Introduction
Prior to beginning our long journey at examining Shakespeare's extension of and influence on the English Renaissance, we must first get to know who he was. The only problem is that we really know very little about the man who is widely regarded as the greatest playwright, if not the greatest writer, that the world has ever known. So during this unit, we will uncover what the historians have chronicled about his life & then we will use this as a basis to examine his many sonnets to attempt to gain a grasp on "the real William Shakespeare."
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Task
For this webquest, you and one of your closest mates are going to assume the role of a collaborative historical research team to preform the hurculean task of uncovering Shakespeare's past, which sometimes is easier said than done. To accomplish this, your partnership will craft a PowerPoint (or Prezi) that teaches the uneducated masses all of the necessary information needed to begin an indepth study of Shakespeare, including the pertinent biographical information, major accomplishments, and notable works. . . with images and maybe some nifty quotations from the bard.
Process
To achieve the ultimate goal of producing the most eloquent and informative Shakespeare presentation known to man, your collaborative research partnership is going to divide the task into two distinct & equal roles: researcher & creator.
Researcher: Your job is going to be to research a variety of web sources, scouring the deepest, darkest depths of the internet to find the requried information and relaying that information to your partner so that he/she can create the digital presentation.
Creator: Your job is going to be to focus the researcher's attention to the specific information needed from the resources and to create a PPT (or Prezi) that presents the necessary information in an organized and creative way - don't forget to add some pictures every now and then!
While I will not expressly tell you how to organize the presentation of your research findings (seems logical to do it in a timeline though, doesn't it?), the types of information that you will be finding should include the information in the bulleted list below each. YOU ARE BY NO MEANS REQUIRED TO HAVE ONE SLIDE FOR EACH BULLET POINT, but each point should be referenced somewhere in your presentation.
Non-Famous Shakespeare
- When was he born?
- Where did he live?
- Who were his parents?
- What did they do for a living?
- What type of education did he have?
- To whom was he married?
- How old was she? How old was he?
- How many kids did he have?
- What were their names?
- How many of them survived?
- When did he move to London?
- What was the first play we believe he performed?
- What's the deal with the plague and theaters?
- Who is the Earl of Southhampton?
- Who are the Lord Chamberlain's Men? (and who did they sometimes play for?)
- Where did he perform his plays (this one is tricky becuase he actually performed at two)
- Who were the King's Men? (and who did they play for?)
- What are some of his most notable plays?
- When were his sonnets published?
- When did he die?
- What's the deal with his last will and testament?
- Where is he buried?
- What's the deal with his epitaph?
Don't forget a few PICs every now and then!!!!
Evaluation
Once you are finished with your presentation, please upload it to our Canvas class webpage under "Shakespeare Bio Webquest.” Your finished presentation will be graded primarily on CONTENT (i.e. does it address all of the necessary information as requested?) and will be given a grade accordingly. Make sure that your presentation does not PLAGIARIZE any of the resources that you use - you should research, read, and then synthesize a new presentation slide out of the information that you have discovered. Aside from these two criteria, creativity and organization will also be taken into account. You should make sure to organize the material in a concise way & feel free to take whatever creative license you feel necessary - just make sure that it has the essential info first!