Shakespeare in Bits: Julius Caesar
Slick version of well-known play uses animation to boost understanding
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Shakespeare in Bits: Julius Caesar
Pros: Text highlights as characters speak, and summaries and analyses make sure students know exactly what is going on.
Cons: The lack of a tutorial means students must discover many of the special features on their own.
Bottom Line: Side-by-side text and animations help students understand the plot as well as Shakespeare's writing style and language.
Shakespeare in Bits: Julius Caesar can be the main way students access the play, or it can play more a supplementary role. You could offer this version to reluctant and lower-level readers to help them better understand the play and to make it more engaging. If you're working in a flipped classroom, have students read and watch a scene at home; when they come to class the next day, you can do a brief recap of the events and move right into a discussion or activity.
In Shakespeare in Bits: Julius Caesar, the play is performed not on a stage, but through animated characters who read the text of the play line by line. As the characters speak, readers see lines of dialogue highlighted. Students can also tap on confusing words that are highlighted to reveal a definition. The play is organized by scene, with the animation and text sitting side by side. Separate tabs contain plot summaries and analyses for each scene, as well as a place for students to take notes. Those looking for an overview of the play as a whole can find a general summary, thematic analysis, and character overviews to aid in their understanding.
Unless this is your first time teaching Shakespeare, you've probably struggled to find ways to get students to actually read and understand the play. Shakespeare in Bits: Julius Caesar is designed to help students understand the text and offers many features to make that easier to do. By offering the text alongside animations, students get a better understanding of the words in context and can gain an appreciation of the beauty of the dialogue. Students can also learn plot, character, and literary analysis as the comprehensive app takes them back to the Roman Empire. The animations, text highlighting, scene summaries, and analyses in Shakespeare in Bits: Julius Caesar can help students improve their understanding of both the play and the author's writing style and language.
Learning Rating
Community Rating
Visually appealing and interactive way for students to understand Shakespeare
Although I think this is a fantastic app for most learners, particularly middle school students who are studying Shakespeare for the first time, there are two drawbacks. First I think that the $14.99 price for the app is too much. I cannot see a school or school district paying a high price for such a specific content application. Secondly I felt that the students were sort of left on their own when it comes to learning how to navigate the application. I still gave this app an overall rating of 4 because I think that its ability to teach Shakespeare to students in a way that would make it applicable to their modern lives, but I think there is a major learning curve in understanding the app.