My goodness! Such beautiful words! I really wanted the students to understand and engage with these beautiful words because, in this moment, Macbeth seems to regret his life choices. So I stumbled upon this website:

http://betterlesson.com/lesson/566373/what-s-your-sentence-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-introducing-macbeth-by-william-shakespeare

Which in turn lead me to this website:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjBmnfI4Tn4

So basically the point of the One Sentence Project, created  by Dan Pink, is to get you to distill your life (what you believe in, why you’re here) into one, single sentence. As my lesson plan (check it out below) shows I first show the students a video about the one sentence project, then we read the scene, then I ask students to write a one sentence project for Macbeth in groups. Students then reflect on their own lives, their own beliefs, regrets etc… and then create their own sentence. I am hoping that this makes the students connect what Shakespeare is trying to say in this monologue to the students’ own lives and, by reflecting on their own lives, see that, even though this play was written HUNDREDS of years ago by a hipster who was a hipster before it was at all cool, the words and themes he wrote about are still alive and relevant to their own lives today in 2017. Fingers crossed this works.

The Lesson:

Act 5.4-5.5: Macbeth’s Tomorrow speech

Overview

Students will critically interpret and analyze Macbeth’s Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow speech by close reading the text, writing one sentence in the POV of Macbeth (at the end of his life) and then reflect on their own lives and write one sentence they want or hope others would say about them in the future.

Big Ideas

• Language shapes ideas and influences others.
• The exploration of text and story deepens our understanding of diverse, complex ideas about identity, others, and the world.
• People understand text differently depending on their worldviews and perspectives.

Curricular Competencies

• Evaluate how literary elements, techniques, and devices enhance and shape meaning and impact.
• Respectfully exchange ideas and viewpoints from diverse perspectives to build shared understanding and extend thinking
• Respond to the text in personal, creative, and critical ways.

Content

• Literary elements and devices
• Form, function, and genre of texts
• Literal and inferential meaning

Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to have some understanding of Macbeth’s regrets and sorrows.

Opening/Hook

To open the class I will introduce the students to Daniel Pink’s “One Sentence Project” with a one sentence project video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjBmnfI4Tn4)

• 2:10.

I will then ask the class to think about their lives and think of one sentence they want or hope others would say about them in the future that would encapsulate how they lived. What would it say? If you were to encapsulate your life in one sentence what would that be?

• 3 minutes

I will then show the class a clip of Macbeth’s Tomorrow speech performed by Ian McKellen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LDdyafsR7g)

• 1:39

Presentation

I will summarize for the class 5.3-5.4 stopping to quickly emphasize Macbeth’s inflated sense of self (he feels godlike and invincible and thus is not thinking clearly).

• 2 minutes

Together as a class we will read and perform Act 5.5.

• 5 minutes or so.

Students will then, with the people around them (pairs/ trios) analyze Macbeth’s speech with the help of a worksheet (page 45 of Macbeth workbook)

• 5 minutes or so

We will then, come back as a group, and discuss Macbeth’s monologue and the literary devices Shakespeare uses to express Macbeth’s sorrow.

• 10 minutes

Activities

(this activity was inspired by / tweaked from Glenda Funk’s that can be found at http://betterlesson.com/lesson/566373/what-s-your-sentence-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-introducing-macbeth-by-william-shakespeare)

Funk, G. (n.d.). What’s Your Sentence? “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow”? Introducing “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare. Retrieved January 26, 2017, from http://betterlesson.com/lesson/566373/what-s-your-sentence-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-introducing-macbeth-by-william-shakespeare

Students, in groups or on their own, will then be tasked with coming up with Macbeth’s one sentence with the prompt:

• By the end of The Tragedy of Macbeth, Macbeth is filled with regret. If he were to encapsulate his life in one sentence, what would that sentence say?
  • 5 minutes

Students (one from each group/ individual) will then write these sentences up on the whiteboard.

After this, students will be asked to compose their own one sentence that encapsulates their lives/hopes for their lives. Students will be paper and pens and will write their sentence down on paper.

• Rest of the class

Closure

When students are done their sentences, they will come to me, hold their paper up and I will take a photo of them. I will then put them together into a power point presentation to show the class the next day.

I will remind students that their three apparition visual interpretations are due tomorrow (April 7)

Evaluation / Assessment

• Informal observation
• Participation

Materials / Resources

• Paper
• Pens/ felts
• Camera
• Computer with the internet- Youtube

Pedagogical Approach

• Lecture
• Small group/pair work/ discussion
• Large group discussion
• YouTube Video
• Creative activity