Forgiveness can be a difficult step to take in any circumstance, but is it more difficult if the offense is more egregious? High schoolers consider the concept of forgiveness before reading William Shakespeare's The Tempest. As kids read eight value statements about forgiveness, they decide whether they agree, mostly agree, mostly disagree, or disagree with each one.

Concepts

prereading, the tempest, william shakespeare

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Replace the article in the lesson with another more timely or relevant article to your learners (possibly a human interest story from your town's local news)
• Project the worksheet onto your whiteboard and have kids note their responses in dry erase marker
• Prompt learners to choose one value statement, and to expand their response into a longer narrative or persuasive essay

Classroom Considerations

• You'll need to create the four signs needed for the interactive part of the lesson, as they are not included in the resource
• Be sure to connect the concepts and themes of the lesson with The Tempest as you begin the novel, as the lesson does not explicitly make the connection
• The worksheet prompts kids to write down two statements into each category of agreement, but they may agree with more than two or disagree with more than two; consider having them copy the format into a notebook to allow for more varied answers

Pros

• Invites thought-provoking discussion and writing topics
• Prompts kids to reflect on their own experiences and connect them to the text
• Encourages critical reading in informational text, and applying a central idea across genres

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.9-10.2 RL.11-12.2 RI.9-10.2 RI.11-12.2 SL.9-10.1.a SL.11-12.1.a