The Tragedy of Julius Caesar Unit
February 24th - April 28th, 2014
The William Shakespeare/The Tragedy of Julius Caesar unit will consist of a number of
activities. We will be researching the lives of Julius Caesar and William Shakespeare, honing our
research and citation skills. We will be reading the play both as a class and individually, focusing
specifically on Shakespeare’s use of figurative language. The play also presents a rich source to
examine the art of rhetoric, and Shakespeare’s impressive vocabulary presents innumerable
opportunities to further understand the English language and its evolution. Students will be
answering questions, both verbally and in writing, in which they demonstrate their
comprehension of these topics and the play itself. The unit allows for a closer examination of the
politics, culture and customs of the Roman Empire at its greatest physical expanse; of the life of
William Shakespeare; and of England in the late 1500s and early 1600s.
We will spend some time in the first two weeks of the unit familiarizing ourselves with
the Ohio Graduation Test the students will take from March 10th through the 14th. We will look
at how questions are constructed and scored, and practice some OGT-style sample questions. I
hope to alleviate any anxiety students have, and continue to prepare them to be successful on
this, and all other, important assessments.
Listed below are important dates and information. Due to life’s funny little quirks, dates
are subject to change.
Some helpful links:
http://lklivingston.tripod.com/caesar/jcbeside.pdf Link to a side-by-side text/paraphrase of the
play.
https://sites.google.com/site/annotatedjuliuscaesar/home A student-created annotated version of
the text.
*References to the text are written in order of act, scene and line numbers, as such: 1.1.188
(Act 1.Scene 1.Line 188)
February 24: OGT overview and tips
Feb. 25-28: Research on Julius Caesar and William Shakespeare
March 3: OGT practice sample questions
March 4, 6-7: Introduction and explanation of Caesar unit and assignments/Begin reading play in
class
March 5: Blizzard Bag assignment due/Vocab quiz #15
March 10-14: OGT Week. No homework this week! We will continue reading the play in class.
March 17: Act 1 questions #7-10, p. 866 due/Reading assignment: 2.1 due
March 18-19: Read Act 2 in class
March 20: Vocabulary quiz #9
March 21: Act 2 questions #1-8, and #12, p. 892 due/Act 2 quiz
March 24-28: Spring Break
March 31: Reading assignment: Act 3 due
April 1-4: Review Act 3/The Funeral Speeches: Study of persuasion and rhetoric
April 3: Vocabulary quiz #10
April 7: Reading assignment: Act 4 due/Questions #2-5; 7-8; and 10-12 page 944 due
April 8: Review Act 4
April 9-10: Read Act 5 in class
April 11: Act 5 questions #1-6 and 8-13 page 964 due
April 14-15: Review
April 16-17: The Tragedy of Julius Caesar assessment
April 18 and 21: Easter break
April 22-25: Review assessment/1971 Republic Pictures The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
April 24: Vocabulary quiz #10
April 28: Video response due/Begin Our Town