Lesson Plan #:AELP-EDT0018


Shakespeare Via the Internet

An Educator's Reference Desk Lesson Plan


Submitted by: Valerie Ignatenko
Email: vaist+@pitt.edu
School/University/Affiliation: University of Pittsburgh At Johnstown

Date: January 26, 2000


Grade Level(s): 12

Subject(s):

Description: This lesson serves to develop students' Internet skills in researching a familiar topic. The lesson also serves to reinforce knowledge acquired about the topic.

Goals: The students will be able to:

Objective(s): The students will be able to:
  1. gain experience in theatre and public speaking
  2. recognize how Shakespeare builds his characters and analyze their motives
  3. develop their creative writing skills
  4. become more acquainted with the computer by finding information about Shakespeare on the web,
  5. typing their play, e-mailing ideas to group members, creating a presentation on the web, and finally creating a class web page
Materials:
  • Shakespeare book
  • Handout for group instruction
  • Procedure:

    Activities: Hand out already on desk

    a. Attention getter

    On board-  September 27, 1594

    "Welcome to the London Theatre!  You have just been selected as the talented actors and actresses to perform one of the plays by the wonderful new playwright William Shakespeare."

    b. Instructions

    -Two plays are Much Ado about Nothing and Romeo and Juliet- both we have read in class
    You will be working in groups for this activity, but you will be doing very little interaction face to face with your group for the first few days.
    You will e-mail ideas to your group members while you are searching the web for information on Shakespeare, his plays, his life, etc.
    Be sure to e-mail your group members with links to the great web pages that you find.

    -After obtaining the e-mail addresses of your group members, e-mail back and forth to:

    1. Pick one act that your group will perform for this class
    2. Decide who plays each character
    -Be sure to pick the person who can best represent each character
    -The purpose of this is to recognize the distinguishing qualities of each character and attempt to portray these qualities in your chosen act
    3. Create a new ending for the scene to work on creative writing skills
    -This is what will be acted out in class
    -Be sure to keep the characters' personalities intact

    4. Evaluation

    -I will grade you on how well you seem to understand the characters through the acting out of the scene and by how well you can keep the personality
    the same in the new ending.
    -I will also grade you on your imaginative ending
    -You will be graded on how well you keep on task
    In addition,
    -Each group will evaluate another group on character understanding and creativity- I will grade you on your evaluation of another group
    -You will complete a self-evaluation after you have performed your act

    All of the above activities should take about 15 minutes

    c. Separate into groups

    -Raise hands to decide who goes in each group --  allow students to decide which play they would like to be in  -- about 5 people in each group

    5-10 minutes

    d. Assignment for the day

    -By the end of the class period each person should turn in:
    1. A typed paper with the names of group members and their e-mail addresses
    2. As many web addresses as you found today on Shakespeare ranking them
    from the best to the worst and tell why
    3. Intended act of performance
    4. Who plays what character
    5. Ideas for new endings

    -We will work of this project for one week and perform it beginning next Monday.

    This activity should take the remainder of class time

    For disabled students:
    All students can participate in this activity.  If moving around and acting is difficult for one person, they can have another part as something
    a bit less mobile.  If speaking is the problem, there are parts with no speaking involved.  Any problem that is encountered can be taken care of.
    Being that this is a group activity everyone will be able to work together and produce a quality performance and try to involve everyone.

    Shakespeare

    We have read two of Shakespeare's plays,  "Much Ado about Nothing", and "Romeo and Juliet".

    Your objective:
    To act out one act from either play, analyzing the characters motives.  But rather than just doing standard Shakespeare, your group will create a new
    and creative ending for the act.

    - While e-mailing between your group members:
    1.   Pick one act that your group will perform for this class
    2. Decide who plays each character
    -Be sure to pick the person who can best represent each character
    -The purpose of this is to recognize the distinguishing qualities of each
    character and attempt to portray these qualities in your chosen act
    3. Create a new ending for the scene to work on creative writing skills
    -This is what will be acted out in class
    -Be sure to keep the characters' personalities in tact

    Timeline
     
     
    Today:  E-mail group members to begin getting organized  (an assignment will be given in class)
    Tuesday: Work on this project in your groups using the word processor to type your ideas.  Each group member must use the computer for the same amount of time.
    Wednesday:  We will discuss with the rest of the class group ideas.  Each group is responsible for a 2-3 minute computer based presentation of their
    ideas on this assignment this far.
    Thursday: Writer of the Week
    Friday: Final touches, practice acting 
    Monday:  Begin performances
    Tuesday: Performances
    Wednesday: Guest speaker-School computer specialist, Mr. Carpenter, will teach us how to create a web page and why it is important
    Thursday: Begin creating web page that contains all of the plays that were written by this class

    ***Be as creative as you can with this.  Have fun with it.  Feel free to use props, music or anything else you can think of to make your performance
    better.***

    **If your group needs help with this project I will be available after school until 4:30, before school beginning at 7:00, 5th period, and of
    course during class.  Do not feel bad about asking for help! **

    Assessment:

    1.Teacher Evaluation

    Each student will be graded on:

    1. how well they understand the characters through the acting out of the scene
    2. how well they can keep the personality the same in the new ending.
    3. imaginative ending
    4. how well they can keep on task
    2. Peer Evaluations
    1. each group will evaluate another group on character understanding and creativity- I will grade you on your evaluation of another group
    2. each student will complete a self-evaluation on him/herself and on his/her group after performing his/her act
    (Because students will be evaluated by their group members, it would be a good idea if everyone in the group participated.)

    Useful Internet Resources:
    * The Shakespeare Web
    http://www.shakespeare.com/

    * Shakespeare Oxford Society Homepage
    http://www.shakespeare-oxford.com/

    * William Shakespeare and the Internet
    http://daphne.palomar.edu/shakespeare/

    * Shakespeare Bookshelf
    http://www.ipl.org/reading/shakespeare/shakespeare.html