3–5 class periods
Final group project presentations and discussions
90 minutes or longer
Self-evaluation and group evaluation 10 minutes
Unit Description and Teacher Commentary
PREPARATION
(45 minutes)L E S S O N S E Q U E N C E A N D D E S C R I P T I O N T E A C H E R C O M M E N T A R Y
Pre-assessment of reading and writing skills.Distribute the Macbeth Pretest(see Sample 2.1, page 83) to measure stu- dents’ ability to read and interpret a passage of Shakespeare, analyze a character, and identify key character traits.
Some students who have struggled with Shakespeare in the past immedi- ately groan at the sight of this pretest.
I reassure them that its purpose is to help me figure out the best way to teach them.
Tell the students that you will read this passage through twice so that they may hear the language. If the class harbors a majority of novice students, it may be beneficial to show a cinematic clip of this scene before students begin the pre-assessment.
Because Shakespeare is meant to be performed, it is crucial that there be an auditory component in students’
first encounter with the text.
Ask students to complete the tasks that they know how to complete and make educated guesses about what they don’t know. Encourage them to just try their best.
Based on the pretest results, divide the students into three readiness groups—novice, on target, and advanced.
I let students know that if they can show sincere effort, I’ll count comple- tion of the pretest as a full-credit assignment; there will be no points off for incorrect answers. This relaxes the students and helps them be hon- est about what they know and don’t know.
Interest and experience inventory.Distribute theProduction Skills and Interest Inventory(see Sample 2.2, page 84) to determine students’ background in acting, directing, scene design, and so forth; their interest in historical periods and cinematic genres such as fantasy, history, action/adventure, and romance; and their prior knowledge ofMacbeth.
Students’ responses inform interest- and learning profile–based grouping throughout the unit and also help me balance the final project groups in terms of skill and genre preference.
I include a section for cinematogra- phy/editing because my school has access to video and video editing equipment—meaning that it’s possible for us to “film” the final presentations.
LESSON 1 My World, Will’s World
(3 class periods)Concepts:Elizabethan Culture GEN1, GEN5; SD3
L E S S O N S E Q U E N C E A N D D E S C R I P T I O N T E A C H E R C O M M E N T A R Y
Brainstorming session: The individual versus society.
Explain to students that the question, “Which comes first, the individual or society?” will be a central discussion point throughout the unit. Ask the class to brainstorm current- events issues where this question is in play.
This question about the individual versus society is relevant to many political issues, including free speech, security, privacy, and reproductive choice. Students relate to it easily and have little difficulty identifying cur- rent or recent events where leaders and citizens have been negotiating such issues.
Keep track of the brainstorming with a two-column list, recording the individual-rights perspective on one side and the societal-rights perspective on the other.
I’m careful to make sure this activity centers on the identification of issues rather than argumentation of political sides.
Mini-lecture: Control theory.Spend 5 to 10 minutes covering the concepts of William Glasser’s control theory.
Note:Control theory is also known as “choice theory.” For a quick and helpful survey of this theory, written in student language, consult Perry Good’sIn Pursuit of Happiness:
Knowing What You Want, Getting What You Need.
Key points include the following:
• Control theory teaches us to pursue what we need (love and belonging, freedom, fun, or power) in positive ways by making us aware of the moment-to-moment choices that we make in search of happiness.
• Control theory addresses the conflicts between personal choices and societal needs, asking us to consider how we can meet our own needs without preventing some- one else from meeting his or her needs.
• Control theory encourages us to think in terms of this question of conscience: “Am I choosing to be the best person I can be right now?” This theory is in direct con- trast to the medieval idea of fate and external locus of control, which, during Shakespeare’s time, was being challenged by Renaissance ideas of human empower- ment and creativity.
Control theory is a powerful tool to help students understand that a per- son’s needs—such as Macbeth’s ambition, which Glasser would call
“a need for power”—are not problem- atic in and of themselves. What can get us into trouble are the choices we make and behaviors we pursue to meet such needs. My intent here is to help students understand that the ambitious methods that brought Macbeth success in battle are no lon- ger the right strategy when he wants to pursue the power of the throne.
Control theory activity in flexible groups.Ask students to divide a sheet of paper into four quadrants, one for each need to be met: love, power, freedom, and fun. Then, ask students to list recent choices that they have made in an attempt to meet particular needs. This task should be completed individually.
Ask: How do you achieve love/belonging, power, freedom, or fun in your daily life? What specific behaviors do you pursue?
I’ve adapted this activity from Perry Good’sIn Pursuit of Happiness. It differentiates the content of whole-class instruction by interest, allowing students to begin from a subject of great personal interest:
themselves. Good’s task also har- nesses the visual mode and uses examples and illustrations from a range of student experiences.
Ask students to meet in small, self-selected groups to share the various ways that they meet their needs. Share examples of your own.
Because the subject is personal, stu- dents should have a say about who is in their group.
