Exploring Cultural and Pedagogical Approaches to Teaching

1
Exploring Cultural and Pedagogical Approaches to
Teaching Shakespeare or How to TeachRomeo and
Juliet

• By
• Christina Maffa
• Advised by Dr. Emily Meixner

2
How do I teach Shakespeare?

• Youre a freshman English Teacher and know youre
  going to be teaching Romeo and Juliet this year,
  so the first question you naturally ask yourself
  is How do I teach RJ? What can I do to make
  this work in my classroom? But wait . . .
• As educators, the first question we should be
  asking before we ask how? is why?

RIGHT THERE!
3
Not How? but Why?
WHY?
HOW?
Why youre teaching determines how you will teach
4
Developing a Critical Consciousness

• Awareness that our ideas come from a particular
  set of life experiences
• Ability to trace our ideas to their sources in
  our experience
• Acknowledgment that others will have equally
  valid, if different, life experiences and ideas
• Acceptance that ideas about what is normal or
  right are the products of life experiences not
  universal laws

5
Purposes of Education
Why teach Shakespeare?
6
So why do I want to teach Shakespeare?

• Shakespeare provides a context for students to
  consider their own humanity, their relationship
  to others and their place in society
• Requires its audience to ask questions
• Incorporates performance/ visual aspect as a
  means of understanding and analyzing text
  engaging students of with different learning
  styles

7
Approaches to Teaching

• Standardist teacher possesses knowledge which
  she has to impart to students students are
  assessed on whether they retain the knowledge and
  eventually use the knowledge theyve acquired as
  a way to succeed
• Constructivist/ Student Centered- each person in
  the classroom brings their own experiences to the
  text, each has something to contribute to the way
  the text is perceived

8
Standardist vs. Constructivist

• The assumptions the teacher holds about what
  knowledge is valuable for students might not be
  the same assumptions students hold
• An exchange of knowledge will not work if
  students see no purpose in acquiring the
  knowledge the teacher thinks is necessary for
  them
• Understanding students experiences and making
  them a central part of the approach to teaching
  creates a space where their identities are
  validated

9
Assessing students prior knowledge

• Because students experiences and knowledge are
  the basis of a student-centered approach, before
  I begin teaching I need to know what prior
  knowledge and experience they are bringing to the
  text and what they will need to know to help them
  better engage with the text.

10
Historicizing Shakespeare

• The more we know about the real lives of these
  audience members, the more we can appreciate the
  art they loved (Isaac EJ 61).

11
Meet and Greet People from Shakespeares Time

• Create small paragraphs from the point of view of
  a person during Renaissance England and give to
  students to read, or have students create these
  paragraphs by researching a specific person/ type
  of person from Shakespeares time
• Possibilities include Shakespeare, Queen
  Elizabeth, Working class citizen, young adult
  boy, young adult girl, groundling, actor in a
  Shakespeare play, others who are relevant to the
  play you are reading
• Students can read these aloud to each other in
  small meet and greet groups and then discuss
  Shakespeares world and how it relates to ours

12
How does this connect back to the Why?

• Activity develops students awareness of human
  beings who lived during the time of the play
  allowing the opportunity for connections to made
  between their human lives and our own
• Provides the context to talk about the meaning of
  the play

13
Prior Knowledge Language

• Working with smaller pieces of Shakespeares
  work first (sonnets, short passages)
• Comparing a break down of Shakespeares
  language to language that students are more
  familiar withsong lyrics

14
Prior Knowledge Play
15
Play Romeo and Juliet

• Traditionally a part of most 9th grade curricula
• Plot has become part of our popular culture so
  students usually bring their own set of
  expectations for and knowledge of the play
• Teaching often reaffirms the idea of
  star-crossed lovers who are destined to die

16
Questions a traditional teaching might focus on

• What is tragic flaw of Romeo and Juliets love
  that leads to their deaths and in what ways is
  this manifested throughout the play?
• Discuss the relationships between parents and
  children in Romeo and Juliet. How do Romeo and
  Juliet interact with their parents? Are they
  rebellious, in the modern sense? How do their
  parents feel about them?
• For what reasons is the love between Romeo and
  Juliet so special?

