Task Objective:
1.
To fully experience Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
2.
To understand the man and the era in which he lived
3.
To work together to complete a poster and presentation goal
4.
To do research and give credit to sources
5.
To present researched information to the rest of the class
Day 1
Brainstorm with the whole class. Question—“Who
was William Shakespeare?”
When was he born?
What did he do in his life? What
plays did he write? Did he
have a family? Children?
Where did he live?
Put student ideas up on the board.
Put students in small groups (3-4) and complete the,
“What do you think life was like 500 and 400 years ago?” worksheet.
It can be found at the bottom of this page.
Day 2
Discuss group worksheets.
Now we need to find out if our predictions were correct.
Show power point show, which can be found below,
where students will be in groups of 2 to complete the poster and
presentation projects. Discuss
project and then arrange students into groups of two. Let them discuss which area they would like to research.
Students will also be allowed to choose any other topic of interest
not contained in the power point show, concerning this era and time, for
example, kings and queens, weaponry, transportation, etc.
Have students sign up for the group research project they will
complete. Remind students to
focus on their specific topic and carefully choose which information they
will use. They will need a
bibliography page, so keep a running account of all resources used!
Day 3, Day 4, and Day 5
These days will be used as research and presentation
preparation time. Teacher
will be the facilitator, rotating around the room as an assistant to the
student. A check sheet of
some kind will be necessary to keep track of how students use their time.
The number of days must be flexible as each class may need more or
less time.
Day 6 and Day 7
Student groups present and explain their posters and
give their presentations over their topics.
Day 8 and Day 9
Watch the movie, Shakespeare in Love—Which I edit
by taking some of the scenes out that are objectionable.
This movie portrays what life was probably like during the time of
Shakespeare. To set the purpose for
reading Macbeth, begin a discussion concerning motivation
and the drive for success. What
would you be willing to do to become the ruler of a country?
Cheat a friend? Lie? Leave your family and friends? Murder? Kill an
old man?
Day 10-End of the Play
Begin reading Shakespeare’s Macbeth together in
class. I project the
following web site up on the TV screen which gives vocabulary definitions
and scene by scene explanations to help us understand the language and
what is going on.
http://www.shakespearehelp.com/macbeth_guide/Default.htm
At the end of the acts, I usually have students take
a quiz or answer questions that appear at the end of the acts. Sometimes
they work in small groups to answer these questions.
COMMENT—The nice part about doing the projects
before the play is that the student posters decorate the room and add to
the Renaissance atmosphere.
