The World’s a Stage
By John W. Healy

Online Extra: Cleopatra Lesson Activities

Cleopatra & co. – Mrs. Levy and her students dress the part for this lesson.

"My classroom is my stage," sixth-grade teacher Lynn Levy told me. She admitted to having been shy in school as a student and was not involved in theatrical productions. However, the teaching profession has changed this predisposition; to be an effective teacher, one must reach outside oneself and engage others. So, at selected times during the school year, Mrs. Levy literally becomes Cleopatra and other well-known historical figures, presenting her classes with the unexpected.

Lesson on the last pharaoh
The lesson on the life of Cleopatra is Mrs. Levy's flagship of instruction. She's mastered this curriculum through trial and error. When the lesson was first introduced, she gave written scripts from which to create a classroom performance to the students. It became apparent, however, that students were reading without connecting to the subject.

Mrs. Levy wanted children to "have ownership of this lesson." In college she studied history with the expected lecture format and textbooks that she found less than exhilarating. She felt removed from a subject in which she'd always had a great deal of interest. Instead of this approach, she developed a lesson based on a storybook format that she performs with her students. The instructional performance works well when students know the essentials, then apply them in context through ad-libbing, or improvisation. Going beyond a memorized laundry list of facts is the key to this lesson.

The instructional performance
First, Mrs. Levy sets the tone for the lesson by emphasizing that it's okay to make mistakes, it's good to ask questions, no one will be forced to participate in something he or she doesn't feel comfortable doing and no one is permitted to make fun of those contributing to the lesson.

She introduces the lesson on Cleopatra by covering a succession of Egyptian rulers to the present day. She gives her class a description of how ancient Egyptian society was stratified by social class. She then incorporates the following activities to further her students' knowledge and role-playing confidence:

1. Show the class excerpts from the lavish film Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. This movie is a wonderful visual representation of the time of Cleopatra.
2. Give the students a handout on the players and events in the life of Cleopatra, with questions that will enable students to understand the roles they'll be playing. (For a reproducible Cleopatra fact sheet click here.)
3. Have students analyze Cleopatra's personality using background information they have researched.
   
   • Describe four character traits that she had. Give an example how this trait was demonstrated. For example: "She was clever, because she hid in a rolled-up carpet so she could see Caesar."
   • What alternatives to suicide could Cleopatra have chosen in her hope to save Egypt?
   • How was Cleopatra different from rulers of Egypt that came before her?
   • Draw a picture of what you think Cleopatra may have looked liked.

It's show time
Mrs. Levy shared that when it comes time to role-play various characters, "At first the shy kids just want to watch." When she brings out the costumes, tambourines and puppets, it's a different situation. One particularly shy student, having put on the pharaoh's costume, enjoyed being the center of attention so much he requested a speaking role in the next performance. With each theatrical history lesson throughout the year, the students become more comfortable and outgoing. Appropriate risk-taking becomes the norm as the children open their minds to a world of ideas and learning.

Conclusion
Role-playing brings children into a lesson and encourages them to learn the substance of the lesson. The instructor-as-cast member helps to promote student participation. A well-decorated room with changing lesson themes will become a theater of delight. In this setting, ancient history is more than a subject taken off the shelf and returned in its recorded form; for a time, ancient history is not ancient at all, but rather life lived.

Online Extra: Cleopatra Lesson Activities

Dr. John W. Healy teaches art at Woodland Middle School, East Meadow, NY.

March, 2007, Vol.37, No.6