Flipping "Hamlet"

"Hamlet" in class--in full period costume!

When I taught Shakespeare's "Hamlet" to twelfth grade AP seniors this year, my number one goal was to bring the play to life for the students.  I've loved Shakespeare's plays since eighth grade, and it's because I was blessed with great teachers who used acting, hands-on projects, historical connections, and modern day relevance to show how the plays are tragic and comic and relate to human lives throughout every era.

I hoped to convey some small part of this energy to my 12th graders.  I had only six 90-minute classes to use for the "Hamlet" unit, and I didn't want to waste any of them on straight plot discussion.  Since these were AP students I could count on a certain amount of self-motivation, so I asked the students to read the play outside of class so we could work on what is really interesting and significant about "Hamlet" together, in group work, in whole class brainstorming, acting out scenes, and exploring cinematic interpretations of "Hamlet" throughout history.

The Ghost Scene with Finger Puppets

It wasn't exactly "flipping" the classroom, but my approach moved in that direction; I taught "Hamlet" backwards.  Instead of telling the students what were the main themes and why this was so, I used an inductive approach:  I wanted the students to discover these themes on their own.  For instance,

• I used a "Hamlet Family Flow Chart" on the Smart Board to help the students sort out the complex court relationships in the play;

• I had the students work in groups to discuss key themes and find quotes that demonstrated them;

• I even "flipped" their final paper.  The topic was "Mirror Images in Hamlet" and the idea was for the students to explore the key theme of duality in the play.  Instead of assigning one essay,  I gave them a two-columned graphic organizer and asked them to write two short commentaries, one on each of two contrasting motifs (madness and sanity, revenge and loyalty, etc.) represented in "Hamlet." Then, in a long space at the bottom, they wrote a concluding paragraph connecting the two motifs, showing how they work together to reveal larger meaning. This inductive approach let the students come to their own conclusions about duality in "Hamlet," instead of just responding to a teacher's prompt. 

The Tragic(?) Death of Hamlet

This all lead to the culmination of the unit--acting out "Hamlet" in class.  The students self-selected five groups and chose scenes from a list I provided for them.  We had props, costumes (including a great "mad Ophelia" wig), even "Hamlet" finger puppets. The students had pretty much free rein to present the scenes as they wanted. They had some prep time beforehand, then ten minutes to perform their scene. The activity gave them a chance to experience "Hamlet" as it is meant to be great story acted onstage.  After the acting session, many students shared that they gained a new, more vivid perspective on the characters than they had from reading their lines on the page.

"Mad Ophelia"