Mr. Shakespeare's blog

Folger Education Partners with PBS on “King Lear”

This from the Folger in partnership with PBS:

The Folger Shakespeare Library, home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, partners with PBS this month to provide educational resources on teaching Shakespeare in the 21st century. Experts from Folger Education are sharing innovative ways to incorporate Shakespeare’s King Lear, and other literary works, into history, social studies, English, and language art through:

• contributing to PBS’s Media Infusion, an online forum for sharing ideas on using multimedia resources in the classroom;
• moderating a webinar in the PBS Teachers LIVE! Series;
• providing online lesson plans and demonstrations for using digital media and the web.

Gail Kern Paster, director of the Folger Shakespeare Library, will be a special guest contributor on PBS’s Engage blog and answer “5 Good Questions” on the play. PBS airs the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of King Lear, with Sir Ian McKellen in the title role, later this month.
“We believe that Shakespeare is for everyone, and new technologies such as remixes, social media and other tools for creative interpretation allow students to discover and rediscover Shakespeare in ways that are timeless and relevant. We are excited to partner with PBS to bring teachers new ideas that they can immediately apply in their classrooms,” said Robert Young, head of Folger Education.

A panel of Folger Education experts, drawn from schools across the country, will present and demonstrate methods for teaching Shakespeare using digital media during a webinar on March 18. All of the presenters are alumni of the Folger’s nationally-known Teaching Shakespeare Institute, and include Robert Young, head of Folger Education; Michael LoMonico, Senior Consultant on National Education for Folger Shakespeare Library and a lecturer at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y;  Christopher Shamburg, Associate Professor of Educational Technology for New Jersey City University in Jersey City, N.J.; Amy Ulen of Tumwater High School in Tumwater W.A. and founder of www.ShakespeareHigh.com; Mary Ellen Dakin of Revere High School in Revere, M.A. and Josh Cabat, an English teacher at Roslyn High School in Roslyn, N.Y.

In addition to presenting in the PBS Teachers LIVE! Webinar, Michael LoMonico is a guest expert for PBS’s Media Infusion. In “Mashups, Remixes, and Web 2.0: Playing Fast and Loose with Shakespeare,” LoMonico suggests practical strategies on how to use multimedia resources to approach King Lear in the classroom.

“Today, advances in technology have given Shakespeare teachers excellent tools to help students explore the texts more closely,” LoMonico explains.” These Web 2.0 tools empower students and give them real-world tasks that they can post for the whole world to see.”

To learn more about PBS’s Media Infusion, please visit http://www.pbs.org/teachers/mediainfusion/. 

To read Gail Kern Paster’s response to “5 Good Questions” please visit http://www.pbs.org/engage/blog on April 2. 

Learn more about Folger Education’s partnership with PBS and its resources for teachers at www.folger.edu/lear. 

This from the Folger in partnership with PBS:

The Folger Shakespeare Library, home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, partners with PBS this month to provide educational resources on teaching Shakespeare in the 21st century. Experts from Folger Education are sharing innovative ways to incorporate Shakespeare’s King Lear, and other literary works, into history, social studies, English, and language art through:

• contributing to PBS’s Media Infusion, an online forum for sharing ideas on using multimedia resources in the classroom;
• moderating a webinar in the PBS Teachers LIVE! Series;
• providing online lesson plans and demonstrations for using digital media and the web.

Gail Kern Paster, director of the Folger Shakespeare Library, will be a special guest contributor on PBS’s Engage blog and answer “5 Good Questions” on the play. PBS airs the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of King Lear, with Sir Ian McKellen in the title role, later this month.
“We believe that Shakespeare is for everyone, and new technologies such as remixes, social media and other tools for creative interpretation allow students to discover and rediscover Shakespeare in ways that are timeless and relevant. We are excited to partner with PBS to bring teachers new ideas that they can immediately apply in their classrooms,” said Robert Young, head of Folger Education.

