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Macbeth: Reading and Discussing Shakespeare
Janelle Fila
Star Educator
Average rating:4.6Number of reviews:(902)
In this 5-week class, students will read and discuss Shakespeare's tragic Scottish play, Macbeth #academic
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...
5 lessons//5 Weeks
Week 1Lesson 1Act 1 (Scenes 1-7)Video lessons, worksheets, writing assignment, and optional Kahoot! review quizWeek 2Lesson 2Act 2 (Scenes 1-4)Video lessons, worksheets, supplement activities, writing assignment, and optional Kahoot! review quizWeek 3Lesson 3Act 3 (Scenes 1-6)Video lessons, worksheets, writing assignment, and optional Kahoot! review quizWeek 4Lesson 4Act 4 (Scenes 1-3)Video lessons, worksheets, supplement activities, writing assignment, and optional Kahoot! review quizWeek 5Lesson 5Act 5 (Scenes 1-8)Video lessons, worksheets, writing assignment, and optional Kahoot! review quiz
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
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 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.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 would like a grade for this class.
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.
In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:
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.
Star Educator
Average rating:4.6Number of reviews:(902)
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
$14
weekly or $70 for all content5 pre-recorded lessons
5 weeks of teacher support
Choose your start date
1 year of access to the content
Completed by 5 learners
Ages: 15-18
