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Programs for Shakespeare's Plays
Students design theater programs which show their understanding of William Shakespeare's plays. They design original art to include in the programs.
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Shakespeare 2000
Young thespians can try their hand at writing a script and acting out a scene, while gaining a deeper understanding of the universal topics presented in Shakespeare's wide array of plays. Begin the lesson by conducting a compare and...
Shakespeare Uncovered
All the Globe’s a Stage: Shakespeare’s Theatre
“All the world’s a stage,” exclaims Jaques in As You Like It, but it is the structure of the Globe stage and how that structure influenced Shakespeare’s plays that is the focus of an on-line research project. Class members visit a series...
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Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: 'You Kiss by the Book'
High schoolers explore Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In this analysis lesson, students recognize the use of poetic conventions as a principle of dramatic structure after analyzing the sonnetShakespeare created for the first meeting...
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Twelfth Night Act 3 Sc 1
Students read, act, and write about an act from the play Twelfth Night. In this play analysis lesson, students read a summary of the act and discuss various segments of the play. Students identify literary and vocabulary points and...
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MTV and Othello
After reading Acts III and IV of Othello, give your class a fun, interactive, music-related activity. Begin by asking students about songs they have heard in movies or plays. Let them look up the lyrics online and ruminate about the...
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Analyzing Atmosphere: Macbeth Murder Scene and Dagger Speech
Shakespeare's Macbeth (Act II, Scenes I and II) lacks explicit details of the murder of King Duncan, yet the author creates an atmosphere that allows us to visualize the event. Readers interpret the "Dagger Speech" by writing stage...
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"Whose (Is)land is This?": topics in Immigration and The Tempest
Class members compare the ways the subject of immigration is treated in The Tempest, Act I, scene ii, Act II, scene i and Act III, scene ii with patterns in American history. After tracing their own family’s journey, a series of...
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Twelfth Night Act 3 Scene 3 Lesson Plan
Students read and analyze act 3, scene 3 of Shakespeare's, Twelfth Night. In this Shakespeare lesson, students participate in a reading discussion of this scene that involves Sebastian and Antonio. They complete reading assignment by...
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Twelfth Night Act 1 Scene 5
Students complete play analysis activities for Act 1 Scene 5 of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In this play analysis instructional activity, students read a summary of the scene and complete close reading discuss activities. Students...
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Shakespeare and the Concepts of the Renaissance
Ninth graders familiarize themselves with the English Renaissance period and recognize the symbolism in Act V of "The Merchant of Venice" and analyze how it relates to the Italian Renaissance Themes. They produce an extended response...
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Conspiracy after the Storm: Editing Dual Murder Plots in Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'
Students edit scenes from Shakespeare's The Tempest in documentary fashion and perform their edited scripts. In this play analysis lesson, students read through Act 2 and 3 and discuss how and why to cut lines in a play. Students create...
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Teaching Acting Technique and Building a Character Through Cinema
Young scholars review the style techniques related to the American Method Acting and practice using them in groups. Using various scenes from films, they try to recreate the scene using props. In groups, they discover the proper way to...
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Shakespeare's Othello and the Power of Language
Young scholars explore the basis of Iago's persuasive power by analyzing his astonishing command of rhetoric and figurative language. The diverse set of activities below include short group performances, writing exercises and the guided...
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Promptbook Act 2.1: Katherine vs. Petruchio
Compile a promptbook with your young theater designers using a scene from Taming of the Shrew. The lesson outlines several activities, though it doesn't provide any examples of a promptbook or text from the play. Additionally, it...
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Hamlet and the Elizabethan Revenge Ethic in Text and Film
Students discover how Shakespeare's play interprets Elizabethan attitudes toward revenge, as reflected in the structure of the Elizabethan revenge tragedy, one of the most popular forms of drama of that era. Students perform certain...
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Twelfth Night, Act 4 Scene 1
Students watch the scene (divided into three segments). After each segment is played, students are given time to annotate and answer briefly the context questions.
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Shakespeare Project
Young scholars research the life and times of William Shakespeare and present their research in a variety of ways. They make timelines, act out the story of one of his plays or create word searches.
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Exploring the Expository Scenes in Macbeth
High schoolers examine the function of exposition in play structure. They will be able to develop multiple interpretations and visual and aural production choices for Shakespearean scenes and choose those that are most interesting.
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Who's the Fool in King Lear
Students complete close reading and character analysis for Shakespeare's King Lear. In this play analysis lesson, students reenact scene 1, Act 1 and pick only the lines that demonstrate action. Students act out the scene so their body...
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Now, Unto Thy Bones, Goodnight.
Students read Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing to learn about epitaphs. In this Shakespeare activity, students read sections from the play and piece together Shakespeare's epitaph using index cards. Students create a 4 line...
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"Strike a Pose:" Music and Vogueing in The Winter's Tale
Students read Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. In groups, they "perform" Act 3, Scenes 1-3 by "striking a pose" that best depicts the characters in that scene and by bringing in music that would best accompany the scene.
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Illustrated Quotes of Julius Caesar
Third graders read and study William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and make a booklet of twenty illustrated quotations from William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar.
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Relationship Role Plays
High schoolers connect a scene from a play they are reading to events in their own lives. Working in male/female pairs, students act out a scene from "Hamlet." Pairs work to role play a scene as an extension of the one they have read,...