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Teaching Diary 6: Shakespeare
Oct. 11th, 2020 08:34 pmSo, I’m starting Julius Caesar with my sophomores this week and Macbeth with my seniors the week after fall break, and, y’know, I don’t think I’m ready. My kids are a lot more politically savvy than I was in high school, and these two plays, with dictators and removing terrible leaders by murderous force, what with The Way Things Are in the world. I don’t know. I’m having all sorts of feelings that I can’t quite name.
I used to have a lot of feelings about the way the plays we’re required to read are tragedies. I think experiencing tragedy through literature is valuable, and a safe way to experience some of these emotions. However, many of my students have very real experiences with political upheaval and violence. I think the language of the plays keep things far enough removed, especially after I spend time with them picking it apart in rhetorical analysis that the results won’t be particularly triggering, but I do worry.
I am actually allowed to choose another play if I really want to, but to be honest, I’m not that familiar with the bulk of the works aside from plot summaries. I’ve seen a bunch of them performed. I do NOT want to delve into a history play. I do NOT want to read Hamlet. I cannot even with Hamlet. Othello is good but still heavy.
I have a specific set of standards to meet with these units, so that gives us some detachment. But as I scrolled through Twitter tonight, looking at videos of protests going on a scant few kilometers from my apartment, I get all in my head about what the point of me being here is, what can I do with these kids, what should I do for them. At this age, I really feel like it’s time to go beyond plot synopsis and selected response tests. I want them to engage with the texts, but I also want them to still have hope.
I’m thinking of buying my kiddos copies of Terry Pratchett’s The Night Watch for our novel unit in British Literature. I love that novel, and I think Pratchett’s works do the wonderful, delicate work of giving us a good, hard look at the world but kindling hope.
Anyway. If you have any thoughts about Caesar or Macbeth, do shout at me in the comments.
I used to have a lot of feelings about the way the plays we’re required to read are tragedies. I think experiencing tragedy through literature is valuable, and a safe way to experience some of these emotions. However, many of my students have very real experiences with political upheaval and violence. I think the language of the plays keep things far enough removed, especially after I spend time with them picking it apart in rhetorical analysis that the results won’t be particularly triggering, but I do worry.
I am actually allowed to choose another play if I really want to, but to be honest, I’m not that familiar with the bulk of the works aside from plot summaries. I’ve seen a bunch of them performed. I do NOT want to delve into a history play. I do NOT want to read Hamlet. I cannot even with Hamlet. Othello is good but still heavy.
I have a specific set of standards to meet with these units, so that gives us some detachment. But as I scrolled through Twitter tonight, looking at videos of protests going on a scant few kilometers from my apartment, I get all in my head about what the point of me being here is, what can I do with these kids, what should I do for them. At this age, I really feel like it’s time to go beyond plot synopsis and selected response tests. I want them to engage with the texts, but I also want them to still have hope.
I’m thinking of buying my kiddos copies of Terry Pratchett’s The Night Watch for our novel unit in British Literature. I love that novel, and I think Pratchett’s works do the wonderful, delicate work of giving us a good, hard look at the world but kindling hope.
Anyway. If you have any thoughts about Caesar or Macbeth, do shout at me in the comments.
