Social Studies Learning Activity
This lesson is part of a 7th Grade Language Arts cross-curricular unit with 7th Grade Social Studies on Shakespearean Theater and The Renaissance.
PART 1
Overview:
Students will use primary source documents to learn about theater during Shakespeare's time, influential people during the Renaissance, and how people dressed during the Renaissance.
Standards Addressed:
California History-Social Science Content Standard 7.8
Students analyze the origins, accomplishments, and geographic diffusion of the Renaissance.
Substandard 5. Detail advances made in literature, the arts, science, mathematics, cartography, engineering, and the understanding of human anatomy and astronomy (e.g., by Dante Alighieri, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo di Buonarroti Simoni, Johann Gutenberg, William Shakespeare).
California Common Core ELA Writing Standard 9
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. a. Apply grade 7 Reading standards to literature (e.g., “Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a historical account of the same period as a means of understanding how authors of fiction use or alter history”).
Learning Activities:
Exercise One (This activity was taken from a lesson on the Folger Shakespeare Library by Caitlin Griffin and Carol Ann Lloyd Stanger.)
Exercise 2
Before completing Exercise 2, read this information about Engraving Art. Use the 20 engraving set "Nova Reperta" (http://goo.gl/o9dK9h) to discover the answers to the following questions. Record your group's answers in the same Google Doc you used for Exercise 1.
Exercise 3
Instructions:
1. Look at the paintings from the 1600s on the following websites.
2. On your Google Doc, answer the following questions with your group. Base your answers on observations you have made while looking at the paintings, as well as your knowledge of life during the Renaissance.
PART 1
Overview:
Students will use primary source documents to learn about theater during Shakespeare's time, influential people during the Renaissance, and how people dressed during the Renaissance.
Standards Addressed:
California History-Social Science Content Standard 7.8
Students analyze the origins, accomplishments, and geographic diffusion of the Renaissance.
Substandard 5. Detail advances made in literature, the arts, science, mathematics, cartography, engineering, and the understanding of human anatomy and astronomy (e.g., by Dante Alighieri, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo di Buonarroti Simoni, Johann Gutenberg, William Shakespeare).
California Common Core ELA Writing Standard 9
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. a. Apply grade 7 Reading standards to literature (e.g., “Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a historical account of the same period as a means of understanding how authors of fiction use or alter history”).
Learning Activities:
Exercise One (This activity was taken from a lesson on the Folger Shakespeare Library by Caitlin Griffin and Carol Ann Lloyd Stanger.)
- Before beginning the assignment, read a brief summary of A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. A summary can be accessed with the text of the play.
- Read the assigned scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream to learn about how plays were staged during Shakespeare's time. Record your groups' answers on a Google Doc.
- line 11: Quince tells his assembly what play they will produce: “The most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe.” What kind of play do you, as an audience, want to see? Why would the play be both "lamentable" and a "comedy?" What does this title make you think of the players? Look up some of Shakespeare's play's title pages, like Romeo and Juliet . How does this title compare?
- line 20: Quince assigns the roles in the play. Bottom asks if Pyramus is “a lover or a tyrant?” Shakespeare’s audience was used to seeing plays about kings and lovers. Get a list of Shakespeare’s and figure out how many he wrote that weren’t about kings or lovers.
- line 45: Francis Flute protests playing a woman—on the Elizabethan stage, women’s roles were played by young men and boys. Why?
- line 75: Why are the players concerned about the Lion being too frightening? What could happen to you if your play displeased the king or queen at the time?
- The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, Shakespeare’s company, were once in danger of their lives when Queen Elizabeth I saw herself in the deposed monarch in Shakespeare’s play Richard II.
Exercise 2
Before completing Exercise 2, read this information about Engraving Art. Use the 20 engraving set "Nova Reperta" (http://goo.gl/o9dK9h) to discover the answers to the following questions. Record your group's answers in the same Google Doc you used for Exercise 1.
- Look at all 20 of the engravings in this set titled "Nova Reperta" (or new discoveries) and explain what life was like when they were made in 1600.
- List as many new discoveries (for example - inventions, ideas, items from the Columbian exchange, etc.) as you can find in the 20 engravings.
- How do these images from the time period help us picture life and identify what was important in the time period?
Exercise 3
Instructions:
1. Look at the paintings from the 1600s on the following websites.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Elizabethan England
- BBC's Your Paintings - Hans Holbein the Younger
2. On your Google Doc, answer the following questions with your group. Base your answers on observations you have made while looking at the paintings, as well as your knowledge of life during the Renaissance.
- How did people dress before and during the English Renaissance?
- Why did people dress this way? Were their choices guided entirely by fashion? Or do you think there were aspects of daily life that created a need for certain styles of clothing?
PART 2
Students will complete the following activity that utilizes Google Maps. This activity is slightly modified from one created by Donna Axelson (see sources for link). A printer-friendly version of the revised plan can be found by clicking here.
Students will complete the following activity that utilizes Google Maps. This activity is slightly modified from one created by Donna Axelson (see sources for link). A printer-friendly version of the revised plan can be found by clicking here.
Resources:
- Axelson, Donna. 1400-1650 The Renaissance (Meaning Revival or Rebirth). Google Earth Lesson Plan Library. Accessed at http://sitescontent.google.com/google-earth-for-educators/classroom-resources/lesson-plan-library.
- California State Board of Education. (October 1998). History-social science content standards for California public schools. Accessed at http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/histsocscistnd.pdf.
- California State Board of Education. (March 2013). California common core state standards: English language arts & literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Accessed at http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstandards.pdf
- Griffin, C and Stanger, C. Shakespeare the player: illustrating Elizabethan theater through A Midsummer Night's Dream. Folger Shakespeare Library. Accessed at http://www.folger.edu/shakespeare-the-player-illustrating-elizabethan-theater-through-midsummer-nights-dream.
Kjersti Withers ©2015