Shakespeare Lesson Plans

Lesson 7 of 11 in Shakespeare Performance Unit

Preparing a Character for Performance Part One - Tools, Objectives, Tactics

by Anna Porter

Students use their Actor’s Homework Sheet to create a personal word list to explore their character. They will also identify how they will use voice and body to bring their character to life. Finally, students review character objective and tactics in order to create an objective statement with three active tactics they will use with their monologue.

Tactics List
Slide Deck Lesson 7

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Lesson 8 of 11 in Shakespeare Performance Unit

Preparing a Character for Performance Part Two - Laban's Efforts

by Anna Porter

Students explore and play with Laban’s Efforts, then select efforts to use in their monologue.

Laban Quick Sheet
Eight Efforts Blank Sheet
Laban Efforts Descriptions
Slide Deck Lesson 8

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Lesson 4 of 5 in Unlocking Shakespeare's Text Unit

Punctuation

by Anna Porter

Students will learn the clues and meaning behind the punctuation that Shakespeare used. Students will also dissect, analyze, and color code examples. They will also use physical movement tied to specific punctuation to help them explore how it can communicate meaning in the text. Students will then apply this and analyze their performance script by examining their punctuation.

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Lesson 6 of 11 in Shakespeare Performance Unit

Punctuation

by Anna Porter

Students will dissect, analyze, and color code punctuation examples. Students will use physical movement that is tied to specific punctuation to help them explore how it can communicate meaning in the text. Students will then apply this and analyze their monologue by examining the punctuation.

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Lesson 3 of 9 in A Midsummer Night's Dream Unit

Reading Act I | Analyzing Punctuation

by Drama Teacher Academy

Students have spent time being introduced to the story of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, studied a monologue, and reviewed some character development exercises. It’s time to read through the play. We will be reading Act I in sections, making sure students fully comprehend the characters and story. Students will also go through an acting technique that can help students become confident performers of Shakespeare. In this lesson, students will analyze the punctuation in A Midsummer Night’s Dream from an acting perspective.

Slide Deck Lesson 3

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Lesson 4 of 9 in A Midsummer Night's Dream Unit

Reading Act II | Keywords

by Drama Teacher Academy

In this lesson, students will read Act II in sections. Students will also go through an acting technique that can help them become confident performers of Shakespeare. Students will learn about keywords and how they can help student actors with Shakespeare.

Slide Deck Lesson 4

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Lesson 6 of 9 in A Midsummer Night's Dream Unit

Reading Act III | Finding Emotion and Action

by Drama Teacher Academy

In this lesson, students will read Act III in sections. Students will also go through an acting technique that can help them become confident performers of Shakespeare. Students will use analysis to explore finding emotion and action in the text.

Slide Deck Lesson 6

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Lesson 7 of 9 in A Midsummer Night's Dream Unit

Reading Act IV | Character Interpretation

by Drama Teacher Academy

In this lesson, students will read Act IV in sections. Students will also go through an acting technique that can help them become confident performers of Shakespeare. Students will research and discuss character interpretation.

Slide Deck Lesson 7

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Lesson 8 of 9 in A Midsummer Night's Dream Unit

Reading Act V

by Drama Teacher Academy

In this lesson, students will read Act V in sections. You can either move on to Lesson 9 and the culminating project, or you can add a class period and have students work in groups on the Pyramus and Thisbe section.

Slide Deck Lesson 8

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Lesson 2 of 11 in Shakespeare Performance Unit

Selecting Material

by Anna Porter

Students will select a monologue to use in this performance unit during the class period. They will also work in groups to create an entertaining and educational performance based off of a plot summary for one of Shakespeare’s plays.

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Shakepeare's Words: Iambic Pentameter

by Kerry Hishon

The objective of the lesson is for students to learn what iambic pentameter is and to have the opportunity to create their own monologues using iambic pentameter. This lesson is a useful complement towards studying classical works by playwrights such as William Shakespeare.

# Playwriting # Shakespeare # playwriting # Shakespeare

Shakespeare Setting and Soundscape

by Lisa Houston

In Elizabethan times, audiences at the Globe had to use their powers of imagination and listening to envision the worlds of Shakespeare’s plays. Today, modern audiences are treated to elaborate depictions of Shakespeare’s settings with expensive sets, lighting, projections, and sound. This lesson will test your students’ creative collaboration. They will design a set and soundscape in obstacle course form for one of Shakespeare’s plays using found objects, sounds, and actions.

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Lesson 4 of 5 in Performing Shakespeare Unit

Shakespeare Setting and Soundscape

by Lisa Houston

Students work together to create and explore an obstacle-course setting and soundscape for one of Shakespeare’s plays.

Slide Deck Lesson 4

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Shakespeare Tableaux

by Karen Loftus

Sometimes it’s less intimidating for students to approach Shakespeare’s language with a goal in mind. In this exercise students are given a line from a Shakespeare play out of context and asked to create a scene using three tableaux that tell a story. By approaching the language with an active goal in mind, students delve deeper into the language’s meaning and take control of the story.

# Shakespeare # Shakespeare # acting

Shakespeare: Finding Emotion and Action in Text

by Anna Porter

Students will understand how to uncover the directorial clues that Shakespeare left in his work by doing a textual analysis.

They will explore Emotional Outbursts, Action words, and Emotion words through a structured color coding analysis of a Shakespeare monologue.

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Lesson 1 of 5 in Performing Shakespeare Unit

Shakespeare: Finding Emotion and Action in Text

by Anna Porter

Students will use textual analysis to explore how to uncover the clues that Shakespeare left in his text. They will apply this knowledge to a monologue.

Slide Deck Lesson 1
Textual Analysis Example
Textual Analysis: Much Ado About Nothing

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Lesson 2 of 5 in Performing Shakespeare Unit

Shakespeare: Tableaux

by Karen Loftus

Students interact with Shakespeare’s language out of context to create expressive tableaux that tell a simple unrelated story.

Slide Deck Lesson 2

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Shakespearean Language: Match the Quotes

by Lindsay Price

Students will identify unfamiliar words on a page of Shakespeare quotes, translate those quotes into modern English, and act out the quotes to identify character/play clues. Students will then complete a quotes assignment and reflection. Plus! Bonus assignment.

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Lesson 5 of 5 in Performing Shakespeare Unit

Unit Project: Performing a Shakespearean Scene

by Matt Webster

Students analyze, rehearse, and perform Shakespearean scenes using the concepts introduced over the course of the unit.

Slide Deck Lesson 5

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