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MND Sound Ball Activity
Learners are introduced to Act II, scene 1, lines 188-244 of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." They explore and analyze how dramatic lines can have varied interpretations by playing a game of sound ball utilizing a list of vocabulary words...
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Status Games
Tenth graders, in groups, participate in a simulation activity in which they are assigned a certain "status" role to play in a given situation. After the simulation, they reveal their status roles and discuss what they observed. They...
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Who's There: Acting in the Dark
Students participate in a performance of Macbeth using the lighting techniques that were employed during the Shakespearean era. Working in groups, student reenact a scene. Afterward they discuss the challenges of working with limited...
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Introduction to "As You Like It"
Students explore the character relationships and their connection in the play "As You Like It." Working in groups, students act out the various scenes from the play and discuss the characters and their actions in the scene. Students...
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Reviewing Status Using Hamlet
Pupils complete exercises examining the use of status and class in selected portions of Hamlet. Working in pairs of small groups, students act out the mannerisms encountered in the selected text. They compare and contrast these...
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Introducing "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Learners are introduced to Shakespeare's play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream." In groups, they "mini-sculpt" four scenes from the play that illustrate the relationships between the four lovers. They create a living statue out of the other...
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"Set Your Heart At Rest" Word Plays
Pupils read Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." They create a dramatic reading of Titania's monologue in Act II by randomly assigning words of the monologue that are demonstrated using sound and movement, not the actual words. ...
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Restaging Julius Ceasar
Young scholars 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
Students 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
High schoolers 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...
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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!
Young scholars 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
High schoolers 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
High schoolers 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
High schoolers 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
Young scholars 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 young scholars draw conclusions about why Shakespeare might...
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Hamlet and the Pirates
High schoolers 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. High schoolers analyze primary documents...
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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.