Macwho?

Dateline: November 21, 2008.
With hundreds of reading strategies available, I decided that reading out loud was the best way to expose the seniors to Macbeth. I firmly believe that Shakespeare should be spoken and heard out loud, not read silently. Also, because it was the two weeks prior to the Thanksgiving break, this provided an ongoing activity that allowed the students to move around and speak for most of the class period.

I first divided the five-act play into four sections: Act I and Act II 1-2, Act II 3-4 and Act III, Act IV, and Act V. I then placed students in cooperative learning groups in a random sort, with one exception. My sixth period class contains a number of “oranges” who I normally try to split up. This time, I purposely put them together and explained to them that they could sink or swim. They started sinking, but two of the guys came through and pulled the other three along with them and they had moderate success.

Students had six class periods to work as a group: read through their section, rehearse and add motions, and prepare five study guide questions and a graphic organizer summary of their section.

I was so proud of these students! Several of them really didn’t want to read, but every one of them did! My language learners and Special Ed students were reluctant, but when they realized that not doing it was not an option, they stepped up and worked hard to read well.