Fourth Six Weeks: Week 1
Writer: Lacy Starnes/Evelyn Gilmore-Smith / TEKS:
1A, 3, 3A, 4A, 2C, 5D, 15
Objective:
- Students will read to establish a historical context of the English Renaissance (1485-1660)
- Students will read to establish background of William Shakespeare
- Students will analyze the sonnet form
- Students will compose a sonnet
- Students will determine the meaning of technical academic English words in multiple content areas derived from Greek roots. (1A)
- Students will evaluate the changes in form in poetry across literary time periods. (3)
- Students will write an analytical essay of sufficient length that includes a clear thesis statement.
Overview:
- Students will learn about the English Renaissance Period (1485-1625) and its significance/impact on society and literature
- After discussing the Renaissance, students will review biographical information about William Shakespeare
- Students will then analyze various sonnet forms that are provided through textbook, but will focus on Shakespearian sonnet form
- Students will compose their own sonnet following a preferred form (Shakespearian, Petrarchan, Spenserian, etc.) focused on “love” theme
Essential Questions:
What is the English Renaissance?
What major events led the development of the English Renaissance?
Who is William Shakespeare?
What is a sonnet?
What various forms of the sonnet are there?
Suggested Lesson Ideas:
The English Renaissance
(Prentice Hall Textbook: Page 236)
The Renaissance, which means, “rebirth” sought to revive the learning of Ancient Greece and Rome. It was a secular movement that encouraged voyages of discovery and emphasized human aspiration.
-PH textbook, page 238
Students read (small groups/pairs) the sections on history, life, literature, and language of the time period.
pp. 238 - 246
Groups present presentationsidentifying the main points
William Shakespeare
(Prentice Hall Textbook: 316-319)
Because of his deep understanding of human nature, his compassion for all types of people, and the power and beauty of his language, William Shakespeare is regarded as the greatest writer in English.
(p. 316)
*Students should already have some prior knowledge of Shakespeare’s background, use these pages to review before starting Macbeth. This will be a good lead-in to sonnets.
Sonnet
(Prentice Hall Textbook: Page 252)
The Sonnet Form-252
1. Introduce Shakespeare using Shakespearean sonnet and Analyzing Text Structures.
2. Quickwrite the Essential Question: What is the relationship of the writer to tradition?
3. Introduce and teach vocabulary using Vocabulary Warm-Ups.
4. Read Sonnet 29, Sonnet 106, Sonnet 116, Sonnet 130
5. Discuss/Analyze vocabulary:
-three quatrains and a couplet
-iambic pentameter
-various rhyme schemes
-shift in thought (the third quatrain or the couplet)
-imagery
-sonnet means little song
6. Teacher reads aloud the sonnet
7. In small groups, students reread and take notes
8. Read and analyze sonnets using TPCASTT or Literary Analysis (page 272).
9. Complete Reading Check Questions, Critical Reading, Literary Analysis and Reading Skills to check comprehension.
10. Administer Selection Test.
11. *Students create their own sonnet following one of the discussed sonnet forms. It is suggested that students focus their sonnet on the theme of “love”, but allow them to choose anything! They could discuss another person, their favorite band, pair of shoes, music, etc. (Sonnets may be used as a six weeks project.)
12. Students then share their sonnets with whole group or small groups.
Suggested Assessment:
Students are quizzed on their knowledge of English Renaissance
Students are graded based on small-group discussions
Students are graded based on their sonnet formatting
Reading Check Questions
Critical Reading
Literary Analysis
Reading Skills
Selection Test
Resources:
Prentice Hall Textbook
Ancillaries
12th Grade English/Language Arts
Fourth Six Weeks: Week 2
Writer: Lacy Starnes/Evelyn Gilmore-Smith / TEKS:
4, 4A, 5A, 5B, 5D, 15C
Objective:
- Students will analyze the structure, characters, and themes of Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth (Act I)
- Students will continue to make connections to yearlong theme of Good versus Evil
- Students evaluate how the structure and elements of drama change in the works of British dramatists across literary periods. (4)
- Students write an interpretation of an expository or a literary text that advances a clear thesis statement [and]addresses the writing skills for an analytical essay including references to and commentary on quotations from the text [and]analyzes the aesthetic effects of an author’s use of stylistic devices. (15C)
Overview:
- Students review structure and elements of drama
- Students review dramatic conventions of tragedy and the tragic hero
- Students read ACT I, focusing on character and theme
Essential Questions:
What defines Elizabethan drama?
