Idea Transcript
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Unit written by Bill Boly and Amanda-Jane Nelson, 2010
Edited by Kelly J. Gomes
Unit Introduction – Midsummer Night’s Dream Often when we plan to “do” Shakespeare with our students we gravitate to the blood and gore; Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar anyone? and often forget about the comedies. Maybe it is we think this lighter fare is more suited for the middle schoolers, but we are doing our students a disfavor if we don’t apply critical thinking and reading to a variety of the Bard’s work. This unit is based on the guiding thought that Shakespeare is meant to be acted, not read, and there are many lesson plans that we have borrowed heavily from Folgers’ Shakespeare Set Free. We have used the idea of the student Reading Journal as the unifying piece of work throughout. You will want to adapt how you use the Reading Journal for your individual needs; we have supplied a set of Reading Journal questions that address different levels of understanding and thoughts, from literal to more philosophical. The essential questions of the unit – What is Real? and What is Love? --can also be addressed through the Reading Journal. The prompts are for teacher use, and not expected to be used as a student handout.
We have not included vocabulary quizzes, though you may want to. The Reading Journal can be a place to keep track of new and difficult vocabulary for your students. Word Walls could also be employed. We have also not included quizzes based on the events in each act, though you may want to. The students could keep bullet-point summaries in their Reading Journals, if you want to make sure they have a basic understanding of whom the characters are and what they do.
There are two elements to the assessment piece; a performance and an on-demand timed piece of writing and these are both worked on throughout the unit.
If you have more time, or want to rework the unit for your needs you might want to watch the whole of a film production with your students. We recommend the Michael Hallcroft version, and we have included reviews of some of the available versions. There is also a wonderful adaptation of the story in the brilliant BBC series Shakespeare Retold. They do not use Shakespearean language and take some liberties with the text, but students would be captivated if you wanted to offer it as an extra credit/honors opportunity.
It is that idea that is at the heart of our differentiation strategy for the unit. We have provided differentiated questioning strategies throughout, so you can create a “pick and mix” menu that suits your needs. You will also see in the annotated resource list ideas for prose retellings, film versions, audio books and graphic novels of the text. There are many ways to make the story accessible and let the 2
students feel success. The two forms of final assessment allow for students of differing skills and learning styles to shine – there are two big bites at the final assessment. We have provided tiered final prompts so you can offer the ones that most suit your students. We feel the entire unit is tiered. It might also be the only unit with differentiated rubrics. The first is in student friendly language and asks them to score themselves, before you score it and this can act as the beginning of a conversation about where they are at this moment in time with these skills. The second rubric is a more specific, teacher-friendly version that really hones in on the skills and tasks they are being asked to perform. You will also see that we have provided student samples if you wanted to show students a high, medium and low attempt at writing on this subject. This could provide a base for several writing craft lessons. The different types of activities in this unit lend themselves to different styles of learning; writing, reading, acting out, drawing, the film version, graphic organizers, and we hope that this helps all the students in your classes grasp this wonderful tale. Part of the reason we are still reading Shakespeare four hundred years on is that he writes about what it is to be human; what teen won’t recognize the pain of being “in love” with someone who isn’t in love with you, or interfering parents, or just wanting to believe in the magic of the world? We hope this unit helps bring Midsummer Night’s Dream alive in your classroom.
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Midsummer Night’s Dream Stage 1 – Desired Results Priority Standards (4-5 only): Number and brief summary 10.01 Analyze figurative language 10.09 Identify and analyze the development of themes 10.10 Identify character traits and their effects 10.11 Describe function and effect on literary work of common literary devices 10.13 Evaluate subtleties, ambiguities, contradictions and ironies in a text 10.14 Evaluate how conflict and setting are used to establish, mood, place, time, culture and contribute to theme 10.18.1 Develop a thesis 10.18.2 Support a position with precise and relevant examples and evidence 10.18.8 Compare and contrast themes, characters, ideas and stylistic devices 10.20 Interpret a speaker’s verbal messages and non-verbal messages to determine a speaker’s purpose, perspective, and/or attitude. Understandings Essential Questions Students will understand … What is Real? The classic definition of Comedy. What is Love? Authors choose language precisely to create an How do we communicate meaning through effect on the reader. drama? An acting troupe’s interpretation shapes the meaning of a particular version of a play. Shakespeare’s plays are primal and connect directly with their own concerns and human experiences. Students will know ….(facts and knowledge) Students will be able to ….(apply skills) Facts about Shakespearean Theatre and the Appreciate and understand Shakespearean Elizabethan World View. language. Events and characters in MSND. Perform a scene with attention to blocking, The difference between prose and blank verse and, movement and meaning. and to what effect, each is used. Identify famous lines form the play both in context Some common differences between Elizabethan and meaning. and modern English in pronoun and verb forms. Paraphrase Shakespearean language into contemporary restatements of the same ideas Identify the subtext of speeches. Memorize and render a short line speech from the original text.
Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence
Culminating Assessment (authentic): Performance On-demand literary analysis and short answer exam
Other Evidence (variety of forms and modes) Recitation Comparing two versions of a scene Reading NoteBook Designing sets/costumes Vocab and literal level quizzes, as needed Tableau Vivants
What widely-available district resources will your unit address? Midsummer Night’s Dream and Write Source can be used to help with writing skills, as and when needed. 4
Stage 3 -- Learning Plan: A Midsummer Night’s Dream Activity Title
Priority Standards
Lesson #1: Essential Questions: Escher and Perception Lesson#2 Reading Journal Set Up and Differentiated Options
10.09 Identify and analyze the development of themes
10.01 Analyze figurative expressions, comparisons, and analogies 10.10 Identify the qualities of character, and analyze the effect of these qualities 10.09 Identify and analyze the development of themes 10.13 Evaluate subtleties, ambiguities, contradictions, and ironies in the text.
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Lesson #3: Pre-Assessment
10.01 Analyze figurative expressions, comparisons, and analogies 10.10 Identify the qualities of character, and analyze the effect of these qualities 10.11 Describe the function and effect upon a literary work of common literary devices 10.15 Evaluate how literary elements are used to establish mood, place, time period, and cultures, and contribute to the development of its theme 10.18.1 Develop a thesis 10.18.2 Support a position with precise and relevant examples and evidence
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Lesson #4: Reader’s Theatre
10.01 Analyze figurative expressions, comparisons, and analogies 10.10 Identify the qualities of character, and analyze the effect of these qualities 10.15 Evaluate how literary elements are used to establish mood, place, time period, and cultures, and contribute to the development of its theme 10.20 Interpret a speaker’s verbal messages and nonverbal messages to determine the speaker’s purpose, perspective, and/or attitude of the subject 10.10.15 (PPS) Identify, describe, and evaluate the function of dialogue, soliloquies, asides, character foils, and stage directions in dramatic literature.
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Lesson #5: Upstairs, Downstairs: Elizabethan World View Lesson #6: Language is Character
Lesson #7: Two Views of Love
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10.10 Identify the qualities of character, and analyze the effect of these qualities 10.11 Describe the function and effect upon a literary work of common literary devices 10.18.2 Support a position with precise and relevant examples and evidence
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10.09 Identify and analyze the development of themes 10.10 Identify the qualities of character, and analyze the effect of
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Activity Title
Lesson #8: Act I Tableau Lesson #9: In the Dark and Scary Forest Setting
Priority Standards
Page
these qualities 10.13 Evaluate subtleties, ambiguities, contradictions, and ironies in the text. 10.18.9 Develop characters of appropriate complexity 10.19 Employ Group decision making techniques
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10.01 Analyze figurative expressions, comparisons, and analogies 10.02 Distinguish between the detonative and connotative meanings of words 10.09 Identify and analyze the development of themes 10.11 Describe the function and effect upon a literary work of common literary devices 10.15 Evaluate how literary elements are used to establish mood, place, time period, and cultures, and contribute to the development of its theme
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Lesson #10: “Speak the speech, I pray thee…”: memorization & recitation assignment
10.10 Identify the qualities of character, and analyze the effect of these qualities 10.11 Describe the function and effect upon a literary work of common literary devices 10.20 Interpret a speaker’s verbal messages and nonverbal messages to determine the speaker’s purpose, perspective, and/or attitude of the subject
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Lesson #11: Oh, unhappy confusion: Act II Reading & Journals
10.01 Analyze figurative expressions, comparisons, and analogies 10.02 Distinguish between the detonative and connotative meanings of words 10.09 Identify and analyze the development of themes 10.11 Describe the function and effect upon a literary work of common literary devices 10.15 Evaluate how literary elements are used to establish mood, place, time period, and cultures, and contribute to the development of its theme
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Lesson #12: Acting Up – Acting Out: Dramatization
10.15 Evaluate how literary elements are used to establish mood, place, time period, and cultures, and contribute to the development of its theme 10.10 Identify the qualities of character, and analyze the effect of these qualities 10.20 Interpret a speaker’s verbal messages and nonverbal messages to determine the speaker’s purpose, perspective, and/or attitude of the subject 10.10.15 (PPS) Identify, describe, and evaluate the function of dialogue, soliloquies, asides, character foils, and stage directions in dramatic literature.
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Lesson #13: It seemed like a dream: Act III Reading & Journals
10.01 Analyze figurative expressions, comparisons, and analogies 10.02 Distinguish between the detonative and connotative meanings of words 10.09 Identify and analyze the development of themes 10.11 Describe the function and effect upon a literary work of common literary devices
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Activity Title
Priority Standards
Page
10.15 Evaluate how literary elements are used to establish mood, place, time period, and cultures, and contribute to the development of its theme
Lesson #14: Thou shalt doest Shakespeare: Modern Vs, Shakesperean Language
10.01 Analyze figurative expressions, comparisons, and analogies 10.11 Describe the function and effect upon a literary work of common literary devices 10.13 Evaluate subtleties, ambiguities, contradictions, and ironies in the text. 10.20 Interpret a speaker’s verbal messages and nonverbal messages to determine the speaker’s purpose, perspective, and/or attitude of the subject
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10.10 Identify the qualities of character, and analyze the effect of Lesson #15: Shall I 49 these qualities compare you to this film?: Film Comparison 10.06 Compare and contrast information on the same topic making perceptive connections 10.17 Conventions 10.22 Evaluate the role of media in focusing attention and forming opinions
Lesson #16: Smile when you call me that, pardner: Insults
10.01 Analyze figurative expressions, comparisons, and analogies 10.02 Distinguish between the detonative and connotative meanings of words 10.09 Identify and analyze the development of themes 10.11 Describe the function and effect upon a literary work of common literary devices 10.15 Evaluate how literary elements are used to establish mood, place, time period, and cultures, and contribute to the development of its theme
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Lesson #17: Reading Act IV
10.01 Analyze figurative expressions, comparisons, and analogies 10.02 Distinguish between the detonative and connotative meanings of words 10.09 Identify and analyze the development of themes 10.11 Describe the function and effect upon a literary work of common literary devices 10.15 Evaluate how literary elements are used to establish mood, place, time period, and cultures, and contribute to the development of its theme
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Lesson #18: Now What?: A look at the resolution of conventional conflict, and rehearsal Lesson #19: Stand and Deliver: Review and Individual memorization assessment
10.20 Interpret a speaker’s verbal messages and nonverbal messages to determine the speaker’s purpose, perspective, and/or attitude of the subject
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10.20 Interpret a speaker’s verbal messages and nonverbal messages to determine the speaker’s purpose, perspective, and/or attitude of the subject 10.13 Evaluate subtleties, ambiguities, contradictions, and ironies in the text. 10.09 Identify and analyze the development of themes
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Activity Title
Priority Standards
Page
10.10 Identify the qualities of character, and analyze the effect of these qualities 10.18.8 Compare and contrast themes, characters, ideas, or stylistic devices
Lesson #20: Back out of the woods: Reading Act V
10.01 Analyze figurative expressions, comparisons, and analogies 10.02 Distinguish between the detonative and connotative meanings of words 10.09 Identify and analyze the development of themes 10.11 Describe the function and effect upon a literary work of common literary devices 10.15 Evaluate how literary elements are used to establish mood, place, time period, and cultures, and contribute to the development of its theme
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Lesson #21: The Play Within the Play: Reading Act V – What is Real?
