Fall 2015

Lesson Plan 2
Length 40-60 minute class period
Three Week Unit on Much Ado About Nothing
Content Area Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of
the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an
objective summary of the text.
Student Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to follow a literary theme throughout a work. Students will be able to engage
in a discussion on the theme's necessity throughout the work.
Language Objective(s):
Students will read the text to themselves.
Students will speak the text aloud.
Students will discuss and write thoughts on themes in literature in groups.
Population: Students are 10th graders at a suburban, private school. The neighborhood is
predominately middle-class and a majority white, though about 30% of the student body identifies
as something other than whitemostly African-American or Hispanic. There are roughly as many
male students as female students, though the ratio varies from class to class.
Rationale: Ben Johnson famously penned, He was not of an age, but for all time! Shakespeare is
important for high schoolers to study for many reasons. He had such an influence on the English
languageinventing roughly 2,000 words, crafting some of the most beautiful poetry and prose in
the language, and proving he was a master of sound, wit, and words. Reading Shakespeare is a
mental exercise and discovering themes within a work is a critical skill not only applicable to the
reading of literature, but also to engaging with any sort of culture (music, film, television, etc.).
Activities
Pre-Discussion (<15 minutes):
1) Class will finish reading Act V if necessary
2) Teacher will ask wrap up questions such as:
What happened in the end? What do you think about Beatrice & Benedicks final argument? Are
these couples going to last? Is the happy ending believable? How did everything actually come
together in the end?
Discussion (~35 minutes):
3) Teacher will teach the vocabulary term literary theme.
4) Students will engage in a brief discussion on What is a literary theme?
Are themes usually concrete or abstract? What are some examples of themes in general? What
makes up a theme?
5) Students will get into groups of 2-3 and will spend about 10 minutes coming up with a list of
themes in Much Ado About Nothing with at least one example from the text.
6) Class will regroup and will list out some of these themes together
7) Teacher will introduce the theme of deception (as some variant of it was probably on the
students list)

Materials:

Much Ado About Nothing texts

Paper/ pencils for underlining or taking notes
Whiteboard & Dry Erase Markers

Evaluation/Assessment:
Teacher will informally evaluate understanding of the language in the most basic form based on
how students read. A more in depth evaluation of the content of the text will be assessed by in class
discussion and comprehension questions. In discussion, the teacher will be able to judge to what
extent the students understand the plot and are then able to expand upon that and look for literary
themes. During times of group work, the teacher will circulate around the room answering and
asking questions.