Vocabulary Activities for Drama (and maybe a little Romeo, Juliet, and Caesar)

I was asked to model a lesson on how to extend vocabulary study in the English I and II classroom. 

This is what the teacher had accomplished before I arrived: 

English 1:  Read The Shakespeare Stealer in class.  I modeled/pointed out different dramatic elements within the play.  Now they have started Romeo and Juliet.  They watched the shmoop video about the summary of this.  I divided them up into groups and assigned them each a different act to read among their group.  As they were reading, I told them to take note of important details, the summary of what they are reading, and what dramatic elements they are noticing from their vocabulary words.  I give them 5-7 minutes at the end of each class to write these things down.  Then the next day, they share with the class what they’ve noticed/found and continue reading.  After they are finished, they look through their entire list of vocab and write down each example they notice.

English 2:  Same exact thing except the model selection I used was Tibet Through the Red Box.  They are currently reading Julius Caesar.

I wanted them to go deeper into the application of the terms. Here is the lesson plan and images of student work. 

First, we started out with Word Cycle: 

I asked the students to shuffle and distribute the cards from these sets: 

Drama English I Set One

Drama English I Set Two

Drama English II Set One

Drama English II Set Two

Then they randomly drew five cards from the cards they were dealt, placing each in the center of one of the circles. 

Then I modeled for students about how to create a connection between the first two words on the chart. I chose /monologue/and /tragic flaw/. As I thought aloud, I said something like this: "In Romeo and Juliet, the first monologue is from Juliet. Romeo overhears her, so that's how I know it's not a soliloquy. Now I need to think about how Shakespeare is using that monologue to show us something about a tragic flaw. In this first speech, we realize that Juliet is a silly, immature little girl. That kind of thing never ends well." 

On the arrow between the two circles, I wrote: a playwright could use a monologue to reveal the tragic flaw in a a character. This could also foreshadow other conflicts and plot elements that would arise later." 

Then I asked students to do the same on their papers, collaborating with their group members for ideas. Here's what they came up with...

Note how this student used orange to give a definition in her own words about the terms (which I didn't ask her to do). Her connection here is spectacular because she shows understanding of how the monologue itself might be used in a play. 

This next student nearly broke my heart when I received her paper. She explains - "I got confused." But she didn't realize that what she did was exactly what I was expecting for the next stage of the lesson. 

This child clearly understands how Tybalt's dramatic speech resulted in a climax for Scene Three where Romeo kills Tybalt! She went further than connecting the terms, she applied them to a specific instance in the text. 

Sometimes, in class, you look for a child to give you an example that sets the tone and expectation for that class and all the classes to follow. When a student can give you a better example than yours, you have something special to use as a model. 

The student was connecting the terms Plot and Theme. If you read the image, here it is: The food fight scene from hook express the theme of Imagination. Imagination makes life fun. The Boulder in Indiana Jones illuminated the theme of success with risk. He goes on to connect Theme and Characters: Just like a prop  the characters can Illuminate a theme of story. Indiana always is in a risk bisiness which can lead to profit or a gain of some sort." 

In the next phase of the lesson, I asked students to draw a character sociogram and then connect the terms to the characters with annotations. The student clearly articulates a sequence of events with the plot and labels them with the appropriate term.

The next two artifacts were so brilliant that I asked the students to explain with an audio file. 

This one made me do a happy dance: "The foil character can interact with the tragic hero and show the strengths and weaknesses." I wish all students could understand the purpose of the foil! 

But here's the thesis. At the end of my post. Again. Seems like that's a trend for me.

Vocabulary instruction is not about definitions. It is about using what words mean to help us understand what an author is saying and how he has crafted his message to us.