Activities
This unit is based on character and how students can relate to the character traits found in the play. The activities, therefore, would be reflective of a student’s understanding of Hamlet and the inherent nature of the individual characters, and the student’s understanding of the play as a whole. The activities will require that students relate to the play and relay their understanding in a manner that is contemporary and infused with the use of technology.
Activity One
While we are reading, students will create a Facebook page imitating that of the character they have selected. For example:
I am given the character of Horatio. I know that he is intelligent and logical. He is the school friend of Hamlet. He does not believe in the ghost, at first. He listens more than he speaks and he is the character who survives at the end of the play. My Facebook name would be “Horatio The Thinker” [as there will be many Horatios in the class]. My “Profile” Picture would be a stack of books to represent logic or an ear to represent listening. Everything about my Facebook page would be consistent with that of Shakespeare’s character.
This Facebook profile will be graded. It assesses the students’ understanding of specific character traits and their ability to relay Shakespeare’s character into 21st Century technology and environment. Students will be required to post weekly and respond accordingly to the posts of other characters.
Activity Two
In order to keep students aware of the text as a whole, and not just the characters, a task directly related to the text is necessary. My idea is to have students create a movie trailer for the Act we’ve just finished. The class would be divided into five groups. At the end of each Act, one group would create a one minute movie trailer to advertise and summarize the major moments of that scene. The students would use their own cell phones and classmates to accomplish the task. Props need to be reflective of props in that scene. Modernization is allowable, but to a limit. Accompanying this movie trailer would be a thirty second commercial, advertising or selling s notion/idea/instrument in that scene. For example: In Act 5, poison is the main instrument used for murder. Thus, the group would do a commercial advertising poison in any fashion they choose. The commercial can be as modern as the students would like it to be.
Likewise, in Act 2, Polonius and Laertes have conversations with Ophelia about Hamlet and his intentions toward her. They feel she has a need to be cautious and thus warn her about relationships and lust. Students might choose to advertise a Chastity Belt in their thirty second commercial. The advertisement does not have to be found directly in the text. However, there has to be a direct correlation between what is advertised and what is stated or inferred.
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