I can’t help it; I love William Shakespeare. =) And, believe it or not, most of my students do, too!
Julius Caesar is on the curriculum in my district for tenth-graders, and although analysis of the play with all its five acts is a time-consuming process, it’s an enjoyable one, as well. They really love analyzing the betrayal and revenge, and they always have some, shall we say, lively discussions on the issue of suicide. And there’s always a great debate as to whether Caesar or Brutus is the protagonist of the play.
In the last few years, I’ve had my students reading along with a CD of the play rather than taking parts and reading it aloud as I used to do. This takes less time, of course, and I feel that it’s beneficial for my students because the actors’ readings help to get across the meaning of the play, so that the sixteenth-century language doesn’t get in the way of their understanding quite as much. I pause the CD after most scenes, and we discuss the plot, characters, conflict, etc., using the study questions I give them as a guide.
The anticipation guide I use focuses on students’ prior knowledge of the issues involved in the play. Each act’s study questions are listed according to scene, and each act’s quiz is composed of fill-in-the-blank statements drawn from the study questions. In the memorization activity, students memorize lines from Antony’s funeral speech, and in the character-description / quote-practice activity, students have to find quotes from the play that characterize a number of characters. I have the final test in either an InDesign file, and as soon as I am able, I will convert it into a Word file or a Word file that I will e-mail you if you contact me.
Available Teaching Materials
- Anticipation Guide – Word File
- Act I Study Questions – Word File
- Act I Quiz – Word File (not available for download)
- Act II Study Questions – Word File
- Act II Quiz – Word File (not available for download)
- Act III Study Questions – Word File
- Act III Quiz – 25 questions – Word File (not available for download)
- Act III Quiz – 20 questions – Word File (not available for download)
- Act IV Study Questions – Word File
- Act IV Quiz – Word File (not available for download)
- Act V Study Questions – Word File
- Act V Quiz – Word File (not available for download)
- Memorization – Word File
- Iambic Pentameter – Word File
- Tragic Hero – Word File
- Character Description/Quote Practice – Word File
- Reconstructing Blank Verse – Word File
- Unit Test – Word File & InDesign File (not available for download)
© 2008 – 2011, mrshawke-dot-com.
Most of my teaching resources are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License, which means you can feel free to use them with attribution as long as you don’t use them commercially. If you’re not sure, don’t hesitate to ask me. Unfortunately, I am currently unable to send out my tests and quizzes, but I am hoping to establish a less time-consuming alternative for this in the near future. Sorry!!
