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Website Address:http://www.capecod.net/~bbarsant/class/macbeth.html Content of Site:Overview Table of Contents Rating:
Review:This is a fifty-one page printable document which would be likely to be of particular use to a teacher planning lessons on Macbeth. The Table of Contents gives a very clear indication of what is contained within the site. The section on Shakespearean Theatre contains a set of useful questions on the important elements of Shakespearean theatre, of which pupils need to be aware. Particularly interesting are the Preview Questions, which are not based on the play itself, but rather ask pupils to think about general issues, which may deepen their understanding of the play's themes. For example, they are asked to consider if people are fated to act in a particular way. It is suggested that these questions are answered as a group activity. The Questions on each Scene may be printed and photocopied and used as a worksheet in class. These are generally straightforward questions about events of a particular scene, and at times they will be asked to explain their answer with a quote. This will encourage pupils to develop the important skill of supporting their ideas with evidence from the text. The Questions on each overall Act require much more reflective thought from the pupil. The importance of the Act is summed up briefly and then pupils are asked to answer a number of questions which demand that they interpret what they have read and express an opinion, rather than simply locate information in the text. For example, pupils may be asked to state whether they believe Macbeth has a strong or a weak marriage, or they will be asked to explain the difference between the ways that men and women are portrayed in the play. The section of the site entitled General Macbeth is of limited use in so far as it asks pupils to read an essay by Mary McCarthy on the play before answering several questions, and yet the essay mentioned is not available at this location. However, some of the questions given would still be suitable to be used as essay questions when studying the play, such as;
The Out, Out, section is an interesting alternative perspective from which to examine the play. It asks pupils to read the poem Out, Out by Robert Frost and to answer questions regarding the poem itself and to consider how the poem relates to Shakespeare's play. Again the poem is not included in this site, but if teachers wish to use this comparison, the poem can be located at http://www.ketzle.com/frost/outout.htm. The included Macbeth Exam is designed to test pupils' knowledge of events in the play, and their understanding of its key concepts. They may be asked to define literary terms; personification, irony, soliloquy, etc., or to explain the significance of particular objects in the play; the dagger, Birnam Wood etc. The exam also includes an extensive Quote Identify section, where pupils are asked to identify not only which character said a particular quote, but also why it is significant. Finally, the Macbeth Feedback section allows pupils to evaluate their own experience of studying the play. They may be given a questionnaire asking questions such as, how they enjoyed the play, how difficult they found it in comparison to other texts they have studied, did they find videos, study guides etc. to be useful, what would have made their experience of the play more enjoyable? The findings from these completed questionnaires may be useful to teachers to evaluate their teaching strategies and in planning for future teaching. Since all of the elements in this site are easily downloaded and photocopied I think it would be an excellent resource for teachers to use when developing worksheets for use in the classroom. While a teacher may not choose to use all aspects of the site, this well laid out, plain text resource is easily adaptable
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