MYPNA_TE_G12_U3_web.pdf

DECIDE AND PLAN

TEACH

PERSONALIZE FOR LEARNING

Read and Respond

Have students do their first read of the selection. Then have them complete their close read. Finally,

work with them on the Making Meaning, Language Development, and Effective Expression activities.

Text Complexity Rubric: The Tragedy of Macbeth, Act I

Quantitative Measures

Lexile: NP Text Length: 18,031 words in the entire play

Qualitative Measures

Knowledge Demands

1 2 3 4 5

Multiple themes are addressed that are sophisticated and complex (corruption of ambition, gender and

relationship to violence, guilt and retribution, conflicts of right and wrong).

Structure

1 2 3 4 5

Structure has the predictable elements of a play: extensive list of characters, act and scene breaks,

stage directions, and dialogue. Text of dialogue has line breaks as in poetry; characters speak mostly in

unrhymed iambic pentameter (blank verse).

Language Conventionality and Clarity

1 2 3 4 5

Students will need to become familiar with Shakespeare’s language (especially if reading for the first

time). Language is figurative and archaic (Elizabethan English of 16th and 17th centuries) with unfamiliar

syntax and vocabulary.

Levels of Meaning/Purpose

1 2 3 4 5

This play is full of symbolism and multiple meanings that are difficult to identify and interpret and

require extensive analysis.

Reading Support

WHOLE-CLASS LEARNING • THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH, ACT 1

English Language Support

Provide English Learners with support for

language and knowledge demands as they

read the selection.

Language Make a chart of some common

Shakespearean words (thee, thou, ye, thine,

thy, thyself, anon, aye, yea, n’er) and their

modern equivalents: (you, you, you, your,

your, yourself, soon, indeed, never). Review

the words with students and have them

look for some of the words in the text.

Knowledge Demands List some words

that can be used to discuss themes of The

Tragedy of Macbeth: prophecy, prediction,

fate, guilt, punishment, ambition, gender.

Use these words to preview some of

the themes of the play, defining them if

needed. For example, discuss the meaning

of a prophecy and explain the prophecy of

the witches that Macbeth will become king.

Strategic Support

Provide students with strategic support

to ensure that they can successfully read

the text.

Language Give students encouragement

that they will be able to unravel the

language. Give an example: (paragraph

5) Say to the king the knowledge of the

broil. Point out that some words that look

familiar, like broil, have other meanings.

This one has a footnote — it means battle.

Discuss what this sentence means (Tell the

king what you know about the battle).

Knowledge Demands Shakespeare used

this story to explore themes that are still

relevant, for example: ambition, corruption,

the conflict between right and wrong, and

whether humans can control their own

destiny.

Challenge

Provide students who need to be challenged

with ideas for how they can go beyond a

simple interpretation of the text.

Text Analysis Discuss one of the themes

of the play: the relationship of gender to

violence and cruelty. Ask a volunteer to read

aloud Lady Macbeth’s speech in scene v

(starting at line 40). Ask students why they

think Lady Macbeth says “unsex me” and

discuss the implication that she needs to be

more masculine in order to be cruel.

Written Response Ask students to write

their opinion about whether men are

more prone to violence, or whether that

idea is more of a stereotype than a reality.

Have them explain their reasoning and

give examples from research they have

performed to support their opinion.

250C UNIT 3 • FACING THE FUTURE, CONFRONTING THE PAST

LIT17_TE12_U03_A1_WC_INTER.indd 3 16-04-11 8:02 AM