Lesson Idea: The Top Ten Shakespeare List

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Here is a clever idea that may engage your students in a short lesson plan, as well as open their eyes and minds to what Shakespeare has brought to the table.  Create a top ten Shakespeare list.  Here are some top ten Shakespeare ideas you can work with:

  • Characters (Puck, Hamlet, Othello… Who’s #1?)
  • Re-written story lines (i.e. Lion King or West Side Story, etc)
  • Speeches (To be, or not to be)
  • Quotes (Out, damn spot, out!)
  • Phrases (Method to his Madness)
  • Words (i.e. Alligator, Minds-eye, Dalmation, etc)

Let me know if you think of more, so I can share with other educators!

Here is a short Top Ten Shakespeare phrases video to kick it off for your class – bet ya didn’t know all these:

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Lesson Idea: The Top Ten Shakespeare List was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Can Shakespeare get you to Disneyland?

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Okay, I will be the first to tell you that I am a big Disneyland fan. Now, to hear that there is an opportunity for doing some theater, dare I say SHAKESPEARE, and that’ll get me in the gate at Disneyland on the cheap, I am all about that! This a great article about a school that is trying to do just that.

I really want to root them on, because anytime you can get Shakespeare and Disneyland tied into one joint effort, that makes it all the more worthwhile.

Below is the story about their journey:

http://m.gazette.com/local-theater-students-will-compete-at-disney-world/article/1515215

Can Shakespeare get you to Disneyland? was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Another #ShakesTweet – Henry IV, Part 1

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Here’s another great post by Alan Peat doing 50-tweets renditions of Shakespeare’s greatest plays.  This time, Henry IV, Part 1 (I wonder if he has a History of the World, Part 1, misc tweet or two in there?)

Here is an excerpt or two and a link to the actual post:

1402. Henry IV wants a crusade but there’s trouble at home – Ed. Mortimer (English) captured by Glendower (Welsh leader); 1000 English dead

And there’s more: their ‘private parts’ have been chopped off. Even more – Hotspur not handing over Scots prisoners from Battle of Holmedon

Alan Peat’s Henry IV, Part 1 tweet blog

Another #ShakesTweet – Henry IV, Part 1 was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Testimonial of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol for Kids

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The following testimonial touched my heart so much, I had to share it.

I was following up on a Goodreads book giveaway that I did for my latest book Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol for Kids. When a mom came back with two paragraphs of glowing sentiment. Here’s an excerpt of what she wrote:

Thank you again so much. I can’t even begin to thank you enough. It was so fun watching them put on this play and the memories we all made will never be forgotten. This is definitely going to be a play they put on every year I’m sure, they just had so much fun! Seriously when his friends came over he was showing all of them that it was signed by the author for him! It’s so great to see him and his friends getting into having so much fun with a classic

I was so excited about this testimonial that I shared it with my wife and when I looked up she was crying. The fact that we were able to touch children with these books the way that we did really moved her and, to perfectly honest, really motivates me to continue this journey.

To all the moms and teachers out there who carry the torch of excitement about education to the children, thank you.

Brendan

Testimonial of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol for Kids was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Can Shakespeare’s Henry V be done in 30 tweets? #ShakesTweet

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Fellow blogger and Shakespeare fan, Alan Peat, (@alanpeat) was a bit bored one day and decided for his 50th birthday to tweet all of Shakespeare’s plays in 50 tweets or less (not in one day, cuz, that’d be a bit crazy).  So, he knocked out his first “Shakestweet”, Henry V.

twitterThat leads to my thoughts on another Shakespeare lesson plan, the ShakesTweet.  What a great way to engage technology with Shakespeare.  As I’ve said before, probably half your kids already have a twitter account, and what a great way to get the basic storyline across?  140 characters can actually go a long way.

When I write my books, I start by making the play as short as possible, with as few characters as possible.  Only then do I have the basic core of the story, the frame.  From that frame, I can scaffold on more characters, details, and subplots of the play that I deem fit for the kids and the level of melodramatic nonsense I want to incorporate.  (It’s pretty fun!)  I’m no Shakespeare aficionado, I just love engaging kids and seeing them grow from learning through excitement and passion.

