Teaching Shakespeare
Jillyan Scarborough
11/21/00
Professor Cope
“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee” (Shakespeare 1846).
Even before he became perhaps the most famous writer, William Shakespeare
realized the impact he would have. He has become a common figure
of amazement in society. Perhaps this is to do with his renound writing
capability, or the multitude of messages contained in his pages.
Whatever the reason, he is a figure that will be studied endlessly.
He works are so important, they have become an important part of many high
schools cirriculum. Besides the enjoyment from reading Shakespeare,
he also serves as a model for writing, reading, and speaking for students.
It is up to the teacher to bring Shakespearean study to this point.
Shakespeare needs to be approached in a manner that allows for students
to both appreciate and gain enlivenment from.
Experiencing Shakespeare is an important part of every students’
academics, however it must be taught at the right time. Students
cannot simply start off learning Hamlet without having had some previous
exposure to Shakespeare’s style. There is an obvious distinction
between Shakespeare’s ‘easier’ plays and his more difficult ones.
Poems like The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like
It, and Romeo and Juliet are, not only but also because they are the earlier
ones written, are notably less difficult than the later written Hamlet,
Henry V, King Lear, and The Tempest. Of course, where these plays
fall into a high school’s cirriculums depend on each school. However, Bertrand
Evans, author of Teaching Shakespeare in the High School, recommends the
following model:
Grade 9 A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of
Venice, or Julius Caesar.
Grade 10 As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, or Macbeth
Grade 11 Twelfth Night, Henry IV, or Henry V
Grade 12 Hamlet, King Lear, or The Tempest (23-24).
His model only makes sense to have what is claimed earlier plays first,
and develop into harder ones. For the purpose of this report I have
chosen to focus on Romeo and Juliet taught in a tenth or eleventh grade
classroom. Not only is it perhaps the most famous among high schools,
it is the one I most remember from my own education.
Before you can even begin to discuss the play, teachers must
decide how they want to approach this complex unit. The challenge
quickly arises as to what form of media to use; lecture, films, reports,
and what of the many related subjects to teach. Should you cover
everything that affected Shakespeare’s writings, from the renaissance period
itself to the many different genres he employs in his work? And of
course, as I know from experience an opening such as this may quickly set
a mindset of complete boredom into your students; a feeling that could
continue to predominate the whole unit. It is for this reason that
teacher Christine Scarborough feels the most appropriate and beneficial
approach is to get right into the stories. She let’s Shakespeare
do the work, teaching such things as the Elizabethan Era to the Globe Theater
when the time for explanation arises in the play.
Shakespeare as the author is one subject, however, that must
be covered separately from the text. Students “realize Shakespeare’s
immense effect in the world in order to appreciate the text” (Scarborough).
So, how can you effectively do this? Teachers are again faced with
the challenge of not turning the “study of Shakespeare (into) a long and
drawn out and deadly tedious process” (Evans 62). A quick discussion
of the author could bypass the drawn out process, yet for many will still
be quite boring. One of the best introductions to this was given
by Jim Curran, who offers an innovative alternative introduction to Shakespeare.
He allows his students time to bring in examples of allusions to Shakespeare
they have gathered from newspapers, comic strips, magazine articles, books,
songs, or films. For example, a student may bring in the clip from
Clueless that refers to the writer. They will then lead a discussion
on their example and its relation to Shakespeare (Teaching). This
will eventually lead into a greater sense of who Shakespeare was, and the
themes he chose to develop.
Finally, it’s time to delve into the play Romeo and Juliet itself.
Before even beginning the play most students will have some prior knowledge
of the play and its forbidden love plot. This could be detrimental
in some respects. However, teachers must “learn to use this to their advantage.
Have your students write an informal paper of what they think the plot
is. Then, as you go through the play you can point out things students
did not know, like Rosalind’s character” (Scarborough). Not only
does this idea allow the teacher to become aware of where her students
stand, it also gives a basis to build on. At the beginning of the
play students will “identify immediately with certain elements in the story,
especially, of course, with the struggle between sensitive children and
obtuse parents, and with the unconditional commitment of first love” (
Newlin 2). These are issues teenagers and adolescents can relate
to, as long as the teacher allows for it. An automatic interest in
this particular play surfaces immediately, the teacher only has to help
this interest stay strong.
However, students will not be able to get much farther than that
initial excitement without a teacher holding their hand through the poetry.
Teaching Shakespeare significantly requires teaching his poetry, and how
it relates to the character as well. The poetic verse of Romeo changes
significantly as his love becomes more and more real. Other characters'
demeanors and attitudes are also viewed through the writing as well.
It is important for students to grasp this so they can at least understand
the characters. Once students get past the difficult language they
can truly experience the excellence of Shakespeare.
