Patsy Hamby

After students have been provided teacher-generated background information on Romanticism, Dark Romanticism, and Transcendentalism, in collaborative groups they will read excerpts of text from Thoreau's Walden, create Bloom balls based on their chosen passages, and present information about their assignments to the entire class. The Common Core Standards addressed in this activity are provided, along with directions for creating the Bloom ball, an assessment rubric, and a Bloom ball template.

For several years, I taught The Tragedy of Julius Caesar to students who were disengaged as we assigned roles and read the text aloud in class. I observed that events in the play seem to occur in threes, so I designed this lesson plan that promotes engagement as students read for information. The "Threes in Julius Caesar" handouts may be completed individually, in collabrative groups, or together in class as a teacher-directed activity. Contents: Introductory activity, student hand-outs with an