Megillat Esther and Student-Centered Learning

In this lesson, students analyze sections of perek bet of Megillat Esther in groups and then create a related skit, drama pantomime, or an illustrated scene. Follow the notes below to adapt this lesson for the appropriate age range: grades 3-5, grades 6-8, or grades 9-12.

Introduction

This multiple intelligences lesson plan can be used as a model for teaching all of Megillat Esther.  This lesson plan, while based on a single perek, can be used as a model for teaching all of Megillat Esther. Students analyze perek bet of Megillat Esther in groups and then create a related skit, drama pantomime, or illustrated scene.

Lesson objectives

For Grades 3-5:
The student will be able to:

1. Explain why a ‘Beauty Pageant’ was held in Persia.
2. Describe Mordechai and Esther and their relationship.
3. Explain the process the women underwent after being introduced to the king.
4. Relate why Esther did not reveal her identity.
5. Describe how Esther was chosen queen despite her, or perhaps because of, her modesty.
6. Recount how Mordechai overhears Bigtan and Teresh plotting to kill the king.
7. Describe how Mordechai relates these plans to Esther, who reveals them to the king.
8.  Explain how the would-be assassins are punished and how Mordechai’s deed is written up in the King’s “Book of Chronicles.”

For Grades 6-8:

The student will also be able to:

1. Identify the values demonstrated by Mordechai and Esther on the one hand and the Persian and other characters on the other. 
2. Compare and contrast the values demonstrated by Mordechai and Esther on the one hand
3. Read and comprehend text in a group setting.
4. Analyze the text to identify themes, and to choose and complete the chosen project.
5. Identify (emerging) themes and motifs in the text.
6. Define irony and identify it in the narrative.
7. Integrate individual story elements into a cohesive whole.
8. Demonstrate their comprehension of key elements in the perek through a dramatic presentation, an illustration, a pantomime, or a video.

For Grades 9-12:

The student will also be able to:

1. Integrate individual story elements and analysis of text into a cohesive whole.
2. Demonstrate understanding of key elements in the perek through a dramatic presentation, an illustration, a pantomime, a video, a podcast, a newscast, a journalistic article, or some other creative method.

Skills

The student will:

1. Listen to and/or read text selections in a group setting.
2. Answer comprehension questions either orally or in writing.
3. Identify the main idea of the text and capture that information in a 
4. Choose the medium to demonstrate comprehension of the text and its message.
5. Review the text to complete the chosen project.
6. Produce an engaging and creative presentation.
7. Work together cooperatively and respectfully. 

 

Values

The student will:

1. Appreciate the concept of mitzvah gorret mitzvah (one mitzvah leads to another mitzvah) and middah k’neged middah (measure for measure) that are illustrated in the chapter—Mordechai saves Achashverosh’s life and later his own life is saved later on.
   2. Appreciate the self-sacrifice demonstrated by Esther. Esther struggles and sacrifices her own needs for the greater good of her community (a common Biblical theme). This is the opposite of today’s “me, me, me” culture.
   3. Appreciate Esther’s modesty. Instead of pursuing superficial beauty, she is satisfied with what she has.
   4. Understand the disadvantages in ancient royal and public life (i.e. not making your own decisions, being forced to marry someone, women’s rights during the Achaemenid Dynasty).
   5. Appreciate that to be a good leader, one needs to have confidence in decision-making.

Note to Teachers: It is up to you to decide which of these values you choose to emphasize and how you will assess the students’ understanding, internalizing, and responding to these values. If students are working on multiple perakim or the entire sefer, there are additional values that the teacher may want to have highlighted. Examples of other values include nes nistar (a miracle that is “hidden” or only really appreciated in hindsight), v’nahafochu (irony), the power of community, the power (for good and for bad) of one person/one decision/one action to change the course of history.

Terms

  one mitzvah leads to another mitzvah – מִצְוָה גּוֹרֶרֶת מִצְוָה

  measure for measure – מִדָּה כְּנֶגֶד מִדָּה

Resources & Equipment needed

Copies of Megillat Esther for students (or Sefaria link here)

Procedure

Planning and preparing the unit:

Note to Teacher: For grades 3-5 and 6-8, this section is for your planning purposes only. For grades 9-12, these items can also be done by the students themselves.