So, get your kids engaged with the ShakesTweet lesson plan, and be sure to mention me in the process, so I can follow along: @Shakespeare4kid #ShakesTweet

See you in the matrix…

Brendan

Can Shakespeare’s Henry V be done in 30 tweets? #ShakesTweet was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Violence, Kids, and Shakespeare – It’s all good…

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I was chatting with another mom the other day about telling bedtime stories to kids. Her five-year-old son had asked her to tell him a story about knights with swords. Before she knew it, she found she was telling him the story of Hamlet. She went on to describe the panic she felt when she realized that there was a lot about Hamlet that maybe wasn’t so child-friendly. Infidelity? Check. Insanity? Check. Fighting, poison, murder? Check. Check. Check. So, that raises the question: how appropriate are Shakespeare’s plays for kids, anyway?

If you’ve ever taught our plays, you’ll notice that kids go crazy over death scenes. They love swordplay and dying as dramatically as possible onstage. So…is this something parents should be worried about? (Now mind you, we DON’T do Titus, so don’t worry about that!)

Turns out there is a lot of research about video game violence and kids, but not so much about “playing with swords” or “kids playing murderous villains.”

Lisa Zamosky’s article on WebMD has this to offer about kids playing violent games:

“Play has been linked to social and cognitive development. Through imaginary games, children learn how to control impulses, delay gratification, think symbolically, and view things from another’s perspective. Play also allows children to act out their fears and aspirations.”

I also ran across a lovely article written by Janet Field-Pickering, who is the Head of Education at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Although she was addressing exposing children to the language of Shakespeare, not the violence, I thought her sentiment was fitting:

“Children learn through playing. They learn how to interact with other people; they learn to collaborate; they learn to express themselves through language and movement.”

The key word in both of the quotes above is ‘play.’ Don’t forget, they are reading and performing ‘plays.’

Do kids need to be exposed to all of humanity’s darkness? No, of course not. Do we put in every mention of sex, drugs and rock and roll, er, I mean Baroque, mentioned in these plays? Nope. Actually, we do gloss over much of the more adult situations in the stories, not only for propriety’s sake but for time’s sake as well.

The bottom line is that kids are smart. They understand that it’s make-believe. They get that all the dying and murder and violence is part of the story, and by acting these things out, they are learning to make sense (or make fun) of the world around them…both the world on the page and the world beneath their feet.

Violence, Kids, and Shakespeare – It’s all good… was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Lesson idea: Kids take over Shakespeare’s Home

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What a great “day in the life” experience!  Being a kid and working at Shakespeare’s home for the day!!!  I recently came across this a great little article out of the UK about some kids learning about the world of “work and decision making”.  But, what really hit my mind, was that they were in charge…

Lesson idea: Kids take over Shakespeare’s Home was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

The Lulu App: Engaging Teens and Rating #ShakespeareMen

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I recently came across a post about an app called Lulu.  Now, mind you this is not an app for kids or Shakespeare for kids, yet, I’m thinking of this as much more for getting teenagers engaged with Shakespeare.  While reading the article about Lulu and Shakespeare’s male characters, which I thought was pretty funny (mind you, it’s not much of an “article” as it is a list of statements about Shakespeare’s male characters) it got me lulu-logothinking about being in high school again. (Actually, I hated high school and the simple thought of high school actually made me want to punch a wall, but, I will save that thought for my shrink…)  So, knowing this thought, I figured that Lulu might be a great avenue to engage teens with Shakespeare.  It’s got the perfect mix: Twitter, technology, smartphones, boys and girls, sex, and Shakespeare.  Yes, I said Shakespeare (hell, if any of you know Shakespeare at all, it’s all about boys, girls, and sex… why teenagers don’t like him for these very reasons, I don’t quite understand…yet, I tangent again…).  So, if we want to get these hormone crazed young adults hooked into something exciting, let them do a project with Lulu and Shakespeare…. which leads me to the article I came across.

The original article is here by Caitlin Kelly.  You really need to read it yourself to get the full enjoyment out of it. (again, it’s not much of a “read” as it is a bunch of one liners, but the teens, well, they’ll get it).  A description from the NY Times article about Lulu:

On Lulu, women can rate men in categories.… The hashtags are used to calculate a score generated by Lulu, ranging from 1 to 10.

Well, Caitlin goes on to show a few hashtags about some of Shakespeare’s more prominent males: Romeo, Hamlet, Macbeth, and a few more.  Below is a list of hashtags and men.  See if you can connect them to the correct male…

Romeo
Hamlet
Macbeth
Puck
Petruchio

#Man’sMan
#MakesMeLaugh
#ObsessedWithHisMom
#Unicorn
#CrayCray

 

 

 

 

Now that was fun… but, onto the potential lesson plan…if you haven’t already thought of it yourself.  Have your kids go on the Lulu app and start putting in the different Shakespeare male characters and see what they start getting back.  It will enlighten them on what a diverse array of characters Shakespeare created in a language that they understand. (I mean, who says “craycray” anyway if your over 17 years of age, right?)

