Teacher educators: we have some exciting news! Folger Education has partnered with the Saint Mary’s College Education Department for a symposium aimed at those college folks who do the heavy lifting of preparing students to be effective English teachers. The Teacher Educator Symposium will be held September 21-23, 2017, at Saint Mary’s College in Notre… Continue Reading »
Listening to students speaking Shakespeare is certainly my favorite part of teaching Shakespeare, but I also love watching them play games. We’ve often ended a semester with Shakespeare-based games. (Perfect for this sunny time of year!) Student favorites have been “Who am I?” and “Group Charades,” though “Who said that when?” can be good learning… Continue Reading »
I was on the train when I began this blog, heading home from a Shakespeare competition where students performed monologues and recited sonnets. It was a terrific event. All of the participants were surefooted, and no one froze in the headlights of competition. The students had every reason to be proud of their work, for… Continue Reading »
As a participant in the four-week Teaching Shakespeare Institute 2016, I undertook academic research that took me deep into Shakespeare’s language and the Reading Rooms of the Folger. I was intrigued by the role marriage played in two of the plays we studied, Othello and The Merchant of Venice—especially the manner in which particular women… Continue Reading »
I teach high school English in St. Louis, Missouri, just miles from Ferguson, Missouri. Three years ago, after the Black Lives Matter movement started, I tried to bring the conversation about power and injustice into my classroom with the classics. Shakespeare raises tough, nuanced questions about identity, difference, community, and violence. His language is a… Continue Reading »
Distributing copies of A Midsummer Night’s Dream fills me with a bit of hope, but also a little anxiety. There’s always a risk of losing student engagement when teaching a text students perceive to be beyond their level and interest, especially as they are developing their analytical thinking skills. While students may be skeptical (but… Continue Reading »
