Here is an authentic assessment task for Shakespeare's Macbeth. Young literature scholars prepare, perform, and record a news broadcast about the major events in the play. For example, groups may choose to report on the death of Lady...

This instructional activity will focus on the aspects of Shakespeare's comedy that become more evident in performance. By viewing clips of the same Shakespeare scene in different film versions, high schoolers have the opportunity to...

The danger of mob mentality is on display in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Get your class thinking with some challenging quickwrite questions, then assign characters from the play to be read aloud altogether. Links to worksheets...

How do modern adaptations of Shakespearean plays relate to their original source material? Middle and high schoolers focus on Shakespeare's play Othello and its screen adaptation "O" to explore how modern film adaptations of Shakespeare...

How do novels differ from plays? Explore with your class the text features of fiction and drama by reading The Hidden One: Native American Legend and then performing a reader’s theater script based on the story. Class members create a...

Students use Shakespearean sonnets as part of a poetry analysis instructional activity. In this sonnet instructional activity, students perform a sonnet by Shakespeare but treat it as a script to be acted out. Students work in pairs to...

Students read and complete play analysis activities for Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In this play analysis lesson plan, students read Act 4 Scene 1 and a summary of the scene. students complete close reading activities in discussion...

Discuss the lives of artists in the Lyme Art Colony in the 1900s with this resource. Young historians write and perform a short scene depicting individuals who lived in the Griswold boardinghouse, used by the colony artists. They use the...

Students read use their five senses to discover Chicano plays.

Pupils read the novel, Across Five Aprils and investigate the theme of the individual vs, community loyalties. They keep a daily journal, role-play situations, hold a mock debate, and write a research paper on "coming of age."

Students read a play and create their own play using Thornton Wilder's Our Townas a resource. In this play instructional activity, students analyze how theatrical elements contribute to a play's meanings and effects. Students recognize...

Eighth graders create an original scene or short one-act play within specified guidelines. Assessment is based upon the performance of student-created scenes during class time. Rubrics for assessment and connection to state standards...

Students read, act, and write about an act from the play Twelfth Night. In this play analysis lesson, students read a summary of the act and discuss various segments of the play. Students identify literary and vocabulary points and...

Students are introduced to the proper ways to deal with conflict at home. In groups, they define family based on what it means to them and identify factors that lead to a breakdown in communications. They participate in role-playing...

Honing reading and communication skills through the theme of farm animals is the focus of this lesson. Students read a book about Scandinavian farm animals and complete prediction journal activities. They complete a worksheet about the...

High schoolers examine role spirituals have played in African American history and religion, examine Harriet Tubman's use of spirituals in her work, explore power of spirituals in Civil Rights Movement, and work with oral tradition,...

Jupiter has 67 moons! As the seventh in a series of 22, the exercise shows learners the size and scale of Jupiter and its Galilean moons through a model. They then arrange the model to show how probes orbited and gathered data.

Learners are exposed to literature and create an Academy award for their piece of literature. They play an author or a character and present themselves, a category, and each of the nominees in that category to gain awareness of...

Twelfth graders use an Internet scavenger hunt, vocabulary, sample essay questions, and short answer questions suitable for study and review of the play, The Crucible.

Learners, through role-playing fictional scenarios, brainstorm, discuss and practice safe and realistic responses to name-calling and bullying. They experience the "instant replay" and "SAFE" techniques, in which they rehearse and retry...

Comparing the more modern film Ten Things I Hate About You to The Taming of the Shrew leads to an understanding of how Shakespearean plots can be applied to modern-day situations and characters. As a culminating activity, groups select a...

Young scholars debate the pros and cons of affirmative action. In a small group role play, students act as university admissions officers, making recommendations on admissions policy.

Students analyze the main themes of President Bush's UN Speech and discussion of the NewsHour report on the Iraq Debate. In this debate lesson, students answer pre-listening questions and view a transcript of the speech. In groups of two...

Students conduct lab activities, computer visualizations, and other various forms of research in preparation for a role-play activity in which they assume the identities of advisors to various heads of state on the subject of global...