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Restaging Julius Ceasar
High schoolers engage in a lesson looking at a major scene of a Shakespeare play. They assume the role play of being the director and apply problem solving skills in order to conduct the scene. Others must switch roles and take on the...
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Interviewing the Players
Pupils analyze Shakespeare's words through scenes and portions of scenes. They compare the characters' motives and make connections between the text they are performing and the larger context of the play. They participate in panel...
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Ariel, the occasionally, tricksy spirit
Students focus on Ariel's character and use online research and close reading in small groups and examine more understanding of the tricks spirit. Each group is assigned a scene and they make notes of Ariel's action, behavior, and...
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Divinity of hell
Learners have to look at the text of the play Othello and cut the text in half. Each group then moves to the computer to their right and continues on with what that group wrote. They then have to stage the final script and perform in...
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Folger on the Ramparts
Students use the website "Hamlet on the Ramparts" to investigate different ways of producing the ghost scenes 1.4 and 1.5 of Hamlet. They use this information to help them develop their own ideas on staging these important scenes.
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Knock, Knock
Students explore the use of sound as a special effect to enhance or radically change the meaning of a scene. They design a soundscape for Macbeth's porter scene, and conclude by listening to and watching two different film treatments of...
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Twelfth Night-The Musical!
Students read Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In groups, they divide Act 2 and add a new character or direction to the plot. They reinterpret the scene as a musical, using contemporary songs.
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Pyramus and Thisbe, Page to Stage
Students read and interpret a script. Then they use higher order thinking skills to transfer information to long term memory. They use the information and interpretations in order to have a model to create dramatic scripts.
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That Quaffing and Drinking Will Undo You
Students do a close character study of the characters in scenes 1.3 and 2.3 from Twelfth Night. They read a primary source about the effects of drunkenness and examine its role in the characters of Sir Toby and Sir Andrew. Students...
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Shakespeare Character Analysis Using "Twelfth Night"
Eighth graders complete a six-week unit on character analysis for the play "Twelfth Night" by William Shakespeare. They conduct research and write a report, participate in a book talk, and create a character analysis assignment to...
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Shakespear Scavenger Hunt
Students use the internet to study basic biographical facts about Shakespeare in the form of an internet scavenger hunt. This activity is a great introduction to a Shakespearean unit of study.
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Shakespeare
Students read specific acts of Shakepeare's King Lear. Using the text, they identify the beginning stages of Lear's insanity and the causes of his instability. They examine the relationship between King Lear and Poor Tom and reenact the...
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King Lear
Students examine patterns of imagery in King Lear by using online resources. Students compare the patterns they see to those they've found in other Shakespeare plays. Then students draw conclusions about why Shakespeare might have used...
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Hamlet
High schoolers examine patterns of imagery in Hamlet by using online resources. Students compare the patterns they see to those they've found in other Shakespeare plays. Then high schoolers draw conclusions about why Shakespeare might...
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Hamlet and the Pirates
Learners use seventeenth century primary sources to understand the off-stage pirate attack that occurs in Hamlet. Students read and discuss Hamlet's letter to Horatio from the play, Hamlet. Learners analyze primary documents that depict...
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Prospero: Turkey or Tyrant?
Students study characterization and the difference between subjective and objective points of view by creating tableaux to depict three interpretations of the story of Prospero's overthrow, each with a very different point of view. They...
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New York City: Passionate About Shakespeare
Students read passages from Shakespeare and have a Town Hall meeting in which they defend Shakespeare as part of American culture.
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Do Clothes Make the Man?
Students discuss the Shakepeare play "The Merchant in Venice" to examine if dress makes a person who they are. They discuss certain situations and the dress required for them. They role-play different roles in the play to examine the...
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Lose the Lute!
Students use Shakespeare's plays to add modern music to match the mood in the play. They assign adjectives to the original songs of the play and find a song with the same mood. They work together to role-play the play with new music.
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Can't Buy Me Love?
Students activity find the multiplicity of meanings buried within Shakespeare's language. They examine how the meanings of words differ in modern America and in Venice.
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The Tempest
Students discuss cultural beliefs about magic. They investigate European exploration and colonialism. They create a cartoon strip of an episode that is described or dramatized in the play.
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Julius Caesar Oral Report
Learners conduct research on William Shakespeare and Julius Caesar. They research and explore various websites, complete graphic organizers, and develop a research paper.
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Character Study in Macbeth
Eleventh graders analyze a Shakespeare soliloquy by writing a prose summary of it. They keep a character journal, following one character through the play and analyzing what the character does and says, as well as, might have done or...
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Til Death Do Us Part
Ninth graders read Romeo and Juliet. They complete a character analysis on one of the major players and present it in an informative and entertaining way. They rewrite and perform one scene from another character's point of view.