Macbeth

Build student
understanding
through activity,
collaboration and
fun!

Created by Room 213

 The Hot Seat This activity can be used at any
point in the play, to check
students’ understanding of the
characters and plot.

Choose a character that you

want the students to explore.
Have them brainstorm questions
they could ask him or her. They
should be ones that require a
real understanding of the
character in order to answer.

Next, have a volunteer play the character and sit in the

hot seat at the front of the room. Students will then
pose their questions and the person in the hot seat will
have to answer them, using his/her knowledge of the
play. If the student in the hot seat can’t answer,
another volunteer from the class can take his/her place.

Repeat as many times as you’d like with different

characters.

Another option: Have the person in the hot seat take

on the role of a palace servant, one who has seen and
heard too much…
 Time Warp?
Imagine if Macbeth and his wife had had cell phones.
Can you imagine the texts that would have been flying
back and forth? Well, do it! Give your students the
templates provided to illustrate what those texts
may have looked like. Remind them that they need to
illustrate their understanding of both characters
and/or the themes of the play as they create their
texts.

You can use any scene, but I v & vii, II ii, III iv would be
excellent scenes for this activity.

This could be an individual

activity or one that is done
in pairs. If students work
with a partner, one student
will write the first text at
the top of the screen, then
pass it to his/her partner
to respond. Texts should
be short but also illustrate
important aspects of the
play.
 Time Warp?
Recreate a texting convo that Macbeth and his wife might have
had if they had phones at the time. Your texts must show that
you understand their characters.
 That’s Debatable…
There are two topics that are great for an informal
debate:

1. What is Macbeth’s fatal flaw? Is it his ambition?

Or is it the fact that he is too easily persuaded/
tempted?

2. Who is most at fault for Macbeth’s demise:

Macbeth himself? His wife? The supernatural?

There is ample evidence for all sides of these

issues, so students can use both their critical
thinking and debating skills to discuss the matter.
The exercise that follows will also get them out of
their seats, allowing for some physical activity
in the class.
 Let’s Debate
Write the suggested fatal flaws on
top of pieces of flip-chart paper and
tape each piece of paper on the wall,
in various locations in the room. For
the other debate, you would write
Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and The
Supernatural on the paper.
Give students several post-it notes
and have them write their reasons &
evidence on the post-it note. Then,
they will apply them to the most
appropriate chart paper.

Format:
Students will form teams based on which piece of chart paper
they chose. They will gather around the chart paper and work
together to organize the evidence they have to back up their
choice. Teams will decide who will make the opening statement,
and who will provide what evidence. The first team will state
something like “We believe that Macbeth’s fatal flaw is…” , or
“Macbeth is most responsible because” and then provide their
textual evidence.

While each team speaks, students on other teams should be

jotting down points they would use to refute their evidence.
After each team has ha d a chance to present their evidence,
they can each take turns refuting the other teams’ arguments.
 Tweet Victory
Act V moves quickly, switching back and forth between
Macbeth’s castle and the rebel forces. This assignment
asks you to imagine the kinds of tweets that would be
sent out to the twitter-verse during these scenes. In
your groups, assign roles and fill out the tweet templates
for your character. Come up with a creative hash tag,
and confine your tweet to 140 characters.

Roles: Macbeth, Malcolm, Macduff, Siward, the doctor,

other thanes if necessary.

Decide on a logical place to start and then pass your

tweets back and forth among group members so you can
retweet and respond appropriately.

@therightfulking

Hiring foot soldiers. Meet at Birnam wood.

#tyrantsgoingdown #traitorswelcome #robestoobig
 Tweet Victory
@ ____________________

@ ____________________
 The Haiku Slam
A Haiku is a three
line poem with 17 Students write haikus
syllables: 5 in the ‘bout character, theme and plot
first line, 7 in the Work in teams to win
2 , and 5 in the 3 .
nd rd

Ok. So my example is no great work of art, but it’s meant

to summarize this activity, one that always generates lots
of laughs. Have students work in pairs or groups to develop
a series of Haikus that either capture characteristics of
key players or the essence of a scene—basically anything
you want them to illustrate their knowledge of. Then have
teams face off against each other in a Haiku Slam.

Sample format: If you had them write haikus that capture

the essence of a scene, get two of the teams at the front
of the class to read their poem for the scene. Quickly pick
a winner and then the next team faces off with the winner,
to decide who moves on Continue until the ultimate champ
for that scene is chosen.

Variation: Ask studens to write a haiku for each scene in an

act. Begin in the same way: one team presents its haiku for
the first scene, then they are challenged by another.
Choose the winner but this time the winning team will read
its haikus for the next scene. Continue until you have a
haiku champ!
This follows the same format as the Haiku
Slam. Assign pairs or groups of students
with the task of capturing the essence of
a character, a theme or a scene (each
group should have a different topic). This
time , they get 14 lines, with only one word
per line. They will have to choose their
words wisely—each word needs to pack a
punch!

Give each group paper and markers and ask them to write
their sonnet out so it’s large enough for everyone to see.
They should NOT give it a title, or indicate in any way who or
what it is about.

Groups then tape their sonnet to the wall and other groups
will circulate and attempt to guess the topic. Number each
sheet on the wall so students can record their guesses on a
piece of paper. The more correct answers a group receives,
the better the job they did!
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