Room 2209

I don't know if I've said this before but I love TED Talks.  My kids watch one every Tuesday that relates to our main text.  Last six weeks we read A Midsummer Night's Dream , so here are the TED Talks I paired with it and why. 1.  Mandy Len Catron: Falling in Love is the Easy Part A Midsummer Night's Dream is filled with the idea of love: what is it, is it serious, or is it a flight of fancy? After falling in love using a questionnaire, Mandy Len Catron discusses the idea that it doesn't take much to fall in love, but staying in love takes work.  I use this talk at the beginning of the unit to hit the theme of love and to also get the kids thinking about what it means to truly love someone. 2.  Amy Adkins: Why Do We Dream? I love mixing facts with fiction.  The loss of reality and dreams are major themes in the play.  This video gives real-world theories as to why human beings dream.  I ask the students to choose one reason and use it as a de

I love reading A Midsummer Night's Dream  with my kids.  Over the years I've realized that a lot of them do not have the context to understand the first scene of the play.  I discovered the animated show Horrible Histories  while searching for a quick way to give them that context in a way that they'd actually pay attention.  To make sure that they did while watching, I created a guided questioning handout.  I also realized that the video wasn't going to be enough.  So I found an article on CommonLit that dissects the class system.  Because students need to understand Hermia's plight and why the mechanicals are the comedic relief (I use a subsequent lesson to drive this idea home), the assessment is two paragraphs where they have to use both resources to explain what life was like for women and the working class.   The lesson plan is below.  If you're interested in the handout I use, you can find it in my TPT store here . Groovy Greeks Introduct