Introduction+to+Shakespeare's+Hamlet

__**Presentation Outline**__

Our presentation will be based on teaching the first day of a new Unit. This lesson marks the beginning of a unit on Shakespeare's famous play, Hamlet. In this lesson, we will begin with some low order questions to stimulate and share any previous knowledge that students may have. This activity gets students focused and also ensures that all students, regardless of their reading background or previous knowledge of Shakespeare's works, will be able to start from a common base of information regarding the play. An outline of the planned lesson and the tools that will be used are included below:

//General Questions/Discussion about Hamlet/Shakespeare// – Low Order Questions – What have you read, who is or was Shakespeare, what do you know about this particular play? When you hear "To be, or not to be", what does it make you think of? If you had to sum up your previous thoughts on Hamlet in one to three words, what would they be?

**www.polleverywhere.com ** **: Anticipation Guide** – One question at a time will be displayed on the board. Students can participate by either sending a text message from their phones or by sending a Twitter message to the required number. Class will take up the guide questions together, basing the discussion on the aggregated answers displayed on the board.

**Prezi.com: Character Map –**  A simple gap-fill character map will be handed out to the students to write notes on. The instructor will present a Prezi and will give the students a verbally guided lesson about the characters, their relationships and, by extension, the plot of the story. Students will be expected to fill in pertinent notes as well as to contribute their own foreknowledge to the classroom discussion.

Students will watch a few minutes of the 9 minute video summary, which has been embedded in the Prezi. This video was lifted from “youtube.com” and here we will give a quick tutorial on how to use the program **YouTube Downloader**, a freeware web-video ripper program that anyone can download from @http://youtubedownload.altervista.org/

At the end of the lesson, the class will turn to a previously made “wall” from [|www.wallwisher.com] where they will find different characters' names posted in an array. Students will be asked to write and attach their first thoughts about two of the characters on the “Wall”. As well, if students have any questions about the characters or their relationships, they can post them here, even anonymously. What do they think about them? What do they know? What questions do they want to ask of the characters or their relationships?

Download our Lesson Plan here: