The Allegory of the Cave assignment originated a few years ago by another history teacher at Seattle Prep. Through meeting with him and discussing the assignment a couple years ago, I decided it would be a perfect fit in the Greek unit. The Allegory story is a required part of our curriculum, but I added the effort rubric as part of this year’s assignment. The work from this assignment that I attached is evidence of student work and achieving the objectives, as well as the standards. The visual representations of the Allegory story show a variety of instructional strategies, as well as varied reasoning. The effort rubric allowed for student input in the assessment part of the standard. The paragraph work on the interpretation of the allegory shows my competency and reaching the standards of being content driven and aligned with historical and written standards.
Instructional Strategy-Referenced Reflection
Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition
Robert Marzano notes in Instructional Strategies that Work that “not all students realize the importance of believing in effort” (Marzano, 2001). At Seattle Prep, effort stands as the norm most of the time. Almost all students work extremely hard which provides for great opportunities as a teacher to lead class discussions and other activities. At the same time, this can be discouraging for some students as they feel like their effort doesn’t really get them anywhere. With this in mind, I targeted the Allegory of the Cave assignment in my freshmen class as an effort assignment and lesson.
The Allegory of the Cave can be daunting for many high school students, especially freshmen. Many of them can do part of the assignment in depicting the literal version of the story into a visual. Yet not many can interpret the allegory for its underlying meaning regarding Socrates and his view of the enlightened versus the unenlightened. While we set up the reading in class, I challenged the students to take time and really work toward understanding the story. I encouraged them to keep working even when things got difficult as they took on this assignment.
Before they turned in their work, I reminded them that I asked them to work on this assignment despite adversity they may have encountered. I then provided them with a rubric that featured two columns: one for effort and one for achievement. I asked the students to rate themselves on this assignment; to see if their effort correlated with the achievement on the objectives that I provided for them. They had a good understanding of the allegory after we worked on it in class more. Most students enjoyed rating themselves and some were even a little hard on themselves I would say.
If I had to change something with this instructional strategy, I would spend a little more time discussing effort and why it is important. I might have students brainstorm some ideas and talk about it as a class. It may have felt a little random to receive an effort rubric on this particular assignment.
I did not receive any input on this part of the lesson from my mentor teacher or university coordinator. I don’t know of many teachers at Prep who gave effort rubrics to students. I may be alone on this one!
Nonlinguistic Representations
The rigorous curriculum at Seattle Prep does not always allow for nonlinguistic representations in the classroom. In fact, there are teachers who flat out look down upon this type of learning unfortunately. I attempt to incorporate nonlinguistic representations at least once a unit, but should probably be doing it more often. In this case, students drew a visual representation of the Allegory of the Cave story as part of the assignment. As Marzano points out, “drawing pictures or pictographs to represent knowledge is a powerful way to generate nonlinguistic representations in the mind” (Marzano, 2001). While it allows students to demonstrate their understanding of the story in visual form, it also allows students to prepare themselves to interpret the story. In other words, it elaborates on the knowledge they already have concerning the story.
When reflecting on this assignment, I do think there is a way to have students elaborate even more. In addition to having them visually represent the story, I could have them draw a similar example from their own life. This would allow them to think more critically about the allegory rather than only literally in their nonlinguistic representation.
I did not have specific feedback from my university coordinator, but my mentor teacher encouraged this activity. Most of our freshmen teachers at Prep use this lesson to help explain the Allegory of the Cave so I had a good idea how to use it effectively.
Cooperative Learning
Many of my lessons involve cooperative learning. I will often give some information, provide a reading, worksheet or primary source document and have students work in pairs or groups. The Allegory of the Cave assignment wasn’t much different.
I anticipated students struggling with the meaning of the allegory so I created some questions that went along with the reading. Knowing that I intended to provide them with an effort rubric, I left them to struggle with the assignment a bit. The next day I gave them the questions and grouped them according to the seating chart in groups of four. This avoids homogeneous grouping which Marzano points out can be detrimental to the process (Marzano, 2001). I used a number of Marzano ideas in grouping students throughout the semester including birthdays, height, color of clothes, and alphabetically. This not only gets students out of their seats, but also provides some needed variety.
I don’t think there is anything I would change about the cooperative learning aspect to this lesson. I liked how they worked in groups and I believe it helped them understand the allegory.
My university coordinator really likes group work or pairs work and so she encourages me often to include it in my lessons. My mentor teacher also utilizes group work and it is pretty typical at Seattle Prep as a model.
Standard S Criterion-Referenced Reflection
Content Driven
The unit centers on the Greeks and their culture, thus this assignment concerning Socrates, Plato and the Allegory of the Cave definitely fits as content driven. The lesson specifically focused on reading, interpreting the allegory, and then writing in a student’s own words how to apply it. This lesson also allowed students to problem-solve as I encouraged them to focus on their effort and fighting through adversity on this particular assignment (so it would work with the effort rubric) in interpreting the allegory.
Aligned with Curriculum Standards and Outcomes
The students began the lesson with a vague understanding of the learning targets, but as we progressed they understood the objectives very well. I even had them write them on their effort and achievement rubric so they could assess themselves on reaching these targets.
Integrated Across Content Areas
Students used aesthetic reasoning in this assignment as they created a visual representation of the Allegory of the Cave. At the same time, students used scientific reasoning to interpret the information in the allegory and create an understanding of how it relates to the enlightened and the unenlightened. They needed to take the story apart and create their own hypothesis. I really think this assignment does a good job of integrating multiple modes of reasoning. Some students were more successful than others in both types. While my efforts were pretty good in this manner, I could be more specific in my expectations for the visual representation so that all students push themselves in the aesthetic realm.
Standard T Criterion-Referenced Reflection
Informed by Standards-Based Assessment
There were a number of assessments that matched up with the lesson in this case. Students had an opportunity to self-
assess using the effort and achievement rubric. They evaluated not only their visual representation, but also their achievement of the objectives for the lesson. At the same time, I had the chance to ensure they understood the material by collecting their group work on questions regarding the allegory. This ensured that they understood the contribution to history that Plato and Socrates made and thus matched the Washington State standard.
Intentionally Planned
By using an effort and achievement rubric, this lesson absolutely became personalized. Each student evaluated their own work as well as had the opportunity to visually create their own interpretation of the story. For those who don’t draw especially well, the assignment rubric focused on effort. At the same time, those who do like aesthetic learning more could evaluate themselves for the achievement of the lesson.
Influenced by Multiple Instructional Strategies
By using nonlinguistic representations, group work, paragraph writing, and class discussion, this lesson reflected multiple instructional strategies. Students from different ability levels could work together on questions as well as rate themselves on effort thus everyone could feel successful in some manner. By allowing for a portion of the assignment to be nonlinguistic, the lesson allows for all students to interpret the allegory in the way that fits their understanding best.
Informed by Technology
This lesson didn’t utilize technology, but in the past it has to a degree. By using an overhead or powerpoint screen and various objects, a teacher can visually represent the story for the students to enhance their understanding. I chose not to do this as I focused on their effort in attempting to interpret the allegory on their own or in groups.
Artifacts
Allegory of the Cave Student Work
Effort Rubric Student Examples
