Before you begin your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest, introduce the themes of the play with a lesson based on the biblical story of Joseph. Taking your high schoolers through selected text from Genesis 17-44, the lesson encourages them to think about the ways that Joseph's story of betrayal and forgiveness connects to their own lives, and then to the play once they start reading.

Concepts

the tempest, william shakespeare, prereading, the bible

Show More Show Less

Additional Tags

english language arts

Show More Show Less

Instructional Ideas

• If you don't want to use the Bible in class, find an abridged version or summary of the Genesis story to bring to class in a worksheet

Classroom Considerations

• Part of the lesson is based on a story from the Bible, and the lesson provides a note for explaining to kids that regardless of their religious beliefs, the Bible is a historical text and a precedent to Shakespeare's writing; if you're teaching in a public school, be ready for parent concerns about reading the Bible in class
• Reference sheet with the Bible reading is very long (six pages), and may be too much for some readers, especially before reading Shakespeare

Pros

• Provides links to an easier version of the text and a more complex version
• Encourages kids to think critically about the themes they are about to read, and to explicitly compare two texts with very similar themes

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.9-10.1 RL.9-10.2 RL.11-12.1 RL.11-12.2