Introduction
Have you ever heard of William Shakespeare? Alright, that's a silly question... of course you know that he wrote the book, Romeo and Juliet. Wait, did I say "book"? I meant that he wrote the PLAY, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.
In Literature, we must be mindful of the genre (format or style) of writing that we are discussing. For our purposes here, we will be dealing with the GENRE of PLAYS... not prose writing but a Shakespearean play by the name of Much Ado About Nothing. Below is a picture and quote from this Shakespearean comedy made by one of the main characters, Benedick.
This play has many characters that we will get to know... so hold on... buckle up... and enjoy the ride. Let's begin looking at William Shakespeare's play, Much Ado About Nothing.
Task
Discover Shakespeare's themes in his comedy entitled, Much Ado About Nothing. What does this play say about life? How do relationships define us as people? Do my actions and words affect my life as well as the lives of others in the long-run?
These are the questions we will seek to find the answers to throughout the journey of reading this play.
Process
Step 1: Determining the "main players"- Use the Character Map below to begin making connections among the characters in the play. Discuss your ideas with your partner. Display your ideas on a piece of butcher paper for display in the classroom to serve as a discussion board. Feel free to use any information contained below and graphically display your ideas on the butcher paper.
Step 2: Create a blog via weebly.com detailing the relationships among the main characters in the play after reading Acts I and II.
Step 3:
Click on the video below to view two of the main characters from the play, Beatrice and Benedick, in one of their "typical" arguments. After viewing the video clip, decide what you think their relationship might be for the duration of the play. Display your ideas on a piece of butcher paper for display in the classroom to serve as a discussion board.
https://<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/gQHenB-Xv-g?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Step 4: Create a movie via Windows Live Movie Maker displaying one major theme in the play after reading the entire play.
Step 5: Publish a scanned copy of your butcher paper assignment, blog, and movie via weebly.com.
Evaluation
Butcher Paper- 0-10 points awarded
Ideas should be relevant to the play, graphically represented, free of grammatical errors, and connect to "real-world" relationships
Blog- 0-16 points awarded
Partners should write at least 2 initial posts, respond to 2 posts, keep posts free of grammatical errors, and relate posts to play, prior knowledge, and "real-world" scenarios
Movie- 0-40 points awarded
Movie should relate to an emerging theme of the play, connect to the play and "real-world" situation, be free of mistakes, and represent a unique spin on the contents of the play
Conclusion
Hopefully, you now feel confident in reading a Shakespearean play, discovering themes, analyzing relationships, and making "real-world" connections with Literature.
Credits
Photo via Tommy Thompson in Introduction.
Graphic via Google Images.
Teacher Page
Be sure to have students research William Shakespeare's Life and Works before beginning this project.
Much Ado About Nothing documents of support can be found below: