Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

Student Version here.

Introduction/Overview of Experience
Old English, whether it be in an English classroom or theatrical setting, will be present in

one moment or another. Most of this work is commonly known from William Shakespeare.

While there are a lot of classic works that can be focused on, Twelfth Night is the focus of

this project. Students will create a screenplay based on the themes of love and gender as

displayed in Twelfth Night. Students will be connecting this to society and the world in

which they live in today. Each day will be broken up from reading the play, watching the

play, discussing it with their peers, collecting ideas, and finally producing a rough draft of a

screenplay. Students will also have the option to create a video performance of a

monologue they have created based on the play or act it out in front of their classmates.

Their final product will be submitted for grading as well as an individual paragraph from

each student regarding their theme they chose and how their screenplay, similar to

Shakespeare’s work, is relevant today.

Standards (include ELA and Content)

ELA Standards
11-12.RI.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text
says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the
text leaves matters uncertain.
11-12.RI.2 Determine and analyze the development and interaction of two or more central
ideas over the course of a text to provide a complex analysis or objective summary.
11-12.RL.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their
development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one
another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
11-12.RL.3 Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and
connect elements of a story or drama.
11-12.RL.4 Determine the meaning(s) of words and phrases as they are used in a text,
including figurative and connotative meanings, while analyzing the impact of specific
choices on meaning and tone.
11-12.RL.7 Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or
live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version
interprets the source text.
11-12.W.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas,
concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection,
organization, and analysis of content.

Theater Standards
TH.CR.3.HS3c. Perform ideas from research and script analysis to create a believable,
authentic, and relevant piece in a theatrical work.
TH.RE.9.HS3c. Compare and debate the connection between a theatrical work and
contemporary issues that may impact an audience.

Learning Outcomes
After having read and scored/annotated Twelfth Night, students will be able to compare
and contrast at least 6 points about the themes and information from the play and live
performance in order to justify how it fits into today’s society.

Students will review quotes from the play and analyze the meaning of it.

Students will be able to create and justify at least 2 tableaux/ground plans with the use of
lines from the script, before they watch the staged performance of the play.

Students will be able to condense the information retrieved from the play and staged
performance into a 2-3 sentence reflection and discuss how it impacts the way the
audience views the themes or plot presented.

Students will connect at least 3 themes of the play to real world situations/society or a
piece of text they have encountered previously.

Students will recall what they learned in the previous stages of Engage and Explore during

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their group discussion, and record at least five concepts they learned.

Students will be able to ask and answer questions in order to understand the text and
information provided in the Engage and Explore stages and record at least three in their
“What I Want to Know” section of the graphic organizer.

Students will be able to summarize their learning by answering every section in their prior
knowledge worksheet after reading articles and watching videos.

Students will analyze multiple perspectives/viewpoints of characters to determine the

effectiveness of their actions by identifying specific passages in the reading, discussing it in
groups, and having one person share out loud to the class.

Students will identify at least one theme in the play that has been discussed in class and
write a paragraph using a direct quote from the play to support their argument for that
theme, in an exit ticket assignment.

Students will analyze the physical environment of the play during the staged performance
and write about at least 5 things they noticed in regard to the staging of the play in their
notebooks.

Students will explain the impact of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night on the modern film
industry.

Students will demonstrate how Shakespeare's work can apply to today’s world.

Students will be able to translate Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night into modern language and
create a performance relating to at least one of the themes presented in the play.

Students will be able to explore the themes of love and gender in the play as they relate to
society today.

Texts/Text Types (list, describe use, include images)

● Link to text set

The text set includes a PDF of the play, staged performance and an audio book that allows

students to go back and review the play in the format of their choosing.

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The text set includes a Prezi presentation that provides students with the plot summary,

historical, cultural and social background of Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night.

There are optional films that students can watch that are based on Twelfth Night. These

films can help them make modern day connections to the play.

The character list will provide students with the people present in the play as to who they

are, what job/title they have as well as what actions they may have taken or situations they

are in to better understand the character. This also helps to keep students to memorize the

characters since there are many. There is an assessment that is provided on this website.

Students can test their knowledge to check their understanding and or for the teacher and

can be used for grading.

