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**Special Electronic Issues**

May 2008 - Student Writing Showcase
 Nov 2007 - Shakespeare *featuring Macbeth!
Sep 2007 - Monsters *featuring Beowulf!
Fall 2006 - The Canterbury Tales
Spring 2007 - Student Writing Showcase

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Welcome to READ E-issue 8.

READ is proud to present this special electronic issue and we hope you and your class will find it engaging and informative.

Why an electronic issue? More and more, teachers are required to include computer activities in their classrooms, and we are here to help. We provide your students with a safe and exciting online educational experience, while bringing lessons to life in ways that are not possible in print.

How To Use This E-Issue in Your Classroom

Our Shakespeare e-issue is designed to offer you flexibility. Here are several suggestions for how to use the site in your classroom. You can use all or some of these, according to what fits your schedule.

Class Session 1: Tap Prior Knowledge. Invite your students to share what they know about William Shakespeare and his writings. Ask, Who was he? When did he live? and why is he important? Ask if they can name any of his plays. Have they ever seen a theater production of a Shakespeare play? If so, what was their impression?

Introduce the READ Web site. Using a white board or a projector screen, project the site to the class.

• Introduce the subject. Look over the web site features and open the Interview with William Shakespeare. Listen to READ editor conduct a fictional interview with the Bard. This segment takes about 6 minutes.

• Give context. Give students an overview of Shakespeare’s time in history. Open the Interactive Timeline: The Age of Shakespeare and walk through the 16th century. This segment will take at least 6 minutes, but can be made shorter by skipping segments, or longer, depending on class discussion.

• Boost interest. Before you have your students read the Center Stage adaptation of Macbeth, treat your students to the Macbeth Rap Video. It’s a lot of fun. This segment takes about 5 minutes. If there is time, ask your students for what themes and key words they recall from the video.

Class Session 2: Read Macbeth. Have your students perform the Center Stage adaptation of Macbeth.

• Class discussion. Explore Macbeth’s motivations and choices. Ask, what caused his downfall? Who is to blame? What could he have done differently?

• Reproducible: “Center Stage Discussion Questions.” This PDF, and others, is available in the Teaching Center.

• At home. Students may be invited to view the READ e-issue at home, where they can review the features and play the interactive Write Your Shakespeare game.

Class Session 3: Read Mac and Beth. Have your students perform this updated version of Macbeth. Please note: This play was published in READ issue 7, so you don’t need to make copies.

• Class discussion. Compare and contrast the two plays.

• Reproducible: “Wrap Up.”

Class Session 4: Follow up. Project the READ e-issue for the class to view.

• Lit Scene Investigation. Explore a soliloquy. This segment takes at least 5 or 6 minutes. However, we recommend that you view it more than once, to help students’ comprehension.

• Authors Speak. Listen to well-known authors tell why they love Shakespeare.

• Class discussion. Ask your students if their impression of Shakespeare has changed. What do they know now that they didn’t know before?

• Reproducible: “Reading Comprehension” skillsmaster.

• The remaining reproducible “Literary Elements” is about alliteration and can be used at any time.

Please note: the Answer Key for all of the reproducibles can be found on page 7 of the Teacher’s Guide for issue 9, dated December 14, 2007.