inductive), cause and effect, and comparison/contrast. 10. Support interpretations and decisions about relative significance of information with explicit statement, evidence, and appropriate argument. 11. Revise and improve early drafts by restructuring, correcting errors, and revising for clarity and effect. 12. Use standard English skillfully, applying established rules and conventions for presenting information and making use of a wide range of gramma tical constructions and vocabulary to achieve an individual style that communicates effectively.

Benchmarks: 1. Read and view independently and fluently across many genres of literature from many cultures and historical periods. 2. Identify the distinguishing features of different literary genres, periods and traditions and use those features to interpret the work. 3. Recognize and understand the significance of a wide range of literary elements and techniques, (including figurative language, imagery, allegory, irony, blank verse, symbolism, stream-of-consciousness) and use those elements to interpret the work. 4. Understand how multiple levels of meaning are conveyed in a text. 5. Read aloud expressively to convey a clear interpretation of the work. 6. Evaluate literary merit based on an understanding of the genre, the literary elements, and the literary period and tradition. 7. Present responses to and interpretations of works of recognized literary merit with references to the principal features of the genre, the period, and literary tradition, and drawing on their personal experiences and knowledge. 8. Produce literary interpretations that explicate the multiple layers of meaning. 9. Write original pieces in a variety of literary forms, correctly using the conventions of the genre and using structure and vocabulary to achieve an effect. 10. Use standard English skillfully and with an individual style.

Standard: 1 - Language for Information and Understanding. As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.

Standard: 2 - Language for Literary Response and Expression. Students will read and listen to oral, written, and electronically produced texts and performances, relate texts and performances to their own lives, and develop an understanding of the diverse social, historical, and cultural dimensions the texts and performances represent. As speakers and writers, students will use oral and written language for self-expression and artistic creation.

Unit Theme:Brute Force (Drama)

Standard: 3 - Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation. As listeners and readers, students will analyze experiences, ideas, information, and issues presented by others using a variety of established criteria. As speakers and writers, they will present, in oral and written language and from a variety of perspectives, their opinions and judgements on experiences, ideas, information, and issues.

Standard: 4 - Language for Social Interaction. Students will use oral and written language for effective social communication with a wide variety of people. As readers and listeners, they will use the social communications of others to enrich their understanding of people and their views.

Benchmarks: 1. Analyze, interpret, and evaluate ideas, information, organization, and language of a wide range of general and technical texts and presentation across subject areas, including technical manuals, professional journals, political speeches, and literary criticism. 2. Evaluate the quality of the texts and presentations from a variety of critical perspectives within the field of study. 3. Make precise determinations about the perspective of a particular writer or speaker by recognizing the relative weight they place on particular arguments and criteria. 4. Evaluate and compare their own and others' work with regard to different criteria and recognize the change in evaluations when different criteria are considered to be more important. 5. Present orally and in writing well-developed analysi s of issues, ideas, and texts, explaining the rationale for their positions and analyzing their positions from a variety of perspectives in such forms as formal speeches, debates, thesis papers, literary critiques, and issues analysis. 6. Make effective use of details, evidence, and arguments and of presentational strategies to influence an audience to adopt their position. 7. Monitor and adjust their own oral and written presentations to have the greatest influence on a particular audience. 8. Use a standard English, a broad and precise vocabulary, and the conventions of formal oratory and debate.

Benchmarks: 1. Engage in conversations and discussions on academic, technical, and community subjects, anticipating listeners' needs and skillfully addressing them. 2. Express their thoughts and views clearly with attention to the perspectives and voiced concerns of the others in the conversation. 3. Use appropriately the language conventions for a wide variety of social situations, such as informal conversations, first meetings with peer or adults, and more formal situations such as job interviews or customer service. 4. Use a variety of print and electronic forms for social communication with peers and adults. 5. Make effective use of language and style to connect the message with the audience and context. 6. Study the social conventions and language conventions of writers from other groups and cultures and use those conventions to communicate with members of those groups.

Learning Experiences

Declarative Knowledge

What declarative knowledge should studentsbe in the process of acquiring & integrating? As a result of the unit, the student will know or understand…

What experiences or activities will be used to help students acquire & integrate this knowledge?

What strategies will be used to help students construct meaning, organize and/or store the knowledge?

Describe what will be done.

Character development:

Steps and occurances necessary which leads Brutus from Caesar's friend to leading the conspiracy.

Specific events (act, scene, line number) that leads to Brutus' conversion.

Text Reading:

Acts I and II of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

Film:

View Acts I and II of Julius Caesar

Professional Audio Cassette recording:

Listen to the readings of Acts I and II

Constructing Meaning:

Before, During, After activity

Organizing:

Physical representation (story board, mental map, graphic organizer, flip book)

Storing:

Mnemonic devise

Process:

A pre-reading essential question "What would it take to make you kill your friend?" will be assigned as an in-class journal writing where the students will respond silently.

Class will read aloud, listen to, and view Acts I and II of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Students will complete a Before, During, After activity identifying their prior knowledge of the subject, answer specific questions related to Brutus' character, and use the information they have learned.