17
What does a traditional teaching of RJ mean for
students?

• Romeo and Juliets relationship is a true
  representation of love
• Their deaths are inevitable
• Implication that students like Romeo and Juliet,
  as young adults in a world where the rules and
  norms are already set for them, have no power and
  no control

18
Re-envisioning the Tragedy

• Tragedy is often perceived to mean that the main
  character is fated to die (usually because of a
  tragic flaw) however this implies humans are
  powerless.

For tragedy is an imitation, not of men, but of
an action and of life, and life consists in
action and its end is a mode of action, not a
quality Aristotle

• What if instead tragedy is viewed as the
  consequence of the actions of the characters,
  societys influence on the choices they make and
  not a predestined fate?

19
Romeo and Juliet Reconsidered
Traditional Question

• What is tragic flaw of Romeo and Juliets love
  that leads to their deaths?
• Is Romeo and Juliet a tragedy because the main
  characters are fated to die or because they see
  death as their only option? In a society where
  the rules and norms are constructed by others,
  can young adults assert their beliefs or control
  their future, without resigning themselves to
  either submit to societys expectations or to
  death?

Constructive (Dense) Question
20
Romeo and Juliet Reconsidered
Traditional Question

• For what reasons is the love between Romeo and
  Juliet so special?
• What are the various definitions of love
  presented in Romeo and Juliet and do these
  definitions give power to or take it away from
  the protagonists? Would you define Romeo and
  Juliets relationships as one of loveor is it
  something else? Where do your definitions of love
  come from? How does love translate into power in
  todays society?

Constructive question
21
Romeo and Juliet Reconsidered
Traditional Question

• Discuss the relationships between parents and
  children in Romeo and Juliet. How do Romeo and
  Juliet interact with their parents? Are they
  rebellious, in the modern sense? How do their
  parents feel about them?
• What role do the adults play in bringing about
  the tragic ending of the play? How do Romeo and
  Juliets perception of the adults and the adults
  perception of them affect Romeo and Juliets
  understanding of their choices? Do you see this
  disconnect between parents and teenagers in your
  own life/ community? What do you think could
  bridge the gap between the adults and young
  adults?

Constructive question
22
Reading Activities

• Bookmarks
• Comparison of different film interpretations
• Pictorial representations
• Examining edited versions of the text
• Soundtrack to Shakespeare
• Lit Circles with young adult novels relating to
  the plot/ themes of the play

23
Comparing Different Film Versions

• After reading a scene (or instead of reading a
  scene) show two different film versions of that
  scene
• While watching students can be thinking about
  setting, sound, props/ costuming, script,
  delivery, cinematography and/or blocking
• Analyzing the different directors choices shows
  that there is more than one way to interpret a
  play and that the choices a director makes can
  profoundly influence the meaning of the play

24
Two Versions of Romeo and Juliet
Directed by Baz Luhrmann (1996)
Directed by Franco Zeffirelli (1968)
25
Performance Activities

• Using blocking, prompt books, costuming in
  student direction of a scene
• Re-mix
• Performing Shakespeare in non-traditional
  settings
• Student film
• Shakespearean Slide Shows

26
Shakespearean Slide Shows

• Act 3 Scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet is one scene
  that could be used to examine the question of the
  role of the adults in the play
• Students create a human slide show by creating
  a series of tableaux, grouping of silent
  motionless actors to represent the sequence of an
  scene
• Relying on more than words to communicate
  meaningwhat we see also contributes to how we
  interpret the text
• Activity prompts students to think about
  blocking, character motivation, subtext,
  interpretation and the larger questions that
  surface in the scene

27
Literature Circles with Young Adult Novels
28
What is a Literature Circle?

• A literature circle is a student run discussion
  of a particular book. Students are assigned into
  groups of 4-6 based on the book they want to
  read. Each student occupies a different role
  (discussion director, artful artist, connector,
  passage picker, summarizer, etc.) in the
  literature circle and is responsible for bringing
  certain materials to class on the day of
  literature circle discussions.

