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Othello Reading and Discussing Shakespeare
Janelle Fila
Average rating:
4.6
Number of reviews:(902)
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In this 5-week class, students will read and discuss Shakespeare's play, The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice
Class Experience
US Grade 11 - 12
Othello is a Shakespeare tragedy about how mental health can lead to/promote physical violence. This tragedy 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 on their own time. Each act contains 2-4 scenes. A separate video will discuss each scene the student reads (longer scenes may be broken...
5 lessons//5 Weeks
Week 1Lesson 1Act 1Video lessons for each scene, worksheets, supplemental activities, a writing assignment, and an optional Kahoot! review quizWeek 2Lesson 2Act 2Video lessons for each scene, worksheets, supplemental activities, a writing assignment, and an optional Kahoot! review quizWeek 3Lesson 3Act 3Video lessons for each scene, worksheets, supplemental activities, a writing assignment, and an optional Kahoot! review quizWeek 4Lesson 4Act 4Video lessons for each scene, worksheets, supplemental activities, a writing assignment, and an optional Kahoot! review quizWeek 5Lesson 5Act 5Video lessons for each scene, worksheets, supplemental activities, a writing assignment, and an optional Kahoot! review quiz
- Week One: Act 1 (Scenes 1-3) Week Two: Act 2 (Scenes 1-3) Week Three: Act 3 Scene 1 Scene 2 Scene 3 is longer and will be broken down into 2 separate readings: 1) Start Scene 3, stopping at line 318 (Enter Desdemona and Emilia) 2) Read to the end of the Scene 3 Scene 4 Week Four: Act 4 (Scenes 1-3) Week Five: Act 5 (Scenes 1-2) Scene 2 is longer and will be broken down into 2 separate readings: 1) Start Scene 2, stopping at line 203 (Enter Montano, Gratiano, and Iago) 2) Read to the end of the Scene 2 Each video will discuss the assigned scene to help students understand the information they have read. The prerecorded sessions will emphasize characters, their motivations, theme, story plausibility, and inferences about what might come next. We will also refer to any symbolism within the story and discuss what the author intended to represent with those symbols. Students will have opportunities to discuss their own thoughts through a worksheet and writing assignment. Vocabulary words and a Kahoot! review quiz will further immerse the students in the world and test their overall comprehension.
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 also currently teach English Composition for universities in my home state. 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 dissect and discuss how racism, fear, jealously, and hatred ultimately lead to violence. I am excited to read it alongside your student to see what emotions and feelings Shakespeare's writings stir up for them.
2 - 4 hours per week outside of class
Homework
Frequency: includedFeedback: includedDetails: Students will read one act a week on their own time in. Each act contains 2-4 scenes. Students will have access to 3-4 new videos and a corresponding worksheet with vocabulary definitions, discussion questions and places for fill-in-the blank answers. I also 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 an optional Kahoot! and supplemental daily activities to test their comprehension from the weekly reading.Assessment
Frequency: includedDetails: 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
Frequency: includedDetails: Please let me know if you would like a grade for this course.
The students will need their own copy of Othello 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: Parents need to know that Othello is a Black man in white Venice. Whenever characters such as Iago feel jealousy, fear, or simple hatred toward Othello, they vent their feelings by using racist slurs. For much of the play, Othello resists, ignores, or seems indifferent to the racism that dogs him. But eventually he internalizes Iago’s and others’ idea that his Blackness makes him barbarous. This belief, as much as his conviction of Desdemona’s guilt, allows Othello to kill his wife. Like many typical Shakespeare plays, characters smoke, drink, use drugs, and are brutally murdered.
Joined June, 2019
4.6
902reviews
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Teacher expertise and credentials
Master's Degree in Music or Theatre or Arts from Spalding University
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...
Reviews
Self-Paced Class
$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 1 learner
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Ages: 16-18
