Shakespeare

Question: What are some techniques for reading, interpreting and enjoying Shakespeare?

Answer:

Mary Ellen Dakin: Students buy inexpensive paperback editions of the plays so that they can annotate as they read.

Mary Ellen Dakin: Put a dot over all the words they recognize. Won’t seem like a foreign language any more, although the syntax will seem strange. Students learn to prepare for the unusual syntax.

Mary Ellen Dakin: Divide paper into three columns. First column, write the archaic word. Third column, write brief definition. Second column: write user-friendly definition.

Edward Rocklin: Don’t act out the entire play. Act our scenes. Alter tone to convey different implications.

Edward Rocklin: Expectation logs. Three columns. First column, summarize the first act. Second column, record expectation for the second act. Third column, write how closely their expectations were predicted.

Title: “The :Play’s the Thing: Getting the Most Out of Shakespeare.” Deb Aronson. Council Chronicle: The National Council of Teachers of English (March 2011), 20-23.