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LITR 4370
TRAGEDY
Final Exam Samples 2015 (final exam assignment)
Model Answers to Part 3. |
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Part 3. Complete Research Report:
Write at least
8-10 substantial paragraphs with four sources
to complete
your Research Report on selected
special topic.
Alejandra Ayala
May
8, 2015
An Effective Way To Teach Tragedy in High School
I think I have learned a lot about tragedy in this class and other
previous literature classes I have taken in community college. As a future high
school English teacher, I tend to think about ways I would like to teach my
future students while I am learning the material myself; I make mental notes of
different techniques my professors’ use that I would like to use in my future
classroom. One thing I noticed that was prominent in most of my previous classes
is showing or mentioning modernized books or movies of the readings we had in
class. This is a great method I will, more than likely, use in my future
classroom.
Tragedy can be extremely difficult to teach because students tend to be
closed-minded about the definition and the characteristics of tragedy. Most
students believe tragedy is always depressing and filled with death but tragedy
is much more than just that. Tragedy has various other elements to it other than
just death. Tragedies that I had to read when I was in high school, consisted
of, Hamlet, The Odyssey, and Romeo and Juliet. However, they were simpler
versions of the actual stories, mainly summaries that only gave the main points
of each story; with these versions we did not have to analyze as much as we
would have had to with the original stories and formats. Even then, fellow
students dreaded and were uninterested in these readings and they did not learn
much or appreciate the stories. Most students found these readings as a waste of
time or pointless.
I am very passionate about literature; I love to read and to analyze
books I normally would not choose myself. As a future educator, my goal is to
make literature—no matter what the genre or style—as fun and enjoyable as
possible. Knowing most students do not enjoy tragedies or stories such as the
ones I had to read in high school, I will approach teaching tragedy differently
from how I was taught. I will have students read the whole original text, like
the ones we have to read in class, such as, Agamemnon, as well as have them read
modernized versions of the original text for students to better understand and
relate to the story. I have not had any classes that compare modernized books to
original books or plays except for this class. However, in the online education
class that I am taking this semester we have had to search for different types
of book we would like to incorporate in our future classroom. Through this
project, I have found various modernized books of classic books that I think
students would enjoy. If I do use modernized versions of the original text to
make reading more enjoyable for my future students, I need to insure that the
students still learn to appreciate the original text. I will do this by making
my future students read the entire original text and then only use the
modernized version of the text as a tool for comprehending the text more
clearly, if it is needed, or only use modernized as examples or to compare and
contrast between the two texts.
Moreover, Mourning Becomes Electra is a great updated version of Agamemnon, it
was, in my opinion, an easy read and more enjoyable compared to Agamemnon. Anahi
Montemayor mentioned that “the best way to get my classroom [to grasp] Agamemnon
is to try to get them into [a] discussion of what types of movies Agamemnon
reminds them of”. We did not really discuss what movies reminded us of the plays
we had read in class and I think this would have been a great technique to
include in class every now and then; I think this would have gotten more
students to participate in class discussions. Although using updated versions of
original tragedies helps students comprehend the story, I think it is important
to show parts of, if not all of, the original tragedies as well. Having students
only read modernized version will, in my opinion, take away from classic
tragedies. I will make sure no to let this happen in my future classroom by
using the classic texts more than the modernized versions and by only using
modernized versions if the students are having a hard time grasping the
material. I will also teach my future students what elements make stories a
tragedy and then have them give me examples of recent movies or books that could
be considered tragic in order to help them understand tragedy. For example, if I
was planning a unit about Greek mythology like the various Gods and Goddesses as
well as classic Greek literature like The Iliad, The Odyssey, I could teach with
the original texts and then show the class examples of the modernized versions
like the Percy Jackson series. I could have the class look at various modernized
young adult movies and books and how they depict the Gods/Goddesses compare to
the original text.
As mentioned earlier, I have had previous professors that have discussed
modernized books and movies in order to give the class a better understanding
and to emphasize the book or play we were assigned. We have briefly discussed
modernized versions of tragedies and plays in this course as well; I remember
that The Lion King being a version of Macbeth was mentioned in class. A
professor I had last semester, in my Shakespeare class, tended to use examples
of modernized movies that portrayed the plays we read and discussed in class.
The professor would give us examples such as the films, 10 Things I Hate About
You being a modernized version of The Taming of The Shrew, West Side Story and
Gnomeo & Juliet as portrayals of Romeo & Juliet, as well as various movie
adaptations of Measure for Measure and Richard III. She would show the class
several clips of each play and then have class discussions of how the modernized
clips were different from the play or how they made us feel. Rebecca Bridjmohan
stated, “Students need to be able to draw meaningful connections to whatever
they learn and by teaching the modernization of tragedy they are able to see
classic tragic plays evolved into plays that are more relatable and realistic”.
