Setting the Stage: November 13, 2019

Focus: How does Shakespeare set the stage in the first scene of A Midsummer Night's Dream?

1. Warming up by tossing the ShakesBEAR and predicting the play's dramatic situation

Before:

• Who has a line with a word they don't know the meaning of?
• Who has a word they don't know how to pronounce?

After each round:

• How many lines can you remember?

After both rounds are done:

• Scan the meter of the lines.

• Which ones are iambic? What do they have in common, or how does the iambic rhythm fit what's being said in those lines?

• Which ones break from iambic meter? Which words stand out? What do those lines/words have in common, or why might Shakespeare break from iambic meter there?

2. Mapping out the play's people, places, and problems:

• Who are the three main groups of characters? What can you infer about each?
• Where are the two main settings? What can you infer about each?
• What central conflicts might be driving this play? 
• Can you find any other patterns?

3. Freewriting on big ideas about being a teenager

HW:
1. For TOMORROW: Bring your school copy of East of Eden to turn back in.

2. By next FRIDAY, NOV 15: Select your paper/project poem and bring it to class for a metacognitive writing.