Julius Caesar • 2013 - Chicago Shakespeare Theater

52
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
As you read the play
BELL-RINGERS
These are brief introductory activities to set the stage for class. They are simply 2-5 minute attention-getters and focusers.
They can help students connect, create class unity and focus, and simply add some fun to the beginning or end of class.
Teams, rewards, and bonus points often heighten focus and enjoyment. Many of these activities work well as class conclusions,
substitute teacher activities, and creative full-class activities as well.
AS A CLASS
10
Character Quarantine
To the teacher: Cut up and distribute, one per student, the lines below including the character’s name. Once you
receive a quote, arrange yourselves in groups based on the character who said your quote. As you read the lines
aloud and notice the plot clues in them, work with one another to determine the order of your quotes through the
arc of the story. Once you have arranged yourselves, come up with a still-frame position you think your character
would assume onstage at the moment he/she says that line. When the teacher says “Go!” everyone assumes
their position and reads each line in order. Repeat once more, so your classmates have a good idea of the plot
points, as well. Then ask them if they think any of the quotes are out of order. Once everyone agrees they are
in order, go down the line and explain your still-frame statues to the class. CONSIDER COMMON CORE ANCHOR
STANDARDS R1, R3, SL1
Julius Caesar • 2013
Caesar:
Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights. 1.2.192-193
Cowards die many times before their deaths,
The valiant never taste of death but once. 2.2.32-34
The Ides of March are come. 3.1.1
What is now remiss that Caesar and his Senate must redress? 3.1.32
Et tu, Brute? 3.1.77
Brutus:
Vexèd I am
Of late with passions of some difference,
Conceptions only proper to myself,
Which give some soil, perhaps, to my behaviors. 1.2.39-42
What means this shouting? I do fear the people
Choose Caesar for their king. 1.2.79-80
O Rome, I make thee a promise,
If the redress will follow, thou receives
Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus. 2.1.56-58
All my engagements I will construe to thee,