Twelfth+Night+and+M+or+F

= Pairing Project, Part One = Kathleen Gallagher, Jackie Vega

= Twelfth Night =
 * Basics: ** Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night. Ed. Keir Elam. New York City: Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare, 2014. Print.


 * Links ** : http://www.athanor.de/dateien/Shakespeare-TwelfthNight.pdf (PDF)

**Possible Connections**:

The strongest connection between the two books is the adolescent experimentation with different gender identities. We anticipate that much of our class discussions will revolve around the various ways that the main characters in both works deviate from gender stereotypes as well as conform to them as well as what significance such conforming (or non-conforming) has in the plots. The main characters from each text pretend to be another gender in order to gain something. In Twelfth Night, we see the consequences of Viola pretending to be a man. In M or F?, there will probably be consequences that are humorous, but I think that they will ultimately be more serious, as they have to do with adolescent love, sexuality, and gender identity. These issues, while definitely more accepted in mainstream media than, say, ten years ago, are still very sensitive and controversial topics. In the 1600’s, homosexuality was still considered illegal. The sociocultural conditions were rooted in religion and tradition. Shakespeare seemed to be attempting to subtly speak out about unjust circumstances in the way he best knew how: through the theater. Exploring the effects of gender switching and mistaken identities, while entirely present in “Twelfth Night”, was perhaps made more socially acceptable because it was presented by the way of a comedy. Perhaps the only way that issues such as gender identity could be expressed was when people could laugh about it. In M or F?, a contemporary text, we anticipate to see the ways in which our society has progressed as far as those issues go. The sociocultural conditions have obviously changed dramatically since Shakespeare’s time; it’s much more acceptable to talk about homosexuality and gender identity in a serious context today than it was in Shakespeare’s time. Also, the text will most likely explore the different (and similar) challenges presented by modern society regarding those issues.

We also understand that Shakespeare’s plays can be incredibly hard for adolescents to understand. Despite the fact that Shakespeare’s work is written in English, the way that English has morphed since the 17th century may cause adolescent readers to feel as if they are reading an entirely different language. Since M or F? is a modern text from the 21st century, it is entirely more comprehensible for the modern reader. As a result of this, we hope that the themes, characters, and structures of the young adult text will be more comprehensible for adolescent readers. There is much overlap thematically between Twelfth Night and M or F?. By pinpointing the main themes of mistaken identity, homosexuality, and gender play in M or F? for adolescent readers, we ensure that they will have a much easier time grasping those themes in Twelfth Night. The former will inform the latter and provide ample comparisons for the various instances in which the two texts coincide.

Another potential connection between the two texts is ambiguity. Twelfth Night addresses many questions but does not necessarily answer them. He allows them to hang in the air so that the audience (or readers) may do what they will with it. Indeed, the second given title of the play was “What you Will”. Modern texts, especially Young Adult novels, end on an ambiguous note or deal with subjects that don’t have clear answers. We think that a great point of access for adolescents will be seeing the vague nature of a Young Adult text contrasted with a seemingly impenetrable work of classic literature.

= Research Focus: Pairing Classics with Young Adult Work = = **Process** = Both group members will read the Young Adult text, //M or F?//, critically, keeping in mind the possible connections we thought we would find, and the actual connections that exist. Both partners will finish the book along the same timeline, so that when we meet to discuss the connections, the book will be fresh in our minds. We each will annotate our text or otherwise keep note of various characters, plot points etc. which connect to //Twelfth Night//, while thinking of specific ways these connections could be brought up in classroom discussions or activities. Our group meetings will focus first on those connections, and then will shift the focus to the research questions about online instruction. Research and writing will be divided up relatively evenly between group members (this will depend on schedule availability and school work/ workload in general, but both group members will be in agreement of how the research and writing will be assigned). Part two of the Pairing Project will be completed by the due date.
 * Appleman, Deborah, et al. **Teaching Literature to Adolescents. Second ed. New York City: Routledge, 2011. 61-95. Print.**
 * The two chapters we are utilizing from this text are “Teaching the Classics: Do I Have to Teach the Canon, and If So, How Do I Do It?” and “Teaching Contemporary Adult Literature: How Do I Teach What My Students Are Reading?” While this text does not directly talk about strategies for pairing a classic text with a young adult novel, it goes fairly in-depth on strategies for choosing and teaching each text, addresses potential problems and solutions, and discusses the value of both kinds of books. These two chapters can easily be applied to each other in the context of pairing two books.
 * **Gallagher, Janice Mori. "Pairing Adolescent Fiction With Books From The Canon." Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 39.1 (1995): 8. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Sept. 2014.**
 * This article explains the benefits that students and teachers may gain when classic texts are paired with contemporary, young adult novels. One of the most important benefits is that students may be more likely to make connections “between adolescent literature and its adult counterpart” and in life in general. The author states that forming connections between a contemporary text that is easier to comprehend and a more difficult classic text strengthens students abilities as readers and critical thinkers. The article then lists several examples of young adult/classic pairings, categorizing them by the themes they share. These themes are: “The power of love,” “Lonliness/isolation,” “Acceptance,” “Self-Discovery,” “Struggle of siblings for parents’ love,” “Forgiveness,” and “Challenging the code we live by.”
 * **Monseau, Virginia R., and Gary M. Salvner. Reading their World: The Young Adult Novel in the Classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Publishers, 2000.**
 * The chapter we will most heavily draw from in this book is entitled “The Young Adult Novel as Transitional Literature.” The chapter talks about the difficulties many adolescents face when they are tasked with reading a classic text, and goes on to suggest that in order for students to feel more comfortable with more complex literature, they must first be introduced to themes, characters, styles of writing, etc. in a format which is directly accessible to them (IE Young Adult fiction). The chapter will be useful because it describes in detail which specific aspects of YA fiction are most useful when the goal is to transition to a more difficult text.

