Sometimes it feels like it is hard to keep teaching Shakespeare relevant. The language is hard. The plays are long. And they are over 400 years old. Yet, the stories are so captivating when you get down to it. And whether you like it or not, he is still one of the most popular authors of all time.
So how do we develop activities for Shakespeare that make it feel relevant to our students? And, how do we do it in a way that also does the job of honing their analysis skills? We bring Shakespeare into the world of tech.
5 Activities for Teaching Shakespeare in High School English
These activities should work for most of Shakespeare’s plays. So whether you are teaching Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth or Hamlet, go ahead and give one or two a try.
Activity One: Cell Phone Text Chat
Give students a cell phone template that has text bubbles back and forth. Have students write a text stream for two characters. They can choose to use Shakespeare’s language or use their own texting slang or a combination of the two. Then have students write a reflection on what the conversation reveals about the characters.
Why this works: students will have fun preparing the conversations, but they are also doing analysis of the character’s relationships, values and complexities.
Activity Two: One Pagers
One-pagers are infographics that students create using templates or blank sheets of paper. These can be done to reflect on a single act, a single character or the entire play. Students can include words and graphics. They can focus on theme, characterization or even effective use of evidence.
Ideas Teaching Shakespeare through One-Pagers
- Character Study–use once or multiple times throughout the play to track growth and change
- Plot study–use once or multiple times to track what happens in the play and how it impacts the characters
- Theme discovery–I teach my students that theme is topic + message, so have them begin by noting several topics in the play and the whittle them down to a theme statement.
- Text analysis–have students use the one pager to note major characters, setting, conflicts and more
- Theme analysis–once students have a theme statement, they can provide evidence and commentary
Why this works: When students combine color, words and images, they are processing on multiple levels.
Activity Three: A Progressive Dinner
This is similar to a Synthesis Dinner Party that AP Language teaches sometimes use to get students to think about how the texts “talk” to one another.
A Progressive Dinner party is an idea that began in the 1950s. Groups of guests would begin at one person’s house for the appetizers, then move to another person’s house for the main dish and still another person’s house for the dessert. Depending on the number of participants, you might have additional courses like a salad and/or soup or even a pallet cleanser.
In a Shakespearean Progressive Dinner the students have to determine the menu, where the party will begin and end, and the table arrangements.
Why this works: students must consider character relationships, conflicts and the hierarchy of characters. Plus it is fun to plan appropriate food for the menu.
Activity Four: Memes
This can be a graphic or video project. Students create memes to represent plot, characters or more.
This is a great project to do in Canva since they already have templates that students can use to create square Instagram-style static posts, Instagram stories and more.
Students should complete reflections after they complete the meme. This reflection helps them to process why they made the choices they did. You can use memes to focus on the characterization or conflict.
Why this works: Students are using graphics, quotes and reflections to process character development or conflicts.
Activity Five: Social Profiles
Have students create a social profile for whatever social app is in vogue. They would need to include an image for the profile along with a description for the account page. Then they should create posts or videos to populate their account.
Why this works: This is a great way for students to do a character analysis. When students create a profile like this, they need to identify the nuances of character to make appropriate choices for the profile and the account posts.
Teaching Shakespeare in the Digital Age
These activities can be used with any of Shakespeare’s plays (or really any text for that matter). For more on teaching Shakespeare’s tragedies, be sure to check out my posts on teaching Macbeth and Hamlet. (These focus on essential questions and paired texts.)
Related Posts
Analyzing Character Complexity: Teaching Meaningful Character Analysis
Revenge in Hamlet: Lesson Plans for High School English
Teaching Macbeth: 19 Supplemental Texts
Hamlet Themes: 11 Supplemental Texts to Include in Your Hamlet Lesson Plans
Introduce Shakespeare with Poetry Pairings (Smith Teaches 9 to 12)
Introducing Shakespeare Plays with Poetry (Smith Teaches 9 to 12)
