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The Cords
That Bind Us
Class: Debrah Tallman’s English 20-1

Length: 9 instructional days (blocks of 165 minutes)

Theme: Loyalty and Betrayal

Table of Contents

Overview 3
1
This cover image was created by Tara Gao for the South Pasadena High School production of

Macbeth. https://southpasadenan.com/sphs-drama-presents-shakespeares-macbeth/
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Key Activities 6

Demonstrations of Learning 7

Resources 11

Month-at-a-Glance 18

Unit Assessment Plan 21

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The Cords That Bind Us

Overview

A common theme to draw out of Macbeth is that of unchecked ambition, but I feel that

emphasizing this to high school students on the verge of going out into the world is not the

message I want to send. This is the time when they should be reaching for the stars and chasing

their ambitions. So, I instead chose to draw on the theme of loyalty, a personal interest of mine

(to acknowledge the influence of the teacher on teaching Shakespeare as Shakespeare Set Free

indicates), and one that will connect with students as they think about what is important to them.

How do loyalties to family, to friend, and to themselves influence where they want to go and

what they want to do after high school?

Starting with theme is the first step this unit takes to make the reading of Shakespeare

meaningful to students, a constant struggle. This unit also works to get students up and moving

to engage with the text, and using more creative and personal writing responses rather than strict

vocabulary or quote quizzes. The last approach incorporated into making Shakespeare

meaningful is to have meta-conversations about it, and ask the question, as a class, “Why does

Shakespeare matter?”. That question will be a repeating question asked throughout the unit.

Connecting what we’re learning to a newspaper project that will be shared with the rest

of the school is another way to connect the play through the students personal lens and out into

the community of the school. These students have to ask the question “Why does Shakespeare

matter to my school community?” and follow through on the thread of loyalty that one has to a

school community. Culminating with a personal essay that will be a valuable skill for diplomas

exams, university applications, and cover letters; students will be asked to consider their own

loyalties in light of the complete play of Macbeth.

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Course Outcomes

2 Students will listen, speak, 1 Construct meaning from 2 Understand and interpret

read, write, view and text and context content

represent to comprehend 2 Understand and 1 Relate form, structure and

literature and other texts in appreciate textual forms, medium to purpose,

oral, print, visual and elements and techniques audience and content

multimedia forms, and 3 Respond to a variety of 1 Connect self, texture,

respond personally, critically print and nonprint texts culture and milieu

and creatively.

3 Students will listen, speak, 2 Follow a plan of inquiry 1 Select, record and organize

read, write, view and information

represent to manage ideas and

information

4 Students will listen, speak, 1 Develop and present a 2 Consider and address form,

read, write, view and variety of print and structure and medium

represent to create oral, print, nonprint texts

visual and multimedia texts,

and enhance the clarity and

artistry of communication
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Language Arts

Reading Writing Speaking Listening Viewing Representing

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

**Bold strands are focuses and italic & bold strands are of particular emphasis in this unit**

Essential Questions (EQs)

Why does “classic” literature matter to us?

Why does Shakespeare matter?

How do our different loyalties influence the decisions we make?

How do new words enter language?

Why do we read stories about villains?

Why is Macbeth the main character of the play?

Literacy Learnings (LLs)

Elements of a play

structure (acts, scenes)

soliloquy

aside

elision

Equivocation

Citations
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Key Activities

Opening Developmental Culminating

BARDO Daily Whiteboard Question Scene Reading

Loyalty Rope Blood Count Personal Essay

1 to 10 (Arden 110) Sanity Graph Newspaper

Sentence Jumble Tableaux

Word Invention

Horoscope Subversion
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Demonstrations of Learning

Assessment Tool Tool Description Assessment Assessment

FOR Learning OF Learning

Sentence Jumble To get students involved in the play

•
and practice their close reading skills,

they will each be given one quote

from Macbeth, and their job will be

to arrange themselves in the right

order. This will allow the teacher to

assess their close reading skills, and

give the students an easy way into

reading the play.

Tableaux After the majority of the first act,

•
students will be asked to represent

their understanding of the characters

so far. Each student will choose one

of the characters, and one quote that

best encapsulates them so far, and

practise citing that quote.