29
Why Literature Circles?

• Student-Centered (students experience,
  knowledge, the meaning they create become the
  focus of the discussion)
• Prompt students to apply what they are reading to
  other contexts
• Develop variety of critical reading skills
• Provide opportunity for differentiated instruction

30
Why use Young Adult Novels with a Shakespeare
play like Romeo and Juliet?

• These texts provide students with
• A new context in which to discuss the issues of
  the play
• A different thematic focus
• Contrasting character/plot/setting choice,
• Alternatives to the ending Shakespeare provides

31
Choosing the books to read along with the play

• Heirs to Shakespeare
• Internet resources
• Bookstore websites (amazon.com)
  (Barnesandnoble.com)
• Not all books you find will fit the purposes of
  your classroom (Armageddon Summer)

32
King of Shadows by Susan Cooper

• Main character, Nathan, a boys drama troupe that
  travels to London to perform at the Globe
• Upon arrival in London, Nats illness causes him
  to travel back in time to 1592 where he finds
  himself a part of Shakespeares acting group
• Not connected to Romeo and Juliet but recreates
  the historical setting of Shakespeares

33
What does this book offer?

• Comparison of our time and Shakespeares time
  through the eyes of Nat
• Exploring the workings of the theatre
  rehearsals, costuming, blocking, audience
  reaction
• Political implications of Shakespeares plays
• Using text from Shakespeare

34
Romeo and Juliet Together (and alive!) at Last
by Avi

• Middle school students who decide to put on a
  production of Romeo and Juliet
• Reversal of the situation of the play Romeo and
  Juliet --the protagonists are in love with each
  other but reluctant to show their love
  (presumably because they are in middle school)
  and their friends are working towards bringing
  them together through the production of the play

35
Questions/ Issues Raised

• How does Shakespeares portrayal of love between
  teenagers compare to this portrayal and why are
  they different or the same?
• What are societys expectations for teenagers in
  terms of the power they can exercise over their
  choices?
• Turning Romeo and Juliet into a comedy?

36
Breaking Rank by Kristen D. Randle

• Casey volunteers to tutor Baby (Thomas) who is a
  member of the Clan, a non-conformist, all male
  group who isolate themselves from the High School
  population
• As their relationship develops, both teenagers
  begin to come into conflict with their
  peers/family for associating with someone outside
  their accepted circle
• Casey and Baby must struggle with how to maintain
  their relationship with each other and at the
  same time their relationship with their
  friends/family

37
Questions/ Issues Raised

• How do the choices Casey and Baby make affect the
  outcome of their relationship?
• How does the clan influence the role gender plays
  in the story?
• Relationships with adults

38
Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper

• Romiette and Julio are two teenagers who come
  from different backgrounds Romiette is
  upper/middle class African American and Julio is
  lower/middle class Hispanic
• They fall in love but soon encounter threats to
  their relationship from the local gang who are
  opposed to interracial relationships which causes
  their love to become progressively more dangerous

39
Questions/ Issues Raised

• Using the issue of race to provide the context in
  which the two lovers come into conflict with
  those around them
• Gang membership/ violence
• Rhetoric of love
• Support from friends/family
• Destiny/ Fate
• What choices do these characters make that leads
  to their situation at the end?

40
Final Points to Consider

• Asking why first, not how knowing the why
  will help you determine the how
• Making students experiences central to the
  classroom considering their prior knowledge
• Re-envisioning the tragedyRomeo and Juliet A
  play about choice not fate
• Thinking about the various activities you can
  plan with the why in mind

41
One Last Thought

• Its essential to take a conscious look at our
  assumptions because they largely determine the
  effectiveness of our strategies and the quality
  of our results . . .assumptions about schools,
  students, teaching, and learning all influence
  teachers actionsand teachers actions have
  enormous consequences not only for the students
  whose future they shape, but also for American
  society (Hinchey 4).

42
THE END

• Thank you for coming!
• Questions?