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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.
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Characteristics of Point of View and Dialogue
Students discover the impact of dialogue Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. In this drama instructional activity, students read selected scenes and note the point of view and dialogue in the scenes.
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Words, Words, Words
Students discover Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. In this drama lesson, students read the first act of the play and then rewrite the original passages in today's English.
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Romeo and Juliet
Students read Romeo and Juliet and then write an essay from the point of either Lord Capulet or Friar Lawrence persuading someone to adopt their views concerning marriage.
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"I am a pirate with a wooden leg": Stomping Iambic Pentameter
What is blank verse? Iambic pentameter? Meter? Use the attached document to review these ideas with your middle schoolers. This plan has learners get up and stomp to iambic pentameter, which is a fun change from just clapping the...
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Royal Shakespeare Company's New Theatre
Students brainstorm the names of Shakespeare's plays and read an article about a new theatre. They complete worksheets about the plays. In groups, they play a game where they give clues about films or plays and others try to guess the...
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Twelfth Night Act 1 Scene 5
Students complete play analysis activities for Act 1 Scene 5 of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In this play analysis instructional activity, students read a summary of the scene and complete close reading discuss activities. Students...
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Twelfth Night Act 4, Scene 2
Students complete play analysis activities for Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Students read Act 4, Scene 2 for the play and a summary. Students complete close reading activities including discussion points, themes, literary devices....
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Twelfth Night Act 4 Scene 3
Students complete play analysis activities for Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Act 4, Scene 3. In this play analysis instructional activity, students read the scene and practice summarizing. Students complete close reading analysis...
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Macbeth Madness
Students research Macbeth online and complete computer and graphing activities for the play. In this Macbeth activities lesson, students research Macbeth and bookmark the URL's. Students complete activities for the topic on spreadsheets...
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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...
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Cracking Cassius
Students examine the argument between Cassius and Brutus to define the importance of friendship and study a Shakespearean play. In this Julius Caesar analysis lesson, students list qualities of a best friend and read scenes from the...
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Uncovering Personalities in Othello
Students explore a unique way to view the personalities of the characters in William Shakespeare's play "Othello." They facilitate online research "deconstructing" poetry and performing scenes from the play with costumes and props.
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Shakespeare: Advice From 400 Years Ago
Students will: Analyze an extract of a document from 1616 concerning male adolescent behavior. Decide if the advice offered is sensible. Determine if the content of that document is relevant to contemporary adolescent males. Compare the...
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Hero vs. Claudio: A Case of Slander
Students research marriage customs of the Renaissance, discuss and debate the issues raised by Claudio repudiating Hero at the altar in the Shakespearean play Much Ado About Nothing, and then stage a mock trial accusing Claudio of...
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Romeo & Juliet (Drama)
Ninth graders read and internalize the drama Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Many intriguing and thought provoking assignments are waiting for the completion of students within this lesson profile.
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Acting in Marriage-Is It on Stage or Off?
Students compare views of marriage in Macbeth and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. In this comparative literature lesson, students discuss and debate the marriages of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare's...
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The Trial of Iago: "To you...remains the censure of this hellish villain"
Students analyze text and utilize outside resources to determine Iago's fate, which is not addressed by Shakespeare in Othello; students present their findings in an organized trial scenario.
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AND WE ALL SIT DOWN: STATUS IN KING LEAR
Students participate in two simple status games to allow students to explore the relationships between Lear, his three daughters, and his court.
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Romeo and Juliet-Balcony Scence
High schoolers create and carry out a "modern day" version of the famous scene from Romeo and Juliet to help them build understanding of the plot and the two characters.
Shakespeare in American Life
"We Few, We Happy Few": Motivational Speech in Henry V
Class members may "think themselves accurs'd" when they first hear of an assignment that asks them to create a motivational speech. After studying the Saint Crispin's Day speech from Shakespeare's Henry V; however, they will count...
Shakespeare in American Life
Tom Hanks and Caliban: Survivor Superstars
Here’s a clever way to combine language arts and social studies. Shakespeare’s The Tempest is believed to have been inspired by the wreck of the Sea Venture on Bermuda in 1609. The class views a brief scene from Castaway in which Tom...
Poetry Out Loud
Creating "Golden Shovel" Poems
Get even your most reluctant pupils reading, writing, reciting, and maybe even enjoying poetry! A four day lesson, young writers learn about Golden Shovel poems: a poem format that uses borrowed words from other poems as the last words...
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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...