Then, the students will be asked to

stage themselves in a tableaux based

on how the characters relate to one

another.
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This will allow the teacher to see how

the students’ understanding of

character is progressing and get

students to practice their citations.

Word Invention One of the reasons we study

•
Shakespeare is because of his impact

on our modern language. Students

should have the chance to experiment

with language themselves. This will

also give students a better

understanding of how to break down

a word they are unfamiliar with.

Students will develop their word, and

then write a short paragraph arguing

for their definition.

Horoscope Equivocation and double-speak are

•
Subversion essential components of the witches

language in the play, and being able

to understand their speech contributes

to understanding the play in a broader

sense.

To practice this, students will look up

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their own horoscope and then write a

creative response to how their

horoscope could develop in a

surprising way. This task will also

happen after Macbeth seeks out his

fortune in IV.i and will prep students

for understanding his fate.

They will be assessed on their

writing, and how they respond to the

horoscope prompt.

Scene Reading To test if students are grasping what

•
is important in the scenes we’re

reading, they will choose a scene

from a play and have time to practice

reading it.

Then they will perform it in front of

the class. They will be assessed on

their ability to pull out the important

words and their presenting voice.

Newspaper One of the two final assessments for

•
this units, students will be given the
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chance to express themselves in their

chosen modality and share what

they’ve been learning with the rest of

the school. Creating a more

meaningful audience will help

students care about what they’re

reading and connect it to themselves.

They will be assessed on how they

make their writing meaningful to the

community, their personal reflection,

and a self-assessment.

Personal Essay Students need to be able to write

•
different types of essays for their

diplomas that they will write in 30-1,

so giving them a chance to practice is

important. The personal essay will

ask students to extract the theme of

loyalty from Macbeth and look for it

in their own lives. Students will be

assessed on their formatting and their

connection to the text.

Resources

Teacher
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 Macbeth, Harcourt Shakespeare edition

This is my TA’s edition of Macbeth that she has loaned to me for this unit. Beyond the

normal glossing that most editions provide, the Harcourt Shakespeare also contains activity

ideas to follow up each scene and then the act as a whole. This edition is very helpful as a

teacher because it gives you ideas on how to both preface and wrap up each scene and act in

the book. If you just read through the book without stopping to do something to cement what

they’ve read, you’ll just end up with another student who barely remembers Shakespeare. If

one of lesson plans goes by quickly or if technology doesn’t work and I need something to

fill the time, these ideas would be an easy way to do so. I also appreciate that this

Shakespeare includes a map that can be used as a reference, one that will be scanned and

posted on the board somewhere for students to use as well. The Harcourt Shakespeare has

very little front matter which would be useful to students to help them get directly into the

play, but is less useful as teacher.

 “Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Tennyson

The poem “Charge of the Light Brigade” is a personal favourite of mine and I think

works interestingly as a foil to the notion of loyalty. The subjects of the poem give their lives

in military service despite knowing that their commander has made a mistake, showing how

too much loyalty can lead to disastrous ends, where Macbeth has too little loyalty. Although

not as old a source as Shakespeare, it still comes out of the considerable past and keeps us

grounded in the world of Macbeth. The play is not too long and an easy read, so will be a

refreshing break from the language of Shakespeare.

 Holinshed’s Chronicles
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Holinshed’s Chronicles are the source material for a number of Shakespeare plays

involving English and Scottish kings, include Macbeth. This source will act as a historical

framing to the more fictional play. Although the students will not be forced to read the

difficult language of Holinshed themselves, this is a valuable resource to help the teacher

explain the changes that Shakespeare made. Thinking about the authorial choices that

Shakespeare made will tie into the essential question of why Shakespeare matters. His way of

retelling history made it a story that has last nearly half a millennium, and that is part of his

art that we are trying to unpack in this unit.

 Shakespeare Set Free; Folger Shakespeare Library edition

This guide for Shakespeare has been recommended to me by both in-service teachers, and

education profs, and therefore is one that I immediately turn to when teaching Shakespeare. It

provides comprehensive unit guides that one could ultimately structure a whole unit plan

around, and detailed lesson plans for each step in the unit. This edition is not restricted to just

regurgitating pre-made lesson plans, is also includes scholarly essays that illustrate how one

should teach Shakespeare and the philosophy behind the lessons and units. Having both

philosophical reasoning and practical activities is a powerful combination that make this my

essential Shakespeare handbook.

