Lesson: Our Lives, Our World, and Macbeth.
Class: English 10
Period: 1 & 6
Date: 2/5/2013
Objectives: Students will explore (in discussions and in writing) our essential question:
How do power and ambition influence the choices people make? Students will read both
Act 5 Scene 1 and a news story about guilt.
Essential Question: How do power and ambition influence the choices people make?
○ Sub Question: How does guilt affect us?
Songs of the Day: “Madness” by Muse and “Where is My Mind” by Pixies.
Standards:
● 1.3.10.A: Identify the differing characteristics that distinguish the literary fiction
and non-fiction forms of narrative, poetry, drama, and essay and determine how the
form relates to meaning.
● 1.9.10.A: Use media and technology resources for research and problem solving in
content learning. Identify complexities and inconsistencies in the information and
the different perspectives found in each medium.
Materials:
● Projector
● Student books
● Student laptops
Classroom Structure: The classroom will stay in its original configuration.
Introduction:
● [Before class, Period 1 Only] I will pass out vocabulary sheets to the students who
were absent the previous day.
● [5 minutes] Introduction: “Today I wanted to find ways that we could relate
what we’ve been reading to our lives, our experiences and our worlds. Believe
it or not, the top trend yesterday after school was about Shakespeare. Let’s
explore together what that’s about.” I will share a Prezi presentation on the
recent news of the discovery of Richard III’s body.
Development:
● [2 minutes] Transition: “Today we’re going to dig deeper into Macbeth to focus
on a question that we can relate to our own lives. This question stems from
one of our essential questions. We have revisited the question: ‘How do power
and ambition influence the choices people make?’ a few times. We talked
about Macbeth and his choices. We kept asking ‘How much is enough, man?’
Now we have to ask ‘How can guilt and a guilty conscience affect us?’ Guilt can
come from these power- and ambition-driven choices and actions. In fact, one
of our main characters succumbs to guilt and we’ll look at the effects of guilt
both in the play and in real life. Let’s start by predicting: who do you think will
fall to guilt? Let’s see!”
● [10 minutes] I will read the Act 4 summary to remind students of yesterday’s
reading. Student actors will come to the front of the class and wear name tags to
identify their roles. Students will read Act 5 scene 1 aloud as their chosen parts,
pausing to answer and discuss the following questions:
○ How could we describe Lady Macbeth at the beginning of the play?
○ How could we describe Lady Macbeth now?
○ Do her actions come as a surprise to you?
○ Do you feel sorry for Lady Macbeth?
● Transition: “Often in our reading of Macbeth we’ve paused to see where the
ideas and themes of the play pop up in our lives, our experiences, or our
world. The idea of guilt and its effects is not specific just to Macbeth. We see
it all the time. It shows up in stories, movies, TV shows and even in the news.
Let’s look at a news story and use our experience with the play to think about
guilt in our own lives.”
● [10 minutes] Students will get their laptops. Students will open a link in their emails
to the following article:
○ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/12/health/psychology/12macbeth.html
○ I will read the article as students follow along.
○ Mrs. Motter will monitor the students to ensure that they are not opening
other pages etc.
Closure:
● Transition: “Today we’ve seen guilt in the world of the play, and in our world
via the news article. Let’s think about guilt our own experiences with guilt.
Take the next five minutes to free write and reflect on guilt in your Google
Doc. We will meet in partners to chat in a few minutes and then we’ll meet
and chat as a class.”
● [10 minutes] Students will free write for five minutes.
○ Think of a time when you felt guilty... what happened? Do you experience guilt
often or are you more resistant to guilt? Has guilt ever prevented you from
doing something? Has guilt ever made you do something?
● [10 minutes] Students will get together with someone near them to share and
discuss their response to the free write.
○ Students may share with the class their experiences or thoughts that they
discussed with their partner.
Escapes:
● If running ahead, students will free write predictions for the rest of the play.
● If running behind, students will share free write responses tomorrow.
Check for understanding: Students will answer discussion questions centered around our
reading. I will also check Google Docs for completed free writes.
Reflection: