English/Language Arts lends itself really well to the flipped model, and teachers often do it pretty naturally within this subject. Students often do their reading and writing, the most focused activities in the discipline, as homework. One reason for this is that there isn’t enough time to always do these things in class, and another is that having students read and write at home leaves time in class for activities such as discussions, activities, and peer editing.
Learning objectives:
Students will compare and contrast Macbeth with its screen adaptation, Throne of Blood.
Students will compare the relative aspects of film vs written drama.
Flipped/Blended Elements:
Students watch Throne of Blood at home and take notes about the plot and differences between the version they just read and the film they are watching, as well as the visual techniques Kurosawa uses.
Active learning strategies:
Viewing the film, forming opinions, collaborating in groups, writing debate cases
Lesson Flow:
Students read Macbeth aloud in class the previous week. When finished, assign students to watch Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood at home over the weekend.
In class, students create Venn diagrams comparing and contrasting the film and reading generally. Decide, as groups, which telling of the story is more effective, and write a simple debate case that argues their side. Groups will then debate the effectiveness of the play vs the film adaptation.
Benefit to Students:
Using the flipped strategy, students have the opportunity to watch a film adaptation that they may not have time for if we tried to contain everything to the classroom. By removing this time constraint, students had time to work together and really dig into the material collaboratively in class.
Image Source: “Macbeth and Banquo Encountering the Witches” from Wikimedia Commons
