Whether it’s the PARCC, Smarter Balanced, IB, AP, or another high-stakes assessment, we know lots of you and your students have testing on the brain… which is why we thought you might enjoy reading a few lines from Shakespeare, all on the subject of—what else?—tests. The word “test” appears 4 times in Shakespeare’s works: … Continue Reading »
Posts Categorized: Shakespeare/teaching-shakespeare-2
*This piece originally appeared as “Teaching Shakespeare (And Literary Analysis!) with Prompt Books” on the blog Moving Writers and is cross-posted here with permission.* This April, English teachers, Anglophiles, all buddies of the Bard will commemorate the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. Museums, libraries, schools, and theater companies are marking the occasion with special… Continue Reading »
I work at a school for students with learning differences, so I’m always looking for ways to create multiple points of access for every text my students study. One of my favorite ways of doing that is through multimedia creation. In my experience, students learn immensely through making and doing. Among other methods, video production… Continue Reading »
Part IIa: A Brief Narrative Interlude: Other Inspirations and a Metaphoric Preamble On January 21st, I left you with a promise that I’d be back to talk about specific and pragmatic plans for applying the student-centered learning credo I learned, or at least had recharged, this summer at the Folger… but because I’m an English… Continue Reading »
I am an English teacher because of my English teachers. What dedication I have I learned from a man who had Paradise Lost taken off of his syllabus but came into work an hour early, each day, to teach it to a small group of curious readers. What patience I have I learned from… Continue Reading »
*Beware the ides of March…and join us for our live-streamed Master Class on teaching Julius Caesar! Since Caesar is in the air these days, we’re bringing you a special post on teaching meter in this play. Enjoy—and let us know how it goes!* With Julius Caesar, I introduce iambic pentameter to my students with a… Continue Reading »
Having a high proportion of ELLs in my high school English classroom, I saw that there was no quick fix targeting both language acquisition and literary reading…but I knew that our big textbook was not my answer. I was absolutely frightened to think about the struggles ahead of me when I confronted the Shakespeare unit… Continue Reading »
As promised, I’m back with the follow-up post on Hamlet on Wheels. This time, I’m sharing some practical suggestions that are essential for my special education classroom—and often beneficial for all learners. I primarily use Shakespeare Set Free as my Hamlet go-to resource. I adjust the lessons to be certain I can move my… Continue Reading »
I have a confession to make. As a high school English teacher, I have not always been obsessed with teaching Shakespeare. Yikes! I know that makes me sound sacrilegious as a lover of language, but after teaching American literature for so long, I was always drawn to the lyrical language of F. Scott Fitzgerald… Continue Reading »
Don’t get us wrong. We love—like, love—paper. We’re a rare book library, after all. We’re crazy for the codex! At the same time, we’re excited about all that the digital realm is doing for readers, teachers, students, and lovers of language. Here are 4 reasons to integrate technology in your language-based, performance-rich Shakespeare unit. Teaching… Continue Reading »
