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All lessons and Illuminated Texts related to the works of William Shakespeare.
Macbeth Made Easy - Group Work
A lesson as tied to the idea of the "text centered classroom" as anything else you will find at this website. It also owes most of its ideas to Stephen Booth. This group work (designed for 4-5 students) tries to show students in three parts (one done in front of the other) -- exactly why it is not a good idea to paraphrase Shakespeare --and why the actual words (as opposed to the ideas, plots, or themes) of Shakespeare's works are paramount.
Each part of the lesson is designed to be done before the other. It helps if you have a color printer to print out the last part which shows the rich word textures present in Shakespeare (and absent from paraphrases). This lesson is also a good way to prepare students for some of the "text-centered" ideas that will come later in their unit on Literary Criticism. Read more »
Bloody Resolve: A Macbeth Illuminated Text by Elizabeth Mucha and Renee Leber
The first Shakespeare Illuminated Text on our site and one of the best. The students use Macbeth's own words to indict his bloody intentions -- the movement of the words, the letters, and the music create a masterful impression of Shakespeare's words. [We now have a Flash Video version of this presentation - if you've had any trouble hearing the sound and/or video choose that version.] Shakespeare works wonderfully for these Illuminated Texts -
Film Study Guide for Franco Zefferelli's 1968 Version of Romeo and Juliet
I introduce my Romeo and Juliet unit by briefly introducing the history of the Globe Theatre, then teach the sonnet, tragedy vs. comedy, and then the film before I ever have them open the play. I show the first 2/3 of the film (I stop at the "morning after" scene when Romeo is about to leave Juliet's bedroom). My intent here is to introduce my students to the language, the plot, the characters, the clothing and behavior of the times before they enter into the play. I have used this methodology for the past 4 years and it works beautfully as it is the first time my students really are exposed to Shakespeare in any depth. I use the attached film study guide as the students are viewing the movie. Though it is not specifically in chronological order of the movie, it is divided into sectors - The Beginning, The Actors,Scene Analysis, etc.
A Pilgrimage to Thee: Sonnet 27, an Illuminated Text by Ariella Silverstein-Tapp and and C. Asoynec
A peaceful and contemplative examination of Shakespeare's Sonnet 27: "Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed." It is night, the moon is out, and the Moonlight Sonata plays in the background. Done by two students towards the beginning of our creation of Illuminated Text, it is, as one commentator has said, an ideal example to show students the power of what they can do to explicate the text when creating an Illuminated Text. There is now an Adobe Flash Video version of this Illuminated Text - if you have trouble viewing or hearing sound with the Power Point edition.
Life is a Tale Told by an Idiot - PowerPoint Presentation
A presentation on the "Life is a Tale told by an idiot" speech from Macbeth. In this case, it is designed to illuminate my very particular take on the soliloquy -- that Macbeth is in fact, devestated by his wife's death -- and that all they have done, which was originally for her, is utterly without (like life) purpose or meaning. There is an audio discussion on this idea - and one of the things that amazes me is that the book takes this as a given (that Macbeth was too busy to care about the death of his wife). I hope this presentation shows another possibility. Note, like all Power Point presentations - you will need to be running Internet Explorer to hear the sound.
Macbeth: "Is this a Dagger that I see before me" - Performance
This short little excercise (10 minutes to rehearse in groups [about 1/4 of the class], 10 minutes to perform [for all 4 groups]) has students act out the "Is this a dagger..." soliloquy. They should try to use movement (ie all of them forming a dagger) or action (ie having a good and a bad Macbeth torn in 2 directions) to explicate the text. The handout gives them a lot of direction but I still find it necessary to move from group to group (no sitting!) and the time runs out fast.