The next obstacle in teaching Shakespeare is how to teach the
play itself. Once again we are faced with an array of media; lectures,
reads aloud, homework, audiotapes, etc. Although, none of these choices
give enough credit to Shakespeare’s fabulous works. The best way
to achieve this is through staged performances of the passages. This
benefits the students in that it “adds a new dimension to students’ knowledge
and understanding of Shakespeare…It makes the learning real” (Wood 458).
Students need to feel as if they are in charge of their own learning.
Allowing them to become involved and active in class reflects this ownership.
A teacher should serve only as a “tour guide and not translator.
As teachers, our job is to help students make connections - between themselves
and a piece of literature, between a piece of literature and the ideas
it embodies, between the world of the piece and the student’s world, connection
within a piece of literature” (Wood 458). Newlin, a teacher at a
Washington D.C. high school, teaches her high school students Romeo and
Juliet using this ‘staging’ strategy. Over the years she has collected
different clothes form the era, scenery, props, and other things to make
the scene come alive. She divides her class into either Montagues
or Capulets and has them fevioursly act out the first scene. Students
who are not involved are still put into a family and must make up “Shakespearean
insults” to throw at each other. This quickly develops an atmosphere that
will continue throughout the play. This type of learning experience
is quite successful, since students “learn best when they become actively
engaged in their own learning process, and when they are exposed daily
to great models and metaphors, and when they participate in rituals and
traditions” (Wood 459).
There is only so much time you can spend during class time studying
Shakespeare, so obviously something has to give. That something is
homework. The students may groan, however this is a necessity given
the amount of information needed to be covered. Here again we come
to the phrase of ‘letting Shakespeare do the teaching.’ Homework
assignments should develop and be due as the text calls for them.
This again reflects the belief of allowing the students some control over
their learning. Scarborough has quite a good grip on her assignments
outside of class. She has individuals, or groups, sign up for a certain
project and due date at the beginning of the unit. Some of these
projects may call for researching the setting, creating the Verona scenery,
discussing genres, discussing the Elizabethan era and so on. The
teacher already knows approximentaly when these assignments will be due
according to where they will arise in the play, so students have a sense
of time also. For example, the Verona setting may be due the first
day so it can be used along with the opening scene fight. The projects
usually “lead into a discussion furthering the knowledge on each part of
Shakespeare,” bringing the play into it’s own (Scarborough). Not
only does this type of homework create interactive and interesting results,
it again gives students most of the control. They aren’t assigned
to simply read a scene, write reports, or any other tedious work,
they are asked to create something. After the play is fully read,
and the projects all produced, the students will be able to pull it all
together and create their own Shakespearean world.
This type of teaching also calls for a different kind of assessment.
It would not be fair to ask students to recite lines or identify passages
that are insignificant compared to the scope of what a student has actually
learned. So, how can you accurately find out what a student has learned?
There are many ways. Putting them in narrative roles, such as the
roll of Rosalind, and make them create lines. Or, put them into a
“what would you do” type situation. Take one minor character out
of the play and tell how the plot would be affected. How would the
story have changed if Juliet was not about to marry, unwillingly, Paris?
You could also allow them to rewrite the ending. If Friar John had
been successful in getting to Romeo, how would the outcome have changed?
Whatever the situation, students need a variety of choices to show what
they have learned. Writing is the key to this. It is important
not to test, but to assess. Students should not be held accountable
for every aspect of the play, but a broad outline they can take with them.
For too many students Shakespeare is a chore. The reciting
of lines, memorization, and recitation that many teachers have attached
to this theme has had its effect on students. When they think of
Shakespeare a groan usually results. This should not be the case.
Shakespeare, when taught correctly, not only enriches students, but it
gives them an “opportunity for students to be confronted with a genuinely
distinct understanding of the world.” (Cantor 43). Shakespeare
is perhaps the most important writer a student will be taught, therefore,
it is important that they learn all they can.
Bibliography
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Cantor, Paul. “Shakespeare- For All Time: politicizing the teaching
of Shakespeare’s works.” The Public Interest Winter 1993. 34-49.
Evans, Bertrand. Teaching Shakespeare in the High School. .
Macmillan: New York, 1966.
“Notes Plus.” Online Posting. National Council of Teachers of English.
Netscape. 11/9/00. Available: http://www.ncte.org/notesplus/test/ideas/Newlinaug1999.htm
Scarborough, Christine. Interview. 11/5/00.
Shakespeare, William. The Riverside Shakespeare. Second ed. Ed.
G. Blakemore Evans and J.J. Tobin. Boston and New York:Houghton Mifflin,
1997.
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February 1997. 457-460.