What's included
5 pre-recorded lessons
5 weeks
of teacher support1 year access
to the contentHomework
Students will read one act a week on their own time in. Each act contains 3-8 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 activities (for days with no video) like riddles, jokes, and interactive questions to test their comprehension from the weekly chapters.Assessment
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.Grading
Please let me know if you would like a grade for this class.Class Experience
US Grade 10 - 12
Macbeth is Shakespeare's classic tale of betrayal. This stark and violent play 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 3-8 scenes. (Longer scenes will be broken into 2-3 smaller, more manageable chunks of reading.) A separate video will discuss each scene the student reads. I will also post a summary of each scene and a worksheet with vocabulary definitions to important words and phrases within the scene. I use the worksheets to address/remind the students of some of the important topics from each scene. The worksheets may also have space for short discussion questions and fill-in-the blank answers. Lesson Breakdown: Students will receive access to one new video that discusses a different assigned scene. This class does not meet live. The prerecorded sessions will emphasize characters, their motivations, theme, social issues, story plausibility, and inferences about what might come next. Students will receive a scene summary paragraph and a corresponding worksheet with vocabulary definitions, discussion questions and places for fill-in-the blank answers for each day. For weeks that have less than six scenes to read, students will have access to a Macbeth related question, activity, joke, or pun. Students are assigned a one-two page writing assignment focused around that week's act. I ask the students to share their responses in the classroom. I also ask students to submit any vocabulary words the students still struggle with or passages the students still do not understand. The more questions the students ask, the more "discussion" we can have in the classroom after each scene/act. I also post a link to an optional online Kahoot! trivia review quiz for the students to further immerse themselves in this week's reading before we move onto a new act the following week. Weekly, students will have access to: 3-7 videos, scene summaries, vocabulary and supplemental worksheets 1 one-two page weekly writing assignment to gauge the reader's understanding of their previous reading 1 Kahoot! trivia game as needed: supplemental interactive questions, activities, jokes, or puns
Learning Goals
Week One: Act 1 (Scenes 1-7)
Week Two: Act 2 (Scenes 1-4)
Week Three: Act 3 (Scenes 1-6)
Week Four: Act 4 (Scenes 1-3)
Week Five: Act 5 (Scenes 1-8) Short scenes will be combined to fit the entire act into one week's reading
Syllabus
5 Lessons
over 5 WeeksLesson 1:
Act 1 (Scenes 1-7)
Video lessons, worksheets, writing assignment, and optional Kahoot! review quiz
Lesson 2:
Act 2 (Scenes 1-4)
Video lessons, worksheets, supplement activities, writing assignment, and optional Kahoot! review quiz
Lesson 3:
Act 3 (Scenes 1-6)
Video lessons, worksheets, writing assignment, and optional Kahoot! review quiz
Lesson 4:
Act 4 (Scenes 1-3)
Video lessons, worksheets, supplement activities, writing assignment, and optional Kahoot! review quiz
Other Details
Parental Guidance
From commonsensemedia.org: Parents need to know violence is the biggest issue, with knives, stabbing, sword fighting, blood, a beheading, and the murder of a woman and children, as well as some spooky imagery involving the witches. Other than that, "damn" and "hell" are used, and there's some fairly innocent Shakespeare-style sexual innuendo. Minor characters appear drunk, and there's some background drinking.
Supply List
The students will need their own copy of Macbeth 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.
External Resources
In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:
Teacher expertise and credentials
Master's Degree in Music or Theatre or Arts from Spalding University
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.
Reviews
Self-Paced Course
$14
weekly or $70 for all content5 pre-recorded lessons
5 weeks of teacher support
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1 year of access to the content
Completed by 7 learners
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Ages: 15-18