What is a tragedy? A tragic hero?
What is ambition? Is it bad? Is it good?
Looking at the context of Macbeth, how might this connect to the yearlong theme?
How might the context of Macbeth apply to the Big Question?
Suggested Lesson Ideas:
William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth
Prentice Hall Textbook: Page 322
* To SPARK interest, ask students to research why it is considered BAD LUCK to mention Macbeth in a theatre. *
Review Connecting to the Essential Questions and ways a character’s flaws can bring about his/her downfall.
Before Reading
In Macbeth, a noble person’s downfall results from a character flaw.
Macbeth is a tragic hero whose tragic flaw is ambition.
From beginning to end, this tragic flaw disturbs the “universal flow” in the play. Everything from the people to the weather is connected to this disorder.
Discussion Starter:
Ask students to define ambition and/or fate. Is it good to have? Can it be bad? Provide realistic examples of both.
In the Prentice Hall textbook, on page 320, have students read over the influences behind Macbeth.
Quickwrite: Do you believe things happen as the result of fate, ambition, human choice, or some combination of the three?
During Reading:
1. Introduce Act I using Literary Analysis: Elizabethan Drama and Reading Skill: Analyze Information from Text Features.
2. Expose students to Vocabulary of Act I possibly using Vocabulary Warm-Ups.
3. Read Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act I
4. Discuss the significance of the opening scene.
5. Why do you think Macbeth is first introduced to us through the witches?
6. For the entire Act, use Reading Check, Literary Analysis, Critical Reading, and Selection Test to check and reinforce comprehension.
7. In scene ii, what is the first word to describe Macbeth? What do you learn about him, based on the Captain’s descriptions?
8. Given the fact that Macbeth was first mentioned by the witches, the idea of fair is foul, foul is fair was introduced in scene one and that Duncan was deceived by Cawdor, to what extent are you prepared to accept at face value the assessment of Macbeth as brave and noble?
9. Macbeth's entry, in scene iii, is a shock because his first words echo those of the witches in scene one:
So foul and fair a day I have not seen (Page 327, line 38) What might this mean in a literal sense? What effect does it have on our initial response to Macbeth?
10. Have students analyze and discuss the predictions that both Macbeth and Banquo receive.
11. In scene iv, what does Duncan mean by There's no art /Find the mind's construction in the face
reflect the fair is foul theme?
12. What does Macbeth mean when he says:
Stars hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires:
The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be
What the eye fears, when it is done, to see?
13. Scenes v, vi, and vii, introduce Lady Macbeth and explore her relationship with Macbeth. These are very important scenes because the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is crucial to the interpretation of the play.
What are Lady Macbeth’s feelings on her husband’s ambition?
14. *Students should analyze and interpret the soliloquies of both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth at the end of Act I.
-What MOTIVE does Macbeth finally provide for murdering Duncan? AMBITION=the tragic flaw!
15. Write a paraphrase of one soliloquy from Act I.
Suggested Assessment
Students can be quizzed on read material
Small group work to review major points, themes, etc.
