Curated OER
"Say you will be mine": Unspoken Answers and Unscripted Scenes
Students hypothesize the content of unscripted moments and responses, search for evidence in the actual text to support their hypothesis, and explore how this hypothesis would affect characterization. Groups perform their scenes and...
Curated OER
Guess that Scene: A Review of A Midsummer Night's Dream Through Performance
Students rewrite and perform various scenes from the play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. In groups, they include the main quotes and ideas from their scene, perform it for the class, and identify which scene each group is performing.
Curated OER
"Thou hast set me on the rack": A Dramatic Reading of Iago's Most Poisonous Lines
High schoolers select and analyze quotations from Othello, and do a dramatic reading to illustrate the power of Iago's most poisonous words.
Curated OER
Where Do They Stand?: Perspectives on Othello's Marriage
Students read and discuss Act one, scene three of the play, Othello. They examine the text in small groups, determine each character's attitude toward Othello, identify text to justify their conclusions, then recite lines to the class.
Curated OER
Tempest in the Lunchroom
Learners act out opening shipwreck scene of The Tempest, or watch and direct others doing it.
Curated OER
Shakespeare in Parts
Pupils examine primary source manuscript fragments, discuss differences in performing a play without the entire script, and perform a scene from Twelfth Night with no preparation.
Curated OER
Screwing Courage in Macbeth
Students read, analyze, and act out the scenes 1.7.29-79 of the William Shakespeare play, "Macbeth." They discuss motivation, tactics, and obstacles, and improvise scenes suggested by the class.
Curated OER
O how I faint when I of you do write:" Analyzing Shakespearean Sonnets Using "SOAPSTone" and Performance
Students encounter how to use SOAPSTone--a strategy that helps students break down a text to comprehend its intended point of view and audience--in order to analyze Shakespeare's sonnets. They then physicalize their knowledge through a...
Curated OER
Pre-reading for Julius Caesar
Students examine friendship and leadership by creating "friendship committees" to develop a class friendship constitution. Committees list qualities/traits of a friend, as well as friendship infractions. These committees join together...
Curated OER
"Tear him for his bad verses:" Cinna the poet and Shakespeare's Sonnets
Poor Cinna, the poet. His dream of “things unlucky” certainly comes true as the mob tears him apart, at first because they mistake him for Cinna, the conspirator, and then continue to “tear him to pieces for his bad verses.” As part of...
Curated OER
Hamlet on the Ramparts: A Pre-reading Activity
Students explore the first act of Hamlet. In this Shakespeare lesson, students pantomime important events from Hamlet in a pre-reading activity. Classmates observe the performances and write reviews.
Curated OER
Conspiracy after the Storm: Editing Dual Murder Plots in Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'
Students edit scenes from Shakespeare's The Tempest in documentary fashion and perform their edited scripts. In this play analysis lesson, students read through Act 2 and 3 and discuss how and why to cut lines in a play. Students create...
Curated OER
Inside Hamlet
Learners examine how tone and inflection shape the character of Hamlet. In this Shakespeare lesson, students summarize what they know of Hamlet and complete a read around. Learners discuss the inflection patterns and tone in the reading...
Curated OER
In Search of Caesar's Ghost
High schoolers collaborate in small groups to choose a scene that they write in place of a scene in Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar". In this dramatic expression lesson, their scripts include roles, lines and stage directions. Students...
Curated OER
King Lear- Cut a Scene
Learners determine the most critical elements of King Lear, Act I using a Silent Scene Model. In this King Lear instructional activity, students will create a silent scene based on a scene from Act I of King Lear and act out their...
Curated OER
The English Sonnet: Michael Drayton
Students discover literature by conducting a free writing experiment. For this sonnet lesson, students read the sonnet "The Parting" and compare it to modern-day songs about breaking up. Students listen to pop music in class and complete...
Curated OER
Techno Explorer: Internet Lesson Plans for Beginners
Students explore technology by participating in an on-line exercise. In this Internet safety lesson, students identify the appropriate behavior they should use while searching and communicating in cyberspace. Students practice saving...
Curated OER
Hamlet and the Pirates
Students 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. Students analyze primary documents that depict...
Curated OER
Fools Following the Fools
Students read "The Winter's Tale" in Foole Upon Foole to determine the qualities the author used for a fool. Students role play the character to determine how volume affects the way a character is perceived. Students determine the...
Curated OER
King Lear's Storm
Students read speeches from King Lear. They examine the sppeach for meaning by paraphrasing and defining words. They read aloud with "storm" in their voices. Groups perform their speech and class discusses it in terms of inner vs. outer...
Curated OER
Speak What We Feel, Not What We Ought to Say
High schoolers examine and create their own interpretation of a particular character from the play, King Lear. They read the speeches, write a paragraph about their character, and present a short performance of their scene.
Curated OER
Double, Double, Toil and Trouble: A Dual Exploration of Macbeth
Students emulate a key practice of Renaissance theater: doubling. The goal of this lesson is for students to experience-to see, hear, and feel-the differences between characters. Each group presents scenes to the rest of the class.
Curated OER
Measure for Measure: Are You Talkin' to Me?
Learners rehearse and perform an exchange from act three, scene two of the play, Measure for Measure, in pairs. They read the lines from the point of view of a different character in the play, and perform for the class.
Curated OER
Playing Humanity: Comparing Shylock and Antonio
Pupils read a scene of "The Merchant of Venice" and write remarks by Antonio and Shylock that indicate traits of their personalities. They enact both characters and discuss the treatment of anti-Semitism, bigotry, persecution and mercy.