Introduction
Welcome students!
This webquest is to explore the life and literary work of William Shakespeare. Shakespeare paved the road for famous poets and playwrites. In society, there are countless references to his work and he created over 1700 words we use in our daily language;a few examples of his own invention are hurry, majestic, road, and submerge. As you work through the webquest you too will see the impact Shakespeare has made on the everyday life of students.
Many students in the classroom struggle with reading comprehension. Reading the material may not be the problem, but answering the questions afterwards is much more difficult. Students need to be able to read a paragraph, understand what they have read, and use critical thinking to become successful learners.
Task
Explore the life and literature of William Shakespeare and watch how his work has effected the life of students today!
The focus of today's lesson is reading comprehension. Read a biography and a play by William Shakespeare to become more aware of your able to comprehend the material for this class. These questions are not to be answered with one sentence. Be detailed with your answers!
Process
1. Begin reading about the life of William Shakespeare from http://www.folger.edu/shakespeares-life. Answer the following questions.
A. Do you think the experiences from Shakespeare's life will affect his writing?
B. Choose two facts from his life that stood out most. Explain why.
C. If you were a playwrite at the time of Shakespeare, what would you write about?
2. You have an option of picking from four of William Shakespeare's plays (Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, or Romeo and Juliet).
A.Choose one play from the four listed.
B.Before reading your chosen play, make a T-chart. On the top left of the paper write "Predictions" and on the right side write "Proof from the text". Make three predictions about the play before reading, and after reading the story, decide if your predictions were correct by using textual evidence.
C. While you read make Cornell Notes on a separate sheet of paper. Use http://www.rlstevenson.net/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=54366&type=d&pR… as an example. Go to the site and scroll to the bottom link named English sample 1.
3. Retell the story.
A. To summarize your story make a list of what happened in the story without looking back. This does not have to be neat, but try to include all the facts. Do you agree or disagree with the outcome of the story? Why or Why not?
B. Visit http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/ an watch the short video of the play and on the back of that paper write the facts you did not include the first time.
Evaluation
|
Item |
Insufficient |
Proficient |
Excellent |
|
Purpose |
Cannot identify the purpose of the play . |
Identifies the most of the play. |
Identifies the purpose of the play. |
|
Inferences |
Cannot provide inferences relating to the play or biography |
Provides atleast two inferences relating to the play and biography |
Provide multiple inferences relating to the play and biography. |
|
Opinion |
Cannot agree or disagree with the point of view and does not use textual evidence |
Provides either agreement or disagreement, but does not provide textual evidence. |
Provides either agreement or disagreement and uses textual evidence. |
Conclusion
Overall:
By the end of this project, the student will have read fiction and nonfiction work. The student will have had the opportunity to use reading comprehension on two serparate fronts: informational and pleasure. The students will gain a better understanding of what to look for when reading different types of stories. Students will make predictions, take notes, and use critical thinking to achieve this goal; the activity not only requires students to read the play, but also allows them to view a short summary on Sparknotes. The focus of the lesson is to understand what to look for while reading.
Students.
What did you find out about yourself? What reading material was more difficult to comprehend?
Credits
To understand the strategies to foster better comprehension please visit this site:
-www.readingrockets.org/article/strategies-promote-comprehension
To explore more words created by William Shakespeare please visit this site:
www.nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/shakespeare-words/
If you are not famiiar with Cornell Notes please visit this site:
http://coe.jmu.edu/learningtoolbox/cornellnotes.html
To recieve a video of William Shakespeare's biography please visit this site:
http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323
To review the content of the play please visit these sites and choose your play: