Teaching Shakespeare at the end of the school year is a tough job. Several classes floundered. Some succeeded. In general, the classes that worked well centered around lifting Shakespeare off the page and slipping him into their mouths. Today I watched a group perform act 1.2 of A Midsummer Night's Dream set in a fantastical pub called "the wood." Students brought a cooler as a prop that produced blue soda in glass bottles to serve as a beer substitute. They strolled around the classroom, gesticulating casually with blue bottles, taking sips when appropriate, and reading easily off scripts. I was moved. Their intonation demonstrated an understanding of what they were saying--a striking student accomplishment considering the difficulty of Shakespeare's language
I had dreams last week about letting down students because they won't all close the play knowing how to wax poetic about themes of the moon and eyes. Hopefully positive associations with Shakespeare will linger with them and buoy them next year as they approach Merchant of Venice, another of Shakespeare's plays.
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