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).
(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Use This Assignment With My Students", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)
Student Instructions
Create a visual plot diagram of A Midsummer Night’s Dream using the five act structure.
Grade Level 11-12
Difficulty Level 2 (Reinforcing / Developing)
Type of Assignment Individual
Type of Activity: The Five Act Play (Dramatic Structure)
Common Core Standards
(You can also create your own on Quick Rubric.)
| 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. |
