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King Lear – Unit Plan (Grade 12)

November 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The Fall Break has ended and I’ve begun my Shakespeare unit. In this unit, students will learn the story and structure of William Shakespeare’s King Lear. Throughout the unit, students will work with a partner to raise questions about the play and post their questions on the class blog portal. This electronic discussion will then be transformed into a collaborative essay. Finally, students will do an in-depth analysis of an assigned scene and will share the scene in an audio-visual format.

  • Level: ENG4C/4U (Grade 12 College / University)
  • Timeframe: 18 classes, including a test period

Unit Outline

  • Lesson 1: Introduction to Shakespeare and King Lear (3 periods)
  • Lesson 2: Acts 1-5 (9 periods)
  • Lesson 3: Multi-media scene presentations (4 periods)
  • Lesson 4: Review and Collaborative Essay (3 periods)
  • Unit Test

The unit outline [PDF] includes a summary of curriculum expectations plus a sample calendar.

Lesson Plans

Unit lesson plans [PDF] provide detailed steps to covering each of the unit topics, relating them to the corresponding expectations and teaching strategies.

Assignments

Reflective Blogging (10 marks)

Students publish at least two reflective posts and two comments on classmates’ blogs, per week. Students evaluate their learning using the blogging self-evaluation rubric.

Multi-media Scene Presentation (50 marks)

In groups, students edit, characterize, rehearse, and record an assigned scene from King Lear.

Collaborative Essay (50 marks)

Students transform their blog posts, comments, and responses into collaborative essays. Submitted papers must attempt to answer questions raised throughout the unit’s study of the play. Learning is assessed using the collaborative essay rubric.

Unit Test (30 marks)

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"Was Ophelia pregnant?" and other questions after the second act

April 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

There are a number of students in my Grade 12 class that attended last year’s school trip to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival to see Ben Carlson’s performance of Hamlet, and therefore already have a pretty good grasp of the play. After Act I, we had some good class discussion about some possible collaborative essay topics and as we work through the text I am appreciating the depth of the students’ questions. Now, at the end of the second act, students are asking:

  • “Is Polonius’ hiring of Reynaldo (II,i) a way of spying on Laertes, testing Laertes, or a way for Polonius to protect his own reputation?” and
  • “What’s with all of the references to conception, pregnancy, and children in II,ii? Is this a way of hinting at the possibility that Ophelia was pregnant? And, could that then have contributed to her madness?”

Wow. I’ve had classes in the past that have spent the bulk of the unit simply trying to follow the plot and keep the characters straight, but this particular group really wants to analyse Shakespeare’s words. Their understanding of this play strikes me as being far beyond what my own was when I was in the twelfth grade, and I like to think that I’ve got the Stratford performance to thank for that.

While my initial response to their questions is always, “What do you think?”, these questions are far too irresistible not to try unraveling here … eventually.

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All of Parliament’s a Stage

October 27, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Listening to CBC Radio, I recently heard a debate about the Shakespearean character that would best be applied to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. While our Prime Minister mulls over his cabinet for this 40th Parliament, I thought that I would suggest some possible cabinet ministers, considered in a Shakespearean light.

Minister of Indian Affairs: Michael Chong as Orlando (from As You Like It) — upon entering Harper’s 2006 cabinet, Chong may very well have called Orlando’s words to mind, “I come but in, as others do, to try with him the strength of my youth.”

Minister of Transport: Maxime Bernier as Malvolio (from Twelfth Night) — the sharpest dresser in the House of Commons, Bernier may want to consider Malvolio’s cross-garter’d yellow stockings.

Minister of Finance: Jim Flaherty as Titus Andronicus — a politician who echoes the Roman general’s words when confronting manufacturing in his home province, “Why, there they are both, baked in that pie; Whereof their mother daintily hath fed, Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs: Peter Kent as Antonio (from The Merchant of Venice) — winning a seat in this second attempt, it would seem that his ships too have finally ‘safely come to road.’

Minister of National Defence: Peter MacKay as Nick Bottom (from A Midsummer Night’s Dream) — from this rugby-playing, potato-patch interviewing, fan of Condi, I’m always expecting a Bottom’s dream speech: “The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man’s hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream was.”

Minister of Justice: Rona Ambrose as Katharina (from The Taming of the Shrew) — Rona strikes me as one who is tough and shrewd, and yet, if her boss wills it, capable of completely complying and admitting that, “be it moon, or sun, or what you please: An if you please to call it a rush-candle, Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me.”

