After finishing Act I, scene 1 from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, class members study the theme of control as it relates to the play and start an Evidence of Control note-catcher worksheet.

Scholars read the story "Pyramus and Thisbe," analyzing word choice, tone, and meaning. They then try to find the gist of the story and discuss how Shakespeare used the myth in his play A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Scholars continue reading the Greek myth "Pyramus and Thisbe," analyzing why it was written into Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Next, they complete a Venn diagram to compare the two texts.

How do the narrative and play versions of the myth "Pyramus and Thisbe" affect meaning? Scholars reread Act 5, Scene 1 from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and compare its structure to "Pyramus and Thisbe." Next, they use a...

Annoyed or bewitched—how does an author's word choice affect a text? Scholars begin the instructional activity by analyzing word choice in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Next, learners take a closer look at the narrative...

High school learners examine primary source materials on history and the supernatural which relate to Julius Caesar. They then act out a scene based on different historical understandings and identify facts, theories, and similarities in...

Here is an authentic assessment task for Shakespeare's Macbeth. Young literature scholars prepare, perform, and record a news broadcast about the major events in the play. For example, groups may choose to report on the death of Lady...

  Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble. Macbeth’s witches provide young actors an opportunity to try their hand at small ensemble acting. Using Act I, scene I of Shakespeare’s play, groups of three take...

Should Romeo and Juliet have revealed their engagement to their parents? After reading Acts I and II of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, your class discusses this question with a SMARTboard presentation (though the lesson plan still...

Shakespeare can be a challenge to the most skilled high school readers. This selection of short answer questions helps increase understanding of the character, Katherine, by addressing dialogue, tone of voice, making inferences, and...

Five questions help you assess readers' understanding of Act 5 of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. Several of the questions go beyond basic understanding and require higher level thinking and analysis.

Help young researchers find credible sources online. Modeling with a Google search for information about Shakespeare’s Macbeth, use a computer projector or Smart Board to show class members how weak the top three search results are....

What was Shakespeare's intent? That is the question at the heart of a summer assignment designed for AP English Literature. Class members focus on five scenes from The Tempest and compare the interactions of Prospero, Caliban,...

To demonstrate their understanding of characterization in The Winter's Tale, groups create a Facebook profile for one of the characters in Shakespeare's play.

Introduce class members to the conventions of the romance genre and the theme of familial relationships with Mahlon F. Craft's illustrated Sleeping Beauty. The themes are a focus of their study of The Winter's Tale.

After reading Julius Caesar 1.2 and 1.3, break your class into pairs for this role-play. Each pair will receive one of four prompts (or more, if you create additional examples), in which one person tries to persuade the other to do...

Connect a scene from a class play to events in your middle and high schoolers' own lives. First, they act out a scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream in pairs. They work to role play a scene as an extension of the one they have read,...

Shakespeare was such a talented writer, but why? It must be his use of figurative language, blended with his clever, twisting plots. This worksheet focuses on his use of metaphor, simile, personification, oxymoron, and hyperbole within...

Readers of Twelfth Night use a KWHL chart to record information about what they know about Shakespeare's play, what they want to find out, how they plan on finding this information, and what they have learned or still want to learn about...

Who speaks the first line of Shakespeare's Hamlet? Who is the last character to die in the tragedy? Whose death drives Ophelia mad? Readers' knowledge of the play is tested by 24 such clues in a crossword puzzle.

Lovers, madmen, and readers of A Midsummer Night's Dream will need seething brains to complete a crossword puzzle designed for Shakespeare's engaging comedy.

Oh, beware, reader of the clues in a Othello crossword puzzle. What you know of Shakespeare's tragic tale of the Moor, his wife Desdemona, and the manipulative Iago, you know. Or you just might have to use the text of Othello to find the...

What is the setting of Romeo and Juliet? Who is the rich count who wants to marry Juliet? The 24 clues in a crossword puzzle test readers' knowledge of the events in Shakespeare's famous play of two young star-crossed lovers.

Learners won't consider a practice crossword puzzle on Shakespeare's Julius Caesar proves to be the unkindest cut of all. As they complete the puzzle, high schoolers review key concepts and characters from the play, checking both...