Use of ancillaries
Reading Check
Literary Analysis
Critical Reading
Writing Lesson
Selection Test
Resources:
Prentice Hall Textbook
Ancillaries
12th Grade English/Language Arts
Fourth Six Weeks: Week 3
Writer: Lacy Starnes/Evelyn Gilmore-Smith / TEKS:
4, 4A, 5A, 5B, 6A, 7A, 15C
Objective:
- Students will analyze the structure, characters, and themes of Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth (Acts II and III)
- Students plan and draft a persuasive essay that develops a clear thesis with support, provides an accurate representation ofdifferent views,utilizes outside sources to support position, and uses argumentative appeals
- Students evaluate how the structure and elements of drama change in the works of British dramatists across literary periods. (4)
- Students write an interpretation of an expository or a literary text that advances a clear thesis statement [and]addresses the writing skills for an analytical essay including references to and commentary on quotations from the text [and]analyzes the aesthetic effects of an author’s use of stylistic devices. (15C)
Overview
- Students review structure and elements of drama: soliloquy
- Students review dramatic conventions of tragedy and the tragic hero
- Students read ACTS II AND III focusing on character and theme
- Students will receive their persuasive essay prompt
Essential Questions:
What is the purpose of a soliloquy?
How is the idea of appearance versus reality connected to yearlong theme of good versus evil?
What is moral dilemma and how does it apply to Macbeth?
How is the idea of ambition changing as Act II begins?
Suggested Lesson Ideas:
Before Reading:
1. Review ACT I plot, characters, and ties to theme.
2. Review the aspects of relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
3. Review soliloquy.
4. Introduce and complete Literary Analysis” Blank Verse, Prose, Comic Relief and Reading Skill: Analyzing Clarity of Meaning.
5. Remind and review Connecting to the Essential Question.
During Reading
1. Read Act II of Shakespeare’s Macbeth(pages 343-355)
2. Act II is concerned with the murder of Duncan and its immediate aftermath.
3. Scene i builds tension as Macbeth prepares to commit the act.
4. Examine
-the dialogue between Macbeth and Banquo at the start of the scene.
-"Is this a dagger..." soliloquy carefully.
-Look at imagery of light/darkness significance?
-In what ways does this soliloquy represent an apparent change in Macbeth?
5. Scene ii begins with Lady Macbeth.
Explore how Shakespeare builds tension throughout the scene.
-What is the importance of Lady Macbeth's comment:
These deeds must not be thought
After these ways; so, it will make us mad. ?
-Have students describe Macbeth's feelings at the end of the scene
6. Utilize Reading Check, Critical Reading, Literary Analysis, Reading Skill and Selection Test to assess comprehension.
7. Complete Writing Lesson page 359.
8. Compose an expository essay for Critical Reading Question #6, page 355.
9. Read ACT III of Shakespeare’s Macbeth(pages 361-375)
10. There can be no question that Macbeth stands at the height of his power after the murder of Duncan, and that the plan--as outlined by Lady Macbeth--has been relatively successful. The road turns toward disaster/down fallonly when Macbeth decides to murder Banquo.
11. Analyze soliloquies by both Banquo (how he is a threat to Macbeth) and Macbeth("To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus-").
12. Ask students to explain how Macbeth and Lady Macbeth show that the crown has not brought peace of mind.
13. In scene iv, Banquo’s ghost appears. In many of his plays, Shakespeare uses ghosts. However, usually the ghost is seen by a number of characters-what is the purpose of Banquo’s ghost only being seen by Macbeth, himself?
14. Utilize Reading Check, Critical Reading, Literary Analysis, Reading Skill and Selection Test to assess comprehension.
After Reading:
Persuasive Essay
When writing a persuasive essay, your purpose is to convince your audience to embrace your idea or point of view. Keeping this purpose in mind is the key to writing an effective persuasion.
Topic:
One of the major reasons that Shakespeare remains popular is in his ability to accurately depict the shortcomings of humanity. Students should readMacbethwith this in mind: the play isn't about Macbeth'sambition; the play is abouthumanambition and the consequences of that.
As students read, they need to be continually guided to think in terms of how they see the themes played out in their own everyday world. Nobody kills a king to win the throne any more, but ambition makes people do some cruel things nevertheless. After they've close-read the play, students should brainstorm possible essay topics. An obvious theme in the play is "ambition." On its own, "ambition" isn't arguable. So the student needs to brainstorm ways he or she sees "ambition" played out in reality to see if any researchable, arguable topics present themselves. The student might explore ambition in the music industry - what are artists willing to do for fame, how do they justify their behavior, is society responsible for this mindset? He or she might want to look at the end-justifies-the-means morality in society, further refining the topic until something arguable and researchable comes up.