10.01 Analyze figurative expressions, comparisons, and analogies 10.02 Distinguish between the detonative and connotative meanings of words 10.09 Identify and analyze the development of themes 10.11 Describe the function and effect upon a literary work of common literary devices 10.15 Evaluate how literary elements are used to establish mood, place, time period, and cultures, and contribute to the development of its theme
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Lesson #22: “If you pardon, we will mend”: Unity of purpose & Rehearsal
10.01 Analyze figurative expressions, comparisons, and analogies 10.09 Identify and analyze the development of themes 10.20 Interpret a speaker’s verbal messages and nonverbal messages to determine the speaker’s purpose, perspective, and/or attitude of the subject 10.13 Evaluate subtleties, ambiguities, contradictions, and ironies in the text.
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Culminating Assessment Part 1:
10.20 Interpret a speaker’s verbal messages and nonverbal messages to determine the speaker’s purpose, perspective, and/or attitude of the subject
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Culminating Assessment Part 2:
10.01 Analyze figurative expressions, comparisons, and analogies 10.10 Identify the qualities of character, and analyze the effect of these qualities 10.18.2 Support a position with precise and relevant examples and evidence
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All the World’s a Stage: Student Performances
Tell me everything you know
Lesson#23: Optional Comprehension Quiz Lesson # 24 Unit Reflection Resources
76 80 82 8
Academic Vocabulary in Midsummer Night’s Dream The following are essential terms found in the unit that you will want to be sure that your students are able to define and use. Prose Iambic Pentameter Literal Inferred Theme Characterization Theme Thesis Cite
Quote Literary analysis Synopsis Rubric Malapropism Motif Blocking Symbol Imagery
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Lesson #1: Essential Questions 50 minutes Overview: Students explore the essential questions – What is Real? and What is Love? Materials needed:
1. 2.
3. 4. 5.
6.
Copies or display of an Escher Print (sample provided) Reading Schedule Reading Journal Worksheet Post-it notes
Display/handout the copies of the Escher print. Ask them to write for ten minutes on what the picture is portraying and how do they know that? On another piece of paper ask them to list all the phrases they know that include the word love, or that are something to do with explaining love, again give them ten minutes. Here are some that students have come up with in the past: Love is Blind, Love hurts, all you need love, Love thy neighbor as thyself… Pair – Share for 3 – 4 minutes Class discussion. Be sure to ask how do we know what is real, with reference to the Escher print and how do we know what love is, with reference to the popular idioms. Explain that we will be reading Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and these are the essential questions that will be guiding us through our reading and understanding; What is Love and What is Real? Ask them to choose the quote/phrase about love that most speaks to them and write it on a Post-It note. The Post-it notes need to be put on a wall- display board and students asked to find quotes from the play that match the idioms as they go through the play. The goal is for them to see at the end of the play how much of what Shakespeare said is still being said today.
Differentiation Introduce your students to the alternative versions available of the story to help them with getting the story down. These are listed in the Resources Section.
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Lesson #2: Midsummer Night’s Dream reading notebooks 20 minutes for set up and then ongoing Overview: A variety of options for reading notebooks are provided. Two consistent threads through this unit are the performance activities and the notebook. We’ve provided a variety of options and tools for the notebook so that you may use the methods and ideas that work for your students, and so that you may vary the level of complexity according to individual student needs. Note: When making choices, keep in mind that the unit has 2 main culminating assessments: the dramatization, and the short answer and on-demand essay. What is gathered in the notebooks should scaffold these assignments.
Priority Standards: (depending on notebook activities chosen) 10.01, 10.09, 10.10, 10.13 Materials: Journal Prompts, Note Organizers or Instructions (3 options provided here) Steps: 1. Decide on the method of note taking that will work for you and your students. Option 1 – This is the mid to high level dialogue journal. Students are asked to gather evidence and respond to portions of the text that relate to character, themes, figurative language, etc. The level of depth will vary according to the student, and so this option is fairly flexible. Option 2 - This option will work to scaffold for ELL students and students with special needs. A two-column format is used, but students are provided with specific questions to guide their comprehension and connection to themes. A model is provided for Act 1, and a list of potential questions follows the example/student handout. Option 3 – For students who need “free reign”, this option is similar to option one, but without providing a particular note format. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Provide student instructions to students. Model the chosen note taking method. Check for completion/understanding during lessons # 9, 11, 13, 17, 20. Utilize on-demand writing prompts in lessons # 9, 11, 13, 17, 20. These are designed to scaffold & practice on-demand writing in preparation for the culminating assessment. They also work to explore characterization, figurative language, and themes.
Strategies for ELL students: Provide an organizer, such as option 2, for note-taking, and focus the notes to specific items (character, plot, reality, love, etc.). Provide literal level questions from the ones provided in this section of the unit, to guide students’ note taking.
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Strategies for TAG students: Allow students to use Option 3, and to format their notes in a way that works for them. Or, use Option 1, but encourage them to go deeper, ask critical questions, and/or make connections within the text and between the text and other resources.
Strategies for students with special needs:
Provide an organizer, such as option 2, for note-taking, and focus the notes to specific items (character, plot, reality, love, etc.). Provide literal level questions from the ones provided in this section of the unit, to guide students’ note taking.
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream Reading Dialogue Journal Option 1
As you read, gather information about character and language. Also note anything you think may be relevant to our essential questions – What is love? And What is real? Use this page as a model to set up your notebook pages. Staple this into the beginning of this section, so you have it to refer to. The Play Record (act.scene.line) numbers and a partial quote from the section you’d like to talk about.
My Thinking Analyze, react, process, extend, predict, etc.
Character – Puck (2.1.43-58) “Thou speak’st aright…Oberon” He is a trusted servant of King Oberon. He shows off and boasts about all the tricks he (2.1.173) Oberon: “Fetch me this herb, and pulls on humans, pretending to be a stool then moving so the fat old ladies fall on be thou here again/ Ere the leviathan can their butts. He seems childish. He wants swim a league” Oberon to think he is reliable and boasts about how quickly he can fly round the “I’ll put a girdle around the Earth in forty Earth. He is very obedient to Oberon and minutes.” (2.1.175) does what is asked of him, with everyone else he is a very mischievous character.
What is real?
The world of the fairies is magical. Are we supposed to really believe there is a flower potion that would do this? ‘Circling the globe in forty minutes ‘ gives a more concrete idea of how fantastical these elements are.
What is love?
If a flower potion can do this, then what does that say about love?
Figurative Language “I’ll put a girdle around the Earth in forty minutes.” (2.1.175)
Simile – girdle = Puck’s flight pattern
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream Reading Dialogue Journal Option 2
As you read, answer the questions provided. You should also gather information about character and language. Also note anything you think may be relevant to our essential questions – What is love? And what is real? The Play
My Thinking Analyze, react, process, extend, predict, etc.
Act I: What is Love? How did Theseus make Hippolyta fall in love with him?
According to Egeus how did Lysander make Hermia fall in love with him?
A big theme of the play can be summed up in Lysander’s line “The course of true love never did run smooth” How have you seen this so far? Character? What do you see in the different way the characters speak?
How would you describe the character of Bottom?
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream Reading Journal Option 3
Over the next four weeks you will be reading William Shakespeare‘s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in class and on your own. You will be keeping a Reading Journal to collect your thoughts, notes, writing and vocabulary from the play. The notebook is going to be graded, so you need to keep the work neat, tidy and legible. We will be practicing timed on-demand writing in your notebook for the final essay. It will be an open book test, so the more care you take with your note taking and writing the easier that paper will be. You can add sketches and pictures if that helps you visualize the play and the characters in it. An entry in your notebook might look like this: Puck. We first meet Puck when he is talking to another Fairy in Act Two, she calls him a “ lob of spirits, ” (Act Two Scene One L 16) meaning he is a silly sprite so I was surprised when I found out he was a trusted servant of King Oberon. Puck is also known as Robin Goodfelllow and he certainly thinks he is a good guy. He shows off and boasts about all the tricks he pulls on humans, pretending to be a stool then moving so the fat old ladies fall on their butts. He seems childish. He wants Oberon to think he is reliable and boasts about how quickly he can fly round the Earth, “ I’ll put a girdle around the Earth in forty minutes. ” (Act Two Scene One Line 175) He is very obedient to Oberon and does what is asked of him, with everyone else he is a very mischievous character. Notice there is evidence in the form of quotes, fully cited to support the claims made. Practice doing this throughout your notebook. As you read more and learn more about the character, you will keep adding to your notes. There will be notebook checks throughout the unit so you must bring your journal to every lesson.
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READING JOURNAL PROMPTS AND QUESTIONS Some of these questions are referred to directly in the lesson plans for that day’s reading, as we think it is essential for the unit’s over-arching themes and goals for them to be addressed explicitly. Some of the questions may leap out for use by your particular class, some may not seem of useful for where the students are at any given point. Differentiation We have divided up the questions by Act and then sub-divided into Literal Understanding, Inferred Understanding and Thematic Understanding
Act One Literal Where is the opening action taking place? How did Theseus make Hippolyta fall in love with him? According to Egeus how did Lysander make Hermia fall in love with him? What will happen to Hermia, under Greek law, if she does not obey her father, Egeus? Inferred Why is it apt that Hermia speaks of Venus and Cupid? What do see in the different way the characters speak? How would you describe the character of Bottom? Thematic In these opening pages there are many references to the moon. What might Shakespeare be employing this image for? What is the moon possibly symbolizing? A big theme of the play can be summed up in Lysander’s line “The course of true love never did run smooth” How have you seen this so far? “Love is said to be a child/because in choice he is so oft beguiled” How is this quote key? Specific question to have all students answer: What does _______ want? (Egeus, Lysander, Demetrius, Helena, Hermia, Theseus – cite the line that tells you so.)
Act Two Literal Name 3 tricks that Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow, has played on humans. What are Titania and Oberon arguing about? What is the effect of the argument on the human world? What is Oberon’s plan to get his own back on Titania? When Puck returns with the juice Oberon instructs to put the juice on whose eyes? What do Lysander and Hermia argue about in 2.2. 33-65? What different reasons do the characters have for being in the woods?
Inferred How would you describe the character of Puck? Use evidence from the text to support your claims. 17
Does your opinion of Helena change when she rebuffs Demetrius’s threats with witty word play? What is the important about the fact they have left the City? What is ironic about Lysander’s last words to Hermia before he falls asleep? How do you feel about Helena when she speaks of being Demetrius’s “spaniel.”? Do you think it is merely a product of when the play was written, or do you think it still reflects something you recognize today? Why might Shakespeare have written it was a snake that Hermia dreamt about? Thematic What is the effect of the argument on the human world? Be thinking about the Chain of Being and our understanding of the “real” world. What is different about being in the woods for the characters?
Act Three Literal What are some of player’s worries about the putting on the play? What are some of the solutions to those worries? What mistake has Puck made? Why does Helena assume Demetrius is declaring his love for her? Helena tells us all about her relationship to Hermia. Summarize the friendship up to this point. How does Act three close? Inferred Exactly where is Bottom’s head changed to an ass? (The exact moment in the play; why did Shakespeare handle the transformation of Bottom in this manner?) What is the irony in what Bottom says when the players desert him? Where is there irony in Titania and Bottom’s conversation? What is the effect of this irony? When Hermia and Helena argue what clues are they giving us about the physical qualities of each other? What do they focus on in their insults? What is the effect of these lines? Does Oberon think this was a mistake on Puck’s part? What do you think and why? How does your opinion of Oberon change when he asks Puck to sort out the lives of mere mortals? How do you think Oberon sees Titania?
