

She became Queen of Egypt at eighteen and by twenty had been driven from her throne. Cleopatra was not the renowned beauty of legend her strength lay in her intelligence, courage, and charm, and she would need all three in her short and perilous reign.

She almost succeeded, and if she had, we would live in a far different world today. Raised in the shadow of the mighty Roman Empire, she dared to dream of a world united under Egyptian rule. Once I review their rough draft, I hand them a worksheet so they can produce a final copy.Cleopatra‘s name still glitters across history, evoking opulence, ambition, and tragedy. I usually have students draw the staircase template on a piece of notebook paper and use this platform as a rough draft. Some students draw stick figures, and other students draw way better than I dream of! The item I emphasize is getting the major events correct and listing them in chronological order. I receive a range of quality in the drawings. I like to have students present their work to the class, or I will post student work in the classroom and have a gallery walk-through. I like this activity because students get to choose events they feel are most important in the literary work and standout to them. This allows students to use more space when drawing/coloring pictures. There are no text boxes for the pictures. I also provided a copy of one template that indicates where the pictures should be written. This simply forces students to be selective with their words when they write their short description. The lined space for the fifth event is limited.


The spacing ranges from single space, space and a half, and double space. Each copy has different line spacing to accommodate the different level of writers (or penmanship). This worksheet is one page however, there are three different copies. There is enough space for students to list five major events. I enjoy having students draw and color their art. Students will also draw a picture of each event. Beginning at the bottom left of the page, students will number each major event in the literary work and write a short description of the event. This worksheet has a staircase pattern that moves from the bottom left to the upper right of the paper. This plot graph is presented in landscape view.