= Pairing Project, Part Two =

Kathleen Gallagher, Jackie Vega = M or F? =

**Basics:** Papademetriou, Lisa, and Chris Tebbetts. M or f? New York City: The Penguin Group, 2005. N. pag. Print. **Points of Connection:** The themes that the adolescent novel, //m or f?// and Shakespeare’s classic play //Twelfth Night// share are those of gender, homosexuality, and mistaken identity. Because of this, we will be approaching both of these texts through a socio-cultural perspective. In //m or f?// the focus is on the ambiguity of online chat rooms and how such ambiguity can meanwhile cloud the identity (including the gender identity) of the speaker. This is an interesting aspect of the young adolescent novel because the interchanging identities of the speakers are two “brain twins” as the text puts it. Marcus is a homosexual male, and Frannie is his best friend, a heterosexual female. Jeffrey Osborne is the name of the guy who Frannie and Marcus both like. Sometimes with and other times without Frannie’s permission, Marcus chats online with Jeffrey pretending to be her. This allows recently-out Marcus to feel more comfortable than he does with anyone else, though he knows that pretending to be Frannie may eventually cause problems for all parties involved. Marcus justifies his chatting with Jeffrey because their conversations are always easy and exciting. Even though Jeffrey thinks that Marcus is Frannie during their online conversations, he reacts to Marcus-as-Frannie with flirty comments and they seem to get along very well, sometimes //better// than he does with Frannie-as-Frannie. This ambiguity of identity, and thus gender, prompts the question of what actually constitutes men and women and if the construction is truly as rigid as society would like to frame it to be.
 * Li ** **nk:** [|Kindle download]

Similarly, in //Twelfth Night,// Viola disguises herself as a eunuch and renames herself Cesario. She does so with different clothing and a change of name. Since online chat rooms weren’t around during Shakespeare’s time, this was the way that the mistaken identity was presented. In this play, the main character Viola is sent by Duke Orsino to ask Olivia, the woman with whom Orsino is in love with, why she will not return his love. In doing so, Olivia ends up in falling in love with Viola-as-Cesario. Just as Marcus in //m or f?// talks to Jeffrey under the guise of being Frannie in an attempt to further Frannie and Jeffrey’s relationship, Viola in //Twelfth Night// talks to Olivia under the guise of being a man in an attempt to further Orsino and Olivia’s relationship. In this way, Frannie is like Orsino and Marcus is like Viola-as-Cesario. The characters in both texts display the interchangeability of gender. Because of this, attention to heterosexuality contrasting with homosexuality becomes less important.

A crucial element that we found in //m or f?// that we thought would help inform students’ understandings of the classic text is the use of technology. While chat room use has evolved into chatting on social media sites such as Facebook the idea of the ambiguous nature of creating and maintaining an online persona is one that we feel our students will likely already be familiar with. Using this as an access point into their understanding of the less-approachable classic text, //Twelfth Night// we hope that we can harbor this insight of online screen names and their connection to an ambiguous identity, with the gender play that Shakespeare makes use of.