So, now let’s get to Twitter.  I’m on twitter all the time, mainly to meet other people who teach Shakespeare and want to get kids more involved with him.   So, one of the keywords I search for is “teach Shakespeare”, makes sense, right?  By doing that, I see ALOT of teens tweeting about how Shakespeare has ruined their life or wasted their time, or how Eminem should be taught instead of Shakespeare because that’s “someone I can actually understand and relate to”.  And I’m leaving out all of the colorful f-bombs that these kids drop on the Bard for the sake that this is a family blog!  But, the point is, the kids use this forum to vent about Shakespeare, so, let’s turn the tables and have the kids use twitter to brag about him…At this point, have them tweet a description of a male character to all their friends, classmates, teachers, whatever… (I’m also assuming, by this time in their life, they are well into using twitter anyway and are probably sitting in your class right now doing just that very thing!)

The point is, we have tied in teens, tweets, and education about Shakespeare’s male characters in one fell swoop… should be fun!  I would love to hear if someone actually engages this idea in a class and how it goes.  If you do, have them tweet me their messages: @Shakespeare4kid

Till the next time…

Brendan

The Lulu App: Engaging Teens and Rating #ShakespeareMen was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Performing Shakespeare – Days 2-6ish – The Formula

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This is a continuation from the article “Shakespeare in a Can: Six Days With the Bard From Start to Stage.” The second installment of performing Shakespeare.

REMEMBER, this mini-Shakespeare play you are doing is NOT a perfect play. Heck, if you want to make it perfect, please don’t do it; that’s a complete waste of creativity, and the kids are chock full of creativity – let’s pull it out! I specifically reference these plays as “Melodramatic Masterpieces,” so please don’t forget the MELODRAMA piece….  It’s what gets the parents rolling in the audience and the kids coming back for more! Remember, performing Shakespeare MUST BE FUN!!!

Day 2: BLOCKING & HIGHLIGHTING

blocking 1By now you have the casted the play. So step 1 here is to highlight their lines.  I have a great little technique to get the kids all on the same page, “if it’s blue, it’s what you do” Just follow that link to see the easiest way to organize your highlighting. Step 2 is to do a read through just wherever you are (sitting at a desk, sitting on stage, on the grass outside next to a lake with ducks floating by, wherever). Once you have done your first read through, the next thing to do is start blocking. First of all, the definition of blocking, for those of you who don’t know: to plan or work out the movement of performers in a play. This is where the “F’s” come in… it is fun, frustrating, and FOREVER! Yes, the first time walking through and doing basic blocking of the play seems like forever, but don’t worry, it speeds up quickly! You will probably only get through the play maybe once, but call it a wrap and head home. HOWEVER, emphasize to the kids to start memorizing their lines (always do this, sometimes it takes a while to sink in). Also, remind them that as of Day 5, you will be “off-book” (no scripts) so, good luck.

 Day 3: MORE BLOCKING

You may get through the play only two times today. But that’s okay, the kids will have a basic idea of what they are doing and where they are going now. KEY POINT: kids will start coming up with their own ideas for their character – GO WITH IT! This is where their creative juices starting to flow. This is VERY IMPORTANT; if they feel empowered with the Bard, and start having fun with Shakespeare, they will start to embrace his work more and more (you are on your way to creating a Shakespeare monster!).

Oh yeah, and start thinking about costumes. WHAT! Costumes? Yes, costumes. This can be a major headache or really simple. I go with the really simple route myself. Hit Walmart or K-mart the day after Halloween and buy a bunch of plastic swords, renaissance type costumes, and miscellaneous fun stuff (the Witches are great fun to buy for). I typically throw everything in one or two bins and tell the kids to have at it. They spend about 20 minutes trying on costumes and seeing if they can make things fit, it’s great fun! But don’t do this piece until Day 5 (or the day before the show).

Most of the time there are at least one to two parents that can make a costume or two as well. You’ll always have those few talented moms out there who love to help! They are the BEST!

And remind the kids again… on Day 5 we are off book!

