Unit Plan: The Merchant of Venice, Identity, Oral History, and Jewish Kentucky

This is an English unit plan for high school, specifically the junior and senior levels. This unit covers William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice along with samplings of his other texts, how to read him, and themes to be considering when reading The Merchant of Venice or any of his other works. 

Also in this unit is material briefly covering Jewish history in Europe and brief introduction to the stereotypes used against Jews from the Middle Ages to the prseent. To accompany this is an oral history from Jeff Kaplan, a Jewish businessman in Lexington, Kentucky along with an assignment focusing on an oral history from Max Shapira. 

The goal of this lesson is to use Shakespeare as a springboard not only into poety and English literature, but also into the issues of Jewish history, identity, and to give students a taste of Jewish Kentucky. Jews represent a small, but vital part of Kentucky society that many students are unaware of.

Students will be inspired to explore deeper issues of identity, Judaism, Shakespeare, and to seek out and undertand the accomplishments of Jews in Kentucky. They will also, through their study of oral history, conduct their own oral history.