The Lazy Sonnet and other activities (?)

Melissa: I loved that you had students up on their feet with props yesterday. I think it would be good to have a post (that everyone can edit/add to) with day-to-day Shakespeare activities. How do you check for comprehension? What's a new way of summarizing a scene? Quick intro activities that worked well? Spice things up? etc.

Here's one I just came across:

The Lazy Sonnet
Have students write a 14-word sonnet summarazing an act, where the final couplet rhymes.
This could also be done for a scene. Ask them to focus on character, incident and theme.

For example, Act I, R&J:

Capulet
hates
Montague.
Montague
hates
Capulet.
Families
fight.
Citizens
cheer.
Prince
comes.
Double
trouble.

Pretty & Free & Searchable: Folger etext

Look what I just found! A great way for students to access Shakespeare at home on their laptops in a beautiful format from our friends at Folger. Click here!

You can also download the etext in PDF format... A great way to print up sections for students to annotate without standing at the photocopier!

Willy S Help from Folger

Since our Folger books aren't arriving until next fall, check out their amazing website of resources for various play.
MB: Here´s R&J.
Melissa: Here's Midsummer. 
Click on Lesson Plan Archives to find lots of ideas.

Wordle this.

Tasha, back in the day before word clouds were a thing, I used to use this site to have students cut and paste sections of Shakespeare or any text into the generator and then write an analysis of the most important word in the section.

Searchable Texts

Melissa-- I used this site a lot last year while teaching Macbeth, but it could be equally fun (English fun, that is) with Midsummer. You can search specific Shakespeare plays for specific words in a clean format. (You can even narrow the search to a particular character.)

Global Shakespeare

Here is a link to full length Shakespeare productions around the world. Could be great for discussing interpretation.

http://globalshakespeares.mit.edu/#

 Tasha, you might want to use this for your drama class, but I'm also going to use the tableaux strategy for Midsummer , which is on the list on the right side as well. I've done it before and it's a great way to test understanding of a scene and character motivations.

http://dramaresource.com/strategies/flashbacks-and-flash-forwards

Thanks, Melissa. At a Foldger Workshop I went to last year we did a very simple but effective activity I used a lot with Macbeth and Taming last year. You start by giving pairs two lines of dialogue from the play and say that they have to be on different physical levels (one standing, one kneeling, etc.). Then, when they are presenting a short scene, you remind them to incorporate levels and even a tableau to end the scene. It's amazing how it eliminates the standing-lock-kneed-at-the-front-of-the-room-awkietown-style issue. 

I think that visual image made my day. So thank YOU.