Tales from the classroom
Three Ways to Have Fun with Shakespeare
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…
The (Love and) Hate U Give: Teaching Angie Thomas and William Shakespeare
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.…
Hamlet Remix: A Teaching Idea, with Student Work Samples
Last week, my classes were right in the middle of two tragedies–Othello and Hamlet. My Senior English class had just finished Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” speech and my Junior Dual Enrollment class had just read the temptation…
Words, Words, Words: Teaching Frankenstein with My Shakespeare Experience in Mind
The longer I teach English, the more interested I become in etymology. I find that learning and then teaching the roots of English words has a way of illuminating texts both for myself, as a lifelong learner, and for the…
What My Students Really Think About Studying Shakespeare
At the start of our Romeo and Juliet unit, I had my students begin a Digital Shakespeare Portfolio: a blog account that would house all of their annotations, as well as a place to discuss their thoughts on the interactive…
Using Two-Lines Scenes for Pre-Reading and Post-Reading, from Shakespeare to Kate Chopin
The anticipation and excitement of beginning a new text always invigorates me in my classroom. It feels like a fresh start, a chance to really create some magic in my classroom. I always think, is this going to be the…
Five Strategies for Teaching Shakespeare to Students with Learning Differences
Act 1 Scene 2 from “Twelfth Night”. (Photo: Folger Education) I work at a college preparatory school for students with language based learning differences, and I teach a yearlong course on the works of Shakespeare. My students’ learning profiles are…
Recognizing Shylock’s Humanity in The Merchant of Venice
“I don’t have to condone it to understand it. The pain that people feel is real.” While most watched DeRay McKesson, Baltimore native and #blacklivesmatter activist, deliver these words in April 2015 (describing the unrest that occurred shortly after…
Debating Ophelia’s Death—and Becoming a Better Teacher
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…
Introducing Iambic Pentameter: Feeling Our Way
*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…
Hamlet on Wheels: Teaching Shakespeare in a Special Education Classroom, Part 2
(Image: Kathy Leonard) 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…
Hamlet on Wheels: Teaching Shakespeare in a Special Education Classroom, Part 1
Wheels? Yes, wheels. All of my students are physically disabled, and many are diagnosed with intellectual disabilities as well. Able-bodied students can get up on their feet to perform. My students can’t get on their feet, but that doesn’t stop…