 The Complete Works of William Shakespeare; Canterbury Classics

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This is the original edition of Macbeth that I turned to before consulting other editions

and their glosses. Despite being a largely unedited collection of Shakespeare’s works, it does

include substantial front matter and who Shakespeare was and why we read his work. My

first reading of this is what inspired the driving essential question of why does Shakespeare

matter. It also includes the collection of sonnets and longer poetry that Shakespeare wrote so

if one chose to contrast any of the plays with these shorter works, they are both bound

together and immediately accessible.

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Student

 Macbeth, Oxford School Shakespeare edition

This is the student edition of Macbeth for this unit, and is chosen for its uncluttered page

that provide glosses and background information while leaving the text simple to read. The

synopsis included in the front matter and great for priming students before they attempt to

read the difficult language of Shakespeare, and is expanded in the commentary section which

means that even if a student struggles with the language, they can still grasp much of what

happens in this play. The back matter of this edition includes references to Holinshed and

Thomas Middleton which are also valuable so that those background sources do not have to

be another thing for students to carry around; choosing to include them at the back rather

than the front also makes the book less intimidating for students to begin reading.

 Bard of Avon by Diane Stanley and Peter Vennema

This is a picture book that uses adult language and combines those forms to create a more

interesting way to teach Shakespeare’s history rather than the teacher standing there

lecturing. Especially teaching on a reserve school, I knew that teaching with story was a

valuable method to communicate information. Ultimately, I think there is more information

that necessary in this book, but depending on the interest of teacher and students different

parts can be skipped. The book also includes information at the front of it to explain how the

story was created, and matter at the back discusses some of the phrases that Shakespeare is

crediting with inventing and disseminating into our language.

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 BARDO; The Perfection Form Company

This was a free resource garnered from the Curriculum Lab and in using it I recognize

that it’s quite out of date. I expect that at some point, such a game would have been

preparation for a final exam where the information contained would be the subject matter for

the test. I don’t believe that knowing all the random historical facts would helps students

learn and won’t be administering such a test, but that it would be a fun way to cover some of

that material in a way that makes it largely inconsequential, as I believe it to be, but less

boring as well.

 “Why Should You Read “Macbeth”? Brendan Pulsue; TED-Ed

This is a well-crafted and scholarly introduction to the story of Macbeth and some of it’s

history, including the “curse”. It uses illustrations and exciting language that I believe will

make students actually interested in starting Macbeth. It is only 5 minutes long and packs a

lot of information into that time, so watching it more than once may be required, but even as

a once-over, it is a valuable resource to introduce the text.

 “Hip-Hop & Shakespeare?” Akala @ TEDxAldeburgh (0:00-8:20)

This is another TED talk that use scholarly information to talk about how Shakespeare’s

language is closely tied to the musical genre of hip-hop. I believe this will connect

Shakespeare to something that some of the students are interested in and will help explain

why Shakespeare wrote as he did. It takes the complex idea of iambic pentameter and makes

it more familiar and approachable.

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 Oxford English Dictionary

The dictionary will be a tool that will serve students in their continuing work on their

vocabulary assignment, but will also serve as a resource during their word invention

assignment. Looking at the definitions of different words when listed alphabetically can help

up see patterns in prefixes and the meaning they add to words. Although it is harder to find

suffix patterns in the dictionary, it can still be done. A dictionary is always an important

resource to have in an English classroom, and the Oxford English Dictionary is, in my

opinion, the best edition to use.

 Horoscope.com

This is a rather generic website to use for finding students horoscopes (it is, in fact, the

first results on google for horoscopes) and will be used in their horoscope subversion

assignment. If students have a different preference for a horoscope website, that is totally

fine, this is just to have a place to recommend students start if they are struggling.
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 Various YouTube clips of Macbeth

Macbeth is a play and therefore meant to be heard and to be seen. After listening and

reading along with certain key scenes, students will watch a performance of that scene and

see how it feels when the words are brought to life by an actor.

