That time has come once more. I have to go back into the classroom and begin teaching again. I am excited for this year. It’s only my second year of teaching, but I really enjoyed some of the things I did last year. I plan on carrying over those methods and tactics and using them again. My class will once again memorize famous lines and speeches by William Shakespeare.
As an English major and author, I feel it is only natural to instill that love of classic literature in my students. There are a lot of great books, novels, and authors out there today, but when students get to high school they will see Shakespeare as being boring, uninteresting, and unimportant – three things that man definitely is NOT!
Now, I am a “smidge” biased. I am a great fan of William Shakespeare. I did not always appreciate him though. I was once your average high school student. I was not really interested in learning Romeo and Juliet – and I am still not because it is one of the most overdone plays. I did not learn to appreciate Shakespeare until college. My outstanding professors opened my eyes and I fell in love with many of his plays such as Macbeth, Othello, and Twelfth Night. His comedies, which some may fail to understand, I actually find comical.
I wanted to share this knowledge and joy with my students not only because literature is my “niche” but also I want them to be fully exposed to what the world has to offer. Author James Joyce wrote, “After God, Shakespeare created most.” There are a plethora of shows, books, plays, movies, and even songs that reference Shakespeare, either directly or subtly. In my classroom, I try to get my students to understand that everything “comes full circle.” I want them to know what I teach does in fact matter and will be used and be useful in the future.
I, proudly, teach in a school where English is not the first language. Because it is not their first language and some of them are first generation in this country, I wanted to expose them to Shakespeare. Each week I would schedule a memory activity. Students would have one week to memorize the lines, speech, or quote on the board. On Fridays, they would recite the memory activity. This not only helped them with literature exposure, but also to practice their English, speech, and oral presentation. Some students overcame their immense stage fright to complete the assignment and did what was asked and others completely ran with it and would change into a costume and get dramatic – how appropriate.
There were students who were not confident in their English-speaking skills. They were afraid to miss a pronoun or not pronounce a word correctly – and let’s be honest I threw “Ye Olde English” in their faces on top of their normal grammar lessons. I always supported them and by the end of the year, they were begging me to recite, share, and read more Shakespeare. In one case, there was a student who struggled really hard with the language. By the end of the year, this student was met with a roaring applause when they completed one of the longer memory activities for me.
Additionally, I have found kid-friendly Shakespeare plays written in modern English and would read it to my class. They now adore Shakespeare and hopefully will not be so bored when they meet him again in high school. At the very least, they have an understanding of him.
I am excited to implement Shakespeare into my lessons and in my classroom once more. I am not merely sharing my biased love of Shakespeare with a bunch of 4th graders. I am inspiring students to make connections in stories and in literature, helping them stand before an audience, and to improve their speaking skills.