Thematic “Reason and Love keep little company together now-a-days” Do you think this is still true now-a-days? We see the imagery of both the moon and the serpent again in these scenes? What effect does this have on the reader? How do we know what is real at this point? How do the characters know what is real? Is there such a thing as “true love?” Think of a love song and relate its lyric to one of the relationships in the play; connect the lyric to a specific Shakespearean line.
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Act Four Literal What turns out to be the key to solving all the lovers’ quarrels? When Theseus, Hippolyta and Egeus stumble on the four lovers why do they imagine they are all out in the Woods? What does Theseus decree on the matter of Hermia’s betrothal? Inferred What change do we see in Oberon’s attitude in his speech. What makes you say this? Do the four lovers know why How do the player’s greet Bottom on his return to the city? Does that make you feel differently about Bottom’s character? they are there out in the Woods? Thematic (At end of act four) -- The play’s conflicts are all solved. What reasons could there be for Act Five? “Are we awake? It seems to me that yet we sleep, we dream” says Demetrius How do we know what is real? What explanation does Bottom have for what transpired the night before?
Act Five Literal What entertainment could have been at the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta? Inferred What does Hippolyta think about the four lover’s story? Look at Lines (#?) for clues If Philostrate were to write a review of the Rude Mechanicals play what would it read? Why does the Duke overrule Philostrate’s advice and insist on seeing Bottom’s play? What do you understand by Puck’s final speech? Why does there have to be entertainment at What are some of the audience’s reactions to the play? the wedding? Thematic “The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a name” How would you apply this line from Theseus to the play? Theseus makes reference to the “lunatic, the lover and the poet” all having something in common. What is it? What might Shakespeare be commenting on here? What do you think was real and what wasn’t in this play? Differentiation If your students are struggling with the Shakespeare text please see the annotated resources for ways to make the text accessible for your students. There are many ways to get into the story.
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Lesson #3: Pre-Assessment 50 minutes Priority Standards: 10.01, 10.10, 10.11, 10.15. 10.18.1, 10.18.2 Overview: This lesson will provide the pre-assessment and a broad overview of the first two acts of the play.
Materials needed: Pre-Assessment Handout Cartoon Short of Midsummer Night’s Dream 1. Students understand that this is a pre-assessment, they are not expected to know all the answers but are expected to do their best, so we know where strengths and weaknesses are to be addressed during the unit. (30 mins) 2. Watch the cartoon short of the play up to Act Three. The cartoon is available on Youtube by searching “Midsummer Night’s Dream Cartoon.” It is a BBC production and you will need about 15-20 minutes to watch the desired section. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCZndWMALOo
Homework/Next step. Write a synopsis of the first two acts as understood from the cartoon.
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream Pre-Assessment Name _____________ Period _________ In the following excerpt from Act 2, Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titania, the Queen of the fairies, is speaking to Oberon, the King of the fairies, explaining why she refuses to comply with his command – that she turn over to his control a ‘changeling’ boy whom she is raising. TITANIA: Set your heart at rest: The Fairyland buys not the child of me. His mother was a vot’ress of my order, And in the spicèd Indian air by night Full often hath she gossiped by my side And sat with me on Neptune’s yellow sands, Marking th’ embarkèd traders on the flood, When we have laughed to see the sails conceive And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind; Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait, Following (her womb then rich with my young squire), Would imitate and sail upon the land To fetch me trifles and return again, As from a voyage, rich with merchandise. But she, being mortal, of that boy did die, And for her sake do I rear up her boy, And for her sake I will not part with him. 1. Where does Titania recall spending time with the boy’s mother?
2. To what does Titania compare: a) the deceased mother of the child?
b) the sails of the departing ships? c) the “trifles” that the mother returns with after running errands for the Queen?
3. How did the mother die?
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4. In simple language, what is the main reason Titania refuses to turn over the child?
5. Write a paragraph in which you infer all that you can about Titania’s personality, based on this short speech. Be sure and support your claims with specific textual evidence.
After watching Titania’s speech as performed in a recent movie version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream: 6. What would you say about this particular Titania compared to the one you imagined based on the text alone? How did this interpretation of the role confirm or differ from your expectations? (Be sure to support your position with specific observations about the performance.)
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Student Pre-assessment Self-Scoring Guide
5-6
3 -4
1-2
10.01 Analyze Figurative Language
I am able to identify and explain very well what figurative language adds to my understanding of the text.
I am able to identify and explain what figurative language adds to my understanding of the text.
10.10 Identify the Qualities of Character And their Effect on The text
I am able to explain confidently what a character is like using evidence from the text. I am able to see what the impact of character traits on the story. I am able to confidently support my ideas and use very well-chosen evidence and quotes from the text.
I can start to explain what a character is like using evidence from the text. Sometimes I am able to see what the impact of character traits on the story. I am able to generally support my ideas and use some solid evidence and quotes from the text.
I struggle to identify and explain what figurative language is, or what it adds to my understanding of the text. I struggle to explain what a character is like using evidence from the text. I need practice to see what the impact the character traits have on the story. I am struggle supporting my ideas and it is still difficult to find wellchosen evidence and quotes from the text.
10.18.2 Support a position with precise and relevant examples and evidence.
Student Reflection on Pre-Assessment: 1. What do you think you are doing well so far with in this unit? Why?
2. What areas do you expect will be difficult for you in this unit? Why?
3. Questions or concerns you have about this unit so far?
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TEACHER Scoring Guide: Pre-Assessment Priority Standard
6-5
4-3
2-1
10.01 Analyze figurative expressions, comparisons and analogies. (10.3.4)
Connects all facets of the central analogy correctly and interprets the figurative language accurately, demonstrating an ability to extract the literal level of meaning from poetic language. Generates a rich, multidimensional portrait of Titania that infers qualities about her personality consistent with the sentiments expressed in and style of her speech.
Connects some of the elements of the passage’s central analogy but not others; decodes the figurative language accurately in terms of its literal meaning at least part of the time. Presents an evaluation of Titania’s character that successfully makes the case for at least one or two personal qualities as evidenced by the content and style of her speech.
Is confused or puzzled by the central analogy and figurative language; is not yet able to make the leap from poetic language to literal meaning.
Every quality attributed to Titania is supported with logically persuasive evidence from the text.
Some qualities attributed to Titania are supported with evidence; others either are not supported with evidence or the evidence itself is not convincing. Notes some of the unique moves exhibited by individual performers but is not necessarily able to connect those non-verbal ‘messages’ to a coherent interpretation of the character.
Qualities attributed to Titania are either not supported by textual evidence or the evidence cited does not connect logically with the claim.
Score _______
10.10 Identify the qualities of the character, and analyze the effect of these qualities. (10.9.5) (10, 9.9) Score _______ 10.18.2 Support a position with precise and relevant examples and evidence. Score ______ 10.20 Interpret a speaker’s verbal and nonverbal messages to determine the speaker’s purpose, perspective, and/or attitude toward the subject. (10.17.4) Score ______
Is able to “read” nonverbal cues, including tone of voice, facial expression, physical gestures and so forth and to use these cues as evidence in deepening his or her previous portrait of Titania based on text alone.
Attempts to profile Titania based on her speech do not go beyond the overly obvious; or, alternatively, are inaccurate, reflecting a misreading of the text.
Is not yet alert to nonverbal cues; attempts to analyze qualities in the portrayal of a character are overly broad or nondescript. (“She gives a great performance!”)
Comments: Working well:
Focus on improving:
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Lesson #4: Reader’s Theatre 90 minutes Priority Standards: 10.01, 10.10, 10.15, 10.20, 10.10.15 Overview: Students will interact with a section of the text, Act 2 Scene 1, and create an understanding of that text. This exercise can be found on pages 28 – 34 in The Folger’s Library Shakespeare Set Free. Materials needed:
Student handout Text handout
Key Vocabulary: Blocking Stage Directions Stage Troupe
1. 2. 3. 4.
5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Distribute handout Select 10 readers, so choose three different readers for each page. Make reader selections based on your individual students. Select another 10 readers and ask them to read the scene, to encourage familiarity. Class discussion, the following questions can be used; Who are these guys? What are they doing? How do we know? Do they know each other? Who is the boss? How do we know? Why are they putting on the play? Who wrote the play? What do the different characters think about the play? Any other observations? Select a cast to act the scene. Those not acting will be directors. Hand out Student Handout Discuss the questions After answering all the questions and following the director’s instructions the actors act out the scene. Debrief as a group what worked and what didn’t. If there is time run through the scene again.
Strategies for ELL students & special needs students: For struggling readers they get to hear the text read and they can be assigned a part with just one or two lines to develop confidence. Try and give as many people as possible a chance.
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Student Handout There are many ways a scene could be presented. Before we perform a scene there are always questions we need to consider. Here are some questions to consider: 1.
Where does the scene take place?
2.
Entrances and exits – Who should come on stage from where? With whom? Why? Look at the text for clues.
3.
Who’s the most important person in the scene? Who thinks they are the most important person in the scene? How will we show this?
4.
How will the cast show the personalities of the different characters through movement, blocking and tone?
As we go through the play you will be working on presenting a scene of your own. Be sure that your acting troupe addresses these questions.
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SCENE II. Athens. QUINCE'S house. SNOUT, and STARVELING QUINCE
Enter QUINCE, SNUG, BOTTOM, FLUTE,
Is all our company here?
BOTTOM You were best to call them generally, man by man, according to the scrip. QUINCE Here is the scroll of every man's name, which is thought fit, through all Athens, to play in our interlude before the duke and the duchess, on his wedding-day at night. BOTTOM First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats on, then read the names of the actors, and so grow to a point. QUINCE Marry, our play is, The most lamentable comedy, and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisby. BOTTOM A very good piece of work, I assure you, and a merry. Now, good Peter Quince, call forth your actors by the scroll. Masters, spread yourselves. QUINCE Answer as I call you. Nick Bottom, the weaver. BOTTOM Ready. Name what part I am for, and proceed. QUINCE
You, Nick Bottom, are set down for Pyramus.
BOTTOM What is Pyramus? a lover, or a tyrant? QUINCE A lover, that kills himself most gallant for love. BOTTOM That will ask some tears in the true performing of it: if I do it, let the audience look to their eyes; I will move storms, I will condole in some measure. To the rest: yet my chief humour is for a tyrant: I could play Ercles rarely, or a part to tear a cat in, to make all split. The raging rocks And shivering shocks Shall break the locks Of prison gates; And Phibbus' car 27
Shall shine from far And make and mar The foolish Fates.
This was lofty! Now name the rest of the players. This is Ercles' vein, a tyrant's vein; a lover is more condoling. QUINCE
Francis Flute, the bellows-mender.
FLUTE
Here, Peter Quince.
QUINCE
Flute, you must take Thisby on you.
FLUTE
What is Thisby? a wandering knight?
QUINCE
It is the lady that Pyramus must love.
FLUTE
Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; I have a beard coming.
QUINCE That's all one: you shall play it in a mask, and you may speak as small as you will. BOTTOM An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too, I'll speak in a monstrous little voice. 'Thisne, Thisne;' 'Ah, Pyramus, lover dear! thy Thisby dear, and lady dear!' QUINCE
No, no; you must play Pyramus: and, Flute, you Thisby.
BOTTOM Well, proceed. QUINCE
Robin Starveling, the tailor.
STARVELING
Here, Peter Quince.
QUINCE Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby's mother. Tom Snout, the tinker. SNOUT
Here, Peter Quince.
QUINCE You, Pyramus' father: myself, Thisby's father: Snug, the joiner; you, the lion's part: and, I hope, here is a play fitted. 28
SNUG Have you the lion's part written? pray you, if it be, give it me, for I am slow of study. QUINCE
You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring.
