When it comes to assessments in English classrooms, many teachers fall in the routine of short answer questions, multiple choice questions, and essays. Rinse then repeat. While this can often be tedious for a teacher, imagine how your students feel.

After 15 years of teaching Shakespeare to freshmen, I began to think that there had to be a more interesting way for the students to not only show their comprehension of the text–in my case, Macbeth–but also to demonstrate their analysis and deeper understanding of the text. However, this is not just an assignment that can work with Shakespeare; any longer text will do. 

A quick Google search can give you a variety of ideas for projects, but the idea of tracing a word throughout the use of the play was one that popped up quite often, but I figured there has to be a fresh way to look at the language of Shakespeare other than a literary analysis paper. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could consider the language as “data”? And poof! An idea was born. 

For this project, I break my class into groups of 3 or 4 students. From a basket, they draw a word that is used throughout the text. In the case of Macbeth, they chose from the words “blood,” “night,” “hands,” “sleep,” and “time.” Again, this will work for any longer text; you will just need to have a list of words that show up throughout the text. Then as we read the play, students gather “data” from each act, namely when the word is used, by whom, the context in which it is used, and what that line actually means. I keep it simple and have them complete this data compilation form. This works well for two reasons: first, it keeps them more engaged as they read, and, second, they work on it an act at a time so it is a much less daunting task then completing it all at the end.

Gathering the data is only the beginning - as any good scientist knows. When we are finished reading the play, the real work begins. The students are charged with visually and statistically representing their findings through a pie chart, a bar graph, and a line graph. The pie chart is based on the number of times each character uses their traced word. The bar graph looks at how many times the word is used in each act. The line graph tracks the word’s connotation as the play progresses. A sample bar graph for using the word “sleep” is shown here. 

When the graphs are completed, the fun begins. Students are asked to analyze their graphs. What do they notice? Why do they think they got the graphs they did? What does the data reveal about the meaning of the text? Students work with their group members to assemble a presentation that includes their graphs, analysis, and data and share it with the class in a presentation format. 

I am continually amazed by the insights the students come up with when analyzing the data of the text. I also notice that this project makes analysis much more accessible for my left-brained students who scoff at the subjective nature of literary analysis. A bonus is this lends itself nicely to conversations about what is needed to make a graph valid and easy to read. Some students even told me that this project made analyzing the graphs and charts easier when they took the Science portion of the ACT. So I encourage you to try graphically analyzing a longer work this year.