Amelia and Sarah's Lesson Plan

Sarah Kron

Amelia Dunlap

457 Lesson Plan

Unit Title: Shakespeare through Taming of the Shrew

Unit Objective: Students will demonstrate their understanding of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew by performing a collaborative documentary theatre-style scene from the play, in groups.

Class Level: Advanced (11th-12th grade)

MLE Core Principles:

1. Media Literacy Education requires active inquiry and critical thinking about the messages we receive and create.

2. Media Literacy Education expands the concept of literacy to include all forms of media (i.e., reading and writing).

6. Media Literacy Education affirms that people use their individual skills, beliefs and experiences to construct their own meanings from media messages.

Theatre Core Standards:

CONTENT STANDARD 2: Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining characters in improvisations and informal or formal productions

CONTENT STANDARD 8: Understanding context by analyzing the role of theatre, film, television, and electronic media in the past and the present

Lesson 2: Language & Conversational Shakespeare

Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to understand Shakespeare’s language by performing a short scene of Shakespearian dialogue.

Completed Readings: Taming of the Shrew Acts I-III National/Core Standards for Theatre:

Hook: Modern Music

• Random modern music playing as students enter room (“Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” by Will Smith, “Stronger” by Kanye West)
• Let students settle into class & listen, then switch to clips and call their attention to listening closely. Use whatever music is popular for your demographics
• Discuss:
• What is each song talking about?
• How do the artists express their meanings?

Step 1:

• Random groups: let them choose a random idea (from index cards) and have them come up with a song/rap/rhythmic poem (i.e. "awkward first date", "waking up late and missing a midterm", "meeting the man of your dreams", etc.)
• Let groups perform their rap/song/rhythmic poem
• Discuss:
• How did you communicate meaning through your raps/poems?

Step 2:

• Pass out excerpts of Shakespeare Scenes from Taming of the Shrew
• Play congruent clips from 10 Things I Hate About You
• Discuss:
• What are the similarities and differences between the language and means of communication between the text and film?

Step 3:

• Pass out a short modern dialogue scene and have 2-3 volunteers cold read it
• Pass out a short Shakespeare dialogue scene and have 2-3 more volunteers cold read it
• Discuss:
• How can we make Shakespeare's language more accessible as we speak it/perform it?
• In same groups as the rap have them practice for 10 minutes and then perform their 1-2 minute scenes for class

Conclusion:

• Give students 10-15 minutes at the end of class to work on final project performance