Introduction
In many English classrooms, students are not only expected to be able to read the works of Shakespeare at the same pace and level of understanding as modern texts, but also take away as much, if not more, from the stories conveyed within the plays. This, I believe, is unfair to our students, no matter what age, as the works of William Shakespeare were not developed for such utility in mind.
First, many of the Shakespearean ‘classics’ taught in schools such as Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth are written as plays, and thus are meant to be experienced as such. We would not give a person the screenplay of a film such as Star Wars to read and expect them to feel the same impact as someone who saw the movie for the first time in the theater.
Second, the plays of William Shakespeare were not written with twenty-first century high-schooler's in mind. Many of the plays tackle issues or topics that the average student may have never come across before or even have the historical background to contextualize. Because of this, students can become bogged down by the seemingly mundane nature of the plays they are assigned to read and can miss the over-arching themes that can still be accessed and learned from to this day.
It is because of these two issues that I have created this unit; to take texts that have been glorified by the literary community while panned by students and find a middle ground where modern-day audiences can begin to extract new and meaningful themes within these pieces that are relevant to their current lives. Specifically, the goal of this unit is to approach the plays of William Shakespeare in a Social Justice context, and both compare and critique how they might relate to modern viewpoints on said topics.
Throughout this unit, students will be constantly addressing the questions of, “what social issues are being addressed within this piece,” “how do these issues relate to modern day problems we are facing in the world,” and “how might they be portrayed differently if written in the modern day?” Using these three questions as jumping-off points, students will work in groups throughout this unit to identify modern social issues within the plays of William Shakespeare, with each group centering around a topic of their choice, and evaluating how their topic is addressed within the plays as well as completing outside research on the subject, researching other literary examples of their topic, and even re-writing a segment of a Shakespearean play that addresses their topic.
Overview
The overall goal of this unit is that by the end of the unit students will be able to have a greater understanding of the Shakespearean plays and be able to pull real and meaningful themes and information from the text. This will be done through a series of assessments and tasks that will prompt students to dig deep into the text and think critically about the piece that they choose. These tasks include: expert groups in which students will be choosing a social issue of today and close reading a Shakespearean play to determine how this theme is portrayed within the piece, completing outside research on the social issue of their choice in which an in-depth view of how views on that social issue have evolved over time, and the re-writing of a play to adapt it to fit into the modern view of said social issue.
Some examples of modern social issues that can be found within Shakespearean play include (but are not limited to):
In many English classrooms, students are not only expected to be able to read the works of Shakespeare at the same pace and level of understanding as modern texts, but also take away as much, if not more, from the stories conveyed within the plays. This, I believe, is unfair to our students, no matter what age, as the works of William Shakespeare were not developed for such utility in mind.
First, many of the Shakespearean ‘classics’ taught in schools such as Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth are written as plays, and thus are meant to be experienced as such. We would not give a person the screenplay of a film such as Star Wars to read and expect them to feel the same impact as someone who saw the movie for the first time in the theater.
Second, the plays of William Shakespeare were not written with twenty-first century high-schooler's in mind. Many of the plays tackle issues or topics that the average student may have never come across before or even have the historical background to contextualize. Because of this, students can become bogged down by the seemingly mundane nature of the plays they are assigned to read and can miss the over-arching themes that can still be accessed and learned from to this day.
It is because of these two issues that I have created this unit; to take texts that have been glorified by the literary community while panned by students and find a middle ground where modern-day audiences can begin to extract new and meaningful themes within these pieces that are relevant to their current lives. Specifically, the goal of this unit is to approach the plays of William Shakespeare in a Social Justice context, and both compare and critique how they might relate to modern viewpoints on said topics.
Throughout this unit, students will be constantly addressing the questions of, “what social issues are being addressed within this piece,” “how do these issues relate to modern day problems we are facing in the world,” and “how might they be portrayed differently if written in the modern day?” Using these three questions as jumping-off points, students will work in groups throughout this unit to identify modern social issues within the plays of William Shakespeare, with each group centering around a topic of their choice, and evaluating how their topic is addressed within the plays as well as completing outside research on the subject, researching other literary examples of their topic, and even re-writing a segment of a Shakespearean play that addresses their topic.
Overview
The overall goal of this unit is that by the end of the unit students will be able to have a greater understanding of the Shakespearean plays and be able to pull real and meaningful themes and information from the text. This will be done through a series of assessments and tasks that will prompt students to dig deep into the text and think critically about the piece that they choose. These tasks include: expert groups in which students will be choosing a social issue of today and close reading a Shakespearean play to determine how this theme is portrayed within the piece, completing outside research on the social issue of their choice in which an in-depth view of how views on that social issue have evolved over time, and the re-writing of a play to adapt it to fit into the modern view of said social issue.
Some examples of modern social issues that can be found within Shakespearean play include (but are not limited to):
- The Merchant of Venice (Antisemitism, Sexual Orientation, Economic Inequality),
- Taming of the Shrew (Women’s Rights, Domestic Violence),
- Othello (Racism, Domestic Violence),
- Macbeth (Gender Identity),
- Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sexual Orientation),
- and Tempest (Post-Colonialism, Racism).