Shakespeare Lesson Plans

Memes and Shakespeare – Class Project

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First of all, this was not my idea! But, it’s a brilliant way to engage your kids with Shakespeare, especially high schoolers! All credit goes to Larry Reiff (@Mrreiff) – as he says, “All the world’s an e-stage”! Love it!

Now, onto the great idea… Shakespeare analyzed via memes.  I know this is not traditional, but hey, we are about engaging our kids with the wonderful language and stories of Shakespeare any way possible, and this is PERFECT!

So simply, he has the kids analyze a scene and then find photos and memes that go with specific phrases.  See examples below. Larry’s class uses: imgflip to generate his memes and photos… Other teachers use Canva to create cards around phrases – with images – both are engaging and fun ideas.

Have fun with these, and be sure to share more ideas so we all can have kids that are better Bard lovers!

shakespeare memeshakespeare meme

 

Memes and Shakespeare – Class Project was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Shakespeare in Mime

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A theater group in India has put together a performance of The Tempest, done completely in mime.  Designed specifically for grade school kids, in the fear that Shakespeare is leaving schools, this performance relies entirely on actions. No words, which makes the story telling that much more challenging.  Read more about this impressive performance here in the New Indian Express.

As a classroom exercise, have your kids mime a short part of one of Shakespeare’s plays. You really need to be expressive and understand the language in order to deliver a mimed performance effectively.  This will be great fun!

Let me know how it goes!

Shakespeare in Mime was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Backyard Shakespeare – A Homeschool Experience

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Backyard Shakespeare. What is that, you may ask. Well, it’s a very ingenious and creative way to engage homeschooled kids with Shakespeare, education, language arts, drama, and most importantly, fun!  

I recently had the privilege to teach a group of 7 kids Playing With Plays The Tempest for Kids and we had a BLAST! Best part, we did it in the backyard of a house of one of the homeschooling families.  Their deck was a natural stage. So, a few costumes, a few scripts, a few rehearsals, and BAM! We’ve got a fun, melodramatic Shakespeare play performing in the backyard!

I’ve seen this done in the past with many of my plays, but this was the first time I got to do it. The best part, you can do a performance ANYWHERE! The parents bring a blanket or lawn chairs, and you have an instant theater!

 

Backyard Shakespeare – A Homeschool Experience was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Shakespearean Tragedy Bingo

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Shakespearean Tragedy Bingo CardOk, let’s start with, I didn’t make this… but, it’s pretty darn cool! (credit to Mya Gosling) Shakespearean Tragedy Bingo.  My first thought was, it’s going to be a pretty long game.  But, my second thought was to actually make this into a game.  Have all the different scenes that relate to the squares put in the “Shakespearean Tragedy Bingo” bag.  Pull out the scene and play, review it slightly for a quick learning lesson, and have the kids mark their cards!

If I was a highschool teacher, I would use the Shakespearean Tragedy Bingo as a tool to show kids how there is so much cool stuff to Shakespeare’s plays.  How life today, in some parts, is no different than 400 years ago.

When trying to engage kids with Shakespeare, I find the tragedies are the most engaging!  Have fun with this one teachers!

-Brendan

Shakespearean Tragedy Bingo was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Classroom Insult-a-thon

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Classroom Insult-a-thon (Don’t forget, April 23rd is National Insult Like Shakespeare Day!) It’s simple and fun and works like this: Everyone writes up 3-4 different insults using the Shakespeare Insult Generator They spend about 5-10 minutes practicing their insults, working on generating the appropriate delivery with angst! Split the class into 2 groups that line…

Classroom Insult-a-thon was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Shakespeare and Music

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Shakespeare music bandHave some kids in class that are musically inclined?  Give them a great challenge, have them create a Shakespeare song.  Perhaps this is to one of their favorite characters (ohh, what would a Puck song sound like… I’m thinking Nirvana…) or their favorite play (I can hear a nice Halloween melody running for Titus…) or anything associated with The Bard at all.

I was inspired for this by watching the following YouTube vid on a song created and inspired by Richard II:

YouTube Preview Image

Pretty cool, huh?  Thanks to the @BookshopBand for bringing this to my attention.

