Scenario

This year the local Shakespeare festival is featuring A Midsummer Night's Dream. The festival committee is concerned about historical accuracy in this year's presentation and they have asked you to apply as a consultant on the Elizabethan age and Shakespeare.

Essential Question: What information do I want and need to know about the historical context of A Midsummer Night's Dream to understand and appreciate the play?

Task and Product

As a part of the application to be a consultant at the local Shakespeare festival, you need to submit an essay or presentation examining the historical context of A Midsummer Night's Dream .You will need to research and include in your essay or presentation each of the following topics:

• Shakespeare
• Globe Theater
• History of Theater
• Comedy and Tragedy
• Language of Shakespeare's Time
• Elizabethan England

Suggested resources are in the Gather section below.

Assessments

You will be graded on your research process as well as on your letter using one or more of the following tools:

• Daily (Formative)
• Research Process - Summative (Student/Self)
• Research Process - Summative (Teacher)
• Extended Constructed Response Scoring Tool
• PowerPoint Presentation

Question

Essential Question: What information do I want and need to know about the historical context of A Midsummer Night's Dream to understand and appreciate the play?

Subsidiary questions:

Create questions for each of topics below on your Become an Expert note taking sheet:

• Shakespeare
• Globe Theater
• History of Theater
• Comedy and Tragedy
• Language of Shakespeare's Time
• Elizabethan England

Gather and Sort

Gather information about from a variety of sources.

Sort your research findings using the Become an Expert note taking sheet, a graphic organizer or note cards. Be sure to avoid plagiarism and keep track of your resources for a bibliography.

Organize

Revisit the assessments.

Analyze your research notes to determine if you have answered the essential questions.

Essential Question: What information do I want and need to know about the historical context of A Midsummer Night's Dream to understand and appreciate the play?

Synthesize your findings by writing a first draft of your essay or presentation.

• What new insights have emerged about your topics?
• Which facts are the most compelling and would have the greatest impact on your audience?
• Which facts are unnecessary or repetitive and therefore should be left out?

Evaluate the effectiveness of your research for the task using the following questions:

• Have you gathered sufficient details about your topic?
• Are your details organized in the right categories or sub-topics to make sense for your audience?
• Are you ready to write your essay or complete your presentation?
  

Conclusion

Share your essay or presentation with the festival committee (your class).

As you listen to fellow presenters, add any additional information to your notes.

Reflection:

Select a piece of literature you have already studied in English this year or last year. Write a brief explanation as to why it is important to understand the background of a piece of literature to better understand and appreciate it. Be sure to use details from that work to support your statements.