I agree with Rebecca and I think that the professor was aiming for this idea
when she decided to incorporate modern clips of the plays we would read into the
lessons. Using clips in this class made us connect the plays to the clips by
having us compare the two and it also made the plays more relatable to our
everyday lives. This would be a great method to use in high school in order to
make the plays and tragedies more appealing for students. It helps keep the
focus on the reading but at the same time makes it fun for the students. In that
same class the professor also put us in groups and made us come up with our own
modernized version of one of the plays we had read. We were given a set of
questions we had to answer such as, what actors we would use to make the movie
and why we chose those particular actors. This helped us look at each character
in the play more closely because we had to find textual evidence and use it to
explain why we chose certain actors for the characters in the play. This
activity would also be great to use with high school students because it will
make them dig deeper and analyze the play/tragedy more than they would if they
just had a class discussion.
We also have video clips in this course and although they aren’t as
modernized as the ones I would watch in my Shakespeare class, they are still
helpful in analyzing the plays more closely and having more discussions in
class. As Katherine Vellella mentioned
in her essay, “there is value in introducing the students to more modern
concepts of tragedy to compare the differences with the older tragedies”. I do
think I have learned more about tragedies in this class by comparing video clips
to the plays we read. It makes the class think at a deeper level and would be
great to use for deeper thinking in high school classes. Using modernized books
of original text can also help high schools students learn about tragedies more
effectively. A great example of using modernized versions of original works
would be the plays we read in class such as Mourning Becomes Electra for
Agamemnon or Desire Under the Elms and Phaedra for the play Hippolytus. Using
these types of reading in class will let “students experience the evolution of
classical literature into more modern literature” (Bridjmohan). Students can get
a better idea of why and how classic literature immensely shapes and influences
the literature they read today.
Tragedy is a great but difficult genre to teach to students and when I
become a teacher I want to be able to teach a lot more about tragedy than I ever
learned at their age, I want them to be able to learn more aspects about tragedy
besides tragic heroes and their tragic flaws. Tragedy is filled with various
genres, not just one, and this makes readers go through a whirl of emotions as
they read. The rollercoaster of emotions a reader faces while reading a tragic
story or play make the characters more relatable and believable, it also makes
readers understand the actions the characters take. For instance when students
read the play Hippolytus, they can get a sense of hatred as they read about
Aphrodite’s plan, they can feel confusion and lust as they read about Phaedra
falling in love with Hippolytus and then feel the disgust that Hippolytus feels
when he finds out Phaedra is in love with him. The students can learn to connect
with each character and put themselves in each characters’ shoes as they read
the tragic story or play. The only way they can learn to do this is if they are
taught all the elements of tragedy and if they learn how to analyze a story
correctly and effectively.
I think it is important to teach
students that although tragedy may seem that it is filled with depressing events
or situations it is much more than just that, as stated by Kaitlin Jaschek,
tragic literature has various benefits, tragedy “concerns itself with essential
human problems. Tragedy raises questions about justice and morality for
individuals and the world”. Tragic literature will make student think about how
tragedy correlates and imitates every day or real life situations. We can see
this in Desire Under the Elms, this play, as mentioned before, is a modernized
version of Hippolytus and can be connected to real life situations. For example,
the forbidden love between Abbie and Eben can be seen in real life situations.
Although this play focuses on the incest between these two characters, one can
connect their affair with people who have cheated on their partners or have been
cheated on by their partners. One can also see the tragic death of Abbie and
Eben’s son as a real life situation, not to the same extents but we have heard
cases on the news about children dying or being killed. Learning that tragic
literature imitates the real world around us and that “we can all relate to the
characters” we read about will help students understand why tragedy is important
to read and learn (Jaschek).
Overall, teaching tragedy to high school students will be challenging not
because it is difficult to understand but because most students do not know they
full characteristics of tragic literature. As a future teacher I need to make
sure I teach my future students everything they need to know about tragedy.
Another issue that always tends to challenge teaching tragedy is that students
find it dull and cannot connect with the tragic stories they are assigned to
read. I will try to fix this issue by making tragic literature more fun, showing
examples of modernized books or movies, and helping students realize they can
truly relate to tragic stories. A student will only learn and remember the
material if the teacher finds different ways to make the subjects being taught
more relatable and interesting. I hope that I am able to achieve this when I
become a teacher and I hope I can inspire my future students to see how valuable
and crucial literature is, no matter what genre.
Works Cited
Bridjmohan, Rebecca. "LITR 4533 Tragedy UHCL 2014 Final Exam Samples."
Teaching Tragedy in Today’s
Ever-Changing World. 1 July 2014. Web. 8 May 2015.
Jaschek, Kaitlin. "Teaching Tragedy." LITR 4370 Tragedy UHCL 2015 Midterm
Samples. 1 Mar. 2015. Web. 8 May 2015.
Montemayor, Anahi. "LITR 4370 Tragedy UHCL 2015 Midterm Samples."
Teaching Tragedy in a High School
Classroom. 1 Mar. 2015. Web. 8 May 2015.
Vellella, Katherine. "Why Teach Tragedy?"
LITR 4533 Tragedy UHCL 2014 Final Exam
Samples. 1 July. 2014. Web. 8 May. 2015.
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