Examples of Annotated Lesson Plans
The Teaching Shakespeare Portfolio writing assignment asks for an annotated list of lesson plans that might be used to teach a specific play. Listed below are a couple of examples of annotations for lesson plans that could be used to teach Hamlet.
Lawton, Jacqueline and Emily Schuster. “M. C. Bard: Hip-Hop and Shakespeare.” Folger Shakespeare Library. June 2006. 27 May 2009. <http://www.folger.edu/eduLesPlanDtl.cfm?lpid=750>.
Although listed under Hamlet, this lesson plan is more a general introduction to Shakespeare and to poetry. Hip-hop song lyrics are compared to passages from Shakespeare’s plays on similar themes. Eventually, students perform monologues from Shakespeare and from the hip-hop songs. This lesson plan might be useful if a teacher is introducing Shakespeare to young readers who have no familiarity with him. More advanced students will probably want to spend time with Hamlet rather than with Kanye West.
Littauer, Joel Sommer. “Student Activity 1: The Main Character.” Hamlet: Teacher’s Guide and Student Activities. n.d. 27 May 2009. <http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/Hamlet/hamletmain.html>.
This lesson plan is really more of an assignment. It is an essay topic that asks students to analyze Hamlet’s character. A short list of resources is provided for some student research, but students are encouraged to work more with Shakespeare and not simply look up someone else’s ideas. The writer also gives a pretty detailed set of pre-writing instructions, mostly to direct students to certain kinds of arguments. This lesson plan is probably most appropriate for advanced students and would be used at the end of a unit on the play.