I worked with a teacher once that did a bunch of music for Midsummer for Kids, you can read about that here.

Shakespeare music and foodRemember, the point is to get kids engaged with Shakespeare, any way possible.  What a great Shakespeare challenge.  When you have a musical performance ready, please send it my way so I can enjoy and share with others!!!

Have fun and let me know how it goes!

Brendan

Shakespeare and Music was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Shake Phrase in a Box – Classroom Activity

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Here’s a great idea from @DetroitSamWhite, whom I met in the twitterverse.  A great way to introduce kids to Shakespeare and realize the impact that The Bard’s language had on the rest of the world is to play a little game with your kids called, Shake Phrase.  As many of you know, all of my books are sprinkled with common Shakespeare phrases that kids will hear throughout life.  Well, with Shake Phrase, you write down dozens of these common phrases and words and put them in a box.  BUT, the 2nd part is to put another dozen or so of other common phrases, not done by Shakespeare in the same box.  Now, Shake Phrase: shake the box and pull a phrase, the kids have to guess if they are from Will or not.  As @DetroitSamWhite says, “blows their minds :-)”

Do a few phrases each day and they will quickly “start learning that many of the phrases they hear and use are Shakespeare quotes.”

It’s almost like Catch Phrase for Shakespeare!

Drop me a line and let me know if you have a great classroom activity for engaging kids with the Bard.  I always like to share great ideas like Shake Phrase.

 

Shake Phrase

Shake Phrase in a Box – Classroom Activity was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Can Shakespeare get you to Disneyland?

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Okay, I will be the first to tell you that I am a big Disneyland fan. Now, to hear that there is an opportunity for doing some theater, dare I say SHAKESPEARE, and that’ll get me in the gate at Disneyland on the cheap, I am all about that! This a great article about a school that is trying to do just that.

I really want to root them on, because anytime you can get Shakespeare and Disneyland tied into one joint effort, that makes it all the more worthwhile.

Below is the story about their journey:

http://m.gazette.com/local-theater-students-will-compete-at-disney-world/article/1515215

Can Shakespeare get you to Disneyland? was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Another #ShakesTweet – Henry IV, Part 1

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Here’s another great post by Alan Peat doing 50-tweets renditions of Shakespeare’s greatest plays.  This time, Henry IV, Part 1 (I wonder if he has a History of the World, Part 1, misc tweet or two in there?)

Here is an excerpt or two and a link to the actual post:

1402. Henry IV wants a crusade but there’s trouble at home – Ed. Mortimer (English) captured by Glendower (Welsh leader); 1000 English dead

And there’s more: their ‘private parts’ have been chopped off. Even more – Hotspur not handing over Scots prisoners from Battle of Holmedon

Alan Peat’s Henry IV, Part 1 tweet blog

Another #ShakesTweet – Henry IV, Part 1 was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Can Shakespeare’s Henry V be done in 30 tweets? #ShakesTweet

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Fellow blogger and Shakespeare fan, Alan Peat, (@alanpeat) was a bit bored one day and decided for his 50th birthday to tweet all of Shakespeare’s plays in 50 tweets or less (not in one day, cuz, that’d be a bit crazy).  So, he knocked out his first “Shakestweet”, Henry V.

twitterThat leads to my thoughts on another Shakespeare lesson plan, the ShakesTweet.  What a great way to engage technology with Shakespeare.  As I’ve said before, probably half your kids already have a twitter account, and what a great way to get the basic storyline across?  140 characters can actually go a long way.

When I write my books, I start by making the play as short as possible, with as few characters as possible.  Only then do I have the basic core of the story, the frame.  From that frame, I can scaffold on more characters, details, and subplots of the play that I deem fit for the kids and the level of melodramatic nonsense I want to incorporate.  (It’s pretty fun!)  I’m no Shakespeare aficionado, I just love engaging kids and seeing them grow from learning through excitement and passion.

So, get your kids engaged with the ShakesTweet lesson plan, and be sure to mention me in the process, so I can follow along: @Shakespeare4kid #ShakesTweet

See you in the matrix…

Brendan

Can Shakespeare’s Henry V be done in 30 tweets? #ShakesTweet was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books