Objectives
Students will learn how to analyze a character in a Shakespearean text. Using the scaffolding method of introducing students to Shakespeare, they will first look at a comic strip representation, then a children's version by E. Nesbit 3 2, afterwards a graphic novel and, finally, at excerpts of the original play. This method worked wonders last year in our unit. After being introduced to the comic strips, students said they were disappointed there was not enough information! This was a perfect bridge to the more challenging children's versions, graphic novels, and play excerpts. Armed with this understanding of Hamlet's plot and characters, students will be taught how to follow a process in analyzing the character of Hamlet and to write a character analysis about him. Last year, the unit's focus was on the identity of a character. Students expressed what type of person the character was by listing personality traits such as friendly, young, angry, intelligent and provided evidence from the text to prove what they had listed. This year's focus goes in-depth, explaining HOW to analyze a character and how to write a character analysis.
Our state's recommended curriculum units are created following the Understanding by Design model based on research and theory by Grant and Wiggins 3 3. The overarching idea is to teach for understanding beginning from the end, focusing on the question of what you want students to know. Enduring Understandings are the big ideas of the unit and are vital to students' comprehension of content and concepts. They have lasting value and help to make the content meaningful. In this unit these Enduring Understandings include: students will understand the author's use of a variety of means to develop the characters in their stories. They will also recognize that authors use characters to reveal aspects of human nature and/or life. In addition, they will realize that analyzing characters helps one to better understand the author's story. And lastly, they will come to appreciate that Shakespeare was a "master" at developing his characters, which makes his plays all the more interesting.
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