59. Shakespeare & Hip Hop

 #66Challenge

Today I pulled out and oldie but goodie—lines from Shakespeare’s plays and lyrics from hip hop songs.  This is something from the Folger Shakespeare Library, and was squirreled away in a free kit I got from them many years ago. Our school is currently participating in One Book, One School, and the text this year is Shakespeare’s Secret, so it gives us opportunities to do some Shakespeare-related activities.

The process works like this: learners get a stack of strips with the lines. They randomly choose 10 to make a found poem. When done, they use the leftovers to form more purposeful poems. 

Here is a random:

(Take note: the bold lines are Shakespeare, the regular text strips are from hip hop songs.)

Here are a few more created “on purpose” today:

The kids were surprised at how these random lines could actually “make sense.”  Perhaps we took a short step to helping them not be afraid of the language of Shakespeare. Even if that did not happen, this tactile activity had them smiling!