Author, Scott Nailor
Category Archives: Shakespeare
Bring Shakespeare to Old Time Radio–Common Core Standard 9
Most students are probably not aware that copyright protection laws are relatively new, so they might be surprised to learn just how many famous authors like Shakespeare borrowed and adapted others’ ideas. They should already know (I hope) that Stephanie Meyer’s books aren’t entirely original vampire stories, but they probably don’t know how many earlier “versions” of Romeo and Juliet you can find. Common Core Standard 9. Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work (e.g., how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible or how a later author draws on a play by Shakespeare). Although there are many authors who treat themes and topics from earlier works in their own, Shakespeare is one of the easiest to approach with students simply because one can find more information online about him than nearly any other author. If you are lucky … Continue reading
Posted in Audio, Classical Literature, Common Core Standards, Drama, Lesson Plans, Shakespeare, Technology Integration, World Literature
Tagged classroom technology, Common Core Standards, digital text, high school english, High School Lesson Plans, interactive lesson, language arts websites, middle school lesson plans, romeo and juliet, shakespeare, technology integration
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Put Your Students in the Shoes of an Aspiring Playwright
I know I’ve written a lot about Shakespeare resources on the web here but every time I Google Shakespeare or the title of one of his plays, I find something new and cool (and yeah, I’m a little obsessed with teaching Shakespeare lately but really I’m determined to make it fun and relevant for my students every year). This time I stumbled across a sweet game produced by PBS called the “Playwright Game” and it is part of PBS’ “In Search of Shakespeare” site which complements the televised series of the same name. With this simple, “choose your own adventure” role play game, students can learn a lot not only about Shakespeare but also about his contemporaries. The premise of the game is that you are a 16th Century Londoner who is responding to an advertisement for “one writer of plays needed for gainful employment in a major theatre…no experience … Continue reading
Posted in Drama, Reading, Shakespeare
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Add Some Spirit to your “Boorish” Shakespeare Plans
If you are looking for engaging, easy-to-adopt (or adapt) Shakespeare lesson plans, one of the best resources online for anything Shakespeare is the Folger library. I’m deep in the first act of Romeo and Juliet with my students right now, so I’ve been spending a lot of time browsing the net for new stuff. One of the problems with Shakespeare online is that there is just so much out there. I recently searched “Shakespeare Lesson Plans” on Google and got 693,000 results. And so much of it is the same old material. Where do you start? I get a headache thinking about it. But at the same time, I can’t help but feel after ten years that some of my Shakespeare stuff is getting, well, “weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable” (sorry, couldn’t help quoting Hamlet there). If you haven’t bookmarked the Folger Library site yet, you should. Liven up your … Continue reading
The Shakespeare Pages
In my last post I mentioned a project I have been working on. It’s more-or-less done now so I thought I would write briefly about it here. I hope to develop it more, but as they say, it’s never done, just due. I developed this project for a Visual Literacies class I just finished at Northern Arizona University (online). The Shakespeare Pages Project is a website designed for high school or middle school English students. Its purpose is first to convince students that Shakespeare is not as boring or as hard to understand as they might think. The pages of the site are designed to not only persuade but also to engage teenagers’ curiosity. The project’s purpose is also to teach students about Shakespeare’s time, Elizabethan culture, the Globe Theater, and about the social class differences that divided citizens of 17th Century England. The site is designed to integrate technology … Continue reading
Posted in Drama, Shakespeare
Tagged classroom technology, digital, digital text, engage students, english, high school, high school english, High School Lesson Plans, interactive lesson, language arts, Language Arts Lesson Plans, language arts websites, lesson plans, online english, online high school, online lesson plans, romeo and juliet, shakespeare, technology integration
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Interactive Shakespeare: A Really Cool, Totally Free Digital Textbook
November 23, 2010 It’s not hard to find Shakespeare resources on the internet. In fact, in a way it’s too easy, so teachers are often left to sift through thousands of bland websites in search of a unique and useful one. When I searched “Shakespeare Lesson Plans” on Google today, it garnered me more than 400,000 results. It’s hard to know where to start. But then I came across one that I think is especially remarkable, one that exemplifies everything I think of when I consider the term “interactive” in language arts. The Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project (CASP) Interactive Folio and Study Guide: Romeo and Juliet is one of the finest interactive resources I’ve come across in my search for truly interactive language arts resources. This is how CASP describes it on their site: “The Interactive Folio and Study Guide is the result of two years of research and … Continue reading
Posted in Drama, Shakespeare
Tagged digital, language arts, lesson plans, romeo and juliet, shakespeare, textbook
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