BOTTOM Let me play the lion too: I will roar, that I will do any man's heart good to hear me; I will roar, that I will make the duke say 'Let him roar again, let him roar again.' QUINCE An you should do it too terribly, you would fright the duchess and the ladies, that they would shriek; and that were enough to hang us all. ALL That would hang us, every mother's son. BOTTOM I grant you, friends, if that you should fright the ladies out of their wits, they would have no more discretion but to hang us: but I will aggravate my voice so that I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove; I will roar you an 'twere any nightingale. QUINCE You can play no part but Pyramus; for Pyramus is a sweet-faced man; a proper man, as one shall see in a summer's day; a most lovely gentleman-like man: therefore you must needs play Pyramus. BOTTOM Well, I will undertake it. What beard were I best to play it in? QUINCE
Why, what you will.
BOTTOM I will discharge it in either your straw-colour beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-grain beard, or your French-crown-colour beard, your perfect yellow. QUINCE Some of your French crowns have no hair at all, and then you will play bare-faced. But, masters, here are your parts: and I am to entreat you, request 29
you and desire you, to con them by to-morrow night; and meet me in the palace wood, a mile without the town, by moonlight; there will we rehearse, for if we meet in the city, we shall be dogged with company, and our devices known. In the meantime I will draw a bill of properties, such as our play wants. I pray you, fail me not. BOTTOM We will meet; and there we may rehearse most obscenely and courageously. Take pains; be perfect: adieu. QUINCE
At the duke's oak we meet.
BOTTOM Enough; hold or cut bow-strings. Exeunt
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Lesson #5: Upstairs, Downstairs Duration: 50 minutes Brief Overview of Lesson: Students become acquainted with useful background information regarding the Elizabethan world view, specifically the Great Chain of Being, and apply its concept of a hierarchically organized universe to everything from the design of the Globe Theater to how Bottom and company talk. Materials needed: Internet access with a projector; a copy of the story of Pyramus and Thisbe as told by Thomas Bulfinch; text Essential Vocabulary: malapropism, groundlings, Great Chain of Being Addressing Essential Question(s): What is real? Steps/Procedures: 1. Begin by having students get comfortable because you are going to tell them a story. Read (with appropriate overacting in your voice) the story of Pyramus and Thisbe as told by Thomas Bulfinch. At the point where Pyramus discovers the bloody shawl of Thisbe that has been mauled by the lion, stop and ask what this story reminds them of. Hopefully, some students will recognize it as the basic plot of Romeo and Juliet. Ask for a guess as to how the story will come out. After several students have volunteered their versions, read the final paragraphs. 2. Explain that this is the story that Bottom and company propose to perform at Duke Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding celebration. What problems do they foresee in this plan? Point out that all of these problems trace back to the underlying one: that Quince, Bottom and company are out of their league, attempting to do something – put on a play -- they have no background in or understanding of. 3. Give students background information on the Great Chain of Being, the metaphysical notion current at the time that all entities in the universe exist on a hierarchical ladder from lowest to highest, extending from Satan at the very bottom in hell to God at the very top in heaven. For example, within the class of birds, eagles would be at the top, the sparrow at the bottom; but even a sparrow would be above all trees (Sequoyah, at the top, perhaps; cottonwood at the bottom) because a bird can move about and a tree, although alive, cannot. Trees, on the other hand, are above all minerals, which exist but do not have intelligence. Minerals themselves are classified, from gold to lead, and so on. In the Great Chain of Being, Man occupies a special place, midway between heaven and earth, compounded of both virtuous intelligence and animal instinct. Of course, all individual humans, from beggar to king, must take his or her place on the social hierarchy. With that background in mind, how would the characters we have met so far in the summary of our story, MSND, be arranged on the Great Chain of Being? 4. Students will recognize that the mechanicals, Bottom and company, are portrayed as both hilarious and sympathetic to us because they are aspiring beyond their place on the Chain of Being. How do we know they are out of their league in wanting to stage a play? One way is through their (mis)use of language. Both Quince and Bottom (the rival leaders of the troupe) employ lots of malapropisms. What is that? A malapropism is a word used incorrectly (but often resembling a word that would make good sense in the given context) resulting in a strange, unintended and frequently ribald meaning being communicated to the listener. For example, at the end of 1.2, Bottom enthusiastically urges his friends to meet together in the 31
forest so that “there we may rehearse most obscenely and courageously…” Which word is a malapropism here? What word did he probably intend to say? (“seemly”, i.e., appropriately.) What weird image does his line, as spoken, summon up in the mind of the audience? Have students find more examples of malapropisms from 2.1. 5. One more example of the pervasiveness of the Great Chain of Being. Take the class on a virtual tour of the Globe Theater via the internet and a computer projector. The web address is: http://www.shakespeares-globe.org and click on “virtual tour” or simply Google “Globe virtual tour” and the same address will turn up. The Globe, of course, was the theater Shakespeare built for his troupe after his huge commercial success had lead to his becoming a wealthy man by 1598. Show the physical layout of the theater and have students speculate as to where the nobility sat (and what their tickets cost) in the facility as opposed to where the groundlings stood. If Bottom and company had been transported from ancient Athens of MSND to Elizabethan England, where do students suppose they would have watched a play from? Remind students that the Globe is an open air facility and that it rains a lot in London year round.
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Lesson #6: “Language is character” Duration: 50 minutes Priority Standards: 10.10, 10.11, 10.18.2 Overview: Sensitize students to how the characters’ use of language helps portray and shape our impressions of them as individuals. Do so by contrasting the royal’s use of language (Theseus and Hippolyta) with the mechanicals (Bottom, et al.) Materials needed: Text Essential Vocabulary: blank verse, iambic pentameter, prose Steps/Procedures: 1. Begin by close reading of opening conversation between Theseus and Hippolyta. Are they arguing? (Note the dense use of imagery; the balanced, syntactical sentence structure) 2. Have students look at the first page of 1.1 and the first page of 1.2 (where the Mechanicals are talking). What do they notice about the way the words lie on the page? 3. Give students better vocabulary to describe what they have just noticed. The Royals lines are about the same length and look like poetry because they have been written in “blank verse” – iambic pentameter that does not usually rhyme. (When it does, that’s called a “heroic couplet” – look for those at the end of scenes, to announce the conclusion of that interaction and the beginning of another.) The mechanicals lines look like newsprint because they speak in prose – straight, declarative language with no regular rhythm to it. 4. You may need to teach/review what is “iambic pentameter” – a line with five beats (the penta part) each of which is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. E.g., “Suc-céss” is an iamb; “Four days will quickly steep themselves in night” is five iambs in a row. You might demonstrate that by scanning the line (putting in the accent marks and dividing up the line into the five iambs). 5. Remember the “chain of being?” Why do you suppose Shakespeare has the main characters speaking in blank verse but the mechanicals speaking in prose? 6. Keep an eye out for how the fairies speak at the beginning of Act 2. (They are out of this world.) 7. Try to make it about half way through 1.1, practicing paraphrasing between the SS language and the everyday language of the students.
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Lesson #7: Two views of love Duration: 50 minutes Priority Standards: 10.09, 10.10, 10.13, 10.18.9 Brief Overview of Lesson: While reviewing the action and language of the second half of Act 1, students are invited to look at the contrasting views of love presented by Lysander and Helena in this section. Materials needed:
Text Reading Journals
Addressing Essential Question(s): “What is love?” It is hoped that you will be able to read up to the end of Act One. Different classes may want to do readaround, reader’s theatre, teacher reading. You will know what works best for your students. Make sure that all students are filling in their Reading Journals appropriately. Steps/Procedures: 1. Go over the action/language in the second half of 1.1. Make sure everyone is following the action at the literal level. 2. Look at the four young lovers one by one. What are their distinctive characteristics? (Practice connecting impressions with evidence from the text; also, practice making inferences – seeing below the surface of statements to impute motives and personal characteristics). a. Is Hermia necessarily better looking than Helena? What is the best evidence in the text? b. What is there to distinguish between Lysander and Demetrius? (If “not much”, might that be intentional? What purpose would it serve to make Lysander and Demetrius basically interchangeable parts?) 3. Turn the discussion to the issue of love. What does Lysander mean when he says, “The course of true love never did run smooth?” (l. 136). What impact is he trying to have on Hermia with this line? 4. Now, look at Helena’s speech on love at the end of Act 1. What is she saying? How does her position on love contrast with Lysander’s? 5. How does this compare with the Post-It wall?
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Lesson #8: Act 1 Tableau 90 minutes Overview: Students will work co-operatively to create a tableau from Act 1 and start working in their Acting Troupes. This is an adaptation of the activity in The Folger’s Library Shakespeare Set Free. The full version of this activity can be found on pages 48 – 50. This exercise is designed to help prepare for the culminating assignment and to make it clear to the students what the relationships between the characters are. Materials needed:
Props, dress up as available Student Handout
1.
Divide the students into their troupes. You will do this according to your own knowledge of your students and their skills and weaknesses.
2.
As an icebreaker the groups will share what they felt about having to “do” Shakespeare.
3.
Troupes will determine their name. Each time they meet a different member will act as director and they are responsible for; a. Keeping the group on task b. Keeping a log of their group’s activities c. Keeping a track of questions the group has
4.
The groups are given the handout and are given time to work through the instructions.
5.
Each Troupe will show their “best” tableau.
6.
The audience will determine what works and what doesn’t. What relationships do they see in this tableau? What differences and similarities are surfacing?
Follow Up: Students would write up what they observed.
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Student Handout – Act I Tableau In your Troupe you are going to work on three Living Pictures and will show a snapshot of a key moment in Act 1 Scene 1, these were called Tableaux Vivants in Shakespearean times. 1. Act 1 Scene 1 Lines 21 – 129 Choose four people to represent mixed up lovers, one to be the stern father Egeus and one to be the Duke. Arrange your living picture to show the relationship between them all; Demetrius might kneel behind Hermia tugging at her, whiles she holds out her hand to Lysander. Helena might be standing to one side trying to attract Demetrius’s attention. Where would Egeus be? The Duke? Assign props/hats etc and read the lines whilst the group holds the poses. How it did work?
How did it not work?
Make the appropriate changes and try it again. Record how the second time went here:
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Lesson #9: In The Dark and Scary Forest… 50 minutes Priority Standards: 10.01, 10.02, 10.09, 10.11, 10.15 Materials needed:
text Journal questions Reading Journals
Overview: Here we will start reading Act 2 and practicing on-demand writing. Different classes may want to do read-around, reader’s theatre, teacher reading. You will know what works best for your students. Make sure that all students are filling in their Reading Journals appropriately. 1.
Refresh memories and check everyone has some grasp of what happened in Act One. You may also want to debrief the Tableau activity.
2.
Ask students what everyone’s reason for being in the forest is. Why is it important they have left the city? What is different about being in the woods for the characters?
3.
What is the difference between the forest (dream-world, nature, unreal, unknown, fears, dark, chaos, wild) and the city (civilization, reality, order, the known, tame, domesticated)?
4.
You will probably want to have them write in their Reading Journal on one of the prompts, or the ones discussed in class. Talk about what would make a good quote to support their claims.
5.
On-demand prompt. Have students use their Reading Journals and the previous discussion to create a thesis statement and provide evidence for the following prompt. You might want to scaffold the prewriting/brainstorming process together as a whole class, and then have them complete the actual writing. There exist two contrasting setting in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Compare and contrast these settings and their importance to the play.
Differentiation: It is hoped that we have provided a range of prompts and questions for the Reading Journal and class discussion that will allow you to tailor the pathway through the text to the needs of your students. It could be that you give students that did very well on the pre-assessment the higher level thinking prompts and that for students still struggling a more literal prompt. It could be that you ask a student still trying to get comfortable with the text a task where they sketch a character and explain why they chose to show them in that way. They could also create a diagram, or flow-chart to show the Chain of Being and share that with the class.
