Friday, November 11, 2011

Homebaked Shakespeare


Inspired by the work of educators using Twelfth Night to teach kids about the dangers of bullying (see yesterday's post), we Homebaked another Shakespearean Learning Module.


Text: King Lear
Important Themes: Bullying, Mean Girls, Exclusion, Third Wheel Syndrome, etc.*


Lesson Plan:

After reading Act I of King Lear, students are put into three-person groups. Each group gets one chocolate bar. The groups are then given fifteen minutes to discuss how they will ask the teacher to divide up the chocolate bar between them. In each group there is one student who has been secretly instructed by the teacher to sabotage this process.

After the students present their case, the teacher will pretend to go crazy. This may involve screaming and running out of the room or simply staring blankly at the wall and mumbling the same word over and over again. The students must then figure out what to do with the chocolate bar without the presence of an authority figure to oversee the process.

Goals:

Leadership training; awareness of others; negotiation and trust-building skills

*This is a graded project that is exclusively for use with girls at single-sex educational institutions.

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