Curated OER
Merely Players
Disguises and role playing are the focus of a resource that uses Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Twelfth Night, and Henry IV, Part I, to demonstrate how we all play many parts in our lives; how we all are “merely players.” The many...
Curated OER
What's in a Name? Considering the Shakespeare Authorship Question
Did Shakespeare really write all that stuff? After viewing a trailer for the film, Anonymous and reading Stephen Marche’s article “Wouldn’t It Be Cool If Shakespeare Wasn’t Shakespeare?” class groups read articles about the Shakespeare...
Curated OER
Shakespeare and Poe Teach Six-Trait Writing
A Six-Trait Writing instructional activity helps your middle schoolers liven up their word choice and shows them how to evaluate their own writing. Class members take a close look at the language used in poems by Shakespeare, Kipling,...
Curated OER
Allusions to Shakespeare in Popular Culture
Send your high schoolers on a scavenger hunt through popular culture (music, television, video games, movies) to find allusions to Shakespeare. They must each provide three to share with the class, and the one they present cannot have...
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...
Shakespeare Uncovered
Merely Players
“. . . one man in his time plays many parts,/His acts being seven ages.” Jaques famous speech from Act II, scene vii of As you Like It sets the stage for an examination of the roles people play. Class members not only consider the roles...
Curated OER
A Way with Words or Say What?
Young scholars explore the language of Shakespeare. In this literature lesson plan, students examine words invented by Shakespeare as they interpret their meanings in drawings. Young scholars pantomime the meanings and then write a short...
Curated OER
Shakespeare's Words
Students explore monologues of Shakespeare and the structure of the Globe Theatre. They participate in a Shakespeare phrase guessing game, examine a diagram of the Globe Theatre, and read and discuss monologues from Shakespeare.
Curated OER
A Way with Words or Say What?
Learners examine Shakespearean language. In this word study lesson, students investigate the meaning of words that Shakespeare invented. Learners draw and pantomime with the words prior to writing short stories that feature Shakespeare's...
Curated OER
Much Ado About Illumination
Students analyze the language and characters in the Shakespeare play, Much Ado About Nothing. In this Shakespeare play instructional activity, students read section of the play and discuss the speech of Benedick and Claudio. Students...
Curated OER
Shakespeare by Choice
Students identify the most important elements in a scene. In this editing a scene lesson, students decide what elements are absolutely necessary to a scene. Students discuss the main criteria for editing or cutting a scene and decide...
EngageNY
Character Confessions: Peer Critique of Narratives
Shake up the writing process with a peer critique. The second of four lessons in the Grade 8 ELA Module 2B, Unit 3 series first has young writers compare their interpretations of a scene from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's...
PBS
Does Art Imitate Life?
Write what you know, sound advice for any writer and something many famous authors are known to have done. Use these materials to explore how Shakespeare's life influenced his plays. This resource is packed with readings, video segments,...
Curated OER
Character Found Poems: Investigating Language in Twelfth Night
Students create found poems to represent characters in Twelfth Night. In this Shakespeare lesson, students discuss how to compose found poems and select characters from the play to write their poems about.
Curated OER
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.
Curated OER
For Thy Sweet Love Remembered Such Wealth Brings
Students read sonnets and choose one which contains words or phrases that create an emotional reaction to study the Shakespearean language. In this Shakespearean sonnet lesson, students read Shakespeare sonnets and circle words that...
Curated OER
Divinity of hell: Soliloquies, Cutting and Computers
Students use a computer to read text from Shakespeare's "Othello." They attempt to read through his soliloquies, and reduce the amount of words in each bit of text.
Curated OER
The Language of Shakespeare
Students write and perform a scene using Elizabethan language. They study the language of William Shakespeare.
Curated OER
Touchstone Vs. Jaques: a Analyzing Mood in As You Like It
Students recognize ways Shakespeare creates and uses mood augment their analysis of the text and help them in making performance choices. They, in groups, select words, phrases, lines, that reveal their character's mood.
Curated OER
A Cloe Reading of Shakespeare On Your Feet
Students act outeach word in a Shakespearean speech. In this reading technique instructional activity, students learn passages from Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew reading using their bodies to act out each word. Students...
Shakespeare in American Life
"We Few, We Happy Few": Motivational Speech in Henry V
Class members may "think themselves accurs'd" when they first hear of an assignment that asks them to create a motivational speech. After studying the Saint Crispin's Day speech from Shakespeare's Henry V; however, they will count...
Curated OER
What is Hamlet Thinking?
Students explore Hamlet's character. In this Shakespeare lesson, students read the selected lines from Hamlet and write any unusual or difficult phrases. Students highlight the names of characters who speak the lines and underline words...
Curated OER
Sculptures of the Seven Ages
Young scholars simulate sculptors and clay to help them explain abstract phrases in a soliloquy.
Curated OER
Welcome to Venice
Young scholars read the opening scene of the play, The Merchant of Venice without receiving any background information. They analyze and discuss the relationships between the six characters, and determine the social status of the...