A panel of Folger Education experts, drawn from schools across the country, will present and demonstrate methods for teaching Shakespeare using digital media during a webinar on March 18. All of the presenters are alumni of the Folger’s nationally-known Teaching Shakespeare Institute, and include Robert Young, head of Folger Education; Michael LoMonico, Senior Consultant on National Education for Folger Shakespeare Library and a lecturer at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y;  Christopher Shamburg, Associate Professor of Educational Technology for New Jersey City University in Jersey City, N.J.; Amy Ulen of Tumwater High School in Tumwater W.A. and founder of www.ShakespeareHigh.com; Mary Ellen Dakin of Revere High School in Revere, M.A. and Josh Cabat, an English teacher at Roslyn High School in Roslyn, N.Y.

In addition to presenting in the PBS Teachers LIVE! Webinar, Michael LoMonico is a guest expert for PBS’s Media Infusion. In “Mashups, Remixes, and Web 2.0: Playing Fast and Loose with Shakespeare,” LoMonico suggests practical strategies on how to use multimedia resources to approach King Lear in the classroom.

“Today, advances in technology have given Shakespeare teachers excellent tools to help students explore the texts more closely,” LoMonico explains.” These Web 2.0 tools empower students and give them real-world tasks that they can post for the whole world to see.”

To learn more about PBS’s Media Infusion, please visit http://www.pbs.org/teachers/mediainfusion/. 

To read Gail Kern Paster’s response to “5 Good Questions” please visit http://www.pbs.org/engage/blog on April 2. 

Learn more about Folger Education’s partnership with PBS and its resources for teachers at www.folger.edu/lear. 

Shakespeare? Elementary, Watson

The English press was full, yesterday, of stories on the government's latest initiative to bolster national interest in the nation's seemingly leading export: Shakespeare.  Children as young as five years old will be introduced to the works of Shakespeare, and a number of teaching initiatives, "with tried and true teaching methodologies" are being advanced among primary students.  Here are links to the wide press coverage this story gained:

• Five-year-olds to study Shakespeare (The Guardian)
• Shakespeare 'for five-year-olds' (BBC)
• Shakespeare lessons for five-year-olds to be introduced (The Education Union)
• New drive for Shakespeare appreciation in schools (The Telegraph)
• Making Shakespeare simple: Children to be taught the bard's work from age six(Mail Online)
• Shakespeare to be taught to five-year-olds (Birmingham Post)
• Children as young as five to learn Shakespeare(Times Online)

The PDF ("Shakespeare for all ages and stages") describing the new effort can be read from the department for schools, children and families.

While England was abuzz, the rest of the world, seems not to have noticed.  Really, I suppose there are two questions: 1) Is it appropriate to introduce so complex an author to such young children?; and 2) What makes English pedagogues think Shakespeare needs their help?

On the first head, I would submit there are some things inherently unsuitable to the "for Dummies" treatment: nuclear physics, reformation theology, and the works of Shakespeare among them.  Simplifiied explanations can exceed the point of obviating their objects.

On the second head, the last time I checked the Shakespeare industry was thriving and needed no help from educators.  In fact, in spite of the best effort of educators to discourage interest Shakespearea has triumphed.  If one could invest in Shakespeare.inc it would be the better than owning Google.

Ah well, elementary educators will be elementary educators, one supposes.

The English press was full, yesterday, of stories on the government's latest initiative to bolster national interest in the nation's seemingly leading export: Shakespeare.  Children as young as five years old will be introduced to the works of Shakespeare, and a number of teaching initiatives, "with tried and true teaching methodologies" are being advanced among primary students.  Here are links to the wide press coverage this story gained:

• Five-year-olds to study Shakespeare (The Guardian)
• Shakespeare 'for five-year-olds' (BBC)
• Shakespeare lessons for five-year-olds to be introduced (The Education Union)
• New drive for Shakespeare appreciation in schools (The Telegraph)
• Making Shakespeare simple: Children to be taught the bard's work from age six(Mail Online)
• Shakespeare to be taught to five-year-olds (Birmingham Post)
• Children as young as five to learn Shakespeare(Times Online)

The PDF ("Shakespeare for all ages and stages") describing the new effort can be read from the department for schools, children and families.

