Hamlet Reading and Discussing Shakespeare
Janelle Fila
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Average rating:4.6Number of reviews:(899)
In this 5-week class, students will read and discuss Shakespeare's play, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark #academic
Class experience
US Grade 9 - 12
Hamlet is Shakespeare's tragedy about revenge, power, and ultimately death. Hamlet is required reading for a lot of high school students. It is the perfect story for group discussion and analysis because Shakespeare's language and word choices can be hard to appreciate and understand when reading alone. Students will read one act a week on their own time. Each act contains 2-7 scenes. (Longer scenes will be broken into 2-3 smaller, more manageable chunks of reading.) A separate video will...
5 lessons//5 Weeks
Week 1Lesson 1Act 1Scenes 1-5Week 2Lesson 2Act 2Scenes 1-2Week 3Lesson 3Act 3Scenes 1-4Week 4Lesson 4Act 4Scenes 1-7Week 5Lesson 5Act 5Scenes 1-2
Week One: Act 1 (Scenes 1-5) Week Two: Act 2 (Scenes 1-2) Scene 2 is longer and will be broken down into 3 separate readings Week Three: Act 3 (Scenes 1-4) Week Four: Act 4 (Scenes 1-7) Week Five: Act 5 (Scenes 1-2) Scene 5 is also long and will be broken down into 2 separate readings
I have a Master's degree in Writing for Children and Young Adults. I was a substitute teacher for three years before teaching full-time on Outschool for multiple years. I currently teach English Composition at a local nursing college. I have been blessed to discuss Shakespeare in the classroom multiple times, including my own high school reading experience! My high school English teacher was obsessed with Shakespeare and taught me the importance of understanding these often tragic plays. I learned a lot from her enthusiasm and hope to pass that passion on to my own students. I have read this play multiple times, but I learn something new every time I am exposed to this story. It is an excellent book to discuss because there is so much language and subtext to analyze. I am excited to read it alongside your student to see what emotions and feelings Shakespeare's writings stir up for them.
Homework Offered
Students will read one act a week on their own time in. Each act contains 2-7 scenes. Each week, students will have access to 3-7 new videos and a corresponding worksheet with vocabulary definitions, discussion questions and places for fill-in-the blank answers. Each week, I assign a short writing assignment focused around that week's discussion questions and ask the students to share their responses in the classroom. There is a weekly Kahoot and supplemental optional activities to test their comprehension from the weekly chapters.2 - 4 hours per week outside of class
Assessments Offered
The more questions, comments, and posts that students share in the classroom, the more I can understand their knowledge and comprehension of the topics we are discussing. Please let me know if a grade is required.Grades Offered
Please let me know if you require a grade for this class.
The students will need their own copy of Hamlet to read on their own. It can be borrowed from the library or even listened to as an audio book. The students will not need a physical copy of the story in class, although they may find it helpful to have when completing the writing assignments. I use a well-annotated edition that explains difficult words and constructions in class, but students may want an annotated edition for their own reading as well.
In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:
From commonsensemedia.org: While there is no profanity -- apart from "damn" and "God" -- the dialogue is often hard to follow for those unfamiliar with Shakespearean plays. There are few positive messages from the movie, with characters motivated by revenge and power. A key theme of the movie is death, and while very little is depicted graphically, characters talk about it consistently, and several are killed both on and off screen. A character dies by suicide -- drowning -- but this is shown in abstract form. There are sword fighting scenes and some characters die after being poisoned. But it all feels dramatic rather than violent or scary. There is some depiction of drunkenness. Hamlet has a relationship with his mother, Gertrude, that's steeped in subtext. The Acts either contain many scenes or long scenes, which can be challenging for some readers.
Star Educator
Average rating:4.6Number of reviews:(899)
I currently teach English Composition at the collegiate level. I have a Master's degree in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults, so I teach reading and writing classes. I worked as a substitute teacher for 3 years, in all age ranges and...
Self-Paced Class
$15
weekly or $75 for all content5 pre-recorded lessons
5 weeks of teacher feedback
Choose your start date
1 year of access to the content
Completed by 9 learners
Ages: 14-18
