Why Shakespeare?

Why is Shakespeare still part of many secondary English/Language Arts programs?  For many of us education students we don't blink an eye about teaching Shakespeare (even if it slightly terrifies us), but for our future students just the thought of Shakespeare is reason enough to call in sick to school.  Recently I taught a lesson on Shakespearian language to a class of sophomores.  The main idea of the lesson was to teach ways to get through difficult language and I primarily used Billy Shakes as an example.  The lesson worked and as far as I can tell through my assessment techniques a solid amount of the class understood what I was teaching and are able to implement the techniques I suggested.  But, why did I teach it when I could have taught anything else?  Am I programmed just to assume Shakespeare is a necessary component of every student's education?


Why? Why? Why?  An argument might be that we need to use Shakespeare as a catalyst to teach about other areas, but aren't there other authors that can do the same?  I'm not sure that I want to answer why we need Shakespeare,  but it's something that I've been thinking about.  If I don't have to teach Shakespeare in my classroom, will I?  I'm not sure that "why SP is needed in our classrooms" is a term paper worthy topic, but it's one I'm thinking about.


And, for those of you fellow education majors...here is my lesson plan...it involves fun hats!

Lesson Plan Title:  Shakespeare and The Facts

Concept / Topic To Teach:  This lesson addresses how to simplify Shakespearian language in order to understand what the facts are and aid comprehension.

MT State Standards Addressed:

Communication Arts Speaking and Listening Content Standard 1

Students know and understand the role of the communication process and demonstrate effective speaking and listening skills.

• 1.3 apply and evaluate effective listening strategies to fit the purpose, situation, and setting of the communication
• 1.5 adapt communication to a variety of public, group, and interpersonal audiences, settings and purposes

Communication Arts Reading Content Standard 2

Students read by applying foundational skills and strategies to comprehend, interpret, analyze, and evaluate texts.

• 2.2 expand and utilize general and specialized vocabulary through the use of context clues, analysis of word origins, and reference sources
• 2.9 summarize text by determining main idea and analyzing essential and nonessential supporting details
• 2.10 make and justify complex inferences within and among multiple texts and/or forms of media

• 2.14 critique author’s purpose, point of view, bias, language use, and credibility to deepen understanding within and across culturally diverse texts, including those by and about Montana American Indians

Communication Arts Literature Content Standard 3

Students select, interpret, and respond to a range of literature

• 3.2 evaluate how diction, figurative language, imagery, detail, organization, and style shape meaning and impact works and readers

Communication Arts Writing Content Standard 5

Students will write to communicate effectively for a variety of purposes and audiences.

• 5.5 demonstrate knowledge of language choices and their impact on writing by showing purposeful control of voice, sentence fluency, and word choice

General Goal(s):

• Develop strategies for understanding difficult language
• Use activity to engage a variety of learners.

Specific Objectives (from Standards): Students will be able to

• Identify and list words and phrases that depict imagery in the passage
• Justify their choice of language imperative to the comprehension of the passage
• Communicate amongst their groups and classmates to depict the situation in the passage
• Demonstrate through oral and written work, as well as performance, how language choice impacts the essential understanding of the text.
• Comprehend the passage after being taught skills to simplify the language.

Required Materials (if necessary): 

• Each student will need a copy of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (or whatever play/poem the class is reading), and the passage of focus copied down for an overhead or prepared for a smartboard.  Example of passage: Titania’s speech in AMSND (2.1 lines 125-142)

TITANIA   Set your heart at rest: The Fairyland buys not the child of me. His mother was a vot'ress of my order, And in the spiced Indian air by night Full often hath she gossiped by my side And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands, Marking th' embarked traders on the flood, When we have laughed to see the sails conceive And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind; Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait, Following (her womb then rich with my young squire), Would imitate and sail upon the land To fetch me trifles and return again, As from a voyage, rich with merchandise. But she, being mortal, of that boy did die, And for her sake do I rear up her boy, And for her sake I will not part with him

• Colorful hats or props for at least half of the students.  Example: scarves, costume hats, masks

 Anticipatory Set (Lead-In):  When students enter the classroom a table will be set up with enough hats to outfit half of the students.  The hats are to be colorful and eye-catching; something you would see a character wear on a stage.

Step-By-Step Procedures (included projected time for each step):

1.  Read the chosen passage out loud for students.  Next, ask students to read the same passage out loud 2-3 times at their desks.  Ask students their initial ideas about what the passage is about and direct them to provide a short written response (PRE-assessment).  When finished ask for volunteers to share their ideas. Then have half of the class come up and choose a hat and find a partner to work with.  (10 minutes)

2.  While one student reads the passage out loud the other student in the group should wear the hat and pantomime the actions indicated in the passage. (e.g., gossiping in sands, laughing, grow big bellied).  Then the students will switch and repeat the exercise. (10 minutes)

3.  Put the passage on the overhead or smartboard and ask for student volunteers to eliminate all of the imagery from the passage, including descriptive words and phrases.  Essentially, pare the passage down to just the facts. (10 minutes)

4.  Read aloud the remainder of the passage.  (2 minutes) 

Possible example:  The Fairy land buys not the child from me.  His mother was a vot'ress of my order. And she gossip'd.  And sat with me.  And we have laugh'd.  But she did die. And do I rear up her boy. And I will not part with him

5.  Compare the new passage to the original passage.  Ask the students the following questions out loud and suggest they can take notes in their journals on ideas they hear: What important details are missing and which ones are still there?  How has the meaning changed?  When all of the mental pictures are removed, how does this change the meaning?  What phrases or words from the original should be returned to the passage for clarity?  Basically, what is essential? (FORMATIVE assessment) (10 minutes)

6.  Read the revised passage out loud again.  Ask the class to read the whole original passage out loud.  Then ask the student what they think about the passage (compared to their feelings before). (2 minutes)

Behavioral Expectations:  It is expected that students will be more excitable than usual because of the props and performance aspect of the lesson.  However, students are also expected to be able to calm down when it is necessary to work alone or volunteer answers in class.

 Plan For Independent Practice:  As homework, the students will finish the act that the initial speech is in.  They will continue to define words that they are not familiar with and then select passages that they are having trouble understanding and perform the same activities as above.

Closure (Reflect Anticipatory Set):  Teacher-prompted questions will ask the students to reflect on their impressions of the two different passages.  The class will also share ideas about when this activity could be useful when reading other materials, or in other classes, jobs, tasks, etc…  (5 minutes)

Assessment Based On Objectives (can be in the future as SUMMATIVE assessment):  Students will choose a short section of the play and prepare to perform it with a partner, or small group.  Like we did in the lesson, students will shave down the language to just the facts, then add back in words that are necessary for understanding.  Their comprehension will be assessed by their performance, as well as a one page (per student) explanation of how they worked with the language in order to gain a solid understanding of the text.

 Adaptations (For Students With Learning Disabilities):  This lesson and assignment can be altered to include necessary technology to aid certain disabilities.  Instead of acting out the scene, the students could draw what is happening in the scene to show they have comprehended the material.

 Extensions (For Gifted Students):  For students desiring more of a challenge the use of computer software, such as Xtranormal or GoAnimate could be incorporated for the students to create a presentation similar to the ones performed in class.  These students could also be asked to identify different passages in the play and create a visual representation of what is happening to detail their comprehension.

Possible Connections To Other Subjects:  This lesson could connect to speech or theatre class.  Also, because of the mythology and historical significance mentioned in most of Shakespeare this lesson could also connect to a history class.

References and Resources:  A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2.1 lines 125-142)