Tag Archives: middle school

Memes and Shakespeare – Class Project

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shakespeare meme

First of all, this was not my idea! But, it’s a brilliant way to engage your kids with Shakespeare, especially high schoolers! All credit goes to Larry Reiff (@Mrreiff) – as he says, “All the world’s an e-stage”! Love it!

Now, onto the great idea… Shakespeare analyzed via memes.  I know this is not traditional, but hey, we are about engaging our kids with the wonderful language and stories of Shakespeare any way possible, and this is PERFECT!

So simply, he has the kids analyze a scene and then find photos and memes that go with specific phrases.  See examples below. … Continue reading →

Why Drama is so Important in School – PART 2 – CREATIVITY

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why drama?

Part 2 of the 12 part series: Why Drama is so important in School. – CREATIVITY

Sherlock Holmes once questioned what the point was of filling his brain with useless facts, in this particular case, the Earth revolving around the Sun. As he would rather fill his brain with useful facts. Although I don’t completely agree with his philosophy, he does bring a point to light. That is, why do we learn as much as we do?  Well, I’ll tell you why.  It’s so we can take previous ideas, connect them, and create new ideas. The keyword here is: CREATE. Everything we do, who we are, … Continue reading →

Classroom Visits – Intro to Shakespeare

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Shakespeare classroom visit

Over the years, I have done many classroom visits.  It’s such a wonderful experience for me, the kids, and the teacher.  It’s a quick 45-55 minutes visit, that consists of the following:

  • 2-3 minutes about me and Shakespeare, quick and simple
  • 5-9 minute solo TOTALLY interactive one-man show retelling one play (i.e. Macbeth or Hamlet or check out some videos below!)
    • Typically, I pull kids out of the audience and have them say lines or get killed during the performance!
  • Then we have them do their “auditions” (mine are COMPLETELY different than typical auditions)

Classroom Insult-a-thon

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shakespeare insult video

Classroom Insult-a-thon

(Don’t forget, April 23rd is National Insult Like Shakespeare Day!)

It’s simple and fun and works like this:

  • Everyone writes up 3-4 different insults using the Shakespeare Insult Generator
  • They spend about 5-10 minutes practicing their insults, working on generating the appropriate delivery with angst!
  • Split the class into 2 groups that line up against each other
  • FIRST ROUND of insults: one student from each group steps forward and they insult each other with one of their insults.
  • The teacher, or some voting panel, votes for the best insult.  Loser … Continue reading →

    • Shakespeare and the show Friends – great English Class Video

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    Although Shakespeare used a lot of words we may not understand, and a lot of words people and kids will think are “big”, what’s clear is he was an artist with language.  Now, not many of us are ever going to be 1/8th as good with language as he was, but we will at least be articulate with a decent sized vocabulary.   Shakespeare’s language is a way of showing the world what artistic language can truly be like and what we can aspire to.  That being said, if we go the opposite way, and don’t embrace language at all, well, you can … Continue reading →

    #ShakesTag the Online Game of Shakespeare

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    #ShakesTag

    Well today is the day of the week that most people practice religion of one type or another. For some people it’s the church, others football, and to others, reading is religion. Stepping into a slightly tighter niche than that, Shakespeare. And some of these people who love the Bard, get together on Sunday for a friendly game of #ShakesTag.#ShakesTag Continue reading →

    STAGEiT! Shakespeare – Grades 5-8 – Book Review

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    STAGEiT Shakespeare

    This is a book review of STAGEiT! Shakespeare.  The author of STAGEiT! Shakespeare is Floyd Rumohr, and he was gracious enough to send me a few copies so I could review them and give some away to my followers.  I have 3 copies of STAGEiT! Shakespeare Grades 5-8 to give away, read on to learn how to be entered for this giveaway!

    First of all, I’m all about making Shakespeare much more accessible to the kids, as you all know from the Shakespeare for Kids books that I write.

    So, when I got a chance to … Continue reading →