BEHIND THE SCENES  Unit: “Hamlet and the Gendered Dynamics of Power”

 EQ: How does gender influence the choices people

Big Picture make and the ways in which people are perceived?
What is the unit in which this is  EU: Gender/Gender identity shape what opportunities
situated? are available to people, and how they have to navigate
those opportunities
What essential question or  Text: Hamlet (specifically Act 1, Scene 3)
enduring understanding does this
lesson address?
What is the text? (Include page #s if
this is a from a larger text) OR what
is the writing assignment?
Focus Skill  students are working on close textual analysis, paying
particular attention to the author’s word choice 
What skill are students working on?
 I’ve chosen this skill because I’ve seen that especially
What do you already know about with difficult texts like Hamlet, students (and teachers)
your students that has led you to have a tendency to focus almost exclusively on the
focus on this skill? plot.  I want to encourage students to also pay
attention to what work specific words are doing to
communicate meaning
Strategy  We will be looking at this after we’ve either worked
through the plot of the scene, or read a
Identify the strategy most useful
summary/watched the scene, so students will have
for building this skill for your
some understanding of what is happening at this point
students. 
in the text
 I will start with full-group read aloud, where I model
drawing out specific words that are repeated across the
excerpt, considering their literal and figurative
meaning, and thinking about what that suggests
 Students will then practice in peers
Objective
Students will be able to identify patterns in word choice in
Write an objective that specifically
Shakespearean texts and describe how those patterns
states what students will be able to
communicate assumptions about gender and power within the
do using this strategy by the end of
text.
the lesson. Write for a student-
audience.
Note, not all lessons require a clearly
articulated, action-oriented objective,
but a mini-lesson benefits from it. Also,
many administrators will require this.
Authenticity + Equity This is part of a larger unit on gender in literature.  Over the
course of the unit, we will be relating this question to the
How is this strategy and practice
present day as well as to in-school texts.  One thing we’ll talk
intrinsically meaningful? How does
about is how gender assumptions and biases can often be
it relate to students’ lives, their
subtle or implicit instead of explicit.  The skill of reading
needs, a real audience, or a larger
understanding of a meaningful
issue?  messages that might not be overt.
How does this mini-lesson harness
students’ voices, address a range of
needs, and provide a safe space to
take risks and fail?
Assessment
How will you know whether
students have developed their
ability to use the skill + strategy you
are focusing on? 
What evidence will you be able to
collect?
How will evidence inform your
instruction?
ON SET
Introduction
 How will you introduce the
lesson?  other female character in this play.  We’ll be paying
o Link to a previous
lesson or relevant task.
o Explain the
purpose, both for class and
for students’ lives, in
student-friendly language
Meat/tofu of the lesson
 How will you “deliver” your
message?
 How will you keep students
engaged?
 What will students be
doing?
 What materials will you
use?
o Submit materials
with your assignment
Guided Practice
 How will you guide
students in their practice?
carefully and considering word choice can also eventually be
used to carefully read advertisements, movies, songs, etc. for
 I will build a number of different participation formats
into this mini-lesson – we will start with a full-class
reading, but students will also work in partners, and I
will use writing in the closure, so students will be able
to participate at whichever level feels most
comfortable for them.
During the full group reading, I will have some students
volunteer to share their thinking.  When students pair up to
read and practice the skill, I will circulate to hear what groups
are saying.  If it seems like there are some points of confusion
that are shared across many people in the class, I will
reconvene the class to practice together again.  If not, I will
have students continue on to independent work and check in
with any individuals who seem to need more help. 
 Link to previous lesson – “yesterday, we were talking
about Gertrude’s characterization in Act 1, Scene 2, and
the level of hostility Hamlet seems to have for her, and
for women in general.  Today we will be looking at the
specific attention to the language other characters use
to talk to her and about her”
o purpose: emphasize that this is important for
understanding implicit gendered messages in
the text, and can be used in other texts we
encounter in daily life
 Materials – Collections textbook for Hamlet, and copies
of the specific scene, so that students can annotate and
write on the page
 I will start by modeling, but I will try to keep that
segment shorter – for the majority of the mini-lesson, I
want students to be working together to really tune in
to specific words and what work those words do
 for engagement – I’m considering having a Do Now
before I get to this mini-lesson, where I play or show
and advertisement and have students draw out specific
details, brainstorm what implicit message those details
are communicating
 Start by reading Laertes’ advice to Ophelia at the
bottom of page 249 in the Collections textbook
o I will have made copies for students that they
can annotate, and ask that they circle words
  What will students be
doing?  
Independent Practice
 How will students practice
this skill independently?
Closure
How will you end the lesson so that
students re-see the purpose, how it
is linked to previous learning,
future learning, and their lives
(their reading/writing lives or their
lives in general)?
For this assignment, posit a
question or two for students to
respond to in an exit pass.  
they’d like to discuss further as I read
I will read through once and check in with students for
comprehension. Then I will model noticing that the
word “fear” was repeated a number of times
throughout the passage
 After that, I will ask students what repeated words or
ideas they noticed  while students share out ideas, I
will write up the suggestions on the board
 Once we have a number of repeated words, phrases, or
ideas recorded, we will debrief as a class  what do
we notice about the repeated phrases? What does
that suggest about what Laertes values or prioritizes in
his relationship with Ophelia? What do we want to pay
more attention to going forward?
 after the guided practice, students will pair up to read
the interaction between Ophelia and Polonius
o while reading, they will specifically pay
attention to the words characters use when
speaking to/about Ophelia and the gendered
implications of those word choices (they will
look for overall patterns in word choice – i.e., if
there are lots of words that have to do with
‘staining’ honor)
 as a pair, students will record at least 5 words or ideas
that are repeated, and discuss how those words work
together to create or reveal a larger meaning
 I will be circulating while students work, to hear how
groups are doing/offer any necessary support
 class will come back together, and pairs will partner up
into groups of four
o groups will share out what some of the words
they focused on were, and how those words
contributed to the characterization of Ophelia
in the text
o together, groups will brainstorm
things/patterns to continue tracking as we
learn more about Ophelia (or other female
characters) in Hamlet
Final question (individual writing, then share out): now
that we’ve analyzed the way Ophelia is discussed in the
text, do you think that Shakespeare is himself being
misogynistic, or is he just showing that misogyny exists
in society?