~"All the world's a stage / And all the men and women merely players / They have their exits and their entrances..." (As You Like It. 2.7.139-41)
or
~"Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, / For wise men say it is the wisest course" (Henry VI.3.1.24-25)
Learning Targets:
As we enter the final act of your freshman year, we begin our ending, much as we began, with both tragedy and comedy. Will we study BOTH The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream (a comedy). One, R & J, we will read and act out in class; the other, we will watch and discuss how it connects to R&J. I know many of you may be slightly afraid of the Big Bad Bard, or really afraid, but we will get through these plays together. I know for many of you this is your first time studying Shakespeare, and for the rest of you, you have never seen him like this:) My hope is that, once all is said and done, you will understand how Shakespeare is STILL alive 450+ years after he came into this world.
Why are we STILL reading his plays?
"That deep torture may be called a hell, / When more is felt than one hath power to tell" (The Rape of Lucrece.1287-288)
Our assignments for our study will follow a similar pattern. You will do some pre-study of each Act by looking at the summaries in the book AND online. These summaries should help you understand what is happening in the play before we act out the play in class. Then, we will break out the costumes and begin performing each Act. This is the BEST part!!!! You will work on analyzing the text for motifs and symbols that link to theme as we read. Essentially, that will be your primary homework. Finally, we will watch AMND in class, and you will record the similarities between the two plays.
Formative Assessment Assignment and Sample
Formative Assessment Template: You will make a copy of this for FOUR of the Acts! Turn this in on turnitin.com (I will also put this on the Classroom)
"We know what we are, but know not what we may be" (Hamlet. 4.5. 42-43)
Your assessments for this will be in two areas: