A Midsummer Night's Dream Plot Diagram Activity

Activity Overview

After students finish reading, it's helpful for them to summarize the story both as a way to assess comprehension but also to help them remember important plot points for later projects or papers. Students can create a storyboard that breaks A Midsummer Night's Dream down using the Five Act Structure like the example above. Because Shakespeare's plays include prologues, the first of the six cells can be used for the prologue or exposition and the second will be used to set up the conflict.

For each cell, have students describe what happens in the act and create a scene that follows the acts in order: Prologue, Conflict, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Denouement. Scaffold the project if desired (for example, by providing partially completed cells or descriptions).

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Template and Class Instructions

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Student Instructions

Create a visual plot diagram of A Midsummer Night’s Dream using the five act structure.

Separate the play into the Prologue/Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Denouement.
Create an image that represents an important moment or set of events for each of the acts.
Write a description of each of the steps in the plot diagram.

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Lesson Plan Reference

Grade Level 11-12

Difficulty Level 2 (Reinforcing / Developing)

Type of Assignment Individual

Type of Activity: Five Act Play (Dramatic Structure)

Common Core Standards

[ELA-Literacy/RL/11-12/3] Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed)
[ELA-Literacy/RL/11-12/5] Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact
[ELA-Literacy/RL/11-12/10] By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently

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Rubric

(You can also create your own on Quick Rubric.)

Five Act Structure Rubric (Grades 9-12)

Create a plot diagram for the play using Prologue/Exposition, Conflict, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution.

	Proficient	Emerging	Beginning	Try Again
Descriptive and Visual Elements	Cells have many descriptive elements, and provide the reader with a vivid representation.	Cells have many descriptive elements, but flow of cells may have been hard to understand.	Cells have few descriptive elements, or have visuals that make the work confusing.	Cells have few or no descriptive elements.
Grammar/Spelling	Textables have three or fewer spelling/grammar errors.	Textables have four or fewer spelling/grammar errors.	Textables have five or fewer spelling/grammar errors.	Textables have six or more spelling/grammar errors.
Evidence of Effort	Work is well written and carefully thought out. Student has done both peer and teacher editing.	Work is well written and carefully thought out. Student has either teacher or peer editing, but not both.	Student has done neither peer, nor teacher editing.	Work shows no evidence of any effort.
Plot	All parts of the plot are included in the diagram.	All parts of the plot are included in the diagram, but one or more is confusing.	Parts of the plot are missing from the diagram, and/or some aspects of the diagram make the plot difficult to follow.	Almost all of the parts of the plot are missing from the diagram, and/or some aspects of the diagram make the plot very difficult to follow.