Hamlet - An animated film by Kerry Ferrantella
This animation of Act 1, Scene 1 of Hamlet is done with skill, wit, and creativity by Kerry Ferrantella and his classmates. Kerry used the free program Windows Movie Maker to animate the still drawings that he had created and then they created the voice overs. The overall effect is astonishing and original. Mr. Ferrantella's teacher is Ian McCarthy, also of Whitney Young High School -- and I am greatful to him and Kerry for allowing us to share this on the website. I can't wait to use the project with my own students. Be patient when you click on the link below -- it is a large file and may take a minute to load. Read more »
Macbeth - Act IV, scene 1 questions for partners
Some questions for partners to help them understand the setup for one of the most difficult scenes in the play. The questions also build on what has come into the classroom up to this point. I've designed this to be done with partners - it is difficult but by reading the lines and working together - they should find the scene not only "knowable" but very worthwhile indeed.
Macbeth - Act I - scene 7 - A close reading
A sheet to help students focus on Act I, scene 7 of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Students are given a set of questions and are expected to work in small groups - I find 5 - 6 students ideal (as opposed to normal group work, for which I think 4 is the ideal number). If possible, there should be a group leader who facilitates the movement of the text - that group leader shouldn't actively read parts but should have the questions in front of her. It is also helpful if they mark some times where they should be at any given moment in the text.
Dreams often Lie: A Critical Thinking Webquest for Romeo and Juliet
This Web Quest has students putting together ideas from Romeo and Juliet such as Queen Mab, Romeo and Juliet in Sarajevo (a documentary about two lovers from different faiths in civil war-torn Bosnia), and the origins of Shakespeare's play. I have always believed that Web Quests can be a valuable tool - however, they too often seem to be a technologically-enabled treasure hunt. I hope that this assignment pushes the genre to a level were a good deal of critical thinking can take place.
As You Like It: Some Activities for the Seven Ages of Man Speech and Beyond
The first "handout" that you will find here is actually a set of tickets. You can give these tickets to students as they walk in the door - each of them has a different "age" from the Seven Ages of Man speech. They also have a letter (in this case "A", but you should also use Word and make a "B" & "C" set of tickets as well). The next handout is actually a cartoon from The New Yorker and is a humorous and modern take on the Seven Ages of Man. You can use this to have students brainstorm (in their A,B,C groups) on their own modern versions of the 7 Ages.
The Very Abridged 15-minute Romeo and Juliet
Like all good ideas that I have, this is stolen from Peggy O'Brien and Company from The Folger Shakespeare Library. The concept is simple and the effect is always quite a lot of fun. Use the handout to divide students into 6 groups - they will be given 5-10 minutes to act out, to explicate, to have fun with the line that you will give them (again see the handout). For instance, one group will act out "You kiss by the book." Tell me that doesn't sound like fun. Once they are all ready, the teacher narrorates the story - pausing at just the right moment for the students to act out their part. I always tell my students that when group 1 is on - group 2 should be standing and ready (and so on).
Macbeth Written Response - Digital Edition
Click Here to Go to the Macbeth Scene Assignment Forum
What follows are links to the various parts of your written responses:
I. Macbeth Annotation (remember - you need to post 2 annotations - and respond to 2)
Actors who have a Clue: A Director's Notebook (Prompt Book) for Macbeth Act 2, Scene 3
This director's notebook was created by Devin Jankovich, Vaishak Babu, Amalia McCallister, Luis Barragon, Sybelle Cano, Grace Batiste, and Ashley Doruelo. One of the many valuable techniques that I learned at The Folger Shakespeare Library's Teaching Shakespeare Institute, was to have students create a prompt book or director's notebook. Students first do this for an earlier scene (the banquet scene) and it is mostly a theoretical construct. They will never put on the scene -- though we will read it through and sometimes watch it and talk about the choices that they made in their own production (prompt book). However, this director's notebook is for real and is used in conjuction with the scene that they put on (for Macbeth Day when we are all in the theater).
The Tempest - Some Colonial Songs
Lyrics to two songs that can be used with the Colonialism/Imperialism Tempest Group Work (or they also work well as part of an in-class discussion). The two songs speak of colonialism from different points of view, and they are: "Don't Drink the Water" by The Dave Matthews Band, and "Bed's Are Burning" by Midnight Oil. The first of these tunes was suggested by a student - who always prove to be an invaluable source for new media.
