11th Grade Twelfth Night Lesson Plan Example (English Literature)

Topic: Analyzing Twelfth Night Act 1

Objectives & Outcomes

• Students will be able to analyze the language and themes in Act 1 of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, specifically the opening scene between the servants Maria and Toby.

Materials

• Copies of Twelfth Night Act 1 for each student
• Handouts with language and themes to analyze from the opening scene (language, themes, imagery, characterization, tone)

Warm-up

• Start the class by discussing the themes of Twelfth Night (love, lust, deception, conflict). Ask students to give examples of these themes in their own lives or in popular culture.
• Next, ask students to think about a time when they have felt love, lust, deception, or conflict in their own lives. Have them share their experiences with the class.

Direct Instruction

• Next, introduce the characters and plot of Twelfth Night. Use the handout to provide background information and highlight key moments in the play.
• As you introduce each character, ask students what they already know about them based on their names, descriptions, and actions in the play so far. Use this as an opportunity to discuss how names, descriptions, and actions can give us clues about a character's personality and traits.
• Next, discuss the themes of love, lust, deception, and conflict in more depth as they relate to the characters and plot of the play. Use the handouts and any other materials (e.g. pictures, quotes) to support your points.
• Finally, ask students to consider how the themes of love, lust, deception, and conflict are presented in a different way in Twelfth Night compared to their own lives or popular culture.

Guided Practice

• Divide students into small groups and give each group a copy of a scene from Act 1 of Twelfth Night.
• Have each group analyze the scene using the theme analysis toolkit provided, and report their findings to the class.
• As a class, discuss the different themes that were identified in the different scenes, and how they relate to the characters, plot, and overall themes of the play.

Independent Practice

• Have students choose a character from Act 1 of Twelfth Night and write a character analysis paper focusing on the character's -physical and psychological traits, as well as the character's relation to the themes of the play. Students should use the theme analysis toolkit and their own understanding of the play to support their analysis.

Closure

• Have students share their character analysis papers with the class and discuss any themes or insights that may have -emerged from the analysis.

Assessment

• Collect the character analysis papers and use them to assess students' understanding of the importance of character analysis in understanding the plot and themes of a -Shakespearean play.