Macbeth and Banquo meet the Witches; Shakespeare’s Globe (Act I, scene iii):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM3h0Gb2O20&ab_channel=Shakespeare%27sGlobe

Is This A Dagger?; The Show Must Go On! (Act II, scene i):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20JDStW6GPk&ab_channel=TheShowsMustGoOn%21

The ghost of Banquo haunts Macbeth; tipmetipyou (Act III, scene iv):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCFjpr3Ehm4&ab_channel=tipmetipyou

The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021); Shamnamehere (Act IV, scene i):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjPlvhAng-c&ab_channel=Shamnamehere

Macbeth 4.3; Sam Haller (Act IV, scene iii):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XB2ZkO_K1c&t=196s&ab_channel=SamHaller

“Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow”; Ron (Act V, scene v):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq5gMxjf_Pk&ab_channel=Ron
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Month-at-a-Glance *Sp = Shakespeare*

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

March 6th – 9:03-10:25 9:00-10:25 9:00-10:25 9:00-10:25 /Debrah

March 10th Shakespeare 10:05-11:05

10:35-12:00 10:35-12:00 10:35-11:35 Introduction Close

Read Bard of Reading

Avon 11:15-12:25

BARDO

10:35-12:00

Plays

Lecture

Types &

structure

Group Scene

Read

III.iii

Macbeth

Prediscussion

SLOs 2.3.1; 4.1.2

March 13th – 9:03-10:25 9:00-10:25 9:00-10:25 9:00-10:25 10:05-11:05

March 17th Read Charge Daily Daily Daily How to

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of the Light Whiteboard Whiteboard Whiteboard understand a

Brigade I-III Question Question Question word we

Theme Macbeth Read I.vi-vii; Word aren’t

Rope activity Covers II.i-iv Invention due familiar

Macbeth Introduce Watch II.i Read III.v- with?/Close

TED-Ed Blood Count Discussion vi; IV.i reading

video. Introduce Watch IV.i strategies.

Holinshed: Sanity Graph 10:35-11:35 Discussion

why did Sp Read Read III.i-iv Horoscope 11:15-12:25

change it? Dramatis Watch III.iv Subversion

Personae Discussion

10:35-12:00 Read I.i: we Word 10:35-12:00

How do we start with a Invention Read IV.ii-

read Sp question. iii; V.i

1 to 10 Watch IV.iii

activity 10:35-12:00 Discussion

Hip-Hop and Read I.ii-v

Shakespeare? Watch I.iii

Sentence Recap

Jumble Tableaux

SLOs 2.2.1; 2.3.1 2.1.2; 3.2.1 2.1.2; 3.2.1 2.1.2; 2.3.1 2.2.1; 3.2.1

March 20th – 9:03-10:25 9:00-10:25 9:00-10:25 9:00-10:25 10:05-11:05

March 24th Daily Personal

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Whiteboard Essay 10:35-11:35 10:35-12:00 11:15-12:25

Question How do you

Horoscope write a

Subversion Personal

due Essay?

Read V.ii-ix

Watch V.v 10:35-12:00

Discussion Newspaper

Why does

Shakespeare

matter?

Introduce

Scene

Reading

10:35-12:00

Perform

Scene

Reading

SLOs 2.1.2; 4.1.2 2.3.1; 3.2.1

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Unit Assessment Plan

Stage 2: Assessments
Learning Outcomes

Sentence Word Horoscope Scene News- Personal

Title Tableaux
Jumble Invention Subversion Reading paper Essay

Type
(Formative/ F F F S S S S
Summative)

Weighting N/A N/A N/A 20* 15* 40 25

2.1.2
Understand and
• • • • • • •
interpret content
(30)

2.2.1 Relate
form, structure
and medium to
• • • •
purpose,
audience and
content (15)

2.3.1 Connect
self, text, culture • • • •
and milieu (15)

3.2.1 Select,
record and
• • • •
organize
information (23)

4.1.2 Consider
and address
form, structure • • •
and medium
(17)

*If this assignment is not completed, it’s proportion of the grade will be considered in the essay.