Much Ado About Nothing Close Reading Analysis Worksheets Bundle

Item description

Challenge high school students to go beyond basic reading comprehension and exercise close reading analysis skills while engaging with Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. Each close reading activity is rigorous enough for students to find deeper meaning in the text, yet convenient enough for teachers to efficiently gather data on their students’ textual analysis skills. Included are seventeen close reading worksheets, each addressing an individual scene, and answer keys. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. 

By the end of the play, students will:

• Identify what the text states explicitly and implicitly
• Define complex words as they are used in the text
• Examine nuances in words with similar meanings
• Discern the intended effect of figurative language in context
• Delve into the methods by which Shakespeare achieved narrative effects such as tension and comic relief
• Explore how complex characters think, behave, develop, and interact
• Compare and contrast several characters
• Conduct brief research on the four humors of classical Greek medicine to facilitate an evaluation of Benedick’s condition midway through the play
• Apply knowledge of literary devices including metaphor, simile, hyperbole, allusion, malapropism, personification, paradox, invective, oxymoron, symbolism, dramatic irony, situational irony, verbal irony, and more
• Determine the tone of given passages
• Discern the functions of given passages
• Compare elements of one scene with those of another
• Support claims and inferences with sound reasoning and relevant textual evidence
• Write about Shakespearean drama with clarity, accuracy, and precision

Materials in this bundle may facilitate small-group discussions in which students decode language and pose/respond to questions relating to plot, broad topics, and character development. Using these resources for structured guidance, students will improve their ability to present information, conclusions, and supporting textual evidence clearly and convincingly.

Materials are available for teaching a variety of texts such as:

• Animal Farm by George Orwell
• Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
• Feed by M.T. Anderson
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
• The Adventures of Ulysses by Bernard Evslin
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare