Review by Stacy Zeiger, Common Sense Education | Updated October 2013

Get it now

Shakespeare in Bits: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Get it now

Animations and text supports bring the Bard's fantasy world to life

Common Sense says

Rating Details

Teachers say (2 Reviews)

$avg_user_learning_rating

See 2 reviews

Write a review

Grades

8-12 This grade range is a recommendation by Common Sense Education and not the developer/publisher.

See subjects & skills

Take a look inside

1 video | 6 images

Shakespeare in Bits: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Student notes help them remember what they were thinking while reading or watching.

Section notes help students understand difficult acts and scenes.

Subtitles help students connect the animations with the text and offer additional support.

Click on highlighted words to see definitions.

Pros: Side-by-side text and animations, as well as subtitles, help students connect the text and video; analyses make understanding the text easier.

Cons: Some students may rely on the scene summaries and other analyses instead of actually reading the play.

Bottom Line: Numerous supports, including cartoons, audio, and paraphrased passages, help students understand one of Shakespeare's most popular and most confusing comedies.

Lesson & Activity Ideas

Teachers may opt to use this version of A Midsummer Night's Dream as the sole version of the text or as a support for students who have trouble understanding the more traditional version of the text. At times, highlighting the animation in certain scenes may help the class as a whole understand a confusing section. Scene summaries, character descriptions, and other analyses may prove useful when writing papers and completing projects related to the play.

Tool Overview

Animated Shakespeare is what you will find in Shakespeare in Bits: A Midsummer Night's Dream. Scene by scene, students can watch animations that follow exactly the text of the comedy, seeing the text highlighted or in subtitles as characters speak and clicking on unfamiliar words to get definitions. Students who have trouble understanding the Bard's language will find that the other supports, such as scene synopsis, character profiles, and general analysis, help enhance their understanding of the play.

Learning Value

Reading Shakespeare can be a frustrating experience for many students. Those who struggle with reading and Shakespeare may see a light at the end of the tunnel when they encounter this version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. By placing the animations and text side by side, students do more than just watch a video version of the play. They connect the words directly with what's going on, helping them not only understand what's happening in this magical play, but also build an understanding of the language of Shakespeare.

Rating Details

Overall Rating

Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

Shakespeare itself may not be engaging to some students, but animated videos to accompany the text and other special features will help them get into it.

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

Getting students to understand and appreciate A Midsummer Night's Dream is the goal, and it is reached through various ways of getting students involved with the text.

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

Subtitles, highlighted texts, animation, scene summaries, and other support features make the text accessible to reluctant and low-level readers; however, the app lacks resources to extend the learning.

Common Sense Reviewer

Stacy Zeiger Homeschooling parent

About our ratings and privacy evaluation.

Teacher Reviews

(See all 2 reviews) (2 reviews) Write a review

Featured review by
Luke S. , Technology coordinator

Technology coordinator

Excellent supplement for literacy projects!

As a former special education teacher, this is a great supplement for students to use while reading. It puts a visual right next to the text, as if the student is reading a live action comic book. This can be used for whole class instruction (via AppleTV), small groups, or for that individual student who needs that little extra supplement while reading. It is expensive for an app, but it can be money well spent if it helps a student, or if this is a play you will teach every year. It helps that the students can take notes and review these notes at any time. On another note, it's imperative that the student doesn't just go for the summaries and skip the majority of content. It's great for the student to take full advantage of the living actions, and the summaries, but should also read the play in full context.

Read full review

Write a review

Reading Literature
RL.8: Craft and Structure
RL.8.4	Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

RL.8.6	nalyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the audience or reader (e.g., created through the use of dramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
RL.8.7	Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by the director or actors.
Key Ideas and Details
RL.8.2	Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.

RL.8.3	Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.
RL.9-10: Craft and Structure
RL.9-10.4	Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

RL.9-10.5	Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
RL.9-10.9	Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work (e.g., how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible or how a later author draws on a play by Shakespeare).
Key Ideas and Details
RL.9-10.2	Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

RL.9-10.3	Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
RL.9-10.10	By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 9–10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
RL.11-12: Craft and Structure
RL.11-12.4	Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)

RL.11-12.5	Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.

RL.11-12.6	Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
RL.11-12.7	Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.)
Key Ideas and Details
RL.11-12.2	Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.

RL.11-12.3	Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
RL.11-12.10	By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 11–CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Shakespeare in Bits: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Animations and text supports bring the Bard's fantasy world to life

Subjects and Skills: Shakespeare in Bits: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Take a look inside

Lesson & Activity Ideas

Tool Overview

Learning Value

Rating Details

Overall Rating

Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

Key Standards Supported

Reading Literature

Teacher Reviews

Explore Our Favorite Tools

Get weekly updates on the latest digital tools and teaching strategies.

Please take a second to answer this question.

Thank you!