= Research: Online Instruction =


 * **Mayes, Robert, et al. "Themes and Strategies for Transformative Online Instruction: A Review of Literature and Practice." Quarterly Review of Distance Education 12.3 (2011): 151. **
 * This article summarizes and analyzes research and studies done in the effectiveness of online instruction. The article breaks down the common themes found in the literature. The theme that will be most relevant to this project is entitled “pedagogy.” This section states that most success in online instruction comes when the instructor becomes a “content facilitator,” and that creating a problem-solving environment will have a positive effect for both the teachers and the students. Other suggestions for online instruction include: reducing lecture time and increasing self-efficacy in students, promoting problem-based learning, using collaborative and meta-cognitive learning techniques, and not making assumptions about students’ prerequisite knowledge.
 * **Milman, Natalie B. "Differentiating Instruction in Online Environments." Distance Learning 6.3 (2009): 87. **
 * This article discusses the value of differentiating instruction in the context of an online environment, explaining that it is the planning, designing, implementation, and evaluation of varied approaches to learning so that students of varying abilities can learn as much and as efficiently as possible. This relates to online instruction because it explains the benefits of utilizing: differentiating content (different forms of the same material, e.g., both a PDF and a podcast) which caters to the needs of different types of learners, differentiating process (engaging in differing online activities), and differentiating product (different choices for how to demonstrate what students have learned).
 * **Jackson, Kanata, and DeShea Simon. "Traditional Versus Online Instruction: Faculty Resources Impact Strategies for Course Delivery." Business education & accreditation 5.1 (2013): 107-16. **
 * In this article, the effectiveness of “blended learning,” which is comprised of a combination of traditional (or, face-to-face) learning and online instruction, is discussed. The materials in blended learning are used as a supplement to the lessons, which is most likely the type of online instruction that would be encountered in a typical secondary classroom. The article also talks about the benefits of having both a physical and electronic element to the classroom, because it caters to student comfort, but warns that the faceless element may be overpowering if student-centered teaching, time management, and an established learning community are not also implemented.

= Process = We will stagger the assignment so that we are not working on more than one part at a time, but we will keep in mind that the project should be cohesive and logically connected. We will first work on meaningfully developing our discussion questions in relation to the texts, and have those questions completed by November 3rd at the latest. The class activities and multi-media element will most likely be informed by these discussion questions. We anticipate that the class activities will be completed by November 10th, and the multi-media aspect (to be decided) will be completed no later than November 17th. That leaves us a week to compile helpful research and to tweak or otherwise modify our mini-unit.

=**Pairing Project, Part Three: Exploring Gender Expression, Identity, and Performance in //M or F?// and //Twelfth Night//**=


 * Kathleen Gallagher, Jackie Vega

=Discussion Questions=

1. //M or F? // presents Marcus and Frannie as "brain twins." Using textual evidence, how are these two characters alike? Do you have a "brain twin" in your life? How is your experience similar and different from Marcus and Frannie?

2. How are Marcus and Frannie similar to the biological twins Sebastian and Viola in //Twelfth Night//? How do the two pairs differ? What connections can you point to in the texts to support your thoughts on this? 3. Disguise and performance are central themes in Shakespeare's //Twelfth Night//. How do the characters in the play utilize disguise and performance? How do the characters in //M or F?// Why is this significant? 4. What other themes do you see in either text? If you were to make a Venn Diagram discussing the themes of each text, how big would the space between the two circles be? 5. It's been over 400 years since //Twelfth Night// was performed in London for the first time. It might have not been his intention, but Shakespeare was raising some difficult questions about the constrictions of gender binaries and hetero-normative ideals when such topics which can still be considered "taboo" in our society. In what ways does a more modern adaptation such as //M or F?,// which deals with similar issues, show what change has been made over time? In what ways are the two texts "dated" and in what ways are they "timeless"? How? 6. In //M or F?,// Papademetriou and Tebbetts use the online chat room as a space to allow for anonymity in conversations between Marcus, Frannie, and Jeffrey. Do you feel that this was an effective way to modernize Shakespeare's use of disguises in //Twelfth Night//? Does it have the same effect? If you were to write your own version of a modern //Twelfth Night//, could you think of a more effective way to create anonymity//without// costume? Did //M or F?//'s use of an online chatroom work for you as a reader? Why or why not?  7. How do you see gender expressed around you every day? Did either text highlight any stereotypes that you might notice? Did either text subvert any stereotypes? How? Be specific.  8. In both texts, there is a love triangle. Which of the two texts presented that scenario most realistically? How, and why? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">9. Which text do you think is more controversial today? Where do you think this controversy comes from? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">10. Think of a time when you felt like you had to act a certain way in order to be accepted (by friends? family? a boyfriend or girlfriend?). Did your gender expression play a part in that? If so, how? If not, do you feel you can use this experience to empathize with those who do struggle with acceptance because of gender? =Class Activities=

1. Have students watch a two-minute segment of this clip from a film adaptation of //Twelfth Night//. (2:40-5:00 works best) [|Twelfth Night clip] This shows how Viola (as Cesario) //performs// the male gender, while she is, indeed, a female. After watching the clip, students will have five minutes to write about the ways in which Viola performed gender and how this helped (or complicated) their own understanding of gender performativity.

