In today's blog, special education ELA and literacy teacher, Heidi Lynn Russell M.Ed., shares three tips for 'flipping the script' and engaging students of all learning styles.
The aroma of nutmeg and cinnamon – with a whisper of citrus – wafted through the classroom. My students sighed dreamily as they sipped the hot and creamy brew...
We had successfully recreated Lady Macbeth's posset which lulled King Duncan's guards to sleep, using a 400-year-old recipe from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. I make it with my students every year as we dive into the world of Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Rather than traditional readings of plays, I love 'flipping the script', so to speak, and adapting them to my students' kinesthetic and auditory learning styles instead. I teach special education at ages 14 to 18, to students with complex needs ranging from autism to dyslexia, to ADHD, to emotional behavior disorders. Their average reading ability is at the 5- to 8-year-old level. I find that enthusiasm surges for the complexity of Shakespeare's works and plays like The Crucible when I tailor lessons to their preferred ways of learning.
Here are three simple tips to help you transform literature into a living, breathing experience. Even better: they cost virtually nothing!
When the time comes for the climactic sword fights in Hamlet and Macbeth, my students are still in suspense on how the play is going to end. The big reveal unveils in real time as they duel. I use plastic swords from my son's childhood toy box (thank you, Disney!), and as one student vanquishes another, the class is shocked to discover Shakespeare's plot twist. They literally learn on their feet.
Before the battle scenes, they make their own shields while discussing the Macbeth crest and the meanings of the 'charges' (the adorning emblems). Students then create the crest of their ancestors' heritage, or design one that best represents their family. When it's time for battle, they are fully invested in the lineages of Macbeth and Macduff, and use their shields to help them act the part.
Instead of testing, I take this activity a step further by having students learn dances or songs from that time. For example, they can attempt a jig (as Mark Rylance performed in The Globe's 2003 Richard II). Students get a free pass from the exam when they recreate this scene in a TikTok video, or perform it for me in class.
As auditory learners are greeted with 'sounds of the era', they comfortably ease into reading, increasing prosody and fluency. Even faltering readers can deliver lines with panache against the backdrop of thunderclaps, Elizabethan lutes, and the 'hurly-burly' of the battlefield.
Nothing brings a story to life more than a cinematic atmosphere. So when my students enter the room, they are greeted by ASMR videos that match the day's lesson. For ghostly encounters, I select YouTube videos of thunderstorms or snowstorms descending on a gloomy castle. For The Crucible, a Puritan kitchen with a crackling fire and bubbling soup pot serves as our backdrop.
I also bring in performing musicians. Recently, I organized a visit from Violins of Hope, a project in which musicians play instruments used in Holocaust concentration camps. This aided students in grasping the real human cost as they pondered the traumatic short stories of Holocaust survivor Ida Fink and the poetry of Peter L. Fischl. After the concert, they were able to touch the survivors' violins, a tangible experience that further brought the literature to life.
It's easy to overlook taste and smell as sensory experiences when teaching, but they can be vital aids in lesson retention. For example, the 400-year-old posset recipe discussed earlier allows students to sample a brew to which Shakespeare was probably referring to in the Lady Macbeth scene. As we smell the spices, cook, and drink the posset, students discuss how easily it could put someone to sleep. (We substitute orange juice for the liquor in the recipe, but they still get the idea!)
Remember when John Proctor secretly seasons Elizabeth's rabbit stew in Act 2 of The Crucible? This touching scene reveals John's desire to mend their strained relationship, so I try to give my students an added glimpse into the Proctors' pre-colonial home with a stew 'taste test'. No, I'm not giving them rabbit... but I do like to bring in my crockpot and simmer an earthy, rustic beef stew to fill the room with that honey aroma.
Students recall the metaphor of a fractured marriage by tapping into their taste-smell senses. And when they see Richard Armitage on Digital Theatre+ portraying John Proctor, scrunching his nose over the stew as he adds more salt, they laugh a little harder.
So, flip that script! Add movement for kinesthetic kids. Envelop auditory learners in ambient sound. Layer in taste and smell wherever you can. All of this helps recast words on paper into enchantment.
Try it, and watch your engagement soar.
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Heidi Lynn Russell, M.Ed., has been a special education teacher for seven years at Tates Creek High School in Lexington, KY, USA. She teaches English Language Arts and literacy courses to students ages 14 to 18 who have disabilities ranging from autism, to dyslexia, to ADHD, to emotional behavior disorders. Before teaching, she was a journalist whose career included The Associated Press, four newspapers, and multiple magazine publications in the United States.