SYLLABUS: TEACHING SHAKESPEARE THROUGH PERFORMANCE

Jan 16: Introduction

Jan 23: **Romeo and Juliet

Jan 30: Romeo and Juliet, continued

Feb 6: **Julius Caesar

Feb 13: Julius Caesar, continued

Feb 20: **Macbeth

Feb 27: Macbeth, continued

Mar 6: **Hamlet

Mar 13: Hamlet, continued

Mar 20: No class; begin work on your final project, and come to one session of the SSF

Spring Break (March 27)

Apr 3: Teaching the History Play; Henry V

Apr 10: **Henry V, continued

Apr 17: Teaching the Comedy; **Taming of the Shrew

Apr 24: Taming of the Shrew, continued; course evaluations

May 1: Rehearsal, class version of the Shakespeare Scene Festival

May 8: Shakespeare Scene Festival; Final Project due

TEXTS:

1. Required: Shakespeare Set Free: Teaching R&J, Macb, and MND (0671760467); and Cambridge School Shakespeare edition of Julius Caesar (ISBN 0521409039); Shakespeare and the Arts of Language, by Russ McDonald (ISBN 0198711719)

2. Shakespeare Set Free, vol 2, with Hamlet and 1H4 ( ISBN 0671760483); Shakespeare Set Free, vol 3, with TN, Othello (ISBN 0671760475), Discovering Shakespeare's Language by Gibson and Field-Pickering; optional: single-cover editions of R&J, Macb, Ham, Henry V, Shr; Cambridge School Shakespeare editions of Henry V (ISBN 052142615) and Taming of the Shrew (ISBN0521425050)

REQUIREMENTS: 4325.01 AND 5325.01:
1. Attend class; participate in classroom performance activities, including the Shakespeare Scene Festival.
2. At the start of our working with each play, turn in a reader-response paper (R&J, JC, Macb, Ham, H5, Shr), concentrating on its performance potential for an elementary or secondary school class. To narrow and focus your attention, choose one scene or one piece of a scene, and explore its potential for teaching through performance. Due dates marked ** on syllabus.
3. Direct one performance activity solo. Turn in a description of the objectives/goals of each assignment.
4. Direct the class in a video activity. Turn in a description of the objectives/goals of the assignment.
5. Work with your group on a set of lesson plans for Taming of the Shrew.

6. Complete the writing project designed for your level (undergraduate or graduate).
7. Graduate students: Oral report to the class either on a set of Web sites available for teaching through performance, on scholarly materials available, or pedagogical materials available (provide a bibliography for classmates).

FINAL PROJECT FOR 4325.01 (undergraduate):
Choose one of Shakespeare's comedies (not Shr; consider The Tempest a comedy for this assignment) and make it the subject of your major class writing project. Construct that project in the form of a letter, addressed to your (imaginary) department chair, in which you make a case for teaching Shakespeare through performance by way of this play in a three-week unit at the grade and level you have chosen (for ex: 10th grade, regular). In the letter, (1) describe your goals for teaching through performance (back up this argument with pedagogical scholarship, documented by citations/notes and Works Cited page); (2) explain why this play is a good choice for the grade and level you have chosen;(3) include the ways that "teaching through performance" addresses current goals in an English class, i.e, the frameworks for your grade and level; (4) provide the lessons from the SSF series, CSS volumes, our class exercises, and/or your imagination to illustrate your three-week set of plans (include hand-outs as appropriate; (5) in an appendix, correlate your lessons with the NCTE standards chosen for this assignment for Chalk and Wire (see below). The letter should run about 8-10 pp. or 2000-2500 words, plus lessons and handouts. It must make a coherent and persuasive case for teaching Shakespeare through performance as well as illustrate the frameworks that performance activities can address.

FINAL PROJECT FOR 5325.01 (graduate), CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:

00000(For both: project length = 12-15 pp, plus lessons, handouts, and a bibliography or list of works cited.)

#1: Do the project for 4325 with the following alterations and/ or additions: 1) add Othello, Titus Andronicus, Richard III, and 1Henry IV to your list of play choices; (2) Add a section in which you address cultural issues to which your play and its lessons respond (for example, race, gender, personal responsibility, etc.).

Or:
#2: Do the project for 4325 using the play you now teach as example; for (2) above, substitute a section that describes specific changes to your lesson plans brought about by your new interest in teaching through performance (what did you used to do? what will you now do? provide sample lessons before TSTP and complete lessons after [that is, section 4, above). From #1 above, include section 2 (cultural issues).

For Chalk and Wire: NCTE standards to be assessed:

2.4: Candidates use practices designed to assist students in developing habits of critical thinking and judgement.

3.3.2: Candidates show a knowledge of ways to discover and create meaning from texts.

4.1: Candidates examine and select resources for instruction such as textbooks, other print materials, videos, films, records, and software, appropriate for supporting the teaching of English language arts.

4.2: Candidates aligncurriculum goals and teaching strategies with the organization of classroom environments and learning experiences to promote whole=class, small-group, and indivuisual work.

4.5: Candidates engage students often in meaning discussions for the purposes of interpreting and evaluating ideas presented through oral, written, and/or visual forms.