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Lesson #10: “Speak the speech, I pray thee…” Duration: 50 minutes Priority Standards: 10.10, 10.11, 10.20 Brief Overview of Lesson: Introduce the memorization/recitation strand of the Unit. Students will be expected to commit to memory and recite Titania’s speech to Oberon (2.1, lines 125-142) that was used in the pre-assessment. Memorization helps students “own” a part of the play – with its challenging Shakespearean language -- in an intimate and lasting way that no other academic exercise manages. Also, it allows students to discover a capacity of their mind that they likely were not aware of in our writingcentered culture. Materials needed: Handout of Titania’s speech with deleted line fragment versions. Steps/Procedures: 1. Introduce assignment. Explain advantages that will come with memorizing the passage. 2. Handout Titania’s speech. Go through it line by line to make sure the meaning is completely clear. Write the corresponding terms of the central analogy (between the pregnant mother/friend of Titania and the trading ships) on the board to make sure everyone “gets” the main image that the passage is organized around. 3. Divide class into two groups. Lead one half of the class in a choral recitation of the speech. Have the second side compete for volume and pacing with the first side. Go back and forth a few times until everyone is reciting with conviction. 4. Draw on students’ prior experience to brainstorm helpful techniques for memorizing: (the list might include) a) frequent short sessions of memorization rather than attempting to memorize all at once …. Start early! b) Copying over…writing as a way into memorizing c) Reciting into a mirror d) Reciting with a partner e) Memorizing from back to front, starting with the last line, then adding from there…. f) Chunking….divide the text into 4-5 little sections and memorizing each of those separately… 5. Have students go over the speech one more time, this time looking for ways that the speech appeals to each of the five senses…. What sights, smells, sounds, sensations and tastes are present in the poem? 6. Inform students of the due dates for their individual recitations. 7. For homework, as an extra credit opportunity, invite students to draw an image that this text tilts loose in their minds. (See scanned examples) Differentiation: Students might work with a partner to memorize. Students can be given a shorter section to memorize. Students may benefit from the plain text version (Side by Side) or a text with annotations of word meanings.
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Sophomore English
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Recitation Practice – 2.1. 125-142
TITANIA:
Set your heart at rest: The Fairyland buys not the child of me. His mother was a vot’ress of my order, And in the spicèd Indian air by night Full often hath she gossiped by my side And sat with me on Neptune’s yellow sands, Marking th’ embarkèd traders on the flood, When we have laughed to se the sails conceive Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait, Following (her womb then rich with my young squire), Would imitate and sail upon the land To fetch me trifles and return again, As from a voyage, rich with merchandise. But she, being mortal, of that boy did die, And for her sake do I rear up her boy, And for her sake I will not part with him. Memorization Practice #1 – Due Lesson 13 Set your…. The Fairyland buys… His mother was…. And in the spicèd … Full often hath she… And sat with me… Marking th’…. When we have … And grow big…. Which she, with pretty.. Following (her… Would imitate, and …. To fetch me…. As from a voyage… But she, being… And for her sake do… And for her sake I.
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Memorization Practice #2 – Due Lesson 16 Set your…. …. His mother was…. …. Full often. …. Marking th’…. …. Which she, with … …. Would imitate… …. As from a voyage, … But she,. …. ….
Due Date for recitation of complete speech: Lesson 18
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Sophomore English A Midsummer Night’s Dream Recitation Assessment – 2.1. 125-142 Name ______________
Administered by: ______________
# of Prompts: ________ # of Miscues: ________
TITANIA:
Set your heart at rest: The Fairyland buys not the child of me. His mother was a vot’ress of my order, And in the spicèd Indian air by night Full often hath she gossiped by my side And sat with me on Neptune’s yellow sands, Marking th’ embarkèd traders on the flood, When we have laughed to se the sails conceive Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait, Following (her womb then rich with my young squire), Would imitate and sail upon the land To fetch me trifles and return again, As from a voyage, rich with merchandise. But she, being mortal, of that boy did die, And for her sake do I rear up her boy, And for her sake I will not part with him.
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Lesson #11: Oh, unhappy confusion 50 minutes 10.01, 10.02, 10.09, 10.11, 10.15 Materials needed:
text Journal questions Reading Journals
It is hoped that you will be able to read up to the end of Act Two. Different classes may want to do readaround, reader’s theatre, teacher reading. You will know what works best for your students. Make sure that all students are filling in their Reading Journals appropriately. 1.
Appropriate questions and prompts to discuss at this time are: a. The character of Puck b. What the effect of Titania and Oberon’s argument is and how this reflects the Chain of Being model. c. How students feel about Helena, especially in light of her speech about being Demetrious’ spaniel (Act Two Scene One L 202 – 207) and her rebuffing at his suggestion of harm (Act Two Scene One L 220 – 226) d. What do Lysander and Hermia argue about in Act Two Scene Two L 33 -65?
2.
On-demand prompt. Have students use their Reading Journals and the previous discussion to create a thesis statement and provide evidence for the following prompt. This would be a good place to add a craft lesson citing quotes (one can be found in the literary analysis strategies packet). Choose either Puck or Helena, and write an essay in which you make a claim about his or her personality, and support that claim with evidence from the text.
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Lesson #12: Acting Up – Acting Out 140 minutes Priority Standards: 10.15, 10.10, 10.20, 10.10.15 (PPS) Materials needed:
text Student Handout Audience Worksheet Prop box (if available)
Another big borrow from the Folger’s Shakespeare Set Free, where you can find this lesson in full. In this lesson, the students are working on a scene from Act 2 Scene 2 in their Acting Troupes. They will later be comparing two different film versions. It is hoped that this repetition will enable the students to go very deeply into the text. If you have a different scene in mind, you can substitute. We chose this one as it includes much coming and going and is open to different to interpretations and presentations. 1.
Students get into their acting troupes and are given the acting handout sheet.
2.
After about 30 minutes preparation, the students perform the scene.
3.
The audience fills in their Audience Worksheet after each performance.
4.
Debrief on what was successful, what worked and what didn’t. The Troupes are responsible for keeping notes on this, reminding them this is preparation for the culminating assessment.
5.
Troupes decide what scenes they are going to take on as their culminating performance.
Differentiation: You may want to think about how you assign the troupes to help each student get the most out of the experience. For some classes mixed groupings are the way to go, others may have different needs. We do not advise students creating their own groups, as part of the assignment is learning to work together as a group. Strategies for ELL students and student with special needs:
Students may be given a non-speaking part, or a part with few lines. Phonetic spelling of some words may be helpful. Video clips may be provided to these students ahead of time, so that they can have a visual of the scene first.
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Student Handout Lesson #12 In your Acting Troupe you will be presenting Act Two, Scene Two Lines 36 - 160 There are many ways a scene could be presented. Before we perform a scene there are always questions we need to consider: 1. Where does the scene take place? 2. Entrances and exits – Who should come on stage from where? With whom? Why? Who will be staying on stage and where? Look at the text for clues. 3. Who’s the person driving the scene? Who thinks they are the most important person in the scene? What are the relationships shown in the scene? How will we show this? 4. How will the cast show the personalities of the different characters through movement, blocking and tone? Be sure that your acting troupe addresses these questions and that you keep a record of the decisions you make and why.
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Audience Worksheet Group One
Group Two
Group Three
Group Four
Group five
Movement And Blocking
Characters How shown And Developed
Props and Other Elements
New Insight Gained Questions to ask
Which was your favorite individual performance and why?
Which was your favorite group performance and why?
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Lesson #13: It seemed like a dream. 50 minutes Priority Standards: 10.01, 10.02, 10.09, 10.11, 10.15 Materials needed:
text Journal questions Reading Journals
At this point we have scheduled beginning Act Three Scene One and moving into Scene Two. Different classes may want to do read-around, reader’s theatre, teacher reading. You will know what works best for your students. Make sure that all students are filling in their Reading Journals appropriately. 1.
Questions that may need to be asked/considered with this chunk of reading are: a. What are some of the Player’s worries about putting on a play (this relates directly to the theme of the real/unreal and the world of imagination, as they are worrying the audience will not have the imagination to add a wall, moon etc.) b. Exactly when does Bottom’s head become that of an ass? Why does Shakespeare handle it in this way? c. What is the irony in what Bottom says when the players desert him? d. “Reason and love keep little company now-a-days” Do you think this is true now-a-days? This would be a good time to review the Post-It wall. e. How do we know what is real at this point? f. How do the characters know what is real at this point?
2.
On-demand prompt. Have students use their Reading Journals and the previous discussion to create a thesis statement and provide evidence for the following prompt. One of the themes of the play is this idea of reality and unreality. Explain how this theme has been evident thus far in the book.
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Lesson #14: Thou shalt doest Shakespeare Duration: 50 minutes Priority Standards: 10.01, 10.11, 10.13, 10.20 Brief Overview of Lesson: Students continue reading of play to 3.2. l. 180, where Helena is now the beloved of both Demetrius and Lysander; try their hand at transposing simple modern statements into Shakespearian versions of the same; and have their first memorization check-in for the Titania speech. Materials needed: texts, previously distributed memorization handout, Shakespeare to modern English inflection hand-out Addressing Essential Question(s): What is love? Steps/Procedures: 1. First memorization check-in. Call on students one at a time, randomly. Give them the beginning words of a line (from the memorization hand-out); students are expected to be able to finish the line. (Final performance is looming next week; having students working on memorizing incrementally well ahead of the final performance will improve its overall quality.) This exercise is quick and efficient; it shouldn’t take more than 5-7 minutes to get through the whole class. 2. Read/go over 3.2 through Line 180, just before the entrance of Hermia. At this point, Helena is the beloved of both Demetrius and Lysander, although she doesn’t accept their offers of love, thinking, rather, that they are mocking her. Make sure students register that the situation between the four young lovers at this point in the play (thanks to Puck’s mischievous love potion) is the exact opposite of its status at the beginning of the play. We are “all mixed up.” 3. Finally, invite a little bit of language study. Why does Shakespeare sound like Shakespeare? Although philologists regard Elizabethan English as “modern” (because it is understandable to us without any translation, unlike the Middle English of Chaucer – some 200 years earlier – which requires a translation to be understood) the 21st century version of English has some regular variations, particularly in pronouns and verb forms, that distinguish it from Elizabethan English. A fun way to get at these is to do the following: a) Put a simple question on the board: “Will you go with me to the prom?” b) Ask students to do their best to render that question as Shakespeare might have asked it: c) See what students come up with. Share with each other. d) Give students the Pronoun/Verb Inflection handout. Go over it quickly. e) Try the exercise again. Hopefully, this time they will come up with something like, “Wilt thou goest to the prom in mine company?” f) Try another sentence using any of the forms on the inflection sheet, especially the irregular verbs “have” or “do”.
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Lesson #15: Shall I compare you to this film? 90 minutes Priority Standards: 10.10, 10.06, 10.22, 10.17 Materials:
Student Film Comparison worksheet You will need at least two versions of Midsummer Night’s Dream on film. We did talk to the IT Department about the possibility of creating a CD with different versions of selected scenes, as we know this is a lesson used for Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and others. Apparently it is a copyright nightmare, so get ready to juggle. We looked at several versions, all of them were readily available at the Multnomah County Library.