1. Review Megillat Esther perek bet. Divide the text into sections. The chapter can be divided as follows: pesukim 1-4, 5-8, 9-14, 15-18, and 19-23. Dividing text, especially into thematic units, is subjective. Most perakim can be looked at in a number of ways. The division above is one possibility.
2. Identify the main themes that you would like the students to explore. These themes may only appear in perek bet, or they may be prevalent throughout the text.
   • Public Life – The downside to royalty: Not making your own decisions; being forced to marry (not for love) and worst of all, having to keep your identity a secret!
   • Leadership – Who makes the pageant decree? The Lose Vashti decree? Achashverosh is easily pushed into decisions. This makes him an easy candidate to be pushed around by Haman and then Esther.
   • Individual vs. Collective Interests – Mordechai and Esther’s partnership protects the Jewish people from beginning to end. By putting the Jewish people’s needs before their own, they save the nation. You never know which good deed will merit another; thanks to Mordechai’s watchfulness, his kindness is repaid later on when we need him the most.
   • Irony – The irony of spending a year in beauty treatments and not wanting one at all. What Esther really wanted was to get married to a Jew and build a house with him! What is the point of external beauty? Note to Teacher:  The theme of “irony” may need to be framed more concretely for younger/weaker students.
   • What’s hidden/inside vs. What’s visible outside – God working “behind the scenes” (the name of God is not mentioned in the Megillah), Esther’s religion, Esther’s relationship to Mordechai and Mordechai’s saving the king’s life are all “hidden” at this point. The beauty of the women, the second party, and Esther becoming queen are apparent.  We know what happens in the story…What do we learn from this about “don’t judge a book by its cover”, about modesty, and about emunah (faith)?
     
3. Plan how your students’ comprehension of the text will be assessed.  For younger students, this may need to be oral, and using a fist-to-five/thumbs up-thumbs down/red-yellow-green* comprehension assessment after each section could be effective. Older students can fill out brief comprehension questions that you have prepared. They can do this either in writing or with a turn-and-talk/pair-share method. Some examples of this method include:
   *Fist-to-five:  show me with your fingers how well you understand what you heard/read. Fist=0, or nothing at all to 5=perfectly
   *Thumbs up-thumbs down: yes I got it, no I don’t understand
   *Red-yellow-green: students have red/yellow/green indicators–sticks or pieces of paper–to hold up to indicate whether they don’t understand, sort of understand or understand well.
   *Turn-and-talk or pair-share is a hevrutah-type method where students share information orally with one another. 

In class:

Note to Teacher:  What you do in your classroom will depend on the age/level of your students.  Since the “beauty pageant” chapter is probably familiar to them already, you can solicit from them what they already know. Then you can have the students focus on the different sections of the perek. 

For younger/weaker students, it may be better to tell the story in the pre-planned sections do a brief comprehension assessment, and then move on. Older students can either listen to the recap or read on their own if the English translation is accessible to them.

1. Divide students into groups and assign each a section of the text.
   Note to teachers for grades 9-12: If students are working on multiple perakim or the whole sefer, assigning specific sections to specific groups is a good opportunity for differentiation if “harder” sections are assigned to stronger students and “easier” sections are assigned to weaker students.  Alternatively, sections can be “put in a hat” and one member from a group chooses from the hat.
2. Students should read their section and decide on a title that reflects the main idea. Some student sample titles are listed here:

• • Introducing Esther and Mordechai
  • The Pageant Decree
  • Esther is Taken as Queen
  • Bigtan and Teresh: The Plot Lynched
  • Preparing for Beauty

Note to teachers for grades 9-12: This is a good place to assign (or have students self-assign) the roles of “reader,” “explainer,” and “scribe.”