Minister of Agriculture: Gerry Ritz as Sir John Falstaff (from The Merry Wives of Windsor) — this seasoned politician’s realization that everyone privy to his jokes didn’t share his political stripes brings Falstaff’s epiphany to mind: “I was three or four times in the thought they were not fairies: and yet the guiltiness of my mind, the sudden surprise of my powers, drove the grossness of the foppery into a received belief, in despite of the teeth of all rhyme and reason, that they were fairies.”

Minister of Fisheries and Oceans: Josee Verner as Regan (from King Lear) — this Quebec MP, ‘far from home’, could barter with all nauticals as the second sister with her old father, “If they chanced to slack you, we could control them. If you will come to me, I entreat you to bring but five-and-twenty; to no more Will I give place or notice.”

Minister of Health: Tony Clement as Puck (Robin Goodfellow from A Midsummer Night’s Dream) — Clement looks like he’s got a trick up his sleeve, and this ‘merry wanderer of the night’ is no doubt the MP I’d choose to give the closing chorus to Parliament: “Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends.”

Minister of Canadian Heritage: Lois Brown as Portia (from The Merchant of Venice) — while voters made the mistake of sending the Stronach heiress to Ottawa (“when they do choose, they have the wisdom by their wit to lose”), Brown’s representing of Newmarket became long overdue. Now Brown could have the opportunity of playing the part of a rescuer, and one obedient to both the letter and the spirit of Ottawa’s laws

Minister of International Cooperation: Bev Oda as Beatrice (from Much Ado About Nothing) — offered another role, Oda could likely repeat Beatrice’s rejection of Don Pedro, “No, my lord, unless I might have another for working-days: your grace is too costly to wear every day.”

Minister of International Trade: Chuch Strahl as Friar Lawrence (from Romeo and Juliet) — in and out of the Reform caucus, and now entrenched in the Conservative cabinet, he may repeat the Friar’s lines to Romeo as a mantra: “For this alliance may so happy prove, To turn your households’ rancour to pure love.”

Minister of Natural Resources: Jason Kenney as Tybalt (from Romeo and Juliet) — one gets the impression that this Western MP views Central Canadian Liberals in the same light this Prince of Cats views the Montagues. I’m pretty sure that on at least one occasion, he has been heard to spit these words across the floor of the House: “What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all [Liberals], and thee: Have at thee, coward!”

Minister of Environment: John Baird as Cassio (from Othello) — while the Environment portfolio has so far proven to be something of a cup of wine to this Cassio, like Desdemona, I would entreat the general to ‘call him back’ and give him another chance.

Leader of the Government in the House of Commons: Jim Prentice as Horatio (from Hamlet) — this steady MP seems to fit the Danish Prince’s description of his friend: “as one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing; A man that fortune’s buffets and rewards Hast ta’en with equal thanks; and blest are those Whose blood and judgement are so well commingled, That they are not a pipe for fortune’s finger To sound what stop she please … that man That is not passion’s slave.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper as Prospero (from The Tempest) — with his demand for silence from his own ministers, perhaps he quotes Prospero’s words to his followers: “If thou more murmur’st, I will rend an oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till Thou’st howl’d away twelve winters.” Or now that the tempestuous campaign, of Harper’s devise, is over, perhaps his message to the voters repeats Prospero’s close: “Let me not, Since I have my dukedom got, And pardon’d the deceiver, dwell in this bare island by your spell; But release me from my bands With the help of your good hands.” Another minority, another government with limitations, for this political wizard.

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Paul Gross, Hamlet Forever

October 4, 2008 By Leave a Comment

In our eight years of marriage, my wife and I haven’t even considered bringing a TV set into our home. Where would we put it? And now, why even bother? The Internet keeps us informed, and I can catch the odd Bruins game at my father-in-law’s.

I’m happy that I’ve missed the whole reality TV craze. My conscience isn’t a bit bothered that I haven’t seen an episode of Survivor.

However, there have apparently been a few TV gems over the last few years. Recently my department head handed me the DVDs of the first two seasons of Slings and Arrows. She thought that I might want to watch it before I start my next Hamlet unit.

She was absolutely right. The show was wonderfully done – sharply scripted and intelligently acted. I’ve watched the six episodes of the first season, all of which relate in some way to Hamlet. (Season 2 is about Macbeth; Season 3, King Lear.)