The possibilities: 1. A midsummer night's dream [videorecording] / by William Shakespeare; [presented by] Warner Bros. Pictures; Max Reinhardt's production; arranged for the screen by Charles Kenyon and Mary C. McCall, Jr.; directed by Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle. Publication info. Burbank, CA: Distributed by Warner Home Video, [2007] This one is black and white and features James Cagney as Bottom. It will seem terribly dated to the students and we would not recommend it for more than pulling scenes out. A the acting is very exaggerated it does provide some nice comparisons, especially in their depiction of Puck, who is played by a child. You will keep expecting the Munchkins to jump out at any moment, it has a very Wizard of Oz like mood and tone. 2. A Midsummer night's dream [videorecording] / by William Shakespeare; presented by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Publication info. [New York, N.Y.] : Ambrose Video Publishing [distributor], 2000. A more austere BBC production with Helen Mirren as Hippolyta. It is a very stark production and does not take as many liberties with the text and order as the other two versions here. It will provide some nice points of contrast, especially in staging with the other versions. 3. William Shakespeare's A Midsummer night's dream [videorecording] / Fox Searchlight Pictures; produced by Leslie Urdang, Michael Hoffman; screenplay by Michael Hoffman; directed by Michael Hoffman. Publication info. Beverly Hills, Calif.: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, c1999. This is will be the one the students gravitate to, and if you wanted to watch all of a film version this is the one we would recommend. They have moved the setting to Edwardian Italy but it works well and Kevin Kline makes an excellent Bottom. Tucci’s Puck is also a very interesting creation. Steps:
1. Go over the student worksheet and be sure they are clear on all the elements and know what to be on the lookout for. 2. Play the first selection. We chose the same section that they all performed the previous week, with the lovers getting into trouble in the forest. We really wanted to repeat scenes over and over, to go deep, rather than broad. This also gives students struggling another chance for mastery of the scene. It also lets them see the different ways the text can be rendered, which is important for them to see for their productions. It was also a good choice, as it doesn’t impede on their scene 50
selections that they will be performing for the final performance. It may be that for certain groups of students, it would help to see professionals take on a scene they have chosen. You will know what will work best for your students. 3. Students fill in their worksheet. 4. Play the second selection. 5. Students fill in their worksheet. 6. Pair – Share, then share out as a class. 7. Students might want to get together with their troupes to confer, if there is time.
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Student Handout – Film Comparison Element
Version One
Version Two
Setting – Time and Place
Characterization – How are the characters depicted? Accents and Speech
Special effects/shots
Lighting
Music
What was the most effective element for you and why?
What was the least effective element for you and why?
What was one new insight you gained about the play?
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Lesson #16: “Smile when you call me that, pardner” Duration: 50 minutes Priority Standards: 10.01, 10.02, 10.09, 10.11, 10.15 Brief Overview of Lesson: Reading through Act 3.2, line 365 Materials needed: text, journal questions, rehearsal handout Steps/Procedures: 1. After quickly going over the action in this section of the play, call attention to all the insults let loose. Who calls whom what? Have students in their acting troupes create a list of insults they have heard in this section. Some insults they may recall just having overheard include: (“Hang off, thou cat, thou burr” – Lysander to Hermia) (“Out tawny Tartar, out loathed medicine! O hated potion, hence” – Lysander to Hermia) (“Get you gone, you dwarf, you minimus of hind’ring knotgrass made…” – Lysander to Hermia) (“You bead, you acorn” Lysander to Hermia) (“You juggler, you cankerblossom / You thief of love!” Hermia to Helena) (“Thou painted maypole” Hermia to Helena) (“Fie, fie, you counterfeit, you puppet, you!” Helena to Hermia) 2. Have students pair up in their troupes, taking turns hurling a favorite Shakespearean insult from the play at one another. They should form two lines and “face off”. Begin by having them hurl, one side at a time, the numbers 1 through 6 at each other rather than words. Then they should hurl their insults at each other, one at a time, as the teacher varies the method (Have them experiment with volume, pitch, and pace as they say the words). 3. Have students debrief each other about the feelings they experienced while saying these (articulate) insults and being assailed by them. The above exercise, if conducted expeditiously, will take about 25 minutes. 4. The remainder of the class is the first rehearsal of the acting troupe. Have each troupe follow directions from the “Acting Companies – Performance Preparation Handout”. They are to complete the tasks specified for the “first rehearsal” in the handout.
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ACTING COMPANIES – PERFORMANCE PREPARATION IN CLASS AND HOMEWORK INSTRUCTIONS In Class Rehearsal #1 – Lesson 16 FOCUS: UNDERSTANDING THE SCENE’S LITERAL LEVEL A) Sit in a circle. Read the scene aloud going around the group using scripts provided by teacher. (Note: parts have not yet been assigned. The objective today is for everyone in the group to understand the whole scene so that, whatever part each person ends up playing, he or she will be in a position to react appropriately during the performance.) B) As you read, underline any words and phrases you don’t understand. C) Get clarification of the highlighted parts by asking one another; by reading the footnotes in the text; by looking up words in the dictionary; and by asking the teacher. D) Read through the scene a second time, this time stopping to clarify confusing parts that just don’t make sense. Make sure you can put the likely meaning of each line in your own words. If a section doesn’t make sense, talk it out together; if it still doesn’t make sense, ask the teacher. E) Begin the editing process. Decide what the most important ideas in the scene are that must be preserved. How does your scene relate to the play as a whole? What work does it need to accomplish. Start thinking about what lines might be edited out without damaging this core meaning. Optional: For homework (after Day 16 class, due at the beginning of Day 18, Rehearsal #2): Each student should prepare a “master script” with proposed cuts in the original dialogue. The resulting streamlined script should make the scene easier to present while holding on to its central plot and interpretive message.
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Lesson #17: Keep on reading… 50 minutes 10.01, 10.02, 10.09, 10.11, 10.15 Materials needed:
text Journal questions Reading Journals
Overview: We will be reading Act 4. Different classes may want to do read-around, reader’s theatre, teacher reading. You will know what works best for your students. Make sure that all students are filling in their Reading Journals appropriately. 1. Begin Reading Act 4 2. Memorization check-in #2. Call on students one at a time, randomly. Give them the beginning words of a line (from the memorization hand-out); students are expected to be able to recite two lines of blank verse for every “starter” set of words they are given. (Final performance is looming; having students working on memorizing incrementally well ahead of the final performance will improve its overall quality.) This exercise is quick and efficient; it shouldn’t take more than 5-7 minutes to get through the whole class. 3. On-demand prompt. Have students use their Reading Journals and the previous discussion to create a thesis statement and provide evidence for the following prompt.
Oberon and Titania make up one of the love relationships in the book. Characterize their relationship (What type of love is this?) and provide specific examples to support your assertions.
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Lesson #18: Now What? Duration: 50 minutes Priority Standards: 10.20 Brief Overview of Lesson: Continue debriefing of reading journals and text through the end of Act 4 with special attention to the resolution of all conventional conflict in the play and the Great Chain of Being. Students continue preparing for their scene performance following instructions in the Rehearsal #2 handout. Materials needed: Texts, Rehearsal #2 Instructions Handout Addressing Essential Question(s): What is real? Steps/Procedures: 1. Note that the various conflicts between the various couples are magically cleared up by the end of Act 4, and everyone is headed for the altar. As the young lovers themselves remark, it’s almost like a dream. What really happened in the forest, they ask? At this point, ask your students: What is the key development that explains this universal “happy ending?” You might have students do a quick write on this subject then exchange theories. (The actual answer: – Oberon gets his way; Titania agrees to turn over the changeling boy to him after all. (see Oberon’s speech, especially 4.1. lines 60-61). Make sure students understand how this plot development reflects the assumptions of the Great Chain of Being. Just as all of nature and society was in turmoil in Act 2 because of Oberon and Titania’s quarrel, all returns to peace in Act 4 when they reconcile. 2. Spend the balance of class working through the Rehearsal #2 Handout.
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In Class Rehearsal #2 FOCUS: CASTING, EDITING, BLOCKING THE SCENE A) Cast parts. (If you don’t have enough people in your group, you may have members “double” (play two parts—using a prop or costume to indicate the changing character) or recruit someone from another group to take a minor role. Such participation is an extra credit opportunity for this unit.) (If there are too many people in the group, consider having two members split a large part; or have one serving as director not perform – like Quince). B) Select a director to oversee the whole production. (The director turns in a copy of the group’s edited Master Script to the teacher as well as the group’s Performance Work Sheet on Day 22, the day of the final rehearsal – see below.) C) Read through the scene for the first time in character, agreeing on cuts to the script. This will be the version of the scene the group actually performs for the whole class. D) Block the scene: a) This time, when you read the scene in character, get up and actually walk through the implied action. b) Identify entrances and exits for each character. If characters are on stage at the same time, are they aware of each others’ presences? Set up their poses accordingly. c) Decide on appropriate placement, movements, gestures, eye contact and so forth for each character and write them into your master script. d) Move through the blocking several times. (Talking about what you are going to do is not the same as doing it! Get out of your chairs and start acting.)
Begin the process of memorizing your part. (Please note: You will be allowed to use a script during the final performance. However, the more independent of the script you are – thereby allowing convincing human interaction between you and the other characters on stage – the better.)
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Lesson #19: Stand and Deliver Duration: 90 minutes Priority Standards: 10.20, 10.09, 10.10, 10.13, 10.18.8 Brief Overview of Lesson: Today we review developments in the play over the first 4 acts; have the individual performances of the Titania memorization assessment; and the third rehearsal session for the group scene performance. Materials needed: text, writing notebooks, Assessment Form for keeping track of individual recitation of the Titania speech. Performance Handout for Rehearsal #3 Addressing Essential Question(s): What is real? What is love? Steps/Procedures: 1. Have students get into their acting troupes and review together the conventional plot developments for the four young lovers. The assignment is for each group to make a “stock exchange”, a graphic showing the changing “worth” of Hermia, Helena, Lysander and Demetrius, act by act, through the first four acts, as they view themselves. Students might use a different color line for each character plotted against an X axis recording the four Acts and a Y axis recording the different characters’ relative self-esteem, act by act. What causes their opinion of themselves to go up or down? Students should be allowed ten minutes to accomplish this task.
Very positive
Lysander Demetrius Helena Hermia
Very Negative Act 1
Act 2
Act 3
Act 4
2. Have each group trace one character’s fortunes on their graph, explaining to the whole class what plot developments caused each character’s view of him or herself to go up or down.
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3. Recitation. Use the ‘many hands makes light work’ approach for the recitation assessment. Start out by having one person from each troupe recite the Titania speech in front of the entire class. Keep track of miscues and number of restarts for each performance using the tracking sheet. Then, send each troupe to a different corner/side of the classroom. Have members of the troupe take turns reciting the Titania speech to their troupe-mates with the person who has already recited to the whole class keeping track of miscue/restarts on the tracking sheet. While this is going on, the teacher circulates and listens in, getting an impression of the degree of confidence and fluency exhibited by each performer. Grades are based on a combination of the paper record of number of miscues/restarts and teacher impression of fluency. 4. Have students carry out Rehearsal #3, following instructions on the relevant handout.
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In Class Rehearsal #3 FOCUS: CHARACTER MOTIVATION AND PROPS A) Walk through the scene as blocked once again, reading your parts. This time, begin by asking the question of each character on stage, “What is my motivation?” In other words, what emotions is your character probably experiencing in this situation? What does he/she want to see happen? How can the person playing that part communicate those feelings through posture, gesture, facial expression, etc.? As you go through the scene, keep asking these questions. The director of the troupe should facilitate this conversation. B) Each actor should decide what words, phrases or ideas need to be stressed and indicate that on his/her script. C) Decide what movements and gestures need to occur to communicate the group’s interpretation and indicate them on the master script. D) Run through the scene without interruption, physicalizing and rehearsing the interpretation you have agreed on. E) Decide what props you need and who will bring them. (You can’t perform Pyramus/Bottom’s reaction to the lion’s attack on Thisbe, for example, if you don’t have a bloody veil at the scene of the imagined crime for him to react to. The audience won’t understand the action without such an essential prop.) F) Talk about classroom furniture and what you can use and how it should be arranged for your performance. G) Talk about costumes. (These don’t have to be elaborate, but you will feel more like a performer if you change your appearance to look somewhat like the character you are portraying. Theseus is a Duke – let’s not play him in jeans. Peaseblossom might look good with a sparkly face, etc.). H) Fill out the accompanying “Performance Worksheet”. Turn it in by Day 22 along with a copy of your annotated Master Script to the teacher.
Continue reading your part aloud to yourself many times. (Memorize as many lines as you can; you will have the script as a safety net but you want to be as independent of it as possible so you can act your part, not look like someone reading it.) Complete filling in the Performance Worksheet with accompanying annotated Master Script.
