Skip to main content

By popular request...

Someone asked what I learned at the Shakespeare inservice I attended a couple of weeks ago... it was fun, but I also got some good things out it.

Somethings that Shakespeare's audiences would recognize immediately are jokes and playing around with the social hierarchy that he does. To help convey this to students there are couple of games that can be played in class to really drive home how this hierarchy works. There are two options.

Social Rank Game
Option One - get about 6 to 10 students to volunteer. Explain to students that they will select a card from a deck of playing cards. The card they choose (between Ace to King) will denote their social status. Aces are the lowest of the low - Kings are the highest. Have each student pick a card from deck and place card (facing out) on forehead. Students should not see their own card!

Ask one student to "host" the party and greet other guests (students) as they pretend to arrive to the party. Students should treat those with higher cards with a great deal of deference. The students must use the social clues given to them by the other guests to guess what their card is... after 5 minutes, have students line up in order according to what they think they are. Other students in the class are the audience and have a great deal of fun watching. You can also get them involved in a discussion after to get an even greater idea of how the social clues really showed up in the play-acting.

Option Two - Similar situation. With this option, let the players see their cards individually. Only the individual person should know exactly what card they've drawn. Game is played in the same manner - Kings try to act like Kings and let everyone know they are the King WITHOUT telling anyone outright.

After 5 minutes, have the audience members line the players up according to the rank they thought was displayed. This option is extremely interesting to all students... social status and how it is portrayed is near to their hearts.

The first time I did this, it was pretty easy to realize that I was a King. Everyone tried to get my attention and hold it so much that it was bit overwhelming. The second time I was the Ace and no one would even look me in the eye. I was the extreme. The 7 and 8's had a much harder time (especially in option two) not only with trying to decided how to act, but others had a hard time deciding how to treat them. For example, an 8 refused to speak to 9 after discovering that 9 held a professional job. This 8 assumed anyone higher than herself would not work. The 9 however, assumed that only nobility (Jack, Queen, King) would not hold a job. If you think this might be an issue, you can pull those cards from the deck

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“They Don’t Get It”

I hear that a lot these days. It used to be mostly from various teens trying to negotiate the drama unfolding in their lives as they wandered into that no-man’s land between adult and child. These days it’s from adults trying to navigate the education scene these days. So many people talking and no one listening. The other day I was reading a post by a blogger I’ve been following for several years. Before there was such a thing as “blogging.” We all know spring is IEP review season. This blogger wrote about his daughter’s. Among the various elements, there was the discussion about the state assessment tests. She did not pass. There was discussion about what this means… and why said student needed to pass this test. Would she be taking a modified test? While reading, all I could think about was what would happen to that child as she entered middle school and high school. A history of not passing the assessment test vs. teachers who will now be evaluated on how many students pass t...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Cruelest Month

I know T.S. Eliot favored April as the most cruel, but we teachers know that May is… even more so these days. Most importantly, it is the final testing month. National ‘assessments, state ‘assessments’, district ‘assessments’, school ‘assessments’… on and on. It’s impossible to actually get anything done. Toss in graduation activities, planning for the upcoming year and the 2011 bonus, lay-offs and transfers, and you have to wonder if it wouldn’t be better to save money by simply shutting down school entirely except for a few test proctors. Meanwhile, there seems an air of hopelessness permeating the education world. Plans to lay-off thousands are coming to fruition. Schools are being closed, despite protests. Charters are increasing where they can whether they should not. Unions have lost a lot ground and teachers are trying to decide if it’s even worth it any more to continue talking about education . ( not that I blame anyone for that, we all have lives to live ) For myself, I...
Post a Comment
Read more

Campaign Promises

While purusing the Sunday paper, I came across an article describing some local candidate forum held over the weekend. Apprently they either weren't able to say a lot or what they said was pretty boring because the article was skimpy on specifics. What caught my eye was a position of Randy Dutton. He wants "higher standards for teachers." My interest was piqued... what kind of standards? In looking at his website, apparently those standards will be raised by carrying a gun to school, finally; "full days of school"-whatever that means - personally I'd love to put in business hours. No more 5 am wake ups; increasing the number of k-8 schools - because those kindergartners don't swear enough; sending disruptive students to placed like Habit for Humanity - babysitting is what people volunteer for; and teaching more American History- too bad that with all the testing, no one ever gets past the Civil War... I'm not sure how any of these apply to teachers, ...
Post a Comment
Read more