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"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more.."
Macbeth 15 - Our Hour Upon the Stage - Choosing Groups & Scenes / Act V Quiz: The ultimate final project for this unit on Macbeth is to have the students memorize a scene from the play - choose an appropriate theme (setting) - and perform it on the school theater stage for their peers. It makes sense to have the students choose their groups and scenes as early as possible - but that, in turn, is not possible until they have read the entire play. For today's lesson, they are to have read Act V and will be quizzed on it so it makes sense to make today the day they will choose their scenes. That means they will have about 6 weeks or so to get ready (including Winter Break if they so choose). Students will send a representative, before school begins, to claim their scene (first come, first serve - each scene being done only once for all of my classes). In class, after they take the quiz, they will be given the period to get in their groups and plan for their scenes and for getting together to practice (at the most, they will be given one other class period for this project - the rest is on their own). One of the most important things they will do is choosing a theme (setting) for their scene.
Lesson Overview - Is this an expendable line I see before me? - Cutting Lines - Act 4.3
Lesson Overview - Is this an expendable line I see before me? - Cutting Lines - Act 4.3
Before School Begins
Before School Begins
Students are told about week before that they will have a chance to sign up for their scenes before school begins - on a first come, first serve basis. At that time - they are given a handout with all of the scenes (except the Banquet scene, which is off-limits due to their already going over it so much in their Prompt Book Projects. Besides being the fairest way (being rewarded by getting up early and making arrangements) it also helps build excitement and interest for the project. I had certain rules for the signing up: 1) They cannot arrive before 5:30 am.
2) If they get here before their normal time - they must get a ride from a parent or guardian
3) They need to be orderly and keep a list of who got to the school and in what order
4) They need to have FOUR choices in the the order that they want to do them.
5) They need to have all of their group member's cell phone numbers (this is in case they don't get the scene they want - they can communicate with the members of the group on which one they should go for.
6) Scenes were not given out until 6:30 am.
7) If scenes were given out before we discussed Act V - someone in their group should watch a video of the Act - to see what's there.
I always got to school that day and had treats and hot chocolate ready for those inteprid students that showed up. And they WERE excited. Every single time. The first two scenes to "go" were always the Macduff Family Murder Scene and The Lady Macbeth Sleepwalking Scene. There was always a wonderful camaraderie - perhaps made even more special by the event being so close to the start of Winter Break.
Act V Quiz
Act V Quiz
The students - when the actual period begins are given a Quiz on Act V. As soon as they finish - they can push some desks together and they can get started on planning their Macbeth Scenes.
Macbeth Scene List
Macbeth Scene List
About a week before they come in to choose their scenes, I give them a copy of the scene list. The Scene List Handout has:
1) The Act and scene (and for scenes that are divided, line numbers as well). Some scenes are divided into parts (A/B/C)
2) The number of speaking characters
3) The page number for the Folger Edition (their books and also available online) that the scene starts on.
4) The total number of lines contained in the scene
5) The names of the characters that appear in the scene
6) General comments for many of the scenes - ie. the scene's popularity, problems that exist with the scene, etc.
Using this list, students can seek out groups that match the number of characters that are in the scene (though this is somewhat adjustable. Students can cut lines (see the last activity) and they can eliminate characters or even combine two characters into one. This gives them some flexibility - but the number of the characters in a scene is a good starting point. Also, for some scenes it may not be logistically possible to eliminate or combine characters.
The Macbeth Performance Handout - "Hang Out our Banners"
The Macbeth Performance Handout - "Hang Out our Banners"
After they take the quiz - and are sitting in their groups, they need to get started right away and planning their scenes in a meaningful way. There is always the danger of students just "talking" about things that are unrealistic, unrelated to their scene, or just not useful. I walk among the students while they are planning and I've tried to design the handout so that it keeps them focused and makes their time together in class fruitful.
Here are the steps outlined in the Handout (see the handout for a more complete overview).
1) Above all - get started right away
2) Plan out your scene: students should do a quick read through together to get themselves acquainted with the scene. This serves a number of purposes, including having them think about a possible setting, think about assigning roles, cutting, and more.