Next, ask the class to generate a group list of needs and fill in the “power” quadrant with examples of both positive and negative behaviors people may choose in order to meet their need for power. Introduce the synonym “ambition” for
“power,” and invite students to offer specific strategies—
positive and negative—of the ways in which people pursue power in politics, in personal relationships, at work, in athlet- ics, and in other arenas where choices are evident.
Tell students to think about the results of one particular behavior in the “power” quadrant and identify a behavior that sometimes gets them into trouble. Offer some example responses of your own, and encourage students who are com- fortable sharing their own responses to do so, as well.
Teacher modeling makes student sharing feel somewhat safer.
Working independently, students write a journal response to the following questions:
1. Did this behavior result in success for me? Explain.
2. Were the consequences ever opposite of what I hoped for?
How so?
3. Did I come in conflict with another person, group, or insti- tution? If so, what happened? Where did the conflict(s) occur?
4. Were there any obstacles to my achieving success? Did these obstacles arise from others trying to get what they wanted, or from my behavior in and of itself?
This interpersonal moment in instruc- tion helps students see how the choices of a medieval Scottish king are relevant to their own lives.
Depending on class chemistry and students’ comfort level with journals, I sometimes assign this journal work as a homework activity, especially if students are reticent about sharing personal experiences.
Mini-lecture: Overview of Elizabethan culture.Move on to a second short lecture focused on “Will’s World”—the troubled times of Shakespeare’s England. Incorporate visual representations of life during the period.
Key points:
• People in the Elizabethan age had firm cultural, spiritual, and philosophical beliefs about the “chain of being.”
• The revelation of The Gunpowder Plot (Guy Fawkes and his coconspirators’ plot to destroy Parliament, James I, and the royal family) led to great mistrust of the individual as someone potentially treasonous to king and country.
• There are parallels between the troubled times Shake- speare was writing in and our own, post-9/11 world.
Although I present this lecture for the entire class, I vary it somewhat for different sections depending on the general level of familiarity students have with the time period.
I do not provide a great deal of detail during this lecture because some of the students will be doing so as part of the next activity.
Differentiated group activities: Plotting the Plot.Divide the class into two groups, based on their familiarity withMacbeth as revealed in Part 2 of the Production Skills and Interest Inventory (see Sample 2.2).
This activity differentiates content in response to student readiness.
Group 1 (Students Who Know the Play Well)
Ask students who have previous experience with or exposure toMacbethto conduct further online research into the Gun- powder Plot, an event that occurred in England the year beforeMacbethwas (most likely) written and that was a major influence on many plays of the period.
A Web investigation helps students with prior knowledge of the play to deepen their understanding of its con- text while giving me a snapshot of their familiarity with the text.
Then, using their research, they will either prepare a dramatic re-enactment of the Gunpowder Plot or create an oral presentation that explores the event’s historical context.
Giving students the choice of present- ing the results of their research dra- matically or through a formal, lecture-style presentation differenti- ates the activity in response to stu- dent interest and learning profile.
Group 2 (Students Who Do Not Know the Play)
Divide these students into smaller heterogeneous groups of three to five. Distribute theTen-Minute Macbeth Activity Guidelines(see Sample 2.3, page 87). Group 2 students will work in their groups to create a scene of 10 minutes or less that predicts the plot ofMacbethand uses as many of the Top 10 lines as possible. Stress that students’ scenes should create a logical plot structure using one or more of the unit understandings.
Provide each group with index cards to use as optional cue cards.
I refer to students’ Production Skills and Interest Inventory responses to ensure that each of these small groups is balanced. Each group needs a strong facilitator/director, a student with acting experience, and students who have visual/spatial and linguistic strengths.
For students new to the play, expo- sure to small amounts of text synthe- sized in a creative, playful manner helps reduce “Shakesfear.”
I sometimes let students choose which unit understanding will be the basis for their skit; at other times, I assign understandings to guarantee that all are addressed.
Small-group presentations and whole-group discussion.
Begin with the Group 2 presentations predicting the plot of the play. After all of Group 2 has presented, ask the class to compliment the various “acting troupes” for creative ways in which they met the activity challenge and to identify the unit understandings in each skit.
Follow with the Group 1 presentation on the Gunpowder Plot.
Unit understandings overview.Close the lesson by returning to the unit understandings about the individual and society.
Ask: Do these statements seem to be true to you? Why?
As an alternative, time permitting, address unit understand- ings through inductive reasoning. Ask students to answer the following questions, thinking about the choices they make to meet their own needs:
Addressing the intrapersonal skill of self-reflection invites students to construct personal examples before a formal introduction to the text of Macbeth.
1. What generalizations can we make about individuals and their relationship to modern society, based on Glasser’s control theory?
2. What generalizations can we make about Elizabethan indi- viduals and their relationship to their society?
Be sure to add any missing unit understandings to the stu- dent-generated list.