December 2010
Gregg Long teaches English at Lake Park High School, Roselle, IL
Plays/Scenes Covered
Twelfth Night, 1.1. 1-15
What's On for Today and Why
The skits created in the previous lesson will be used to begin to engage the students with the text of Twelfth Night.
What You Need
Handouts
Folger edition of Twelfth Night
Available in Folger print edition and Folger Digital Texts
Documents:
Greatness Handout 1
Greatness Handout 2
What To Do
1. Set the videos aside and encourage a discussion about the process: What did they perform? What choices were involved? How was their piece framed and why?
2. Using Handout 1, distribute cut up lines from Orsino's speech randomly.
3. Working in small groups, have students devise mini scenes using 2 of these lines, one at the beginning, and one at the end of their skit, with them providing the dialogue in between.
4. Distribute the complete speech (Handout 2) and assign lines to students to read according to end punctuation (question marks, commas, semicolons, etc).
5. Allow students time to share observations and offer suggestions for interpretation.
6. Have students read the complete opening scene for homework in preparation for the next lesson.
How Did It Go?
Did the using of the lines in short skits help familiarize students with the language? Did the observations and explanations of words and meaning lead to discussions about unrequited love and the very definition of love? (For most adolescents this is fertile ground!)Did the students begin to show a deeper understanding of Orsino's speech through this read aloud/performance-based approach?
If you used this lesson, we would like to hear how it went and about any adaptations you made to suit the needs of YOUR students.
