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If you have a cool idea to use in teaching Macbeth - and you don't have a handout or there isn't enough for a full-blow teacher lesson - post it here.
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I am two fools, I know, for loving, and for saying so in whining poetry.
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To get the students interested in reading Macbeth, I do several things. First, I like to give them information about the curse of the Scottish play. Then I present the students with the handout Anticipating Macbeth, a type of moral values activity completed individually and then discussed aloud. With three or four minutes left, I pass out copies of the Folger Library handout, the 32 Second Macbeth; it does usually take us several minutes to complete it because we do it at least three times, each time getting better. For example, my students all sit in a large circle in my class. When the three witches selected walk to the center of the circle, they read their lines. Then I tell them to really get into acting mode and show them how; this read is even better. Then I tell them to add movements of moving in a circle as they chant, and I have one student flicker the lights off and on. As they walk away, the next actor comes inside the circle and says his lines. Even the advancing rider gallops in like a horse. The students really like doing this; they have so much fun and laugh quite loudly! Thus, the stage is set for reading the play!
I got the idea for this from the Folger website, but I've tweaked it to make it my own.
In order to highlight the suspense and drama in Act 2, Scene 2, I change up our usual in-class performance and instead, have the students listen to a dramatic performance of the scene (On CD or from the DVD) while they wear blindfolds.
It sounds goofy, but it forces the kids to really LISTEN to the nuances of the lines and pay attention to the inflection and timing choice that the professional actors use. I usually do it along with the kids, and even after many times, I still feel a bit creeped out myself when we hear the tension in Lady M's voice. It leaves you feeling unsettled - which is exactly the sentiment that we should feel in this scene!
Macbeth : The Soundtrack!
Imagine what Macbeth would be like set in today’s world with music from today? Well, wonder no more! Throughout our class’ reading of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” we have identified themes, figurative language, characterization and character development as well as, motifs and symbols. Now, it is your turn to show us what you know. Create a soundtrack to be used in a modern retelling of Macbeth that explains themes, characters, plot, setting and figurative language used in the original play. You choose the music, you explain the music because it is how YOU see it.
Your soundtrack must include:
1. A minimum of two songs per act (total of 10).
2. At least one of these songs per act needs to relate to one of the themes or motifs we identified in class.
3. The remaining song in each act can relate to the plot, character, setting, event or quote in the play.
4. You need to include “Liner Notes.” Liner notes are written explanations of when the song would be used in the movie version of “Macbeth.” These were often used inside old albums (way before CD’s!). Artists used it to not only write the lines of the song, but also to explain how they came up with the idea of the song, why they wrote a particular line and how it addressed a bigger theme or the album’s concept. Be original and creative, but be descriptive.
Oh Snap. Being a than in Macbeth's Scotland
"Stars, hide your fires,/Let not light see my black and deep desires" Act I scene 4
When King Duncan names his son, Malcolm, Prince of Cumberland, we know exactly how Macbeth feels about it. " That is a step on which I must fall down". How do the other thanes feel? Do they feel that this is blatent nepotism or maybe a good change?
Pretend you are one of the thanes. Write your reaction to Duncan's declaration. Begin your reaction with "Oh....snap!!" and then go from there.
Keep in mind:
The thanes elect the king based on outstanding feats in battle.
Malcolm had to be rescued by the bloody captain.
Is being outstanding in battle a quality that defines a good king?
Is Macbeth the only thane thinking about assassination?
After you finish writing your reaction, you will present it to the class.
Have the students come before the class in groups of 3 or 4. They are the thanes talking later about what happened. Using the reaction that they wrote, have the groups role play being thanes and talking about the naming of Malcolm. Have the groups create some sort of setting--a pub, a basement, walking across a heath etc.
I will begin teaching Macbeth for the first time in a few weeks and I think this activity will be a fun way to look at multiple perspectives. Thanks for the idea.
I am going to try this activity with my students. I think that they will enjoy thinking about how the other characters (they) would feel in that situation. I think that they might gain a stronger appreciation for Macbeth's feelings and how he might have felt strongly enough to kill his king.
I have found that assigning a scene for performance purposes can go extremely well with some students and completely backfire with others. What I usually do now is offer this assignment as an option in a summative assessment assignment. I assign this assignment with other options such as rewriting the ending of the play to fulfill the requirements of a comedy, rewriting an entire scene in modern language, etc.
This is an excellent idea! I have students who would rather drop out of school that act in front of the class and others who would love acting. I like having this as one of a few options that the students can do. That way I'm not forcing the students to act, but the students who would love to act still have the option to do so.
I teach a highly diverse group--languages, ethnicities, SES, etc.--who need support as we tackle this text. To keep discussions based in the text, we use the 'open mind' (a graphic organizer with a graphic of a head). Students decide if the head belongs to a character or is their own head. (The latter seems helpful to kids who struggle with laying blame on one character.) Their job is to determine culpability, though this works for many different questions and themes. They fill the head with quotes, identifying speaker, act, scene, and line. Next, they either sketch the symbolic meaning or they explain in a sentence or two what the quote means. By the end of the exercise, they have filled heads--a joke they love to repeat--and a piece that both reflects thinking and is an almost complete essay outline. In combination with spot studies of literary devices 'in situ' the kids make some wonderful comments about the characters.
