I’m a first-year high school sp.ed. teacher. I am currently team-teaching in a CWC language arts class for sophomores. So far, it’s working out pretty well. I provide extra support to all the students. I even have several of the students in a transitions class where they can work on language assignments as well. But the reg. ed. teacher asked for my input about teaching the next unit and I have no idea where to start. We will be reading Julius Caesar. Does anyone have any ideas for appropriate modifications or extra activities that would help my students “get it”? Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
Re: class-within-a-class advice
Have they read Shakespeare before? That would be my first question and will they be reading it as written or in plainspoken version? In any case, I’d get hold of a plainspoken version to help them understand what they are reading. Pretice House publishers (has a website I’m sure) offer a catalogue that has a plainspoken version of Julius Caesar but you might find one at a local bookstore too.
I’d start with discussion about human motivation and trust. Why do we do the things we do? Do some people want power for the purpose of good? Does power always corrupt us?
And who was this Caesar guy, anyway? I’d give a few handouts/lessons on the historic reality of Caesar.
Have fun.
this happens so rarely that you should definitely be on top of it! Talk with the teacher about the goals for the unit- what are the kids supposed to learn in terms of content and themes from the book and what activities/assignments/products does she have in mind for them to do. Are they going to be comparing it to other literature they have read this year? writing a paper? having a debate? acting it out? keeping a journal? Once you have this conversation, you can think about how your population fits those goals- it is entirely possible that they can handle the content but may need differentiation of the demonstration of the content- different scheduling on completing parts of a paper for instance…graphic organizers for note taking - or some of them may need the content simplified a bit.
Think about notetaking strategies and modeling how they can be used in class- model for them maybe on the board or the overhead while they are talking in class. Paper writing strategies also… organization etc. There is a ton of information available on this site about modification and presentation strategies- click on “For Teachers” up in the banner. The most important thing is that you and the classroom teacher keep talking though- and planning together. Have fun!
Robin