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Lesson #20: Back out of the woods 50 minutes Priority Standards: 10.01, 10.02, 10.09, 10.11, 10.15 Materials needed:
text Journal questions Reading Journals
Overview: Reading of Act 5 with Reading Journals It is hoped that you will be able to read Act 5 up to the “Play Within The Play.” Different classes may want to do read-around, reader’s theatre, teacher reading. You will know what works best for your students. Make sure that all students are filling in their Reading Journals appropriately. 1. Before reading, ask the students to jot down any ideas why they think there is an Act 5, as it seems all the conflict has been resolved. 2. On-demand prompt. Have students use their Reading Journals and the previous discussion to create a thesis statement and provide evidence for the following prompt. (Regarding the prompt: We are hoping to get at the idea of them being “unreasonable” and depending on audience to exist.) Discuss the idea that Theseus expresses when he makes reference to the “lunatic, the lover and the poet” all having something in common. What is it?
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Lesson #21: The Play Within the Play 50 minutes Priority Standards: 10.01, 10.02, 10.09, 10.11, 10.15 Materials needed:
text Journal questions Reading Journals
Overview: In this class we will read the Rude Mechanical’s Performance, Act 5, Lines 110-365. Different classes may want to do read-around, reader’s theatre, teacher reading. You will know what works best for your students. Make sure that all students are filling in their Reading Journals appropriately. 1.
Read Act Five Lines 110 – 365
2.
Discuss the Hall of Mirror aspect of this scene; we are watching a play put on for a wedding put on in a play about player putting on a play for a wedding. Again; how do we know what is real at this time? Also what ideas of real love are we seeing in the play?
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Lesson #22: “If you pardon, we will mend…” Duration: 50 minutes Priority Standards: 10.01, 10.09, 10.13, 10.20 Brief Overview of Lesson: Students speculate on the unity of purpose in this play, which at its end ties together themes about the mutable nature of reality, the imagination, love and the relationship between actors and audience. Students have their last run through for their group performance of the play (next class meeting.) Materials needed: text, notebooks, Acting Companies Handout and props and costumes. Addressing Essential Question(s): What is real? What is love? Steps/Procedures: 1. Begin with a quote from Cleanth Brooks, one of the principle thinkers behind the Formalist (aka “New School”) of literary criticism. “….the primary concern of literary criticism is with the problem of unity…the kind of whole which the literary work forms or fails to form, and the relation of the various parts to each other in building up this whole.” Brooks’s argument here is that the quality of a literary text can be judged by the degree to which all its elements work together to create a unified experience for the reader/audience. 2. So, what is the unified experience in A Midsummer Night’s Dream? What do the forest and city, Oberon and the Duke, Titania and Bottom, the four mixed-up young lovers, and the mechanicals with their memorably bad, if well-intentioned, performance of the tragic story of Pyramus and Thisbe have in common? Where is the concord in this discord? 3. Ask students why they think SS ended the play with Act 5 – what is the play within the play doing there? If the answer is ‘for laughs’, ask what’s so funny about a double suicide? MSND is a comedy in the classic sense, in other words; it ends with mass celebration, dancing, singing, feasting, multiple marriages and the continuation of the human species into the next generation; not just laughs. 5. Help students see Shakespeare’s unifying vision: that what the poet (himself, as writer), lovers and madmen have in common is a view of reality altered by the imagination; that, in life, we all need a sympathetic “audience” in order to complete the process of converting our wishes and dreams into a “reality” that transcends mere reason. So, it behooves us all, like Theseus, to be generous with our applause. 4.
6. Spend the balance of the class on the Final Performance Dress Rehearsal, following instructions in the Performance Preparation handout.
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In Class Rehearsal #4 A) Ideally, bring your props and costumes and have a full-blown dress rehearsal today. At a minimum, get on your feet, going through the scene and acting out the parts. B) Listen to your director. S/he may have suggestions about changes in blocking, movement, voice inflection, pauses, facial expression, etc to more clearly bring our your group’s interpretation of the scene. For the final presentation: Get together and rehearse the scene on your own several times, if possible. Remember, the more you practice, the more confident and convincing you will be as a group in front of the class. Remember – the show must go on. If someone in your troop is absent on performance day, be prepared with an understudy for his or her part. (An audience member can stand in for one of the smaller parts and the troupe member with that part moves over to the missing part, for example.)
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PERFORMANCE WORKSHEET Acting Company ______________ Scene to be performed: (act, scene, lines) ________________ Director ________________ Copy of annotated* Master Script attached: You betcha! *(The Master Script should be the edited version with line cuts, blocking notes, and characterization notes indicated on it.) Casting:
1.
Character __________
Played by ___________
Costume Description ________________
2.
__________
___________
________________
3.
__________
___________
________________
4.
__________
___________
________________
5.
__________
___________
________________
___________
________________
6.
__________
Essential Props: Brought by 1.
__________
___________
2.
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3.
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4.
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Culminating Assessment Part One: All The World’s a Stage 90 minutes Priority Standards: 10.20, 10.10.15 (PPS) Materials needed; Performance Rubric and your talented collection of actors. Overview: This is the big performance day. It should be a fun and entertaining way to assess the student’s grasp of the plot and the characters It gives the students who are not “natural” readers a chance to shine and shows that Shakespeare is meant to be performed; his is a living, breathing art and that they have mastery over the text and its meaning. 1.
Groups put on their performances. Students should grade themselves and then hand in the rubric to you to grade.
2.
You might want them to write a reflection in their Reading Journals about the performances.
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MSND Rubric: Acting Troupe Final Performance Criterion Enunciation of lines
6-5 Lines are spoken with generous volume; at an appropriate pace; every word is audible
Familiarity with script
Lines are spoken fluently and with understanding; the inflection of the voice is appropriate to the content of the lines; actors make eye contact with each other and operate largely independently of their scripts. Every character knows what he or she is doing; entrances and exits are timely and well rehearsed; the physical action accurately reflects the implied action from the text. All essential props for helping the audience envision the action are present; characters have costumes that help identify their roles. All characters, even those with smaller spoken parts, acted appropriately to the moment.
Blocking
Supporting props
Group cohesion
4-3 Most of the lines can be heard; voices occasionally are too soft to be heard, however, particularly at the end of lines Some lines are spoken with understanding, but others are not; actors divide time between paying attention to their script and relating to each other.
2-1 Lines are not spoken with enough volume to be heard; or are rushed through too fast.
Most characters know what they are doing but an occasional slip-up occurs; the physical action usually but not always reflects the content of the speeches.
Awkward pauses in the action indicate inadequate preparation or rehearsal; the action of individual characters is not well-suited to the implied content of their lines. No props or costuming were employed.
Some props and costuming are employed but others are missing.
Performance stayed in character for the majority of the time but not throughout.
Lines are spoken in a monotone mumble; actors pay attention to their scripts, not each other; there are frequent mispronunciations or stumbles in articulation.
Group cohesion was not evident.
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Culminating Assessment Part 2: Tell me everything you know… 50 minutes Materials needed: Short Answer and Essay prompts (provided) Priority standards: 10.01, 10.10. 10.18.2, 10.18.2 Overview: Part 2 of the final assessment Differentiation. We have provided a selection of essay prompts for students to choose from. You might want to adapt one from the journal list, if you think that would be more productive for your students. You could set up the unit so you all work towards just one or two possibilities. There is room for leeway. It could be that you hand the prompt out beforehand to students who will benefit from that extra time and preparation.
We have included two rubrics again, one more student friendly and another that spells out exactly what skills the students should have mastered. Use which ever you feel is most fitting to your situation.
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream Culminating Assessment Part 1: Short Answer Use your Reading Journals to find evidence and to answer the following questions. 1. Find three instances of similes, metaphors, and/or personification in the play. Provide Act, Scene, and Line numbers, quote the text, and then analyze the quote. What type of figurative language is this? What is being compared? To what? Why is this an appropriate description? How is your understanding enhanced due to this language? Example: 1.1.133-134 Hermia: “Belike for want of rain, which I could well/ Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes” In this section, Lysander has just compared Hermia’s cheeks to roses that have faded. She responds, continuing the metaphor, indicating that her cheeks (roses) have faded because of lack of rain. She then indicates that the tears flowing from her eyes are tempests, which could supply those roses with water. These comparisons are appropriate in that love, especially young love, is emotional (tempests of tears) and roses are the flower of love. Also, in Shakespeare’s time, and even today, it would be common to compare a woman’s physical features with elements of nature. This adds to my understanding, in that it paints an image, rather than just indicating that she is crying. It also characterizes their relationship a bit, as we see his concern for her, and her emotional upheaval after the exchange with her father and the Duke.
2. Choose one character in the play, and make at least three statements about that character, providing multiple specific pieces of evidence to support each of your inferences. (Puck is __________________, as evidenced by _______________________________________.)
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Part 2: On-demand essay: Choose one of the prompts below and write a 250-350 word essay that directly addresses the question. You may use your copy of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for this section of the test; indeed, you must in order to find relevant quotes that support your position. You may also use your Reading Journals, but be careful not to spend all of your time searching, rather than focusing and writing. Please double space the final draft. When you are finished, attach this sheet to your essay, make sure your name is on it, and turn it in. 1) What do you think Shakespeare is saying about the nature of young love in A Midsummer Night’s Dream? 2) What is the point of the play-within-a-play which takes up most of Act V? Explain why Shakespeare ends the play with this unusual performance. 3) In staging A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the director must decide whether to cast Hermia and Helena both as attractive, good-looking women; or, whether to portray Hermia as beautiful and Helena as comparatively plain. Which of these approaches would you favor? Explain your choice. 4) What is the classic definition of comedy and to what degree does A Midsummer Night’s Dream satisfy it?
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream Post Assessment Rubric – Student Version 5-6
3 -4
1-2
10.01 Analyze Figurative Language
I am able to identify and explain very well what figurative language adds to my understanding of the text.
I am able to identify and explain what figurative language adds to my understanding of the text.
10.10 Identify the Qualities of Character And their effect on The text
I am able to explain confidently what a character is like using evidence from the text. I am able to see what the impact of character traits on the story. I am able to confidently support my ideas and use very well-chosen evidence and quotes from the text.
I can start to explain what a character is like using evidence from the text. Sometimes I am able to see what the impact of character traits on the story. I am able to generally support my ideas and use some solid evidence and quotes from the text.
I struggle to identify and explain what figurative language is, or what it adds to my understanding of the text. I struggle to explain what a character is like using evidence from the text. I need practice to see what the impact the character traits have on the story. I am struggle supporting my ideas and it is still difficult to find wellchosen evidence and quotes from the text.
I am able to create a complex thesis that is interesting and thoughtful and build my paper successfully around it.
I am able to create a thesis statement that generally my paper is organized around, with a few wobbles.
10.18.2 Support a position with precise and relevant examples and evidence. 10.18.1 Develop a thesis providing connection and insights
I struggle to write a thesis statement, and if I do write one I often forget to refer to it throughout my paper
How I think I have improved since the pre-assessment:
My next goal is to improve my…
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream Post Assessment Rubric – Teacher Version Priority Standard
6-5
4-3
2-1
10.01 Analyze figurative expressions, comparisons and analogies. (10.3.4)
Connects all facets of the central analogy correctly and interprets the figurative language accurately, demonstrating an ability to extract the literal level of meaning from poetic language. Generates a rich, multidimensional portrait of a character that infers qualities about her/his personality consistent with the sentiments expressed in and style of the text.
Connects some of the elements of the passage’s central analogy but not others; decodes the figurative language accurately in terms of its literal meaning at least part of the time. Presents an evaluation of a character that successfully makes the case for at least one or two personal qualities as evidenced by the content and style of the text.
Is confused or puzzled by the central analogy and figurative language; is not yet able to make the leap from poetic language to literal meaning.
