I'm teaching a new Shakespeare class this year. I've yet to really teach the same one: When I first began, it was a co-taught class with a BYU professor who was only there every other day. Yet I learned a lot about teaching writing and showing students how to improve via revisions (so totally my strong point, don't you know) and hard work on their writing. The next two years I worked with another teacher, but he was in class even less frequently than the BYU professor. Each time was a refining of what had come before, and there was always a shift in the texts. (With Shakespeare, there's a massive crop to explore, which is exciting and a little intimidating.)
Last year, Shakespeare was also fine arts: Shax on the stage and the page was our idea, with different terms focusing on one part or the other of the Bard's oeuvre. I learned a lot about the actor (and acting), which was fun for me, if a little stressful. I haven't taught a drama class before, and I don't think I'm a good fit for protracted exposure to drama students. Their energy was difficult for me to channel, and the fit of the class and the teacher was poor.
So now I'm onto a new version: Adult Roles through Literature - Shakespeare. This one is also a weird creature, due to the fact that it's one part advice for young almost-adults as they transition from one stage of life to the other, but it's also using Shakespeare to illuminate and illustrate aspects of adulthood. This works on some of the large scale parts. Marriage. Courtship. Conflict resolution. Religion. Change.
But on other parts, it fails. There aren't recipes in Shakespeare, for example, nor advice on how to enroll in college or how to deal with social media drama. Some areas, then, lack specific Shakespeare corollaries, but on the whole I'm hopeful that it'll be memorable and useful to the students. Of course, I'm hoping that every time I teach a class, but this one is different. I want them to feel like they've gained insight into Shakespeare, that they've been given a loving tour of as much of the Bard as we can fit in, and that they're better people for having passed through the plays and poetry of William Shakespeare.
Confession: I don't know if I'm capable of teaching this class the way it ought to be taught. Not that I have any idea how it ought to be taught, which may be the problem. I don't know what it could or should look like, and there's no amount of augury that can give me the insight into knowing what will help them in the ways that Shakespeare has helped me. There are however, lessons and lines that I believe will make a difference. After all, though the class is new, Shakespeare is timeless. That's why I think it can work.
Last year, Shakespeare was also fine arts: Shax on the stage and the page was our idea, with different terms focusing on one part or the other of the Bard's oeuvre. I learned a lot about the actor (and acting), which was fun for me, if a little stressful. I haven't taught a drama class before, and I don't think I'm a good fit for protracted exposure to drama students. Their energy was difficult for me to channel, and the fit of the class and the teacher was poor.
So now I'm onto a new version: Adult Roles through Literature - Shakespeare. This one is also a weird creature, due to the fact that it's one part advice for young almost-adults as they transition from one stage of life to the other, but it's also using Shakespeare to illuminate and illustrate aspects of adulthood. This works on some of the large scale parts. Marriage. Courtship. Conflict resolution. Religion. Change.
But on other parts, it fails. There aren't recipes in Shakespeare, for example, nor advice on how to enroll in college or how to deal with social media drama. Some areas, then, lack specific Shakespeare corollaries, but on the whole I'm hopeful that it'll be memorable and useful to the students. Of course, I'm hoping that every time I teach a class, but this one is different. I want them to feel like they've gained insight into Shakespeare, that they've been given a loving tour of as much of the Bard as we can fit in, and that they're better people for having passed through the plays and poetry of William Shakespeare.
Confession: I don't know if I'm capable of teaching this class the way it ought to be taught. Not that I have any idea how it ought to be taught, which may be the problem. I don't know what it could or should look like, and there's no amount of augury that can give me the insight into knowing what will help them in the ways that Shakespeare has helped me. There are however, lessons and lines that I believe will make a difference. After all, though the class is new, Shakespeare is timeless. That's why I think it can work.