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)
  • It starts with everyone lining up and doing their best “death” (remember, this is melodramatic Shakespeare and most kids LOVE to die on stage!)
  • Then, I have every give me their best scream! (they just saw a dead body, it’s only logical!)
  • Lastly, I have everyone line up and give me their best evil laugh or witches cackle.  I first start off with teaching them how to do a basic evil laugh (Muwahahaha!!! Using their entire body in the process)
• Lastly, we do an Shakespeare Insult-a-thon and crown an insult champion!
  • A few days before, the class reviews and writes down various Shakespeare insults from the insult generator.
  • Have them practice on each other (or even their parents and siblings!)
  • Then we meet and start the Insult-a-thon.  Kids love it!
• At that point, it’s a Q&A about whatever Shakespeare title they are reviewing, Shakespeare, or even book writing and publishing.

You can engage your class this way on a first day of Shakespeare, or , if you are interested in learning more about me coming in for a classroom visit, you can email me at brendan at PlayingWithPlays.com

One other note, the typical grades that I visit are 5th through 7th, they are typically the most engaging when it comes to all the hands-on activities that we do!

Have fun engaging kids with Shakespeare!!!

Classroom Visits – Intro to Shakespeare was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books