Using Flipgrid to Teach Hamlet

Lesson Title: Using Flipgrid to Teach Hamlet

Standards Addressed:
ELAGSE9-10RL2: Determine a theme and/or central idea of text and closely analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
ELAGSE9-10W6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.
ELAGSE9-10SL5: Make strategic use of digital media in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
ELAGSE9-10SL6: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

Essential Question:
How relatable is Hamlet to modern-day teenagers?

Key Vocabulary:
Scene, act, line, stage directions, specific vocabulary as necessary to understand text

Objectives:
1. Students will read Shakespeare's Hamlet together as a class, with appropriate supporting materials for understanding and assessment.
2. At the end of each act, students will work on the Flipgrid assignment:
Each student (or small group of students) will choose an important scene from the act to create their video. The video can be a faithful reenactment of the text, a modernized version, or an example of a social media account (Instagram, Snapchat, etc) from a character's point of view about the events in the act. Students must demonstrate a full understanding of the source text in addition to creativity and imagination.
3. With each act, the expectations for the Flipgrid assignment will increase, as students become more confident in their use of the program and their understanding of the text.
4. Flipgrid videos will be shown to classes as examples and to enhance understanding of the text. The best videos will be compiled into a review of the play as a whole.

Assessment:
Students will be graded on correct interpretation of the events of the act as well as creativity and effort. Expectations will increase with each act, as students will be expected to become more comfortable not only with the text, but also with the technology and the Flipgrid format. Assessment can also be based on unit test scores, as the best videos will be compiled into a review before a test over the play is given.