Exemplar Story Collection

9th-12thELA

The Weight of Rome: Leadership, Ambition & the Fall of a Republic

9th, 10th

75 min

Literary Analysis, Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

In this SceneCraft episode, Riley explores a museum exhibit on the fall of the Roman Republic, encountering docents, classmates, and experts who offer competing views on whether Brutus was a patriot or murderer. Designed as a mid-unit synthesis after Acts I–II of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, the experience immerses students in the play's moral and rhetorical complexity before writing an evidence-based argument. Essential Question: What makes a great leader, and how does ambition shape their choices? Sub-questions address ethics, justified action, and how leaders use rhetoric to sway public opinion.