The writing contains specific examples from the text and connects them to the thesis. This connection is made clear, and the writing begins to analyze the evidence rather than simply informing. Student uses MLA format for in-text citations. Thesis statement provides the context of author and title of the work. The statement clearly identifies the big idea of the paper and suggests the forthcoming subtopics. The thesis is engaging and thought-provoking.
The writing contains specific examples from the text and connects them to the thesis. This connection is made clear to the reader.
The writing contains one or no clear examples from the text. The examples may be paraphrased, but no direct quotes are attempted.
Thesis statement provides the context of author and title of the work. The statement clearly identifies the big idea of the paper and suggests the forthcoming subtopics.
Thesis statement is unclear or incomplete. It is missing all or part of the required components. Thesis may be overly broad or ambiguous.
Score _______
S.A. Question 1 10.10 Identify the qualities of the character, and analyze the effect of these qualities. (10.9.5) (10, 9.9) Score _______
Attempts to profile a character based on the text but does not go beyond the overly obvious; or, alternatively, are inaccurate, reflecting a misreading of the text.
S.A. Question 2 10.18.2 Support a position with precise and relevant examples and evidence. Score ______
On-demand Essay
10.18.1 Develop a thesis providing connection and insights Score ______
On-demand Essay
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Student Samples We have included a high, medium and low piece of writing as examples of the on-demand timed piece of writing. You may want to use this as examples for students, and have them work with these texts. We have also included examples of the artistic rendering of the Hippolyta speech. Student Samples
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MSND Student Samples Final “On Demand” Writing Assessment Example of a “medium” functioning response to the “What is SS saying about the nature of young love” “on demand” prompt – 30 minutes writing time; with access to text but not notes: A Midsummer Night’s Dream is all about young love and the troubles and confusion following it. Shakespeare is saying that the nature of young love is very unpredictable. You are very vulnerable at that age and falling in and out of love is easier. This book is constantly contradicting itself. The biggest example would be when Puck messes up on who should love who. It completely switches everything around. Both Lysander and Demetrius love Helena, and Helena thinks that it is all a joke, and that they are just mocking her. “Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born? When at your hands did I deserve this scorn…Should of another therefore be abused!” (p. 63, line 130-141) In Act 2, Scene 1, Demetrius is being followed by Helena, through the forest. One of the first things that Demetrius says to her is; “I love thee not; therefore pursue me not…Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.” (p. 47, line 195-201.) Demetrius is telling Helena that he doesn’t, and never will love her. But ironically, one day later, he is madly in love with her. Lysander would also do the same; “And, All my powers, address your love and might To honor Helen and to be her knight” (p. 63. Line 150-151) Shakespeare purposely made his characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream contradict themselves because that is how young love is. You will change your mind a thousand times before you realize what true love is. I think that Shakespeare meant for his story to be reflecting on all of the young couples that think they are in love.
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Example of a “low” functioning response to the “What is SS saying about the nature of young love” prompt (approximately 30 minutes writing time with access to text but not notes): In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, we see the crazyness of young love and the actions of the characters. In this play, the four young lovers show us many sides of love. During the begining of the play two lovers, Hermia and Lysander love each other but do to Hermia’s father, she may only marrie Demetrius. If she does not marrie him she must become a nun or be killed: “Egeus: I beg the ancient privilege of Athens: as she is mine, I may dispose of her, which shall be either to this gentlemen or to her death according to our law immediately provided in that case” p. 9, l 43-47 Because of the thret Hermia and Lysander run to the forest. This action shows the devotion from the young lovers. A conflict ocures when Oberon, king of fairies, dropes the flower juice in to the eyes of both Lysander and Demetrius. Both the lovers change their Love from Hermia to Helena. Lysander “Stay, gentle Helena. Hear my excuse, My love, My life, my soul, fair Helena” pg. 99, l 250-251. This shows how fast a man can change his mind. Near the end of the play Oberon finaly fixes all his mistakes with the four lovers and the only person whos mind was left unchanged was Dmetrius. All the lovers are happy and soon get married with Theseus and his Bride. Through this play we the reader see the travel the four lovers take in order to find true love. The message Shakespeare may have been trying to tell was that in the end love will prevail.
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Example of a high functioning response to the prompt, “What is SS saying about young love in MSND (approximately 30 minutes writing time with access to the text but not notes): Love is not a phenomenon controlled by reason. This idea occurs often throughout the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. Love is never governed by reason, although those in its thrall are sure that reason rules their choices. An example of love winning out over reason is common in this play. Lysander, one of the four lovers says to Helena: “Who will not change a raven for a dove? The will of man is by his reason swayed. And reason says you are the wothier maid” (Act 2, scene 2, lines 121-123). He says this when he is controlled by the love potion so it is highly ironic that he invokes reason for changing his mind when the audience knows it is a flower’s sweet nectar. You hear about reason from another lover as well, Helena. “Love can transpose to form and dignity. Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind. And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” (Act 1, scene 1, lines 238-241). Helena says here that love is dictated by something inside ourselves, inside “the mind”; not by objective facts outside it. She knows she has no rational reason to love Demetrius, but she loves him all the same. One other clear example of love not being “reasonable” comes with the brief union of Nick Bottom and Titania. “Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that,” he says to her when she says she loves him. “And yet to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays.” (Act 3, scene 1, lines 144-146.) This shows that Bottom knows that the Queen’s love for him is not reasonable, but he is loved by her anyway. Love (spurred on by Puck’s flower drops) trumps reason again. In the end Cupid is truly blind. Because there is love without reason in virtually every pairing in the play. Shakespeare is trying to tell us that with so many instances throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream that love is not decided by the calm, cool collected part of our brains; it is passionate and unreasonable; foolish and wonderful. Would we have it any other way?
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Lesson #23: Optional Comprehension Quiz *Duration: 50 minutes *Brief overview of lesson: Students take a quiz on the unit.
*Materials needed: Quiz
*Steps/Procedures: 1. Proctor the quiz in the manner befitting your class.
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream Quiz Name ________________ Form A B. Quote Identification Directions: Put the name of the speaker before the following famous lines. (The same character may be quoted more than once.) Theseus Lysander Demetrius Oberon
Hippolyta Hermia Helena Titania
Puck Egeus Nick Bottom Peter Quince
Philostrate Francis Flute Tom Snout Robin Starveling
1. ___________ “But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy Lie further off, in humane modesty, Such separation as may well be said Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid So far be distant.” 2. ___________ “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” 3. ___________ “Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that. And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays.” 4. ___________ “O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent To set against me for your merriment.” 5. ___________ “The lunatic, the lover and the poet Are of imagination all compact.” 6. ___________ “Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania..” 7. ___________ “The course of true love never did run smooth.” 8. ___________ “Out of this wood do not desire to go: Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.” 9. ___________ “Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade, He bravely broached his boiling bloody breast, And Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade, His dagger drew, and died.” 10. ___________ “I beg the law, the law upon his head..”
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream Quiz Name ________________ Form B A) Quote Identification Directions: Put the name of the speaker before the following famous lines. (The same character may be quoted more than once.) Theseus Lysander Demetrius Oberon
Hippolyta Hermia Helena Titania
Puck Egeus Nick Bottom Peter Quince
Philostrate Francis Flute Tom Snout Robin Starveling
1. ____________ “Not Hermia, but Helena I love. Who will not change a raven for a dove?” 2. ____________ “My Oberon, what visions have I seen! Methought I was enamoured of an ass.” 3. ____________ “If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended – That you have but slumb’red here While these visions did appear.” 4. ____________ “I see their knavery; this is to make an ass of me; to fright me, if they could. But I will not stir from this place, do what they can; I will walk up and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear I am not afraid.” 5. ____________ “I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, The more you beat me, I will fawn on you.” 6. ____________ “No, my noble lord; It is not for you. I have heard it over, And it is nothing, nothing in the world;” 7. ____________ “How am I? I am not yet so low But that my nails can reach unto thine eye.” 8. ____________ “The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve. Lovers, to bed; ‘tis almost fairy time.” 9. ____________ “Well, go thy way. Thou shalt not from this grove Till I torment thee for this injury.” 10. ____________ “This man hath bewitched the bosom of my child. Thou, thou, Lysander; thou hast given her rhymes And interchanged love tokens with my child;”
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C. Short answer questions Directions: Respond to the following questions with brief, specific answers: 11. What is a malapropism and why does Shakespeare have Quince and Bottom frequently use malapropisms in their speeches?
12. What is the Elizabethan idea of the “Chain of Being” and how does it show up in the conflict between Oberon and Titania?
13. Why does Theseus overrule his advisor and decide to see Bottom and company’s performance of Pyramus and Thisbe?
14. Name two points of contrast between Hermia and Helena in terms of their physical appearance.
15. What is the key development that leads to the settling of all the arguments between the various lovers?
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Lesson #24: Unit Reflection *Duration: 20 minutes or as homework *Brief overview of lesson: Students reflect on their learning from this unit.
*Materials needed: Student Guiding Question handout
*Steps/Procedures: 1. Handout student directions. 2. Student reflections may be collected, or may be added to student portfolios.
Strategies for ELL students & Modifications for students with special needs: Provide sentence stems and/or frames for students. Simplify questions into smaller chunks.
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Student Unit Reflection Questions Answer the following questions in paragraph format. 1. After this unit, what does it mean to you to “do” Shakespeare? How did your attitude or understanding change during the course of this unit?
2. Looking at your pre-assessment and culminating assessment, how have you grown in the areas of understanding and analyzing figurative language and characterization?
3. Looking at your pre-assessment and culminating assessment, how have you grown in the areas of thesis development, and providing specific evidence?
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Resources Film Versions A Midsummer night's dream [videorecording] / by William Shakespeare; presented by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Publication info. [New York, N.Y.] : Ambrose Video Publishing [distributor], 2000. William Shakespeare's A Midsummer night's dream [videorecording] / Fox Searchlight Pictures; produced by Leslie Urdang, Michael Hoffman; screenplay by Michael Hoffman; directed by Michael Hoffman. Publication info. Beverly Hills, Calif.: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, c1999. A midsummer night's dream [videorecording] / by William Shakespeare; [presented by] Warner Bros. Pictures; Max Reinhardt's production; arranged for the screen by Charles Kenyon and Mary C. McCall, Jr.; directed by Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle. Publication info. Burbank, CA: Distributed by Warner Home Video, [2007] Shakespeare retold [videorecording] / 2 entertain; BBC Worldwide. Publication info. [England]: BBC Video: Distributed by BBC Worldwide Americas; Burbank, CA: Distributed by Warner Home Video, [2007] a total reworking – extra credit opportunity?
Audio Books A midsummer night's dream [sound recording] / William Shakespeare. Publication info. Pennsauken, NJ: Naxos, p1997. This could be an excellent way to help reluctant readers, ELL students and those who struggle with text in some way. The Multnomah County Library has some audio books that can be downloaded straight on to MP3 players. Check with your Special Education teachers to see what resources you might have in your building in this regard.
Retellings in Prose and Graphic Novels Another excellent way to help struggling, reluctant and ELL learners. These resources are available from the Multnomah Coutny library and it maybe that your school also has similar resources. The graphic novel may really work as ahook for some students, and the prose retellings take some of the fear of Shakespeare’s “complictated” language and allows them to get the story, which gives them confidence to take on the tasks in class. They can use these versions to work on their Reading Note Books. The sideby-side version really helps students who want to get it, but need a little leg up. William Shakespeare's A midsummer night's dream / retold by Bruce Colville ; pictures by Dennis Nolan. Publication info. New York : Dial Books, c1996. A midsummer night's dream / [by William Shakespeare; adapted by Richard Appignanesi]; illustrated by Kate Brown. Publication info. New York: Amulet Books, 2008. Manga Shakespeare
A midsummer night's dream / edited and rendered into modern English by Alan Durband. Publication info. Woodbury, N.Y.: Barron's, 1985, c1984. The side-by-side version. 83