Encourage tinkering with ideas, relationships, connections. Set up situations where students have to find information not readily available in school texts. Provide opportunity for students to design open-ended explorations of the concept. Provide multiple options so students can plan a unique "proof" of learning.
Students develop an Elizabethan rap using a multi-media approach
Objective: To extend the students experience so it truly becomes their own.
Activity: Review life in Elizabethan Times - focus on language using the book Shakespeare Insults. Revisit couplets and extend discussion to modern day rap and how rap is similar to the language of Shakespeare in terms of rhythm and using the language of the common man. Play Romeo and Juliet rap and have students tap out rhythms as they did for the couplets. Now divide students into groups and challenge them to create a rap of their own depicting a day in the life of Shakespeare. They may use couplets for their rap if they wish. Provide percussion instruments so students can choose to be a writer, musician or performer.