Students will each create a storyboard, comic strip, flip book, mental map, or other graphic organizer using Microsoft Publisher to illustrate the six essential steps Brutus experiences to become a conspirator.

To help the students store each individual step Brutus experiences, each event will be listed on a bulletin board using the mnemonic devise of the steps.

BRUTUS RESISTS UNCERTAIN TEMPTED UNIFIES SUPERVISES

Learning Experiences

Procedural Knowledge

What procedural knowledge will students be in the process of acquiring & integrating? As a result of this unit, students will be able to:	What will be done to help students construct models, shape & internalize the knowledge?	Describe what will be done.
Identify steps in a process of decision making	Students will fill in a graphic organizer "web".	As Brutus makes decisions that are part of the process he uses to join the conspiracy, students will note these events on a graphic organizer. The organizer if five connected circles that have a starting and ending point. Students will be required to note specific quotes in the circles that show how Brutus is changing.

Learning Experiences

Extending and Refining

What knowledge will students be extending and refining? Specifically, they will be extending and refining their understanding of…

What reasoning process will they be using?

Describe what will be done.

Conspiracy, motives, loyalty

Text connection, importance of the literature as a whole

Comparing

Classifying

Inductive Reasoning

Deductive Reasoning
Error Analysis

Analyzing Perspectives

Constructing Support

Abstracting

Other: analysis of written text

Through specific analysis of Cassius, Brutus, and the other characters, students will determine what motivates each character. Students will be required to note quotations to support their opinions of each character's motive. For example: Cassius is motivated by greed. In Act I, Cassius states "upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed,/that he is grown so great? Age, thou art sham'd/Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!" (I, ii, 155-57) "This supports the theory that he is not wishing to overthrow Caesar for the betterment of Rome but for his own personal betterment. Once completed, students will create a letter using Microsoft Works 4.5 form one conspirator to a person not believing in the conspiracy. Using specific textual references, students will assume a character's persona and attempt to convince someone to join his side.

Students will connect to the internet and complete a passage analysis quiz. This quiz gives immediate feedback as the student interprets the quotations. http://www.entrenet.com/% groedmed/jc.html

Planning Guide

Unit:

Step 1	Step 2	Step 3
*What knowledge* will students be using meaningfully? Specifically, they will be demonstrating their understanding of and ability to...........**	What reasoning process will they be using?	Describe student's products and performances and the criteria for evaluation.
	[ ] Decision Making (selecting from seemingly equal alternatives or examining the decisions of others) [ ] Problem Solving (seeking to achieve a goal by overcomming constraints or lmiting conditions) [ ] Invention (creating something to meet a need or improve on a situation) [ ] Experimental Inquiry (generating an explanation for a phenomenon and testing the explanation) [ ] Investigation (resolving confusions or contradictions related to a historical event, a hypothetical past or future event, or to the defining characteristics of something) [ ] Systems Analysis (analyzing the parts of a system and how they interact) [ ] Other:	Products/Performances
		Criteria for evaluation

Rubric:

Key Questions:

What are the key elements, traits, or dimensions that will be evaluated?

Are the identified elements of equal importance or will they be weighed differently?

	Element #1	Element #2	Element #3	Element #4
Elements Scale	Props	Script	Costumes	Accuracy
Weights	25%	25%	25%	25%
4	Props faithfully and creatively reproduce intended objects, students demonstrate skillful use.	Creatively transforms script while maintaining intended effect of the scene. Specifically details and develops stage directions.	Detailed and intricate costume created specifically for task and character. Creative use of costuming to enhance character.	Costuming, language, and props show a definite, proper, and detailed historical basis.
3	Props demonstrate effort and sufficient realism, their use is well coordinated with the action of the scene.	Transcribes script, ellaborating on dialogue. Stage direction describes emotion and ellaborates on action.	Appropriate costume that demonstrates a variety of materials and indicates characters through their use.	Costuming, language, and props show a definite and proper historical basis.
2	Props poorly constructed but resemble intended objects, evidence of planning and practice in the use of the props.	Transcribes script without errors. Includes stage directions.	Simplistic costumes lack thought and research.	Costumes language and props show some historical consideration.
1	Uses representative object not appropriate to task, little evidence of practice and forethought with prop.	Transcribes script with multiple errors. Barely resembles the text. Lacks appropriate stage direction.	No costumes (or inappropriate/ undeveloped costumes) used.	Costuming, language and props provide no evidence of historical research.

NOTE: Rubric or other performance asessment instruments may be used.

Have You Considered These Yet?

Learn to Learn Skills:Students will learn teamwork, effort, and have experience with aesthetic expression.

Assessment Modifications:Aside from normal modification, these activities are created with the idea that all students will be able to function within the classroom setting and be successful.

Unit Schedule/Time Plan:Entire unit should take approximately eight weeks. One week may be spent on the initiating activity and surround material. Six weeks should be spent on the reading of the play. One week should be spent on the culminating vignette.

Written Overview:This unit is designed to be implementes in a ninth or tenth grade ELA class. Under ideal settings, the activities should be completed in block periods of 70 to 80 minutes. The activities work much better in a fully integrated approach where students would be learning the content in a World History class as well.