While England was abuzz, the rest of the world, seems not to have noticed.  Really, I suppose there are two questions: 1) Is it appropriate to introduce so complex an author to such young children?; and 2) What makes English pedagogues think Shakespeare needs their help?

On the first head, I would submit there are some things inherently unsuitable to the "for Dummies" treatment: nuclear physics, reformation theology, and the works of Shakespeare among them.  Simplifiied explanations can exceed the point of obviating their objects.

On the second head, the last time I checked the Shakespeare industry was thriving and needed no help from educators.  In fact, in spite of the best effort of educators to discourage interest Shakespearea has triumphed.  If one could invest in Shakespeare.inc it would be the better than owning Google.

Ah well, elementary educators will be elementary educators, one supposes.

Folger Teaching Shakespeare Institute

We love sending out information about learning and teaching opportunities, and here is a great one.  The Folger Teaching Shakespeare Institute will be held July 6 - August 2, 2008.  Here is the formal announcement:

NEH has approved funding for a 4-week summer Institute in DC in the summer of 2008.

The curriculum for the 2008 Institute will include:

The Taming of the Shrew
Much Ado about Nothing
Richard III, and
King Lear.

About TSI

Since 1984, the Folger Shakespeare Library has held a regular series of Teaching Shakespeare Institutes funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. These Institutes bring together the country's most talented teachers with scholars, curriculum consultants, and actors, and offer participants the opportunity to research in the world's foremost Shakespeare collection.

Recent Institutes have successfully disseminated this research worldwide through the teacher-created lesson plans on the Teaching Shakespeare Web site.

The Folger's Shakespeare Set Free series of books also includes lesson plans from earlier Institutes.

Applying

TSI is open to American secondary-level teachers.

Each participant receives a stipend of $3,000.

Applications will be available here in mid-November, 2007.

Applications are due by March 3, 2008.

Decisions will be sent out April 1, 2008.

---

Here are some of the great teaching/learning resources from the Folger web site:

• Teach and Learn
• Teaching Materials
• Shakespeare Links
• National Programs for Teachers and Students
• Undergraduate Programs
• Shakespeare for Kids
• Shakespeare in American Life

This is just a sample.  Explore their 5-diamond web site to discover more...

Folger Teaching Shakespeare Institute

We love sending out information about learning and teaching opportunities, and here is a great one.  The Folger Teaching Shakespeare Institute will be held July 6 - August 2, 2008.  Here is the formal announcement:

NEH has approved funding for a 4-week summer Institute in DC in the summer of 2008.

The curriculum for the 2008 Institute will include:

The Taming of the Shrew
Much Ado about Nothing
Richard III, and
King Lear.

About TSI

Since 1984, the Folger Shakespeare Library has held a regular series of Teaching Shakespeare Institutes funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. These Institutes bring together the country's most talented teachers with scholars, curriculum consultants, and actors, and offer participants the opportunity to research in the world's foremost Shakespeare collection.

Recent Institutes have successfully disseminated this research worldwide through the teacher-created lesson plans on the Teaching Shakespeare Web site.

The Folger's Shakespeare Set Free series of books also includes lesson plans from earlier Institutes.

Applying

TSI is open to American secondary-level teachers.

Each participant receives a stipend of $3,000.

Applications will be available here in mid-November, 2007.

Applications are due by March 3, 2008.

Decisions will be sent out April 1, 2008.

---

Here are some of the great teaching/learning resources from the Folger web site:

• Teach and Learn
• Teaching Materials
• Shakespeare Links
• National Programs for Teachers and Students
• Undergraduate Programs
• Shakespeare for Kids
• Shakespeare in American Life

This is just a sample.  Explore their 5-diamond web site to discover more...