Download Introduction I plan to teach William Shakespeare`s Hamlet. Although

Introduction
I plan to teach William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Although this is one of Shakespeare’s
more complex plays, I wish to include it in my curriculum because it has several themes and
important characters, which will make it easier for students to choose a theme that resonates
with them. Hamlet looks into the broad theme of good versus evil, the struggle between
thought and action, the question of religion, the presentation of women, among several others.
Because there are so many important messages to be gotten from the play, I have assurance
that each student will be able to pick out a piece that interests them.
Rather than simply centering my unit around the play, I would like to center it around
the theme of self-struggle. Each character in the play faces some form of conflict with
themselves, and this is something that most adolescents can relate to. By exploring this play
from that angle, as well as other accompanying works, students will get a better sense of how
to healthily and productively face an internal issue, and, additionally, recognize self-struggle in
others and be able to empathize.
Goals The student will…
 Understand the difference between internal and external conflict.
 Find personal relation to one or more of the character in the texts.
 Examine the theme of self-struggle in musical and visual media.
 Participate in writing activities frequently to more closely examine the play and develop
writing skills.
 Sharpen knowledge of literary devices.
Objectives The student will…
 Read Shakespeare’s Hamlet
 Read Something Rotten by Alan Gratz
 Participate in a guided imagery activity to better understand how self-struggle might
feel.
 Engage in a defining vignettes activity in order to explore a single theme in Hamlet and
Something Rotten.
 Employ critical lenses to read a specific scene from Hamlet.
 Identify symbols in Frost’s poem “Road Not Taken” in order to be able to recognize
symbols in later readings.
 Write a narrative from the perspective of a character in either Hamlet or Something
Rotten to show understanding of plot and work on writing skills.
 Create a character map that labels both internal and external conflict throughout the
play.
 Develop bumper stickers for each of the characters in Hamlet.
 Write a news story that depicts the final scene of Hamlet.
 Participate in an assaying characters activity to closely examine a single character and
find similarities between the character and themselves.
 Create a story quilt for the play that will consist of song lyrics, photographs, stills from
movies, etc. that relate to each act of the play.