Customer Reviews

Teaching Twelfth Night and Othello (Folger Shakespeare Library)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I taught Twelfth Night using this to a couple of Drama 10 classes and they complained about the amount of written work. I tried to edit it so that it was much more performance based, but they still complained. I know students always do, but still. Overall, these are fantastic books that totally make teaching Shakespeare fun and doable. The students enjoy it and they are great in an English classroom! I am still trying to figure out how to make them great in a drama classroom. :)

I am a first year English teacher and one of my classes is a gifted and talented class. When I saw Shakespeare's Twelfth Night on the curriculum, I freaked out a little, but this book was a lifesaver! I would recommend this book or any of the other editions to anyone who teaches Shakespeare. It's true, the best way to teach Shakespeare is to perform it!

I love this series so much. Have used it in the classroom to great success.

The underlying idea is very simple: take the plays off the page and they make sense to all students -- the high flyers and the ones with reading difficulties. Within these books are activities and projects that are bite-sized. They allow the script to be performed and/or analyzed and/or experienced WITHOUT the students having to undertake a full-blown performance.

AND there is no dumbing down of the text.

AND you can do a little of these books or every page.

BUT your students need to have the skills to work in groups.

The lessons provided are great and can easily be switched up to fit your own personal lessons. This book is great and highly recommended.

This is the best Shakespeare teaching material I have ever found. It does not "dumb" it down, rather takes the plays and makes them fun and accessible for all ages. It has six week unit outlines for each play, and a multitude of activities and resources. FANTASTIC!!!!

This book has many great ideas, but as a high school English teacher I found it lacking as a teaching guide. Essentially, one has to cobble together aims and learning objectives, not to mention learning standards, for him/herself. Its best feature is that the lessons, while not complete lessons for those of us who teach, are creative, original, and fun for students. Yet given the cost of this teaching guide, more of a companion, I felt it came up short.