Write a Modern Shakespeare Play! Fun Summative Creative Writing Assignment

This fun, challenging, cooperative creative writing activity tasks students to translate a portion of a Shakespeare play into contemporary English and a contemporary situation and then perform their creation for the class.

Because this Shakespeare activity involves writing as well as paraphrase and analysis of the text, it is a great project for a summative assessment.

Additionally, this assignment encourages cooperative learning and creativity.

A bonus for overworked English teachers is that it gets students writing, but there are fewer assignments to grade.

By the end of the project, students will be able to:

--fully paraphrase, understand, and analyze a small section of the longer text

--relate the themes of an older text to the issues or ideas of contemporary society

--portray both their understanding of the play as well as the modern-day themes to an audience using the medium of performance.

The resource includes an explanation for instructors, a handout with instructions for students, and a rubric for grading the final products.