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Teacher Weekend Intensive:

Exploring the New Folger Guides to Teaching Shakespeare

Booking and details

Register

Dates Fri, May 1 – Sat, May 2, 2026

Venue Folger Library

Tickets $300

Duration 10am – 5pm each day

Open to middle and high school teachers from across the US – no prior Shakespeare experience required. 

For the first time in twenty years—after reaching thousands of classrooms nationwide —the Folger Shakespeare Library released entirely updated Guides to Teaching Shakespeare in 2024. The new guides cover A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet, which are among the most frequently taught plays in the curriculum. The updates include expanded essays on teaching Shakespeare to students with IEPs and 504 plans, strategies for supporting English Language Learners, and approaches for pairing Shakespeare with other complex texts in meaningful and powerful ways. 

Guided by these newly updated Folger Guides to Teaching Shakespeare and grounded in the Folger Method, we invite you to join a national community of educators for two days of active learning, collaboration, and discovery onsite at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Together, we will explore what truly works in the classroom: proven, high-impact approaches that make Shakespeare accessible, inclusive, and alive for every student. 

Teaching with the Folger Method

Learn by Doing: Step into the role of both learner and teacher as you experience the Folger Method in action. Through hands-on workshops and dynamic group work, you will move from language to performance to reflection, uncovering the same teaching arc that animates the Folger Guides to Teaching Shakespeare. Every scene, every line, every discovery connects back to how students learn best by doing. Every activity explored is one you can take straight back to your classroom. 

Reach Every Learner: Shakespeare belongs to everyone. Discover adaptable techniques that open doors for all students, including English Language Learners and those with differentiated learning needs. You will learn how to scaffold complex texts through active learning, student voice, and shared inquiry so that every student can see themselves in the story. 

Make It Work for You: The Folger Guides are designed for real classrooms, and this weekend mirrors that practicality. You will explore ways to plan meaningful sequences, integrate Folger Essential Practices into your existing curriculum, and align this work with your own school’s standards and goals. Together, we will turn big ideas into tangible lessons and activities you can use immediately. 

Leave Inspired and Ready: By the end of the Teacher Weekend Intensive, you will leave with a clear, flexible plan for implementing the Folger Guides to Teaching Shakespeare and with renewed energy for the work you do. Sessions will be led by Liam Dempsey, Associate Director of Education at the Folger Shakespeare Library, and Stefanie Jochman-Deepak, English teacher at Flint Hill School in Oakton, Virginia. 

Explore the Folger Collection 

Beyond the workshops, step into the world of Shakespeare’s words and the stories they have inspired. Explore the Folger’s Exhibition Hall and Learning Lab, see the 82 copies of Shakespeare’s First Folios—the book that gave us Shakespeare’s plays—and see how books were printed on our working replica of a 17th-century printing press. Handle rare materials that connect Shakespeare’s plays to their early performances and to the readers who kept them alive for centuries. You will discover how these experiences and the Folger’s vast digital resources can enrich your students’ encounters with Shakespeare, connecting their learning to the same sources scholars use every day. 

Experience and Receive Classroom Resources 

Your registration includes: 

  •   Folger Guide to Teaching Shakespeare (one title of your choice) 
  •   Folger Shakespeare Edition (one title for reference and classroom use) 
  •   Access to digital resource sets and templates 

Together, these experiences and materials extend the weekend’s spirit of exploration, helping you bring the energy of the Folger back to your students and classrooms. By the end of the weekend, you will leave the Folger with: 

  •  Hands-on experience working with the Folger Guides to Teaching Shakespeare 
  •  Classroom-ready lessons and activities aligned with the Folger Method 
  •  Strategies for scaffolding, adapting, and assessing student learning 
  •  A strengthened national network of educators committed to active, inclusive teaching 

You will leave reconnected to your students and your craft, and with a deep connection to the Folger community that shares your passion for great teaching. 

Registration: $300 

Space is limited. Reserve your spot now for two days of transformative professional learning that can only happen at the Folger Shakespeare Library.