The Task       Instructions      Resources     Evaluation      Extend your Learning

  You are about to journey back in time to Elizabethan England (1558-1603).  You will become a member of that society--perhaps you will be royalty or maybe just a peasant.  You may be an unknown citizen or Queen Elizabeth herself.  In order to "live" in another time period, you and your partner must learn about the daily life in those times. You will be especially interested in an accomplished young playwright named William Shakespeare and his newly opened Globe Theater. Come, your journey begins...

The Task
  You and your partner will be assigned a topic with two roles.  Decide between the two of you who will be assuming each role.  You will find that by investigating one topic from two different perspectives that you will have a better understanding of the people, places and events of Elizabethan times.

The topics and roles:
  Topic 1: design of the Globe Theater
       Roles: groundling and Richard Burbage (one of the owners of the Globe Theater)

  Topic 2: Shakespeare as a playwright and actor
       Roles: Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth

  Topic 3: everyday life
       Roles: commoner and nobleman

  Topic 4: attending a performance at the Globe Theater
       Roles: groundling and nobleman

  Topic 5: everyday life
       Roles: man and woman

  Topic 6: Shakespeare's life
       Roles: John Shakespeare (William's father) and Anne Hathaway (William's wife)

  Topic 7: everyday life
         Roles: adult and child

   Once your research is complete,  you and your partner will each be creating personal historical journals focusing on your group topic.  You each will describe what you saw, heard, and felt as the 16th century person you chose.  Even though you are researching the same topic, your journals may be very different. For example, groundlings stood for the entire performance of a play while the nobility sat on cushioned seats.  Their experiences at the theater were not at all the same!

   Your journal must:

• include at least five facts with in-text notes following the MLA style of documentation
• include a Works Cited page listing at least two sources
• have four attached electronic note cards
• be at least one page in length

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Instructions
Step 1- Before you begin your research, if you are not a well known person like Queen Elizabeth, give yourself an Elizabethan name. Then create other personal details about yourself, like your occupation and appearance, based on your research of the Elizabethan era. Remember the "facts" you create should be as authentic as possible.  NOTE: If you are a famous person, then you cannot "create" facts. Record this information on your first electronic note card. To create an electronic note card, click here . By keeping the note card page open, you can easily cut and paste or summarize information from your selected sources and record it on your note cards.
 

Step 2 - So that your understanding of life in Shakespeare's time will be complete, you will need to find information on several of the suggested sub topics. Remember to work cooperatively with your partner. You may want to divide the list of sub topics or each search different sources for the same sub topics.  NOTE: Don't confuse the topic with the role you are assuming. Gather just enough information about yourself so that you sound like a real 16th century person writing a journal about your assigned topic.

• Topic 1 Possible sub topics: parts of the Globe Theater (platform, tiring house, pit (yard), galleries, trapdoor, heavens, Lord's Room, balcony, inner stage, tiring house, hut), personal facts about Richard Burbage, groundlings

• Topic 2 Possible sub topics: personal facts about Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth's support of the arts, Shakespeare's acting, play writing, involvement in the Globe Theater

• Topic 3 Possible sub topics: medicine, education, housing, transportation, food (or other topics of your choice)

• Topic 4 Possible sub topics: activities in the yard, raising of the flag, props and scenery, admission, intermissions, women in the theater

• Topic 5 Possible sub topics: occupations, amusements, sports, hairstyles/clothing, superstitions (or other topics of your choice)

• Topic 6 Possible sub topics: boyhood, education, marriage, children, occupations outside of drama, appearance

• Topic 7 Possible sub topics: education, family life, amusements, hairstyles/clothing, punishments (or other topics of your choice)

Step 3 - Create at least THREE electronic note cards with TWELVE facts. Click here for the note card page. Continue to complete cards by filling in information in the designated spaces. For example, if you have been assigned Topic 3 and have found information on the Plague, you would place those facts under the subject heading of MEDICINE. Be sure to record the sources you used as you record your information. Following the MLA style of documentation as you do your note cards will greatly facilitate the task of listing your sources on the Works Cited page that will follow your historical journal. NOTE: It may be best to print your electronic note cards before you begin writing your journal.
 

Step 4 - Once you have gathered information on your topic, write a personal journal entry that is at least one page in length including AT LEAST five facts from your research.  For each "borrowed" piece of information you must include an in-text note following the MLA style of documentation. Remember to use quotation marks if the information is taken directly from a source. Your journal page should reflect the role you are playing and will be naturally biased.  For example, women may very well have resented being excluded from the theater.  Perhaps the woman you have "become" for this project will complain bitterly about this in her journal. Either include your fictitious name in the journal or sign it at the end. Your journal should be a personal interpretation of historical facts.
 

Resources

Elizabeth I:
http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/springfield/eliz/introelizperiod.html
http://renaissance-faire.com/Renfaires/Entertainment/Elizibeth-I.htm
http://www.royal.gov.uk/history/e1r.htm

Songs:
http://www.renfaire.com/Language/songs.html

Historical Figures and Events:
http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/springfield/eliz/elizabethanengland.html

Arts and Architecture:
http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/springfield/eliz/elizabethanengland.html
http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLT/intro/introsubj.html
 

Crime and Punishment:
http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/springfield/eliz/elizabethanengland.html
http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLT/intro/introsubj.html
 

Sports and Entertainment:
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~wew/Tattershall-tb/cards.html
http://renaissance.dm.net/compendium/home.html
http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/springfield/eliz/elizabethanengland.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/3588/Renaissance/Town/Children.html
 

Hairstyles and Fashions:
http://www.dnaco.net/~aleed/corsets/lizcolor.html
http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/springfield/eliz/elizabethanengland.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/3588/Renaissance/Town/Children.html

Food and Drink:
http://renaissance.dm.net/compendium/home.html
http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/springfield/eliz/elizabethanengland.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/3588/Renaissance/Town/Children.html
 

Society:
http://renaissance.dm.net/compendium/home.html
http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLT/intro/introsubj.html
 

Literature, Art, Music:
http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLT/intro/introsubj.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/3588/Renaissance/Town/Children.html
 

Marriage/Family/Childhood:
http://library.thinkquest.org/3588/Renaissance/Town/Children.html
http://renaissance.dm.net/compendium/home.html
http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLT/intro/introsubj.html
 

Education:
http://renaissance.dm.net/compendium/home.html
http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLT/intro/introsubj.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/3588/Renaissance/Town/Children.html
 

Weddings/Betrothals:
http://renaissance.dm.net/compendium/home.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/3588/Renaissance/Town/Children.html
 

Religion:
http://renaissance.dm.net/compendium/home.html
http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLT/intro/introsubj.html
 

Occupations:
http://renaissance.dm.net/compendium/home.html  
http://www.st-mike.org/surnames.html

Superstitions:
http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLT/intro/introsubj.html
 

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Shakespeare:

Authorship Debate:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shakespeare/
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/shakes/matus.htm
http://bardweb.net/debates.html
http://shakespeare.about.com/library/blglossary.htm

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Globe Theater:

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Evaluation
To see evaluation form, click here.

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Your journey ends... After we share our historical journals, we will read Taming of the Shrew with a better understanding of the times in which Shakespeare wrote his finest plays.
 

a WebQuest created by Arlene Lewis
(revised March, 2003)
Loudoun County High School, Leesburg, Virginia