I have always loved reading and consider myself a reading junkie. I knew right away that I wanted to teach reading, so that I could keep reading and reading and reading. In middle school, "English" was always my favorite subject; I couldn't wait to read books with my teachers and classmates. I loved reading out loud during class, because the teacher would stop and discuss what was going on in the book. It was like a class book club. I remember reading The Catcher in the Rye, Tom Sawyer, Night and Dawn, and many other books that opened up the world to me.
One of my favorite reading experiences in middle school was reading Shakespeare's Macbeth. I clearly remember the classroom: desks in rows, the teacher's desk at the front, brown empty walls, and green chalkboards. The teacher would toss the cassette into the "boom box", and the actors' voices would bring the classroom to life. Each actor was different, and we followed along with our Penguin publishers version of the play.
Although I did not understand much of the actual play, being able to listen to it made such an impression on me. Hearing the language, listening for tone...it was such a new and exciting experience. And the fact that there was a murder and talk about blood (this was 6th grade in 1980) was so startling. I think it was the first book I read where we actually discussed the psychology of people and the mysteries of the mind and guilt. I loved it.
I still love Shakespeare, but I struggle with teaching it. If I had an entire year to work on Shakespeare, I would accept the challenge. There is so much there...one unit would never be enough time to do W.S. any justice!
Shakespeare in middle school? Wow! That's great! As an actor and lover of Shakespeare myself, I can't help wondering if it was the actor's voices that turned you on so much. Shakespeare wrote to put bread on his table and coppers in his pockets, not to be remembered as the greatest playwrite in history. I have taught Shakespeare to 7th and 8th graders for many years and their favorite parts were when we got it on it's feet and played with it. Whether it was trading insults in Midsummer or Romeo and Juliet, or sword fights for Twelfth Night, it was always the most anticipated unit of the year. We ended each time with a Shakepeare Festival where we invited other classes to come and watch us perform. Kids loved it! Darby
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ReplyDeleteMy 10th grade English teacher pushed me WAY out of my comfort zone with Shakespeare! He had us act out the "double double, toil and trouble" scene from "Macbeth", which made me so anxious because I couldn't understand what was happening in the play. But the way he taught it to us, and then pushed me to get out of my comfort zone while reading it, was definitely a turning point in my reading career. Once I tackled Shakespeare, I felt like I could read anything.
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