In an English B30
class at Marion Graham I was observing, the Teacher had the difficult task of
motivating the students to read Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The Teacher began by asking the students, "Why do we still read Shakespeare?" Then he followed by playing video trailers of
Romeo and Juliet featuring Leonardo
Dicaprio and The Tempest. He mentioned other movies that are based on
Shakespeare’s work such as 10 Things I
Hate About You (Taming of the Shrew),
and Lion King (Hamlet). Movies are still being made based on Shakespeare's writings because his works are masterfully written and his
presentation of human nature is timeless. The Teacher then
followed by diving into the background of Shakespeare himself and he
plans to spend over a week looking at the Elizabethan period and other relevant topics relating to the play.
In a grade twelve
English class, the students have already read Shakespeare in previous years, but the
Teacher did not want to assume they had any prior knowledge and risk
getting into the territory that Gallanger mentions in his book. Students need adequate prior information to
begin reading difficult texts, or they will be not only uninterested in the
text but will be in the “I don’t understand any of it” state of mind and lose interest. Students need to be open to being confused at times and learn that reading challenging parts of the text over several times can make all the difference.
I related to the way Gallanger mentioned that
reading texts again that you may not have particularly enjoyed or understood in High School was
completely different when you read it the second time. Why? Because you have prior knowledge. I read The
Great Gatsby in University and groaned when I saw it was on the reading
list because I found it to be a difficult, mind numbing book in High School. I soon found out that it was an interesting
and compelling book about the society in Roaring Twenties.
It was really
great to see some of these strategies in action and it is exciting to be thinking
that soon we will be using them ourselves when we teach!
Jenn, I really love when teacher's ask that question: "Why do we still read Shakespeare?". I am such a Shakespeare nerd, so I would be all over that conversation, but I do realize that majority of students really don't enjoy reading a play that they can barely understand. I think that getting the students to understand that there are MANY themes that are still very relevant to them today, and for the most part they just need to hear this in "modern" english! Once they can become aware of the degrees of violence, jealousy, heartache, and family fuedal ideas that are prevalent in many of Shakespeare's plays, hopefully then they can truly appreciate his works of art!!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, I'm totally with Ashley on this one, I'm a Shakespeare nerd! I find his works fascinating and I am so disheartened when I hear friends or co-workers complain about having to read Shakespeare because 'it's so irrelevant' or 'no one actually talks like that, so why would we read it'.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to hear that there are teachers out there trying to help students understand why we read Shakespeare and how it can relate to contemporary society, not just teaching Shakespeare because it is part of the curriculum.
Reading your blog makes me wonder how differently two classes would react to reading the same Shakespeare play if one class was given background on the play prior to reading and the other class did a 'cold-reading'?