3) Choosing your setting: Wow! This is SO important. They can't do it as Elizabethan (we are pushing their critical thinking skills), and they can't do it in a gangster setting (way too overdone for Macbeth). The setting needs to be specific - ie "Rugrats" not "cartoon" and it needs to make very specific sense for their scene. One of my favorites was when the students chose Walter Reed Military Hospital in D.C. as their setting - the lines, the paranoia, the guilt - all made such wonderful sense!
4. Some directions and tips on memorizing lines. Yes, they need to memorize the scene.
5. Cutting lines. Even doing this will depend on how many students are in the group - and how many characters and lines are in the scene. If they have few lines in their scene or just the right amount of characters, they may end up not cutting any lines.
6. The Director's Notebook - this is just another name for a Prompt Book - so they should be pretty familiar with this. The danger here is that they will do it as busy work rather than making it a useful tool for improving their scene. The entire second page of this handout is given over to what is expected in the Director's Notebook.
7. A few words about Grading. There is a separate Rubric that I use for grading that I will give out in the Macbeth Day Lesson.
Macbeth Day Theme List
Macbeth Day Theme List
A handout that goes in the front of the room. You'll have to put up to date copies in the front of every room if you have more than one. This handout allows students to stake a claim on the "theme" or setting for their scene. You don't want to have five Star Wars Macbeth scenes. Again, it helps them push their creativity - while nurturing excitement - for the day, for their scenes. Remember, once a theme is taken - it is taken for all of your classes. Students will be performing for all the class periods combined.
Act V Quiz
Act V Quiz
Remember, it makes sense to have them pick their scenes AFTER they've read the entire play. At the same time, I usually didn't wait till we were finished reading aloud and discussing the entire play because I wanted 1) to give them Winter Break to work on it 2) give them as much time as possible for memorizing their lines and planning out their performance.
Macbeth Performance Handouts and Theme Sign-Up Sheet
Macbeth Performance Handouts and Theme Sign-Up Sheet
See the actual handout and the description above for more on how to use this handout. I literally asked every group - before they did anything else to read the handout aloud in their group. Every couple of years there would be a group that didn't read it and instead of using the original Shakespeare would paraphrase the scene (arghhhh!).
Essentially the same as the previous handout with lots of blank space so you can put the groups that have been awarded each scene. It pays to use pencil on this as there may be changes.
Because the exclusivity of a theme extends to all of my classes - I would very often say that the signup sheet would become active AFTER school that day - thereby giving all classes a chance to claim a theme equally.
A sheet for the students to exchange phone numbers and some instructions for getting started on the project.
Remote Teaching
Remote Teaching
We talked about students putting on scenes from the play, the year that we were remote - but ultimately found it too difficult to work out the logistics.
The Folger Library has an online edition of the play without the annotations - Shakespeare words (what appears on the right hand page in the paperback edition. It also includes in this online edition the very useful synopses that appear before each scene.
Here is the description from Amazon: "This volume of the Shakespeare Set Free series is written by institute faculty and participants, and includes the latest developments in recent scholarship. It bristles with the energy created by teaching and learning Shakespeare from the text and through active performance, and reflects the experience, wisdom, and wit of real classroom teachers in schools and colleges throughout the United States. "
Macbeth 16 - Lady Macbeth Before & After Activity and Act V, scene 1: The first part of today's Lesson can be found in Shakespeare Set Free Volume 1 - Macbeth: Lesson 18 - "Hell is Murky" (pgs 256-258). I won't be repeating those instructions - just to let you know where I made some changes for my classroom. After this incredible activity (worth buying Shakespeare Set Free - just for this one), we continue our reading aloud of the play with Act 5, Scene 1 - the sleepwalking scene (which is one of the most popular scenes when the students choose their scenes that they will be putting on).
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
Thoughts on the Lesson
Thoughts on the Lesson
I LOVED the excitement of students coming in early - having hot chocolate and cookies and choosing their scene. They were so elated when they got their chosen scene - and in a life that is filled with unfair acts, it seemed a wonderful way to do the choosing.
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