One of the things I like to do with Shakespeare and have done with MacBeth was to divide all of my classes into groups. Each group is assigned a scene from the play and creates a 3D tableau, with key lines, etc. They have a few days past each scene to turn it in, so as we read the visual of the story builds as well. By the end of the unit, we have the complete play in visual form for review.
OMG, is this cool! Now, they create by drawing? May they assume characters and take a photo? Would you be willing to send me the assignment description that you share with your students?
In my Brit Lit class when we finish reading Macbeth I have the students act out a part of the play. They are invited to change the setting. This year I had some excellent performances which included a wild wild west theme in which the floating dagger was actually a little water pistol hanging on a string. They were very clever - instead of stabbing Duncan, they shot him with the sound effects to accompany the pistols. Another group set Act 1 in The Office, like the television show. The witches sat around in the conference room eating doughnuts and discussing Macbeth's (Michael Scott's) fate. Great stuff!
Creative and I bet humorous as well. I think my students will love this! Thank you.
Do they use Shakespeare or their own words - we do something very similar to what you describe - Rugrats, Lion King Macbeth, etc.
I teach English 12 and many of my students take a psych class during their senior year. Sometimes I will have the students read Freud's analysis of Macbeth and his thoughts about Macbeth and Lady Macbeth being two halves of the same person. The students find evidence supporting or refuting Freud's suppostion. We also discuss the concept of yin and yang and the kids like finding out that there is a philosophy behind that cool black and white symbol.
Since I am new here I would like to ask if anyone knows where I can find James Thurber's story "The Macbeth Murder Mystery"? I have never heard of it and would love to use it in the Macbeth lesson I am currently teaching. On that same topic, I start every class with "what has poor Macbeth gotten himself into now?" as I put full blame on Lady Macbeth for all the chaos that started the acts of violence.
Here you go - http://www.sd84.k12.id.us/SHS/departments/Language/edaniels/English%20IV%20(H)/Macbeth/MacbethThurber.htm
A very helpful place to start, complete with ideas and lesson plans:
http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=2778
This idea comes from Folgers. I use it to introduce the play and it is a lot of fun. The play is reduced to 18 significant lines read by eight performers. The group should try to recite the lines in under 32 seconds. It involves several tries. After they succeed, the class predicts the plot of the play.
A culminating project for Hamlet or Macbeth. Have students choose three quotes from each act. Have them illustrate each quote and then explain the quote and how it relates to the picture. Create a notebook, one quote per page with illustration and explanation.
I call this activity a "Peep" Show. It works especiallly well in the spring when we're usually reading Shakespeare, but it could be easily adapated. I buy several packages of Peeps - the chickens, bunnies, etc.. I also buy thos little red hots and anything else that the students might enjoy working with.
I bring in a shoe box for each small group and each group depicts a scene using the Peeps and other artistic materials - fabric, googley eyes.... They must then write a short essay justifying their use of materials with this particular scene.
This project makes them really focus on the language of the text and they have a ball with it. I have gotten some really amazing Peep shows, especially with Macbeth because it's so bloody - the Banquo murder and ghost scene are particulary fun to recreate!
Terry
One idea that I have read about and used are "Ya-Ya" boxes to analyze character. Take a shoebox, and have students decorate the outside with images/lines that show how that character is perceived and/or acts externally, and the inside with images/lines that show how that character feels and thinks internally. This words well when looking at Macbeth's character, especially the dagger soliloquy in II.1
I like this idea for my Focused Essentials class. It's a good way for them to express ideas without the stigma of writing a literary analysis paper.
I love this ! I'll have to use it this year...thanks for the idea!
Awesome idea! I'll be tackling Macbeth next month and this will be a great project! Thanks for this! :)
When I teach Macbeth with my senior students, we examine it with a text-centred reading first, then break into groups, each focussing on a specific area of literary criticism (feminist, marxist, psychoanalytical, religious). Once students have grasped the general elements of their reading position, we are able to have some lively discussions of specific scenes, focussing on ways that the text can be interpreted.
Like any people, I include a performance-based assessment for my culminating project on "Macbeth." For this task, students collaborate with a group of their peers to create a modern adaptation of the play. While the assignment itself is not original in the least, I have compiled a pretty good version of the project through the years. Not only do students have to create a modern adaptation, but each group member is responsible for an assigned role such as the Director, Playwright, Costume Designer, Prop Master, etc. This allows me to grade students both in collaborative groupings but individually as well. Also, I have been reached out to my local access television station and they provide students with traning and filming and editing and at the end of the project they screen all of the students projects on their station, which the students just adore.