Class: Eleventh Grade English

Grade Level: Eleventh (Junior)

Unit: Julius Caesar
Teacher: Mr. Neil Bingham
Objectives
Students will be able to verbally, and through an additional form of media, be able to dictate
whether or not any of the characters in Julius Caesar are in fact tragic heroes.
Iowa Core Curriculum-Subject Area Standard
Employ the full range of research-based comprehension strategies, including making
connections, determining importance, questioning, visualizing, making inferences, summarizing,
and monitoring for comprehension.
Essential Question
Which characters, if any, are heroes in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar?
Anticipatory Set (10 Minutes)
Students are given the essential question and are given 10 minutes to write their response; must
be 8-10 sentences. (below is an example one of the students was kind enough to share) She
wrote:
If I were to have to pick a hero in Julius Caesar it would be Brutus. I couldnt imagine having to
kill my best friend especially not if I knew she was what Rome thought they wanted. But thats
what he wanted the whole time, all that he wanted was to keep the best interest of Rome. What
he did was selfless and I think that all of this made him a hero, not a coward. All of the other
characters in the story were very clearly not heroes, especially Casius and Caesar. He isnt
perfect, but he is doing his best for the people of Rome.
Teaching: Activities (40 minutes)
Debate: Is Brutus a hero? Are there no heroes? (13-14)
Listen to scenes 4 and 5
Closure (25 Minutes)
1. Draw your favorite scene, in a paragraph, describe why thats important
2. Act out a scene with a partner, use modern day dialogue
3. Write an interview between you and a character.
Assessment

Essay Question: Was Brutus in Julius Caesar a tragic hero?

Materials
Laptops/Tablets/Notebooks
Duration
90 Minutes