Shakespeare and Human Character

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 09.03.03

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Outline
  2. Introduction and Rationale
  3. Objectives
  4. Strategies
  5. Background for Teaching
  6. Strategies for Reading Shakespeare and Writing Like Shakespeare
  7. Playwriting 101—Ideas
  8. Classroom Activities
  9. Notes
  10. Bibliography
  11. Appendix A—Comparing Shakespeare's and Tate's Opening & Learning Rhetorical Tools
  12. Appendix B—Quote Toss-out

King Lear, Part II--It's All About the Play

Janelle A. Price

Published September 2009

Tools for this Unit:

Guide Entry to 09.03.03

In this unit, middle school students will use a myriad of scaffolding activities to read Shakespeare's The Tragedy of King Lear and write a one-act sequel using plausible plot threads from the play. To aid in teaching this unit, numerous strategies and methods are included such as: basic understanding of the play, its history of being rewritten and Shakespeare's original work not being seen by audiences for almost 150 years, comparisons between Shakespeare's and the rewritten version, Freytag pyramid analysis, discussion of themes, motifs, and symbols, Aristotle's definition of tragedy from the Poetics as it applies to the play, the influence of the Great Chain of Being, rhetorical and blocking exercises, playwriting tips, differentiation cues, and suggested activities to further aid in student comprehension and playwriting.

(Developed for Communications, grades 6-8; recommended for Creative Writing, grades 6-12, Communications, grades 6-8, and English I-IV, grades 9-12)

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