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An Introduction To Status
Students explore the concept of status and its use in theater. Using a scene from Shakespeare's play King Richard II, students work in pairs to perform the scene. After the performance, the pairs discuss their use of physical status in...
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MND Sound Ball Activity
Students 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
High schoolers 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...
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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
Students 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"
Students 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
Students 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
High schoolers 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
Pupils 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
Learners 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 perform in...
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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!
Students 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
Students 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
Students 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
Students 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
High schoolers 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 high schoolers draw conclusions about why Shakespeare might...
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Hamlet
High schoolers 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 high schoolers draw conclusions about why Shakespeare might...
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Hamlet and the Pirates
Students 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. Students analyze primary documents that depict...
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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...