Today was a win-win-win day for Shakespeare’s Othello, Eno board technology, and wiggly students.

Due to the grey sky outside, I decided our class needed some colorful images and technology as a point of focus. A Google image search before class uncovered a great image of Othello menacing Desdemona during Act V. I have kept it no secret that a Shakespearian tragedy ends with many deaths and that the innocent Desdemona is among the victims.

Before class, I projected the image, which ha d a great deal of white space around it, then used the Eno board’s writing feature to write some questions. Since good readers make predictions as they read, I wrote questions asking how each character’s story will end in the play? Who must die and who may live – and why? The final question asked the students to decide whom they feel is most responsible for the tragedy of so many deaths.

Eno allowed me to save the board – with image and my written notes – onto the computer desk top. At the start of class fifteen minutes later, I retrieved the notes and projected them as the class warm-up. I asked them to write quietly their own answers to the questions then turn and talk with a neighbor.

During my earlier tinkering, I had gone looking for an on-line version of the board game Othello so we could play it in class. My content goal here was to have the students make connections between the strategy of the game and the action in the play. My instructional strategy goal was to keep the spirits high on a grey day and engage the kids.

My Eno board technology came through again! Miracle of miracles, I actually found a quick and easy download of the interactive game. For the third question above, nearly everyone had assigned almost full responsibility to Iago (snake that he is), but I wanted to show them how Iago could not play his game without assistance from unwitting victims.

I projected the game Othello and showed them how to play. A student took over the stylus pen and continued the game against the computer. During play, a student casually asked, “Why is this game called Othello?” I was so glad he asked! I turned the question back to the class as the next student began losing to the computer. They began to brainstorm and come up with the following:

- First, the game pieces on the board are black and white which accentuates the racial tension of the play.

- Second, Othello is a game of entrapment and strategy. No player can move unless trapping and turning the opponent.

- Finally, no player can be sure where the game is going until the other player has made a move, so the game is about capitalizing of the moves of your opponent.

All of these features capture the essence of the play and Iago himself. This final point removes some of the culpability for the tragedy from Iago (in spite of his sinister soul).

Today technology helped me get deeper into the aspect of causes for Othello and Desdemona’s tragedy. As I blended the use of images and games with independent writing and paired discussion, I hit on a successful and literacy rich technique for teaching Shakespeare.