This is a collection of three video lessons about Sammy Davis Jr., comedy, race, segregation in 1960's Hollywood, politics, identity, and The Civil Rights Movement.
Learn to analyze Shakespearean comedies, tragedies, and sonnets. First use examples provided in a slideshow of A Midsummer Night's Dream to understand the process and topics included in an analysis of a comedy. Then learn to use three main factors in order to analyze a tragedy. Finally, watch a video [6:01] giving information about the form and meaning of Shakespeare's sonnets.
This website from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology provides the complete text of the Shakespearean comedy, "As You Like It," all on one page.
Full text of Shakespeare's "Pericles, Prince of Tyre." You can view scenes individually or view the whole text on a single page.
Explore how Dickens's skill in creating memorable secondary characters help make his works not only memorable, but has kept them popular for more than 160 years in this video excerpt from the Masterpiece adaptation of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield. Wilkins Micawber does more than provide comic relief. He is a kindly father figure to David and offers an important respite for David on his way to adulthood. [2:06]
The complete text of Congreve's The Double-Dealer is available, formatted for online reading.
The 11th grade learning experience consists of 7 mostly month-long units aligned to the Common Core State Standards, with available course material for teachers and students easily accessible online. Over the course of the year there is a steady progression in text complexity levels, sophistication of writing tasks, speaking and listening activities, and increased opportunities for independent and collaborative work. Rubrics and student models accompany many writing assignments.Throughout the 11th grade year, in addition to the Common Read texts that the whole class reads together, students each select an Independent Reading book and engage with peers in group Book Talks. Students move from learning the class rituals and routines and genre features of argument writing in Unit 11.1 to learning about narrative and informational genres in Unit 11.2: The American Short Story. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.
In this unit, students will explore great works of American literature and consider how writers reflect the time period in which they write. They will write two literary analysis papers and also work in groups to research and develop anthologies of excellent American stories.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Students read and analyze stories from several 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-century American authors. After researching a time period, they select stories from that period to create an anthology. The readings enhance their understanding of the short story, increase their exposure to well-known American authors, and allow them to examine the influence of social, cultural, and political context.
Students examine elements of short stories and have an opportunity for close reading of several American short stories. During these close readings, they examine the ways that short story writers attempt to explore the greater truths of the American experience through their literature.
GUIDING QUESTIONS
These questions are a guide to stimulate thinking, discussion, and writing on the themes and ideas in the unit. For complete and thoughtful answers and for meaningful discussions, students must use evidence based on careful reading of the texts.
If you were to write a short story about this decade, what issues might you focus on?
What defines a short story? Just length?
To what extent do these stories reflect the era or decade in which they were written?
To what extent are the themes they address universal?
CLASSROOM FILMS
History.com has short videos on the Vietnam War (“Vietnam” and “A Soldier's Story”).
In this lesson, students will submit their essays and Independent Reading Journals and present their ideas to the class. They will also write about what they have learned.
The 12th grade learning experience consists of 7 mostly month-long units aligned to the Common Core State Standards, with available course material for teachers and students easily accessible online. Over the course of the year there is a steady progression in text complexity levels, sophistication of writing tasks, speaking and listening activities, and increased opportunities for independent and collaborative work. Rubrics and student models accompany many writing assignments.Throughout the 12th grade year, in addition to the Common Read texts that the whole class reads together, students each select an Independent Reading book and engage with peers in group Book Talks. Language study is embedded in every 12th grade unit as students use annotation to closely review aspects of each text. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.
Students will consider the different ways that humor can be used by a writer to criticize people, practices, and institutions that he or she thinks are in need of serious reform. Students will read satirists ranging from classical Rome to modern day to examine how wit can be used to make important points about culture.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Students research an aspect of modern life that they would like to lampoon.
Students read from satirists across history to absorb the style and forms of humor and institutions satirized.
Students write their own satire, drawing on techniques of famous satirists to criticize their targets.
GUIDING QUESTIONS
These questions are a guide to stimulate thinking, discussion, and writing on the themes and ideas in the unit. For complete and thoughtful answers and for meaningful discussions, students must use evidence based on careful reading of the texts.
What is satire, and when is it too harsh?
How can humor and irony make you more persuasive?
What do you think is funny? How far would you go to satirize it?
Who gets more reaction—satirists or protestors?
In this lesson, students work in small groups to share their information about an aspect of Jonathan Swift’s political satire. Once students are an “expert” on their topic, they will meet with others who are experts on different aspects of the satire. Students will teach each other.
This multi-media visual and language arts lesson offers intellectual, creative, and interpretive opportunities through use of books, music, and the internet. It offers complete grade-leveled lesson plans for grades k-4 which include instruction on fables, handouts, and hands-on mask making templates.
The complete text of William Congreve's play, Love for Love: A Comedy, available in multiple formats.
The full-text of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, as it appears in The Oxford Shakespeare.
Congreve's first play, The Old Bachelor: A Comedy, is available here, formatted for online reading, including its dedication to the Right Honourable Charles, Lord Clifford of Lanesborough, and various other introductory material. There are several downloadable options.
Presented is biographical information, a career timeline, interviews with people who knew her, and film clip of the remarkable career of comedian Lucille Ball.
This site from Bibliomania contains the full text of five of Moliere's plays including "The Misanthrope". Links are provided to navigate through which play the reader wishes to choose. A good site to get full text on Moliere's plays.
Explore how segregation impacted entertainment in 1960s Hollywood in this video [4:38] from American Masters, Sammy Davis, Jr.:I've Gotta Be Me. Sammy Davis, Jr. had the kind of career that was indisputably legendary, vast in scope and scale. Davis strove to achieve the American Dream in a time of racial prejudice and shifting political territory. He was a member of the popular "Rat Pack," but their appearances often featured humor where Davis was the center of the joke. In this resource, students learn about Hollywood in the 1960s and challenges faced by black performers during the time of segregation. Support materials include discussion questions, vocabulary, and teaching tips on how to make connections to the world of comedy today.
Here, read the full text of Shakespeare's play, "Measure for Measure." This text, organized by scene, is accompanied by a brief introduction with information on the "Problem comedy," and on the plot and characters of "Measure for Measure."