Introducing Shakespeare: Analyzing Elements of a Digital Nonfiction Text

1. Ask students how they would determine subject, occasion, audience, purpose, tone of the work.  Some of these can be determined from the title of the article or website or from the website’s “about” information.  Some can only be determined after students read the full article.

2. Share with students that the credibility of the source depends on the credibility of the writer and the credibility of the publication medium (in this case, a website).  Students should explore the site for information about the author and the site itself to determine the credibility.  In this case, the academic credentials of the writer and the purpose of the site (to share information from academic writers) should be enough to ascertain that the site is credible. 

 3.  Students will read the first three paragraphs of the article, the final two paragraphs of the article, and their assigned paragraph(s).  Assign the paragraphs in the following chunks:

Group 1: 

Paragraph 4 (“Shakespeare’s plays came to dominate….”)

Group 2: 

Paragraph 5 (“The play’s stories of family dynamics….”)

Group 3 (for accelerated readers):

Paragraphs 6,7,8 (“The work of performers and commentators….”; “Brand analysts….”; “It isn’t….”)

Group 4: 

Paragraphs 9, 10 (“So perhaps the original texts….”; “But that price….”)

Group 5: 

Paragraph 11 (“So the value that ensues”....)

Group 6: 

Paragraph 12 (“Shakespeare, by contrast,....)

4. Based on their reading, students will note the subject, occasion, audience, purpose, and tone of the work in Column 4 (Interpretation of the Text) of their Interpreting Digital Texts document. 

5. In Column 5 of the Interpreting Digital Texts document, students will write information or evidence that led them to the conclusions they made in Column 4. 

6.  Place students in groups with students who read different paragraphs.  Students should compare their information from Columns 4 and 5  and determine the subject, occasion, audience, purpose, and tone of the article. If students have different answers for any of the elements, they should highlight or circle these answers and bring them to the whole class for discussion.