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The Macbeth Tango
Students examine how Macbeth and Lady Macbeth relate to each other in individual scenes and throughout the play. By taking elements of that relationship and making them physical, students analyze the Macbeths' marriage on many different...
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"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...
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Investigating Othello: Peeling Away Layers of Meaning
Students analyze piece of literature by looking at it from one perspective and then by re-evaluating what they have discovered when other layers of meaning are added.
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"Twelfth Night": What's so funny?
Students brainstorm and discuss elements of modern humor. They compare humor in their own lives to the humor that Shakespeare used in "Twelfth Night". They perform portions of "Twelfth Night" focusing on its humor.
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Figurative Language Alive: Balcony Scene Charades
Students act out lines from Romeo and Juliet in a charade-like game.
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"Music Be the Food Of Love": Found Poetry with Shakespeare and Hip Hop
Students create found poetry using lines from hip hop songs and Shakespeare's plays. They try to rewrite the words to music so that more people can explain Shakespeare's plays. They discuss the results of the activity.
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Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's Tortured Sonnet
Students read four of Shakespeare's sonnets and determine whether they are read from Macbeth's or Lady Macbeth's point of view. They support their decision using evidence from the text.
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Screwing Courage in Macbeth
High schoolers 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.
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The Tempest: Picture Poems
Learners, in pairs, write descriptive poems of selected images of The Tempest using vocabulary from a word bank. They pass the poems only to other groups and then they attempt to draw an image solely based on the poem.
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Words, words, words
Students discuss words that represent the big ideas in Othello and that recur throughout the play. They are assigned words to track throughout the text, recording which character says the word and in what context.
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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...
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How to Move the Crowd: The Persuasive, Powerful Rhetoric of Mark Antony -Folger Shakespeare Library
Tenth graders explore a close reading of the speeches of Brutus and Mark Anthony in 3.2. They identify the effects of the rhetorical appeals used. Students explore the variety of ways in which Anthony might have delivered the speech....
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Editing the Conspiracy: Julius Caesar
Students practice close reading skills to edit the text of Julius Caesar as they read. They identify the features of the conspiracy. They discuss use of image of dark and light in the text.
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"O Beware, Sir, of Jealousy:" Passion and Jealousy in Othello and the Sonnets
Learners examine the difference between Othello's jealousy and his passion. They create tableaux or living pictures to examine the difference between the two as presented in four of Shakespeare's sonnets. They discuss their findings in...
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Vox Populi: Brutus's Speech and the Response of the Plebeians
Tenth graders explore two rhetorical strategies (ethos and audience appeals) to analyze their effects in Brutus's speech in 3.2. They are given the opportunity to participate as members of Brutus's audience by assuming the roles of...
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Water Conservation
In this environment learning exercise, students look for the facts of how to conserve water and help the environment. They complete the activities as part of the unit.
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Lonely Fish
Students read the book The Rainbow Fish. In this citizenship lesson plan, students discuss how the characters in the story resolved conflicts. Students create a rainbow fish from foil and cotton.
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Creating the Pamphlet
Middle schoolers create philanthropic brochures. In this philanthropy lesson, students make promotional pamphlets and offer theirs products to philanthropic organizations.
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Garbage: A Puppet's Paradise
Students make puppets from recycled materials. In this puppetry and recycling lesson, students investigate different types of puppets and their uses. They make puppets using mostly recycled materials such as old socks, CD's, dry lint,...
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Mistaken Identities, Misrepresentations, and Changes of Mind
Students study a play and then discuss the mistaken identities, misrepresentations, and changes of mind that occur. In this discussion of plays lesson plan, students learn new vocabulary words and discuss and differentiate between these...
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An Actor's View of Shakespeare
Students research characters from different plays. In this Shakespeare and performing arts lesson, students discuss the portrayal of characters from the perspective of real actors. Students work in groups to examine the technique for...
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Hamlet on the Ramparts: A Pre-reading Activity
Learners explore the first act of Hamlet. In this Shakespeare lesson plan, students pantomime important events from Hamlet in a pre-reading activity. Classmates observe the performances and write reviews.
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Performing Sonnets
Students use Shakespearean sonnets as part of a poetry analysis lesson. In this sonnet lesson, students perform a sonnet by Shakespeare but treat it as a script to be acted out. Students work in pairs to create motions for two lines from...
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Inside Hamlet
Students 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. Students discuss the inflection patterns and tone in the reading...