The character cards will allow students to have in depth discussions about the characters

and their actions. Referring to the reading or based on personal experiences, they can

answer questions and first share their thoughts with their groups and later as a class. The

teacher will help the students by acting as facilitator to these questions and asking further

questions if needed.

The article What You Will: Gender Fluidity in Twelfth Night, is about the gender fluidity that is

in Twelfth Night. This article explains how this topic which was ahead of its time was able to

be performed and what it meant to be of a certain gender.

Other visuals such as memes and photographs will help students build connections to the

play.

Lesson One:
Activating Prior Knowledge

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Compelling Question: How could the themes of love and gender be displayed in
today’s society, similar to the scenes of Shakespeare’s play of “Twelfth Night”?

Directions:
Students will access the presentation.
Introduce the presentation and show the students how to navigate through it. Answer any
questions they may have.

Hook:
● The students will spend 10 minutes answering the two questions that are on this
Jamboard.
● Teacher projects the question on the board and facilitate a discussion based on the first
question: After reading the quote from the museum, what comes to mind?
● Teacher will project the second question on the board and facilitate a discussion: How
do lies affect relationships and the love between characters?

Activity:

● Students will make a copy of the Prior Knowledge document and have 5 minutes to fill
out the READY and SET portions of the graphic organizer.
● After the timer goes off, students will have 20 minutes to go through the video, review
the Prezi and the character list. They will complete the GO and WHOA section of the
graphic organizer.

Closing:

● The teacher will facilitate a discussion where students will answer any questions from
their WHOA section. If students cannot answer a peer’s question then the teacher will
lead a discussion to answer any questions that are left unanswered.

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 Lesson Two:
Making Connections

Hook:

● The teacher will present a picture representing a meme regarding a scenario in the play.
● Students will write their thoughts regarding the meme in their journal/notebook.
● Students will connect their thoughts about the meme to the ideas presented in the play.
● Students will then share with their partner and then some will share with the class.

Activity:

● Students will read an article on gender fluidity on Twelfth Night.

● Students will access their prior knowledge worksheet and record new information on
their document.
● Students will connect gender performance from Shakespeare’s play to today’s society and
what this means in terms of performance and real life situations.

Closing:

● The teacher will facilitate a discussion where students will answer any questions from
their WHOA section. If students cannot answer a peer’s question then the teacher will
lead a discussion to answer any questions that are left unanswered.

Lesson Three:
Narrowing it Down

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Hook:

● The teacher will present a picture to the class.

● Students will write their thoughts regarding the depiction of the art in their
journal/notebook.
● Students will then share with their partner and then some will share with the class.

Activity:

● Students will review the tableaux. After reviewing the tableaux, they will review the
example provided in order to create their own. Students will then pick what scene they
would like to pick in order to create their own tableaux.
● Students have the option to create a tableaux/still, or ground plan of a scene with an
explanation of why they chose to set it up this way.

Closing:

● Students will submit the link to their tableaux/ground plan to the padlet. Students will
include the scene they are choosing from Twelfth Night with an explanation of why they
chose to set it up that way. They will be able to view their peers’ work and vote for their
favorite.

Lesson Four :
Share, Publish, Act

Directions:
● The teacher will project the assigned groups document on the board and students will
gather with their assigned groups.
Hook:
● The teacher will project this clip of a video for students to watch before introducing their
project. (Modern adaptation of Hamlet)

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Activity:
● Students will decide on the most important parts of the scene. It must be chosen based
on a theme previously identified in class.
● Students will make a copy of this graphic organizer and “translate” the section from
classical language to modern language or summarize the section with their groups.

Closing:

● Students will discuss the presentation choices in the assignment sheet as a group and
decide which one to create. They have the choice to come up with an idea of their own.

Lesson Five :
Share, Publish, Act (cont.)

Hook:
● The teacher will project the video for students to watch before moving on to the second
part of the project. (Modern Adaptation of Romeo and Juliet)

Activity:

● Students will work on creating a performance that presents their translation and filming
it.
● Students will submit their presentations. (Teacher will make them all accessible to the
class at a later time)

Closing:

● Teachers will project this Padlet

● Students will answer the question: What connections did you make between the play
and your own adaptation? How could the themes of love and gender be displayed in
today’s society, similar to the scenes of Shakespeare’s play of “Twelfth Night”?