This plan introduces students to Shakespeare’s As You Like It, and help them wrestle with Shakespearean text to explore some of life’s most important themes as they relate to familial/societal relationships and how they form us into the human beings we are, or eventually become.

On a more practical level, this lesson aims to give students a basic understanding of literary elements/devices (theme, plot, setting, character, metaphor, etc.) at work in this comedy, and also how these aspects of story are played with in this work. There are many great resources on the internet about building background knowledge about Shakespearean text, the time in which he lived, the context in which he wrote, and the politics of England relating to theater at that time.

It is up to you, the instructor, as to how you can approach these important topics before teaching this lesson. The Essential Questions below are for teachers who want to develop this lesson into a longer unit of study.