Shakespeare in Your Classroom

It can be as simple as...

reader’s theatre

performing for a partner class

Or as elaborate as...

a full school production

Take Away Package

• Script for Hamlet• Intro lesson for Hamlet• Rubrics• Compliments & Insults• Idioms• Wiki address

http://ugdsblearningfair.wikispaces.com

Understanding

• Character• Plot• Themes• Setting

*Need to be understood before the script is read or the play is acted.

Introducing the Play• Hype it up!• Hook em!• Have props on hand• You don’t have to be an actor to do this... as

you will see.

Visual Timeline

Timeline – outlines main events in plot

Use tableaux to visually represent the plot and reinforce understanding

Tableau – review and model key elements of effective tableau for students (different levels, focal point, facial expression, frozen)

Digital Timeline

Press Conference / Hot Seat

• “We hear that there is going to be a duel tomorrow”

• Strange things have been going on at the castle, the Press Secretary will be holding a conference tomorrow to answer some of the public’s questions

• Gertrude, King Claudius, Hamlet, Ophelia, Polonius, Laertes

Press Conference / Hot Seat Characters

• Hot seat characters are interviewed in a press conference environment

• Purpose: Discover the motivation of the characters

• Improvise in role• Rotate kids so that everyone has a chance to

participate

Press Conference / Hotseat Gallery• Audience each take a role as a member of the press• Each ‘press’ designs their own logo / name etc.• Students think of 3 questions to ask each of the

charactersi.e., "Did you really love Ophelia?" "How did you feel when you killed Polonius?"

• Teacher is mediator• Culminating Task : Write a newspaper article about what

they learned during the press conference

Comic Strip Scenes

Epitaph Writing

• Examine Shakespeare’s epitaph• the epitaph on William Shakespeare's tombstone says:

Good friend for Jesus sake forebear Too dig the dust enclosed heare Blessed by man spares her stones And crust he moves my bones.

• Choose a character to write an epitaph for

Shakespearean Language - Idioms

Literal meaning• Illustrate• Prompt

– “I think this idiom means...”

Figurative meaning• Illustrate• Research to discover

meaning• Explain in own words• Use in a new sentence

Compliments and Insults

• Develop compliments and insults like Shakespeare’s language

• Improvise a conversation between pairs• “Primary Students Perform Shakespeare”

Writing Like Shakespeare• Thee, thy, thine, thou, shall and art lesson

Modern:Your eyes are like stars, your skin is like porcelain, and I will love you forever. If

you are with me, then my rod and staff will comfort me.

Translation:Thine eyes are like stars, thy skin is like porcelain and I will love thee forever. If

thou art with me, then my rod and my staff shall comfort me.

• Writing letters in role to pen pals• Writing letters in role to another character• Writing letters of advice (column)

Top 10 Shook up Shakespeare

• Hamlet & The Lion King • Romeo and Juliet & West Side Story• Taming of the Shrew & 10 Things I hate about

you & Kiss Me Kate• O & Othello• Hamlet & Ashboy• Twelfth Night & She’s the Man

Other Activities

• Scrapbook – portfolios• Research history of Shakespeare’s time• Song writing (‘Oor Hamlet)• Songs to match the scenes• Words that are still used today, words that

may have been created from his play

Mental Imagery - Visualization

• Setting• Mood• Preparing to understand script • “Tapping in” activity

Text Features of a Script

• Character :• Italics• Parentheses (stage directions)• Scene summaries

Teaching the Script

• Read it first to assist with pronunciation• Vocabulary discussions• Reader’s theatre slant• Stop and dissect the script as you go• Review summary• Scene by scene – read first, put script down,

improvise scene

Extensions

• Create a movie poster• Create a trailer• Blog in character – Such Tweet Sorrow

(twitter)• Add in ‘deleted scenes’ using ideas from off

stage scenes (i.e., Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are dead)

How Can You Perform?

• Each student has one specific role, or• Each role has many students playing it, or• ½ and ½ splitting roles

• Perform for your own class, or• Perform for other classes in school, or• Perform for another class doing the same play, or• Large school production (Rafe Esquith)

Links and Online Resources• In Search of Shakespeare

• Shakespeare in the Elementary Classroom• The Hobart Shakespeareans• Internet Shakespeare Editions• Open Source Shakespeare• Such Tweet Sorrow – an experiment in Shakespeare and Twitter• Lois Burdett – author of Shakespeare Can Be Fun! Scripts for kids (Mabeth for kids,

Hamlet for kids, A MND for kids etc.)• Folger Shakespeare Library – Online Resources for teachers• Primary School Students put Shakespeare on Screen – news article from the London

Times – talks about procedure and production

Quick TipsShakespeare for Elementary StudentsBe fearless! Your kids are.Elementary school students are not yet worried about what they don't know. Interest them in Shakespeare now, before they become convinced that reading him is "hard."

Start with the Stories.Shakespeare adaptations for children have been around almost as long as Shakespeare's plays. Read these stories aloud to your students or provide them with copies for individual reading. Many of these books have gorgeous illustrations.

Shakespeare inspires.Read Shakespeare's stories to children and watch their imaginations take off. Provide them with plenty of art supplies and see where their imaginations take them.

Play with the language.Shakespeare wrote plays, not novels, and his language is full of short passages that are fun to act out or play with. Many of Shakespeare's plays contained songs - start with those.

Start small.You don't need to study an entire play with your students. Begin with a particularly exciting scene-one with lots of action.

Be prepared.The more comfortable you are with the material, the more comfortable the students will be. But don't worry if you are not a Shakespeare scholar. You and your students can discover the works together.

Connect it to your students' lives.Begin a study of a Shakespeare play with a few improvisational activities. Ask the students, "How would you feel if... you woke up as a donkey... you liked a boy/girl whose parents fought with your parents... you found yourself shipwrecked on a strange island... etc.?"

Keep it moving.At the elementary level, it's important to keep the learning active. Make sure students are up on their feet speaking Shakespeare's words and acting out his scenes.

Create a safe environment for performance.When your kids are ready to perform scenes, go over audience etiquette. Ask students what makes a good audience (listening, applauding after a performance, being respectful of actors, etc.).

Stress the qualities of a good actor. Tell students that they need to be seen and heard when on stage.

Character Gauntlet