Consider other thematic ideas such as: greed, power, violence, psychology of persuasion, and/or issues with morality. The three appeal types must support the argument: logical, ethical, and emotional. Essay needs two outside sources that will be appropriately documented within the paper.(MLA formatting)
Suggested Assessment:
Students could be quizzed on reading assignments
Students could be graded based on participation with in-class discussions
Students could be graded based on small-group discussions
Persuasive Essay
Reading Check
Critical Reading
Literary Analysis, Reading Skill
Selection Test
Resources:
Prentice Hall textbook
Ancillaries
12th Grade English/Language Arts
Fourth Six Weeks: Week 4
Writer: Lacy Starnes/Evelyn Gilmore-Smith / TEKS:
4A, 5A, 5B, 5D, 6A, 7, 15A
Objective:
- Students will analyze the structure, characters, and themes of Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth (Acts IV and V).
- Students plan and draft a persuasive essay that develops a clear thesis with support, provides an accurate representation ofdifferent views,utilizes outside sources to support position, and uses argumentative appeals.
- Students will analyze how the author’s patterns of imagery reveal theme, set tone, and create meaning in passages and literary works. (7)
- Students will write an analytical essay of sufficient length that includes a clear thesis statement or controlling idea [and] relevant and substantial evidence and well-chosen details. (15A)
Overview
- Students finish reading Shakespeare’s Macbeth
- Students close read Macbeth focusing on dramatic structure and elements
- Students begin planning and organizing persuasive essay on desired topic using the three appeals and rebuttal
Essential Questions:
What is dramatic irony and how does it apply to Macbeth?
How does Macbeth prove to be a tragedy?
What is Macbeth’s tragic flaw and how does it get him killed?
What issues from Macbeth can be seen in modern society?
How should an argument be structured?
Before Reading
- Review ACTS II, III plot, characters, and ties to theme.
- Review the aspects of relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
- Review soliloquy.
- Review dramatic irony
- Review major themes such as: ambition, order/disorder, appearance versus reality, etc.
- Introduce Literary Analysis Concept: Imagery and Analyzing Text Structures.
- Revisit the Essential Question.
- Read Acts using Reading Check, Critical Reading, Literary Analysis, Reading Skills, and Selections Tests to check comprehension and mastery.
Read ACT IV (379-396)
Macbeth returns to the witches, placing his trust in their knowledge. However, as the audience knows through the dramatic irony of the Hecate’s speech, he will be deceived by them playing upon his own illusions and their creation in him of a state of false security.
Close read:
- prophecies
-murder of Macduff’s family
-Malcolm’s test of loyalty for Macduff
Read ACT V (401-415)
This act shows with great poignancy the final effects of Macbeth’s actions on himself, his wife, and the kingdom of Scotland. What is left of Macbeth’s former glory will not allow him to die without a fight. This play’s message is a dark one: even the most noble and most heroic humans can fall into the depths of depravity and ruin. (401)
- Close read the sleepwalking scene of Lady Macbeth
- What metaphors does Macbeth use to compare life?
- Close read the “Tomorrow” soliloquy
- Focus on the prophecies as they unfold
- Focus on resolution
- Complete Writing Lesson, page 398 or 418.
- Develop a mini-Lesson for Conventions and Style: Using Adverbial, Adjectival, and Noun Clauses.
Reminder: The persuasive essay is not aboutMacbeth. It's about theideasthat Shakespeare raises regarding humanity illustrated in the play.
Students should be familiar with the persuasive/argumentative process; however, it might be a good idea to review purpose and structure.
Topic Focus: Students need to first decide on a topic that is worth arguing. What major issues are seen through this play? For example, a student might say “greed”. In that case, how is greed an issue in our own society? What motivates it? Where is it seen? What effects come from it? Asking those questions will help the student narrow down what he or she wants to focus on. Perhaps then, one might focus on corporate greed and the negative effects that come from it. Since greed in Macbeth led to negative outcomes, it is the student’s job to argue how this same type of issue is still seen in today’s world.
They must include: