Unit: William Shakespeare & A Midsummer Grade: 5

Night’s Dream

Days: 9-12 Teacher: Steele

Desired Outcome
Content Standards:
NVACS Fine Arts - Theatre
- Cr1.4.2; Cr2.4.1; Cr2.4.2; Cr3.4.1; Cr3.4.3; Pr4.4.2; Pr5.4.1; Pr5.4.2; Pr6.4.1; Re7.4.1;
Re9.4.2; Cn11.4.2

NV ELA
- RL.4.1; RL.4.2; RL.4.3; RL.4.4; RL.4.5; RF.4.4a; RF.4.4b; SL.4.1; SL.4.1b; SL.4.1c; SL.4.1d;
LS.4.2; L.4.4a; L.4.4c; L.4.5; L.4.5c

Essential Questions:
- Who was William Shakespeare, and what do we know about him?
- In what kind of format did Shakespeare often write his plays?
- What were some elements that Shakespeare often included in his plays?
- Why is it important to understand what certain words and phrases mean when
reading through the play?

Students will be able to…

- Identify poetic structure from prose.
- Identify the four (4) categories of Shakespearean plays.
- Identify and articulate major facts about William Shakespeare and Elizabethan
culture.
- Dramatically interpret Shakespearean text.

Assessment Evidence
Performance Tasks:
- Show Me
- 10 Minute Play
- Fairy Speech
- 21st Century Scene Readings
- Set Design
- Scene Performance

Learning Plan
Learning Activities:
DAY ONE
- The teacher will ask students to make a sitting circle and will begin by showing
students a vinyl doll of Shakespeare. The teacher will ask students if they know who
the individual is, and will then follow up by asking to share what they know about
Shakespeare.
- The teacher will distribute a fact sheet about William Shakespeare. The teacher will
ask students to take turns reading different points on the fact sheet out loud. Once the
fact sheet has been successfully reviewed, the teacher will inform students that they
will spend the semester focusing on one of the plays identified on the fact sheet. The
teacher will guide students to determine which play it is.
 - Show Me: The teacher will inform students that before they can begin to work on the
play, they need to have an idea of what the play is about. The teacher will ask
volunteers to come into the center of the circle to create tableaux of the following
scenarios: a forest, a royal court, 4 friends who are lost, a group of fairies. The
teacher will ask for one scenario at a time. As each tableau is formed, the teacher will
ask the observing students to share what they see represented in the tableau. Once all
tableaux have been shared, the teacher will ask students to consider what they believe
the story is about.

DAY TWO
- 10-Minute Play: The teacher will distribute copies of a 10-minute version of the play A
Midsummer Night’s Dream to students. The teacher will ask for volunteers to take
turns coming up to the stage to participate in a staged reading of the play. All students
will be encouraged to have an opportunity to participate, and students may have the
opportunity to play more than one role. In between scenes, the teacher will ask
students to summarize the events in the play so far. Students who are not
participating in a scene will serve as audience members and will be asked to watch
and/or follow along in the script.

DAY THREE
- Conclusion of 10-Minute Play.
- The teacher will then project the Fairy speech from Act II of A Midsummer Night’s
Dream onto the Mimio. The teacher will perform the speech for students.

DAY FOUR
- Fairy Speech: The teacher will, at the conclusion of the performance, inform students
that they will also learn to perform the speech. The teacher will begin by asking
students to make a standing circle. The teacher will inform students that they are
going to break down the speech, word by word, and that to help themselves better
understand the speech, they are going to incorporate simple and safe gestures they
feel represents the word. The teacher, with the students, will break down the first 4
lines of the speech. The teacher will then divide up the rest of the speech into small
sections and will divide the students into small groups. Each group will be assigned a
section of the speech. In their groups, students will be asked to continue the exercise
focusing only on their assigned section. Once all groups have had adequate rehearsal
time, the teacher will bring the class back together. As a class, the teacher will lead
students through a recitation (with gesture) of the first 4 lines of the speech before
asking each group to come up to share their section, in the order they occur in the
speech. The teacher will then ask students to break down the speech into their own
words.

DAY FIVE
- Conclusion of Fairy Speech exercise.

DAY SIX
- The teacher will divide students into pre-assigned small groups. Each group will be
assigned a scene from the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
- 21st Century Scene Readings: To prepare them for their scene work, the teacher will
give each group copies of their assigned scene as adapted in the #nofilter version of
the play. The teacher will inform students that they are to read this version of the
scene first. The teacher will then ask each group to summarize what happens in their
scene.
- Each group will receive the following items from the teacher: a whiteboard, a pencil, a
Cast List worksheet, and 1 copy of the actual assigned scene. The teacher will also at
 this point designate a Director in each group. The teacher will first ask groups to pass
around the actual version of the scene. The teacher will then ask students to
determine who they would each like to play in their scene. The Director will be
responsible for recording student names on their Cast List worksheet.

DAY SEVEN
- Set Design: The teacher will give each assigned group a sheet of butcher paper. The
teacher will begin by asking students what a backdrop is and why they are an
important part of theatre performance. The teacher will then ask the groups to create
a backdrop for their assigned scene.

DAY EIGHT
- Completion of set design activity.
- If time permits, students should begin Scene Performance task.

DAY NINE
- Scene Performance: The teacher will distribute enough copies of each scene to the
groups. All groups will be instructed to begin by reading their scene out loud. Once
each group has finished their circle reading, they will then be permitted to begin
rehearsing their scenes on their feet. Students do not need to be memorized and are
permitted to use stage boxes for their sets. The teacher will offer guidance to the
groups to help them establish what their scenes will look like. Once each group has
begun the rehearsal process, the teacher will ask each group to write down on a piece
of paper props and costume items that they might need for their piece. Each member
of the group is entitled to one costume piece only. Groups will continue to rehearse.
If time allows, each group will also be given a sheet with 3 identified challenges for
their scene. The groups will need to determine how to meet those challenges as they
continue their rehearsals. Finally, all groups will have an opportunity to share their
scene complete with costume items, props, and set.