1. Grab their attention with a game.
Students have a lot of preconceived notions about
Shakespeare, so I try to “shake” things up by starting off my unit with an
attention grabber. Previously, I always started my unit with the first few
minutes of “The Shakespeare Code” from Doctor
Who, which shows the Doctor and Martha arriving to Elizabethan London. The
Doctor “translates” the customs and habits for Martha, like pulling her out of
the way of a dumped chamber pot! This is one way to get students excited right
out of the gate.
Now, I have students play through a digital breakout I madecalled “The Missing Script”. Students play as Alex, an aspiring actor, and Alex
helps Shakespeare’s servant find a misplaced script. The game takes students
through the Globe (they look high and low – maybe the servant left it in the
Galleries?), over the London Bridge, and through the Royal Exchange. They solve
puzzles as they learn about Shakespeare’s London, and, if they are successful,
they find the missing script!
2. Introduce Shakespeare's Language (gently)
I love Shakespeare’s language as much as the next gal and
I’m capable of really nerding out about it. That doesn’t necessarily mean our
students are ready to do the same. Instead of giving them a list of the two
thousand words Shakespeare added to the English language, why not focus on just
a few? Likewise, you can introduce a few politeness concepts like “thou” vs.
“you” that carry a lot of meaning in his plays.
One of the ways I do this is to have my students complete a Webquest focused on Shakespeare’s language. They watch a brief video (3
minutes!) about Shakespeare’s contributions to English and a portion of a TED
talk by Akala that explains Iambic Pentameter in a memorable way.
You can also distribute these bookmarks to your students to
help them remember the basics – who doesn’t love a good bookmark?
3. Bring your classroom onto the stage.
I love incorporating drama into my classroom, so it’s not a
stretch to give students the stage in our Shakespeare units. If you’re a little
hesitant about how to work this in, I’m here to tell you that you DO have time,
and students WILL step up and embrace the responsibility.
I’ve been working with shortened scripts lately (I call them
Shakespeare in 30 since the final
show only takes 30 minutes!), and it’s amazing! Students can use these scripts
for Reader’s Theatre after a class period or two to practice. They could even
work a little longer and add blocking and costumes for a Staged Reading.
Lastly, they can memorize their lines completely in a 2-3 week unit and perform
their plays for each other. This is a great way to expose students to more
Shakespeare beyond just one play – you could easily have your students in
groups that each perform a different text.
4. Give your students permission to play with the language
It’s easy to think that Shakespeare’s texts should be held
on a pedestal, but the reality is that he changed around his scenes all the time.
Particularly in comedies, he was constantly at work to get the biggest laugh to
cater to the biggest scandals of the day (think SNL here, folks). We can give
students this same creative license.
One of my favorite projects from my very first year of
teaching was to have students rewrite the end of Much Ado About Nothing as a tragedy. This idea came from another
English teacher, and I was a little skeptical, but the kids dove in. They had
such a great time giving characters dramatic monologues and forlorn glances and
soap opera deaths. Another project I’ve seen in my time working with our local
teen group, the Southeastern Teen Shakespeare Company (SETSCO), is a retelling
of Romeo & Juliet in five pop
songs. From the brawl scene (“Uptown Funk”) to the lovers’ deaths (“If I Die
Young), the whole thing takes about 15 minutes and is just a hoot. Whatever way
you come up with, challenge students to make the stories their own.
5. Invite new interpretations and adaptations
Lastly, challenge students to look for new insights into old
texts. This is why we still have Shakespearean scholars, right? Because there’s
still more to learn.
Instead of giving students one correct story, allow them to
find many stories in the text. How would it change things if Claudio were
perceived as a bumbling stepfather who’s really trying, but Hamlet just won’t let him in? How about if we look at
Lady Macbeth through a modern lens of mental health and diagnose her with
anxiety and depression? What if we examined all of Othello through Desdemona’s eyes?
Students can also create their own adaptations. One of the
things that SETSCO did was to perform a mostly-mime Much Ado About Nothing. In this version, each character only said
1-2 words at a time, and meaning was conveyed through inflection and movement.
This unique spin on the story amplified the depiction of Don John and Don
Pedro’s manipulation of the other characters and gave the audience new insight
into an old story.
Final Words
There’s no reason for students to ever consider Shakespeare
old and tired. Instead, help them view these texts as a playground for imaginative
analysis and creative reworking. These are a few of the things I do in my
classroom and community, and I can’t wait to see what you do in yours! Tag me
on Instagram at @nouvelle_ela and let me know how it’s going. :)
You can also check out these Shakespeare resources from
other Coffee Shop teachers:
