Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Promptbook Act 2.1: Katherine vs. Petruchio
Compile a promptbook with your young theater designers using a scene from Taming of the Shrew. The instructional activity outlines several activities, though it doesn't provide any examples of a promptbook or text from the play....
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 11
Class members take center stage as groups perform scenes from Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope. Actors are encouraged to add stage directions to the script, as well as create costumes and props to...
Curated OER
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead: Reader's Theatre
Plays are meant to be performed! After reading the entire play, invite your learners to choose a scene from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead that relates to earlier class discussion about characters, motifs, and themes to interpret...
Royal Shakespeare Company
King Lear Teacher Pack 2010
Every production of Shakespeare's plays is different—the director and designer must decide upon a theme. For his 2010 production, David Farr and his team decided to emphasize the conflicts that follow a regime change. The materials in a...
Curated OER
Characters in Live Performance
Your intermediate or advanced thespians choose dramatic scenes to perform in duos, small groups, or solo to demonstrate vocal and physical characterization. Use class time to prepare and rehearse. Detailed rubrics work for peer assessment.
Orlando Shakes
Two Gentlemen of Verona
What teenager can't relate to the drama of a love triangle? Scholars put their literary skills to use in a gripping role-play drama. William Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona unfolds as the classroom becomes a stage of young actors.
Curated OER
Understanding Stage Design: Using Visual Elements to Provide Information to an Audience
Learners study about theatrical design by developing environments for improvised and scripted scenes. They develop focused ideas for an environment using visual elements.
BBC
Julius Caesar Teacher Pack
A great actor has the ability to make or break a play. A series of lesson plans related to William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar looks closely at the choices actors make during a production of the play to help provide insight into the...
Curated OER
Writing Drama-Trying Your Hand at being a Playwright
Fifth graders chart the elements of drama. In this performing arts activity, 5th graders discuss the role of a playwrite, practice doing some Reader's Theatre scripts, write a paragraph about a problem between two people, and perform...
Curated OER
"As You Like It" by William Shakespeare
Jacque's soliloquy from Act II, scene ii of As You Like It sets the stage for a close reading exercise that models how to approach difficult, dense text and enables readers to practice reading comprehension and analysis skills. Learners...
Curated OER
In Search of Caesar's Ghost
Students collaborate in small groups to choose a scene that they write in place of a scene in Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar". In this dramatic expression lesson, their scripts include roles, lines and stage directions. Students...
Curated OER
JANE AND THE DRAGON
Third graders act out a play called Jane and the Dragon. Students develop vocabulary through dialogue. They delve into the feelings of others through learning about the characters. They also identify the characteristics of various types...
John F. Kennedy Center
Folktale Theatre
Introduce your middle schoolers to a performance and movement activity that uses their favorite stories from fairytales and folklore. They practice basic acting skills, create dialogues with a partner, and then as guided practice,...
Curated OER
The Odyssey
Students write a dramatic scene based on The Odyssey and perform it for the class. In this living literature lesson plan, students work in small groups to discuss the way the characters look, act, and sound. They then choose scenery and...
Curated OER
Drama: A Streetcar Named Desire
Twelfth graders examine all the descriptions of costumes, props, movement, lighting and music in the stage directions of A Streetcar Named Desire. They begin to imagine this drama as a production, not simply a script. Students perform...
Curated OER
Act It Out!
An effective way to demonstrate understanding is by synthesizing one's own work. Use a creative lesson plan designed for a unit on Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun for small groups to show what they know about the play, its...
Curated OER
You Kiss the Book: Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
High schoolers analyze imagery in Shakespeare's, Romeo and Juliet, and act out the passage to see how the author includes stage directions with his poetry.
Curated OER
Final Project for Unit on Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun"
Twelfth graders read and analyze Act III of "A Raisin in the Sun." They write and create the first scene of an imaginary Act IV, writing dialogue, themes, and stage direction for the characters.
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Characters from a Box
Character analysis is a skill we use when we read literary works or want to write a good story. Learners will use drama to practice character analysis while focusing on the details that make characters act the way they do. They'll each...
Curated OER
Acting Out The Story, Jane And The Dragon
Third graders reflect on and discuss the story, Jane and the Dragon, and portray their understanding of stereotyping through the actions of their character. Through the use of legends, drama can be used to educate understanding for other...
Curated OER
Drama-Dialogue
Use drama to study and practice dialogue. Creative minds discuss what dialogue tells about a character, and how it can be used to advance the plot. They read a play, think about what they gleaned from dialogue, and record their...
Curated OER
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
Students, after reading the book, "Esperanza Rising," create a virtual display by combining different story elements into a visual representation. They choose the setting and characters of a scene that will act as a springboard of ideas...
Curated OER
Tempest in the Lunchroom
Pupils act out opening shipwreck scene of The Tempest, or watch and direct others doing it.