Natalie West

EDT 530

WebQuest

March 1, 2006

 

Julius Caesar

 

Teacher’s Resources and Lesson Plans

 

WebQuest

 

The following sites may be helpful for a teacher developing a unit on Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare.

 

http://www.folger.edu/

     This is an impressive site for the Folger Library located in Washington DC.  The Folger would be an incredible place to visit, as it contains, according to the site, “the world’s largest and finest collection of Shakespeare materials and to major collections of other rare Renaissance books, manuscripts, and works of art.”  The Folger has plays, concerts, readings, activities and other exhibitions. 

     The site has numerous tabs at a top menu, a side navigation, and links throughout the text.  I only “surfed” through what pertained to teachers, and I am sure I only saw some of it.  The site is highly professional and interactive.

     Unfortunately, not all of us can visit the library, but most of us can visit this useful, easy to navigate, and visually pleasing site.  Each month the library posts new lesson plans and ideas for teachers for free.  Additionally, there is a “Lesson Plans Archive” which has postings of past lessons and ideas.  From this site you can access the following lessons for Julius Caesar:

http://www.folger.edu/eduLesPlanDtl.cfm?lpid=669

http://www.folger.edu/eduLesPlanDtl.cfm?lpid=585

http://www.folger.edu/eduLesPlanDtl.cfm?lpid=668

http://www.folger.edu/eduLesPlanDtl.cfm?lpid=659

 

 

     This lesson plan, focusing on characterization / character education is thorough and extensive.  It uses three works: Antigone, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.  Antigone and The Tragedy of Julius Caesar are both in the sophomore text book, and I am familiar with both.  I am not familiar with One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, but it is listed as a novel, unlike the other two which are plays.

     The site itself is not a visually pleasing, like Folgers, but it contains many of the components of a lesson which teachers seek: essential questions, lesson objectives, activities (with many options), and assessments.  Each component is included for each of the three works listed, making it possible to omit one or two of them

http://www.cln.org/themes/shakespeare.html

     This site is a listing of useful sites and is entitled “Shakespeare Theme Page.”  It is not flashy, but it seems like a thorough compilation of resources on the Internet.  The two sites previously described have links to them from this page.  Although I was looking specifically for Julius Caesar sites, I thought this site was worth mentioning.  Unfortunately, I found that many of the links are not working, but the ones that are, seem quite useful. 

     A few of the ones I find worth visiting:

              http://members.aol.com/liadona2/shakespeare.html?f=fs

              http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/Shakespeare_Illustrated/Shakespeare.html

              http://library.advanced.org/19539/front.htm

 

 

http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/lausd/resources/shakespeare/caesarwebguide.html

     While I launched many different searches (using different words), this site came back time and time again.  It was the first site I found that included performance standards.  From the SCORE (Schools of California Online Resources for Educators) Project site, this link is described as a CyberGuide.

     I think it offers some good ideas, but I wouldn’t use the lesson in its entirety; for example, it suggests having students complete four different essays, which in my opinion, would be a bit much for one unit of study.  The lesson is heavy on writing with some discussion; for students’ interests and accommodating learning styles, I would make changes to this unit.  One “non-Shakespeare” aspect of this site that would be useful for students and teachers is a link to the author’s (Joel Sommer Littauer) literary terms webpage:

http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/lausd/resources/Literary.Terms.Menu.html

 

 

http://www.enotes.com/jc-lesson/72029

     First, I can’t say I recommend this site highly because to access the lessons, one has to pay.  Why pay for what can, and probably should be, free to teachers?  However, the link above shows the lesson objectives of eNotes’ lesson for Julius Caesar.  This may help teachers formulate the essential questions for a unit on Julius Caesar.  In order to purchase the entire plan, one can buy the Literature Pass for one month at $14.95.