This document contains 3 lesson plans about William Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing for a Year 8 class. Lesson 1 focuses on discussing the role of deceit in the play. Lesson 2 teaches how to use evidence from the text to justify understandings and asks students to design masks for characters. Lesson 3 watches a scene from the wedding and teaches how to write a tabloid or broadsheet newspaper article about events in the play.

1. Much Ado About
Nothing
Year 8
Week 2, Lesson 1

2. Learning objective
 To be able to
discuss the role
of deceit in the
play.

3. Starter
 Match the masks to the character.
 There is no right or wrong answer – you just
been to be able to JUSTIFY your choice.

4. Let’s watch…

5. Let’s complete more of our plot
summary…
Act 3 – Deceit!
 Who tricks who?
 What are their
intentions/motivations?
 What if there was no
deceit?

6. Plenary
 Complete the ‘fill in the blanks’ activity on
Claudio.

7. Much Ado About
Nothing
Year 8
Week 2, Lesson 2

8. Learning objective
 How to use evidence in the text to justify
ideas, understandings and opinions.
 Understand connotation

9. Starter – which character?

10. Which character?

11. Design a mask
 Design a mask for a character of your choice.
 Annotate the page making notes on why you
have used certain colours or designs.
 How does your mask represent what you
know about the character?

12. Example – Don John
Shaped like a
fox because
he is sly and
cunning. He
works in a
pack – and
uses his
friends to trick
people.
Red used
because he is
angry and wants
to hurt people.
Used swirls to show
that his life isn’t
going anywhere.
He is a bastard and
will never inherit
anything.
Black and
grey to show
how dark his
heart is. He
doesn’t care
about anyone.

13. Plenary
 Stick your mask up on the wall.
 Go around and have a look at everyone’s
work.
 Are there any masks that really stand out to
you as being perfect for the character?
 Do you agree with their choices? If not, why
not?

14. Much Ado About
Nothing
Year 8
Week 2, Lesson 3

15. Let’s watch the wedding…

16. Lesson objective.
• You will know what information to
include in a newspaper article.
• Know the difference between a
tabloid and broadsheet style of
report.

17. While we watch…
Keep a note of any:
 Accusations
 Name calling
 Details about time of events
 Witnesses

21. Plenary
 What kinds of stories are you likely to read about in a
tabloid newspaper?
 How are they different from the stories you would
expect to find in a broadsheet newspaper?
 Broadsheet or tabloid?
 The Guardian
 The Sun
 The Times
 The Daily Star