3. Groups present their text to the class and link it to their chosen theme.

4. Students can then choose a project:

• Write a one-page skit using one of the titles/themes above. Include a main character (Esther, King Achashverosh, Mordechai), and if you like, make up a minor character. Quote at least one verse from the text.
• Draw one of the titles/themes above. Include facial expressions and quote at least one verse from the text.
• Write a drama pantomime. Write a scene with a partner dramatizing one of the events above. One student reads the scene, while the other acts it out. Make sure to quote from the text.

  Note to teachers for grades 3-5 and 6-12: This is a good place for a “station” approach. Stations can either be desks/tables or specific locations in the classroom. The stations can be project-based (e.g. illustration station with drawing materials, script-writing station with either paper/pens and/or computers, podcast station, video station…)

  Note to Teachers for grades 9-12: Having students hand in their divisions and titles is a good formative assessment. It will give teachers feedback on student comprehension and analysis, and support students’ focusing and clarifying their understanding and analysis.

Optional: Group Projects

The following issues can be explored within group projects or discussed in class if time permits:

• Explore examples of irony in the text.
• Examine Esther’s self-sacrifice.
• Investigate the motive and result of chessed (Mordechai saves Achashverosh. When he is not immediately repaid, does he care? How does this affect him later on?)
• Analyze how Achashverosh does not create or enforce his own decisions. Compare this to modern and Biblical leaders. To whom do leaders turn to for advice?
• Compare and contrast ancient Persia and cultural differences (treatment of women, arranged marriages, marriages where only the man chooses, the role of gatekeepers and other royal functionaries, the caste system, the royal vizier, etc.) to modern times. Scenes can be recreated to create a holistic approach.
• Contrast leadership qualities between Mordechai and Esther, Haman, and Achashverosh, and modern leaders.

Note to Teacher for grades 9-12: If this project is a summative assessment, then having a rubric or clear expectations is important so that students know what the expectations are.

Student-Centered Project Suggestions:

For Grades 3-5:

1. Write a one-page skit using one of the titles/themes from the perek. Include a main character (Esther, King Achashverosh, Mordechai), and if you like, make up a minor character. Quote at least one verse from the text.
2. Draw one of the titles/themes above. Include facial expressions and quote at least one verse from the text.
3. Write a drama pantomime. Write a scene with a partner/with your group dramatizing one of the events above. One student reads the scene, while the other acts it out. Make sure to quote from the text. In a larger group, one member can also video the pantomime.
4. (Interdisciplinary possibility) Conduct a news interview with the main character(s) of your chosen title/section.  Create questions for the interviewer to ask and answers from the interviewee(s).  This can be done in writing, as a podcast, or as a video. 

For Grades 6-8:

1. Write a two-page skit using one of the titles/themes from the perek. Include a main character (Esther, King Achashverosh, Mordechai), and if you like, make up a minor character. Quote at least one verse from the text.
2. Draw one of the titles/themes above. Include facial expressions and quote at least one verse from the text.
3. Write a drama pantomime. Write a scene with a partner/with your group dramatizing one of the events above. One student reads the scene, while the other acts it out. Make sure to quote from the text. In a larger group, one member can also video the pantomime.
4. (Interdisciplinary possibility) Conduct a news interview with the main character(s) of your chosen title/section.  Create questions for the interviewer to ask and answers from the interviewee(s).  This can be done in writing, as a podcast, or as a video.

For grades 9-12:

1. Write a script or a screenplay, including stage/screen directions using one or more of the titles/themes from the perek/perakim. Include the main characters, and if you like, make up minor characters. Quote verses from the text and include ideas from the commentaries.
2. Draw three of the titles/themes you identified. Include facial expressions. settings and quote at least one verse from the text as a “title” for the illustration.
3. Write a drama pantomime or silent movie. Write a scene with your group dramatizing three of the events in your section. Make sure to clearly include quotes from the text. In a larger group, one member can also video the pantomime.
4. (Interdisciplinary possibility) Conduct a news interview with the main character(s) of your chosen title/section.  Create questions for the interviewer to ask and answers from the interviewee(s).  This can be done in writing, as a podcast, or as a video. 
5. Create a comic strip or graphic novel of your section.  Include the main characters (you can also add side/imaginary characters) and quotes from the text in your dialogues.