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Tracy Sullivan

Macbeth: A Study in Relevance Unit Plan

English 11

Length: 4 weeks (75 minute lessons)

Rationale: In The Disappearance of Literature speech, 1900, Mark Twain wrote: “A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.” Twain’s apt observation holds urgent truth for adolescents. At the outset of compiling this plan, I considered the many ways that I could teach this unit. I looked to the usual suspects: theme-based learning, the mechanical play, and dramatic perspective, all of which are highly important to the study of Macbeth. However, I found myself groaning throughout these considerations. I panicked: if I was bored by the prospects, how would my students feel? I calmed down long enough to consider the motivation behind my dis-ease, and I was suddenly rushed back to my grade eleven classroom: I was trying to read a language I didn’t understand, I was embarrassed, I was bored, and I was fearful of the upcoming assignments that seemed foreign to me. There was no relevance. And just like that, I realized that was the problem! In order to appreciate literature, it has to be established as relevant by the reader. All of the above approaches contain information essential to the understanding, and enjoyment of Macbeth, however, if the student isn’t interested, it will matter very little. This unit plan strives to establish relevance, and personal interest throughout its lesson plans, and various assignments. This approach works well in my classroom, which will be established as one of communal interest. It is my sincere hope that this unit will be successful in instilling within the student a sense of ownership, and respect for Shakespeare, and Macbeth. May this be an opportunity to re-introduce students to literature in a way that excites them, so that they may go on to explore the wonders in other literary works.