2. After students have completed “Activity #1,” in pairs they will each choose a character from the two texts; one student will portray a character from //M or F?// and the other will choose one from //Twelfth Night//. They will have 10 minutes to prepare a quick 1-2 minute sketch in which the two characters from the two different texts interact. The hope is that this will allow students to see the connections between characters from the classic text that are similar to those in the adolescent text. In any event, this activity should prompt an interesting class discussion about the interchangeability of characters and consequently, what this says about gender, homoeroticism, and naming (characters’ names) both in these pieces of literature and in the broader context of society.

3. Lastly, students will watch a (full) clip from the modern film adaptation of //Twelfth Night// called //She’s the Man.// [|She's the Man clip] The clip seems to pick right up where the first clip from “Activity #1” left off. In it, Olivia starts to say how Sebastian (who this director decided to use as a less complicated stand-in for //Viola-as-Cesario//) claims to not be Olivia’s type. This is what Olivia and Viola are discussing in “Shakespearean” terms in the clip from the first activity. In this scene, depicted in a weight room, there are certain ways that the female characters (such as Olivia) are depicted in contrast with the male characters (such as Duke). Viola presents an interesting compilation of both genders. After watching the (2:30) clip, students will compare and contrast this modern-day film adaptation with the first film adaptation they had watched. This will be a 10-15 minute large group discussion with lead questions focused on how //She’s the Man// aided (or complicated) student’s understanding of gender performance and sexual fluidity. This discussion could head in a multiplicity of different directions but discussion about homophobia or (the societal boundaries associated with) sexual orientation in general could be one.

4. Students will work individually and will be asked to summarize Marcus and Frannie’s story from //M or F?// into a “Shakespearean” context. What social position would these characters have? How would the conflict be presented and resolved? After 5-10 minutes, students can share their stories with the class one by one. This will hopefully be a fun exercise that enriches the students’ understanding of sexuality and gender performance and how drastically it changes from a modern-day to historical perspective. This activity is intended to be a kind of reversal of what //She's the Man// accomplishes, and will contribute further to discussion as to what is gained and what is lost when the time frame of a story changes.

=**Original Multimedia**=


 * "Alternative Literature Review" Podcast
 * media type="file" key="ENG 311 podcast.mp3" width="264" height="22" align="left"

=Additional Resources=


 * 1) [|Twelfth Night lesson plan materials] Useful worksheets, vocabulary lists, and //She's the Man// comparison activities.
 * 2) [|Additional Twelfth Night lesson ideas] Interesting activities for students, including many drama-based ones.
 * 3) [|//She's the Man// "What does your heart tell you?" scene] Another scene where Viola has to "perform" her gender. Can be used to look for parallel scenes in //Twelfth Night.//
 * 4) [|Stephen Fry Twelfth Night interview] Further discusses the different effects of setting the plays in different times, he discusses how people have dedicated time and effort into making Shakespearean productions as authentic as possible.
 * 5) [|She's the Man vs. Twelfth Night] A "compare and contrast" article that students can review and good material for discussion starters. If anyone has seen the movie, what differences were left out from this article? For those who haven't watched it, the questions could be along the lines of "why do you think they chose this particular setting, in a college and about soccer players? What setting would you have placed the play in modern times?"
 * 6) [|She's the Man vs. Twelfth Night - scholarly]This article would be beneficial to a teacher. It examines and criticizes the modern adaptation of the Shakespeare play. Great fuel for leading class discussions.
 * 7) [|It's pronounced "Metrosexual" TED talk]Man talks about how people's perceptions of his sexuality come from how he expresses his gender.
 * 8) [|Teaching and Learning about Gay History and Issues] Useful links to deepen class discussion and student understanding of larger societal issues.
 * 9) [|Feminist queer theory and Shakespeare article] An overview of feminist queer theory in relation to Shakespeare's works. Would be helpful to read excerpts of this as a class.
 * 10) [|LGBT YA Novel recommendations]More recommended reading for those in the class who enjoyed //M or F?// and want to read similar books.