Customer Reviews

Teaching Shakespeare: A Handbook for Teachers (Cambridge School Shakespeare)

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This is a comprehensive look at the many components of the Bard's work. Lots of detail and very little is left out. It could prove to be a valuable source for English and Theatre Arts teachers. It is so all-inclusive that teachers can choose to focus on certain sections or keep it as a worthy resource (which it is).

It's for the serious teacher of Shakespeare. Gibson is the man. He knows his stuff and he wants your students to know it too. But could you teach it all? Hardly. But you could teach some of it.

The book is user-friendly and it's a good companion to the Cambridge School Shakespeare series.

This book had some good background information about the teaching and criticism of Shakespeare set out in a simple manner. This is especially useful to teachers who may not have had any specific training in teaching Shakespeare and focuses on active teaching methods including classroom performance. There are a lot of innovative ideas to substitute the usual chalk and talk or reading lessons. While not all the ideas are practical or in my opinion worthwhile, there are a lot to choose from.

I bought this book based on the reviews contained in this section of Amazon. I am sorely disappointed in this book and its usefulness in my classroom. Having taught Shakespeare for over ten years, I find that this book brings nothing new to the table and I will probably never use it. The insight and suggested lesson plans are all old hat and boring. Oh, well............