Do You Know Shakespeare?

Explore

What Does Child Do To Use Skill In The Game?
Players need look at or listen to the question and six possible answers on each turn.

How Parents Can Assist Learning
Have Shakespeare's works available in the home for reading or reference.

Learning Implications and Educator Support
As students are studying Shakespeare, ask them to create questions that might be asked about each work.

Determine

What Does Child Do To Use Skill In The Game?
Players determine what answers they know and make educated guesses for the questions for which they don't know the answers.

How Parents Can Assist Learning
When children are studying Shakespeare in school, ask them to talk about the characters and plot at meal times. Ask questions to prompt thinking or investigation.

Learning Implications and Educator Support
As students are studying Shakespeare, ask them to create questions that might be asked about each work.

>Compare

What Does Child Do To Use Skill In The Game?
Players compare their Book Pawns to the answer side of the Q & A Card to determine if they were correct or incorrect.

How Parents Can Assist Learning
When playing the game, discuss answers and compare them to each other. Why did various players select their answers? This can help children remember the correct answers or build strategies for guessing more accurately.

Learning Implications and Educator Support
When playing the game, discuss answers and compare them to each other. Why did various players select their answers? This can help children remember the correct answers or build strategies for guessing more accurately.

Remember

What Does Child Do To Use Skill In The Game?
Do You Know Shakespeare? Is a memory game. Players who know more facts about Shakespeare and his work will likely do better in the game.

How Parents Can Assist Learning
When children are studying Shakespeare in school, ask them to talk about the characters and plot at meal times. Ask questions to prompt thinking or investigation.

Learning Implications and Educator Support
Educators can use any memory techniques, like pnuemonics, to help children remember key facts and content. Additionally, having children discuss the results after each turn will help them remember correct and incorrect answers.

Predict

What Does Child Do To Use Skill In The Game?
Each turn involves predicting correct answers. If players do not know the answer, they can observe other players and predict whether they may have correct responses. They can then imitate their responses.

How Parents Can Assist Learning
Encourage children to look at the "bets" of the other players who place their Book Pawns first. The children can then think about which players they think know more about Shakespeare and use that to help make decisions on where to place their own Book Pawns.

Learning Implications and Educator Support
Predicting involves considering different options and information in order to make the best estimate, guess or action. In Shakespeare, encourage children to look at the "bets" of the other players who place their Book Pawns first. The children can then think about which players they think know more about Shakespeare and use that to help make decisions on where to place their own Book Pawns. Educators may also expand children's predicitive thinking skills. When reading Shakespeare's plays ask students to predict what they will happen in the next act of the play. Make up stories about how the wrong answers would change the stories. This will encourage students to think about why the plays and sonnets, etc. are written the way they are.

Practice

What Does Child Do To Use Skill In The Game?
Repeated play of the game will teach players about Shakespeare by using and strengthening their memory skills, resulting in more accurate play in future games.

How Parents Can Assist Learning
No special adult support required other than to encourage children to play the game, especially when they are learning Shakespeare in school.

Learning Implications and Educator Support
Play the game numerous times to promote thinking and memory. Review the Shakespearean text in between playing to encourage deeper thinking about the works.

Review

What Does Child Do To Use Skill In The Game?
While not required, discussion of correct responses will enhance memory.

How Parents Can Assist Learning
Talk about the answers in the game. Why was a response logical, but wrong?

Learning Implications and Educator Support
Review answers after each round and talk about responses and why some responses seemed logical, but were inaccurate.

Demonstrate

What Does Child Do To Use Skill In The Game?
Players demonstrate knowledge (or logic or probability) through correct responses.

How Parents Can Assist Learning
Ask players to explain how they knew or determined the correct answers.

Learning Implications and Educator Support
Ask players to explain how they knew or determined the correct answers.

Cognitive

Suggestions for How to Modify Play Experience
This is not an appropriate game for children with cognitive delays.

Communication

Suggestions for How to Modify Play Experience
Children do not need to communicate during the game, they just need to place their tokens by their selected answers.
Some children can communicate with an adaptive devise, such as a tablet or smartphone. If children can write, encourage them to do so and discuss their responses and comment on other players' answers.

Sensorimotor

Suggestions for How to Modify Play Experience
If children have fine motor problems that makes it difficult to place tokens accurately, have them point to the token they want to place and where they want it placed. Another player can place the tokens.

Social Emotional/Behavioral

Suggestions for How to Modify Play Experience
Do You Know Shakespeare? can be a challenging game, as very few players will know all or many of the answers. To help players who feel frustrated, all players can talk about the answers they missed. Ask players who were correct to share their knowledge or how they made a successful guess.
Children who cannot tolerate failure may find this game too difficult. It requires frequent guessing and, therefore, incorrect answers.

Vision

Suggestions for How to Modify Play Experience
Children with vision problems may have difficulty reading the clues. A magnifying glass my help.

