Weekly Shakespeare

One of my favorite traditions in our class is our weekly Shakespeare play. Ever since our production of As You Like It, the children have been deeply excited about Shakespeare. So, as we read The Wednesday Wars during February and March, we began learning about one Shakespeare play each week in an effort to keep up with the references the book's protagonist kept using. It has become a beloved tradition: each Friday, I tell the children one of Shakespeare's tales, while they act it out. We all look forward to our weekly Shakespeare sessions; it's even common for spelling bee winners (who have the option to post heroic pictures of themselves on the wall, or have a parade around the classroom in their honor) to name the right to choose their characters in that day's play as their chosen prize. I do most of the speaking and storytelling, but we try to hit all the most famous lines of each play, and afterward, we sit for 10-15 minutes and talk about the themes and characters of the play. Thus far, we have done The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Taming of the Shrew. My favorite part are the discussions afterward: the children have engaged deeply and shrewdly with such diverse topics as gender roles over the centuries and the relationship of power and choice (The Taming of the Shrew), the nature and pathos of tragedy (Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet), anti-Semitism (The Merchant of Venice), the pastoral tradition (As You Like It), and the results of revolution (Julius Caesar). I am continually astonished by the children's profound understanding of the events, characters and ultimate impact of each play.

This Friday: A Midsummer Night's Dream.