My Grade 12 class would benefit from seeing artistic director Geoffrey Tennant (played by Paul Gross) providing background to characters:

  • His explanation of Macbeth’s emotions to an accountant.
  • His description of Ophelia’s youthful madness and its source.
  • His challenge to an actor to decide what Hamlet knows before delivering the famous Act 3, Scene 1 soliloquy.

I appreciated the reflection of Hamlet in Paul Gross’s character – conversations with a ghost, questions about his sanity, and the lingering hurt of a deep betrayal.

Instructors will want to carefully preview any clips intended for classroom use to avoid the very coarse language, sex, and drugs.

Unable to travel back in time to revisit Paul Gross’s Hamlet at the Stratford Festival (which remains the definitive Hamlet for me), the Slings and Arrows DVDs do a great job of reminding of all that I loved about that production.

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Lesson Debrief: To Stage or Not to Stage

May 5, 2008 By 1 Comment

With my Grade 12 (College) English class, Hamlet is usually my most successful unit. The students know that I am passionate about it and that I have looked forward to this unit the entire semester. I think that they then feed off of my passion, and can’t help but enjoy themselves as well.

For this unit, I ask all of my students to keep a Director’s Folio to be handed in at the end. Early in the unit, students are asked to decide whether they would choose to produce a stage version of Shakespeare’s play, or a film version. All of their future activities hinge on this choice. Graffiti ShakespeareSo we begin this lesson with a casual discussion about live theater the students have attended or participated in, as well as movie experiences that have succeeded or failed. Then, the discussion is graphed in their notes.

What worked well

  • I’m not the only one in the room that enjoys story-telling, the students love sharing about plays and movies they’ve experienced
  • light, casual discussion, with a lot of laughter, before the heavy language and tone of Hamlet
  • on the heels of a casual class discussion, stage and film advantages and disadvantages are easily compared with a T-chart in student binders

What needs work

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Book Clubs

April 3, 2008 By Leave a Comment

One of my favourite things, next to a Saturday morning with a National Post and a coffee, is a book club. I really like reading a common book and the informal conversations that happen as a result, on top of the more formal discussion that (sometimes) happens during a book club meeting.

The first book club that I was part of involved a loose group of anywhere from ten to twenty friends, depending on the book or the season. We were relaxed about our reading, meeting only after most of the members had either read the current book or else figured out that they would never read it anyway. We did try to celebrate what we were reading in some small way when we met: Indian dinner with Rohinton Mistry, Poe by flashlight at Hallowe’en. Great stuff.

Shortly after starting work at my current school, we started a staff book club. We’ve generally chosen three or four books for a season, with the hope that everyone would try to read at least one before our next meeting. My favourite thing about this club is the spontaneous conversation that happens in the hall around common fiction that we’re reading.

Student book clubs have been fun too, though they’re often in it for the pizza parties. Hey, anything that gets 17 year-olds reading Homer, Conrad, Dickens, and now Salinger. (Did they ever hate Dickens!)

Recently I watched The Jane Austen Book Club with my wife, and it prompted me to start yet another book club: the all-Shakespeare, all-the-time book club. So far there are three of us English teachers who are working our way through Shakespeare’s comedies and tragedies, setting ourselves the goal of meeting once a month to discuss them. Wrestling with the Bard’s words and meanings, I expect that our discussions will be more involved than those in the other book clubs, but, as usual, highly enjoyable.

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Introducing Shakespeare with graphic novels

March 5, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Last semester I happened to land upon a great tool for introducing Shakespeare to Gr. 9 students, thanks in part to inspiration from a colleague in a course I was taking at the time. Graphic novels help students to understand how dialogue works and provide a basis for reading a script.

I chose to use this approach in a unit that incorporated A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We began by reading excerpts from Bone (by Jeff Smith) as a class, discussing what elements made it fit our definition of fantasy literature. Next, I gave students copies of some pages in Bone with the dialogue erased. Working alone or in pairs, students created the dialogue that they imagined could work for those characters. From there, students translated their dialogue into script form and presented it.

The fantastical Bone was a perfect lead-in to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Our conversations often included some comparison of the setting of the two texts.

This semester, I’m hoping to use Julius Caesar as the primary Shakespearean text for this class. It’s challenging, though, to find a graphic novel that works really well with this play. I’ve considered Beowulf, another text based in an ancient world, but there’s very little dialogue in Beowulf to work with. Characters proclaim their thoughts, which are then interpreted by the narration.

An old-world graphic novel? I must do some hunting.

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