Hearing

Suggestions for How to Modify Play Experience
Children with hearing problems can play the game if they can rotate the board and see the alternative responses.

Autism Special Considerations

Appears to ignore other's communication and/or has difficulty giving eye contact to a communication partner

Is This Game Appropriate for Child with Characteristic? Yes

Can Child with Characteristic Play Game w/o Modification? Yes

Strategies for Developing Compensatory Skills:
Children can play without talking or giving eye contact. They can focus on the answers on the board and the movement of their tokens.

Has difficulty understanding complex verbal directions

Is This Game Appropriate for Child with Characteristic? No

Can Child with Characteristic Play Game w/o Modification? No

Strategies for Developing Compensatory Skills:
The directions for Do You Know Shakespeare? are complex, with book tokens carrying different meanings and scoring with different values for different colored tokens.

Uses vocabulary inaccurately or demonstrates echolalia (repeating another's speech)

Is This Game Appropriate for Child with Characteristic? No

Can Child with Characteristic Play Game w/o Modification? No

Strategies for Developing Compensatory Skills:
Not appropriate for children with this characteristic. This trait would confuse other players trying to concentrate on the meaning of the different responses on the board.

Gets stuck repeating a verbal topic or physical actions and/or has difficulty attending to others' actions or topic.

Is This Game Appropriate for Child with Characteristic? Yes

Can Child with Characteristic Play Game w/o Modification? No

Strategies for Developing Compensatory Skills:
Attention to others' moves is important, because play of light colored tokens in a space prohibits others from playing there. Players need to know which answers they are sure of and which they may guess on in order to determine where to place one or more of their tokens.

Has difficulty producing speech/communication

Is This Game Appropriate for Child with Characteristic? Yes

Can Child with Characteristic Play Game w/o Modification? Yes

Strategies for Developing Compensatory Skills:
Players can play without talking, but most players will want to discuss their thinking in placing their tokens. Encourage children to talk about why they placed their tokens in certain spots.

Has difficulty sequencing multi-step actions and/or doing complex abstract tasks

Is This Game Appropriate for Child with Characteristic? span >No

Can Child with Characteristic Play Game w/o Modification? No

Strategies for Developing Compensatory Skills:
Knowledge of Shakespeare is abstract. Unless the child with this autism trait has a good knowledge of Shakespeare, the game is not recommended.

Demonstrates difficulty initiating and maintaining social interactions

Is This Game Appropriate for Child with Characteristic? Yes

Can Child with Characteristic Play Game w/o Modification? Yes

Strategies for Developing Compensatory Skills:
Although the game can be played without social interaction, that is the fun part of the game. Players want to hear the reasoning behind others' choices. Ask questions of players about their choices.

Acts out or demonstrates avoidance behaviors when frustrated, overwhelmed, or needs more sensory input.

Is This Game Appropriate for Child with Characteristic? No>

Can Child with Characteristic Play Game w/o Modification? No

Strategies for Developing Compensatory Skills:
This can be a frustrating game for children who want to always be "right." Guessing is bound to be involved for all but the highest level Shakespearian expert, and failure on any given turn is inevitable. Players can be given breaks to do something more physical or sensory, but the game may be too frustrating for most children with autism who get frustrated by being incorrect.

Has short attention span for non-preferred activities

Is This Game Appropriate for Child with Characteristic? No

Can Child with Characteristic Play Game w/o Modification? No

Strategies for Developing Compensatory Skills:
Unless literature in general and/or Shakespeare specifically is a preferred activity, this game is not recommended.

Needs sameness or consistent routines and/or has difficulty with transitions from one activity to another

Is This Game Appropriate for Child with Characteristic? Yes

Can Child with Characteristic Play Game w/o Modification? Yes

Strategies for Developing Compensatory Skills:
The game is played in the same way each time, so it follows a predictable pattern. Because of the abstract nature of the game, however, motivating the child to want to play may be difficult.

Has difficulty understanding others' feelings, intentions, and the reasons for others' actions.

Is This Game Appropriate for Child with Characteristic? No

Can Child with Characteristic Play Game w/o Modification? No

Strategies for Developing Compensatory Skills:
Understanding Shakespeare requires understanding human motivations, relationships, interpersonal reasoning, and consequences of behavior. These skills are challenging for children with autism. For this reason, Do You Know Shakespeare? may not be a good choice of game.

Extra Ways to Play the Game
After having read or watched a work by Shakespeare, have children trace an Q & A Card on poster board and cut it out. Each child then makes up questions and answers on their cards. The cards are then placed on the Display Tray. If a card a player created comes up, they sit out that round. Make sure each player at the table has an opportunity for their card to be played.

Materials Needed
No new materials needed.

Developmental Benefits
This modification of Do You Know Shakespeare? involves children in analyzing, remembering details, and applying what they learned to the game format. Creative thinking and writing skills are practiced. Children will also benefit from determining how their questions were understood and answered. This will help children write clear, specific questions that can be answered with a verifiable response rather than opinion.