Project:  Looking Beyond

Team Members:
RoseMarie Mastrocola, SUNY Orange (English)
Bridget Lang, James I. O’Neill High School (English)

"Looking Beyond" is a unit that focuses on looking beyond the plot of a story, and delving deeper into a story to analyze themes and the implications of a story's message for the individual and society. We asked students to look at characters and, using the story's events, decide what motivates these characters in their actions. Students could also look at less developed characters to analyze the story from those characters' points-of-view.  The two stories that we used as a focal point were "The Lady or the Tiger" by Frank Stockton and "Punishment Without Crime" by Ray Bradbury.  Students were to write an editorial that gives the background of the event and looks at the characters motivations through interviews with the character that they are concentrating on, as well as other characters from the story. Students had 3 days in-class and 4 days at home to complete this assignment.
 
Results:
 
36 out of 43 students completed the assignment (84%)
Out of the 36 students, 31 passed the assignment (86%)
6 received a 90% or better (17%)
18 received a grade in the 80's (50%)
7 students received grades in the 70% range (19%)
 
*These grades do not include late point deductions.