Day 4: AND MORE BLOCKING

blocking 2Now you are starting to move a little faster. Some kids know their lines, other kids don’t, but they are starting to come up with ideas whether for costumes, props, how to die on stage (with dramatic sword fighting of course!) or whatever, just go with it! Keep remembering, the entire goal here is to have fun with Shakespeare. The kids will love it, the parents will love it, and I bet ya Willy will be watching too and having a great ol’ time!

And remind them, next time we meet we are off book!

DAY 5: OFF BOOK

Yep, that’s right. These two to three run-throughs today will be a bit slow, but by the third time you go through it, most kids will be moving pretty well with their lines and starting to really have fun!

DRESS UP TIME!

Okay, pull out your two to three bins of clothes and let the kids have at it. Remember, this is NOT a perfect play. Some of the clothes will not fit perfectly (that’s what clothes pins, belts, and duct tape are for). If kids have their own stuff, let them bring it in too. They will really love doing this! (Although, I once had a kid want to bring in his own “authentic” pirate sword…well, let’s just say that didn’t happen!)

At this point, you are welcome to add more days for rehearsals. As any director will tell you, actors can ALWAYS use more rehearsals!

Day 6: DRESS REHEARSAL and PERFORMANCE.

I typically do the performance in the same time slot that I have been doing all the other group meetings and rehearsals, but it is up to you. This day starts straight away with getting into costumes. You should perform two dress rehearsals just before the big show. And at this point, just let the kids just run it with no interference. Don’t even go backstage for this, they need to learn that the world is really their stage. Just stand back and enjoy the show.

THE BIG SHOW

By this time, the audience has filed in and you are ready to go with the show. So, to break the ice, you get on stage first. Thank the kids for all their hard work, the parents for putting up with Shakespeare in their homes for so many weeks, and then stand on stage and introduce the wrong show. Set this up before hand with all of the kids yelling from backstage the correct play. i.e.: “I am proud to announce today’s play, ‘Hamlet.’” From backstage the group says, “NO!”. Then one kid wanders on stage, whispers into your ear the correct play and you proceed to change your intro to: “I am proud to announce today’s play…(asking backstage so the audience can hear) what is it again?” Then all the kids yell in unison, “MACBETH!” “Oh yeah! Right! I am proud to announce today’s performance of …‘Macbeth!’” This typically helps break nervous tension that the kids have built up.

Then stand back and watch the show!!!!

That’s about it – pretty simple, huh?  But remember, the ONE simple rule… when performing Shakespeare, MAKE IT FUN!!!

For more information or fun items like the Shakespeare Insult Generator, or an acting guide, check out the site or read some of the other blog posts.

Break a leg!

Performing Shakespeare – Days 2-6ish – The Formula was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

The Shakespeare Dictionary – Shakespeare for Kids

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The Shakespeare Dictionary, otherwise known as a lexicon, is a very handy tool. For one, I have had numerous teachers contact me to ask me what a specific word means, or to understand what context a word should be used in, or in what play it was found. So, in one shot, I am going to answer all of these questions, in various ways, depending on your mode of absorption.

Shakespeare Dictionary BOOKS

First of all, the easiest for your bookshelf is to find a Shakespeare Dictionary and purchase one. Here are a couple I have used in the past, with some quick notes:

Shakespeare Lexicon by Alexander Schmidt – this is a republication of a body of work first published in 1902… the good news is that not much has really changed in Shakespeare’s plays, so, neither have the definitions… I like this one because it gives the play (down to what line in what scene), and the definition of the word in the context it was used for that given play. However, some of the language is old school and may not be as appealing to the kids, as they use this as a reference tool.

I personally like using a Shakespeare Glossary by CT Onions. Although a bit pricey, it is well worth it.  It’s a newer version and has every word and what scene it was spoken as well as the definitions in it. The glossary is very easy to understand.

Shakespeare Dictionary ONLINE

There’s also an online Shakespeare Dictionary.  It’s useful when using technology in the classroom.  He also has a book, Shakespeare’s Words, that goes along with this so you can use them in tandem.  I have not personally used the book, so I can not speak to it, but I do like approaching education in multiple angles.  So, this may be a great option for you.

Shakespeare Dictionary APP

And lastly, there is a great Shakespeare app that is able to help you.  Having a Shakespeare dictionary in your smartphone is the best way to go.  It is called “Shakespeare” by Readdle.  It has all the books in it as well as definitions, I have been using it for years.  Best of all, it’s free!

If you know of any other Shakespeare dictionaries or references, let me know, I would love to review and share!

The Shakespeare Dictionary – Shakespeare for Kids was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books