The Merchant of Venice: Shakespeare Book Club
In this 4-week class, students will read and discuss Shakespeare's tragicomedy The Merchant of Venice
Janelle Fila
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4.6
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What's included
4 pre-recorded lessons
4 weeks
of teacher support1 year access
to the contentHomework
2-4 hours per week. Students will read one act per lesson on their own time. Students will have access to new videos and a corresponding worksheet with vocabulary definitions, discussion questions and places for fill-in-the blank answers. At the end of the act, I assign a short writing assignment focused around the entire act. There is an optional Kahoot! to test students' comprehension from the individual scenes.Assessment
The more questions, comments, and posts that students share, the more I can understand their knowledge and comprehension of the topics we are discussing. I respond to every question, submitted worksheet, or writing assignment.Letter Grade
Please let me know if a grade is required.Class Experience
US Grade 9 - 12
The Merchant of Venice is a unique Shakespeare play. Technically labeled a comedy, one of the major story lines is definitely a tragedy. Therefore, this play is often referred to as a tragicomedy. Shakespeare's plays are required reading for a lot of high school students. This is the perfect story for 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 per lesson on their own time. 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. Students are assigned a one-two page writing assignment focused around the lesson's act. Students can share their responses, submit any vocabulary words they struggled with, or passages they still do not understand. The more questions the students ask, the more "discussion" we can have after each scene/act. I also post a link an online Kahoot! trivia game for the students to further immerse themselves in the reading before we move onto the following act. Kahoot is a free resource. It is a timed quiz that is 100% optional (any student with testing anxiety can disregard).
Learning Goals
The prerecorded sessions emphasize characters' motivations, theme, and story plausibility. Students will examine their own thoughts through worksheets, a writing assignment, and an optional Kahoot! review quiz.
Syllabus
4 Lessons
over 4 WeeksLesson 1:
Act 1 (Scenes 1-3)
Video lessons, worksheets, writing assignment, and optional Kahoot! review quiz Lesson 2:
Act 2 (Scenes 1-9)
Video lessons, worksheets, writing assignment, and optional Kahoot! review quiz Lesson 3:
Act 3 (Scenes 1-5)
Video lessons, worksheets, writing assignment, and optional Kahoot! review quiz Lesson 4:
Act 4 (Scenes 1-2) and Act 5 (Scene 1)
Video lessons, worksheets, writing assignment, and optional Kahoot! review quiz Other Details
Parental Guidance
According to commonsensemedia.org: Like most Shakespeare plays, a character's life is threatened, a young woman runs away with a man against her father's wishes, a man's anger becomes madness, a young woman refers to being orphaned, characters manipulate and lie to one another, and otherwise "good" people show grave intolerance to others based upon their religion or nationality. There is social drinking. Prostitutes beckon to passing men, and one scene has two characters doing business in a brothel. This story, specifically, explicitly depicts the anti-Semitism of the time with Christian characters spitting on, cursing, threatening, and "damning" Jewish citizens forced to live in a ghetto. The mature themes of this play may be unsuitable for younger readers.
Supply List
The students will need their own copy of The Merchant of Venice 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 The Folger Shakespeare Library edition, 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:
Joined June, 2019
4.6
903reviews
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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 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 learn something new every time I am exposed to this story. It is an excellent book to dissect and discuss, especially the unfortunately still relevant topic of Anti-Semitism. 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
$12
weekly4 pre-recorded lessons
4 weeks of teacher support
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1 year of access to the content
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Ages: 14-18
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