Authentic Assessment

Learning Objective: Identify the major themes in Hamlet.

Students' previous learning activity involved identifying themes in folk tales around the world and showing how those themes connect cultures and people.

Preparation and Scaffolding

The senior World Literature class has been learning how to identify major themes in world literature. They have practiced finding themes in short folk tales from all over the world, and now they will find the major themes in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In preparation for this assessment, the class has:

Teacher has walked them through the main characters and storyline(s) of Hamlet, and they have had the opportunity to review it multiple times.
Chosen a partner and an act of Hamlet (I-V) to study.
Viewed a stage version of Hamlet and taken notes on major themes they discovered.
- Teacher checked for understanding throughout the viewing of the play to ensure all students are following the events as they unfold.

Assessment

Because Hamlet is a play, students will perform a five-minute version of one act of Hamlet, meeting the following minimum criteria (and graded with a rubric):

Five-minute time limit
Highlight major events
Include important/memorable lines
Highlight major themes
Polished performance

Other considerations:

Modern language is expected, except when quoting famous lines (which should be verbatim).
Students will only perform in front of teacher and classmates to prevent the additional anxiety of an audience.
The teacher will provide hats and other accessories students can quickly put on to indicate which character is speaking, with student input on which accessories best represent characters, are easiest to wear, etc.
Students will highlight major themes by ringing a desk bell to stop the scene and breaking the fourth wall to announce what theme was just presented and how.

Example: Hamlet, Act V.ii. Horatio holds a dying Hamlet.

Student A: (in character) “Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.” (rings bell, says to audience) Grief, because Horatio just lost his best friend.

Acting ability will not be graded, as this is not a class on how to act. A “polished” performance means the students are not floundering on stage; they have clearly planned and practiced their performance (as ample class time was given to do so).

During their writing and revision process, as well as dress rehearsals, the teacher is able to give feedback, talking students through any plot holes they’ve created or any glaring omissions or mistakes in identifying themes.

Authenticity

Knowing none of these seniors would be going on to become English majors (like me), I asked myself what reading and writing skills would serve them best in the world beyond high school. The ability to find and connect to major themes in literature (or plays, movies, and other media) would help them develop a more meaningful relationship with books, as well as help them understand why certain themes have resonated with people around the world for hundreds of years.

Therefore, the ability to read Hamlet—the longest and most intimidating of William Shakespeare’s plays—and pull out key themes on their own would give students the confidence to read and understand themes in just about anything they read in the future. It’s likely they’ll read books or see plays and movies in the future, and this gives them practice in extracting meaning they can connect to.

Experiential Learning Assessment

Through this assessment, students are practicing pulling themes out of literature. As this is something good readers do for the rest of their lives, the assessment replicates an authentic experience.

Performing the play puts the students in the position of truly experiencing the play as Shakespeare intended: to be performed and watched, not just studied academically, staid on the page. They also get to experience the themes more directly as they become the characters for a few moments and play out their lives.

While planning for their performances, I also invited to our class Brian Hartz, the actor they had seen play Hamlet in the Indy Bard Fest stage production. The students were able to get more insight into how to think through a play and its characters, and several of them asked for tips on speaking in front of a group.

Actor Brian Hartz speaks to the World Literature class on his experiences playing Hamlet for Indy Bard Fest.

Learning Theories in Use

This lesson plan and assessment primarily utilizes aspects of constructivism and cognitivism.

Constructivism: Through previous activities in identifying major themes, including what themes are common and how to identify them, I've created a scaffolding that now allows the students to attempt to find themes on their own (or with the help of their partner/peers). If they get stuck, they can think about themes we found in the folk tales and use that as a starting point for finding relevant themes in Hamlet.

Cognitivism: Because literature is so subjective, anything a person reads will be experienced through the lens of prior experiences and the thoughts and emotions derived from them. In finding themes in literature, some themes will stand out or resonate with some students more than others. For example, one student experienced the death of a loved one through suicide, and he was especially thoughtful when considering Hamlet's "To be or not to be" speech, where Hamlet contemplates suicide. A pair of female students took a keen interest in the treatment of Ophelia and the role of women in Hamlet, and this reflected in their portrayal of her. Allowing students freedom of interpretation based on their interests, feelings, and experiences made watching and performing the play a richer experience for them.

Resources

Experiential Learning Through Assessments. (2018, June 21). Retrieved June 12, 2020, from https://www.capsim.com/blog/experiential-learning-through-assessments/

Authentic Assessment. (n.d.). Retrieved June 12, 2020, from https://citl.indiana.edu/teaching-resources/assessing-student-learning/authentic-assessment/

Teaching and Learning Services (2014). Guidelines for assessment of experiential learning . Montreal:Teaching and Learning Services, McGill University.

Wilbert, M. (2013, April 19). Authentic Assessment in Action. Retrieved June 12, 2020, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/sammamish-4-authentic-assessment-in-action-mark-wilbert