Connecting the Bard

I sent a tweet out to Web English Teacher asking her how she gets students interested in Shakespeare in today's modern world were we seem so disconnected from time of quills, ink, handwritten plays and no twitter. Her response was short, but that is to be expected when working with only 140 characters. Connect Shakespeare to modern life was her answer, and after brainstorming on her five word answer I have realized the potential for teaching Shakespeare, and how giving a stronger effort to connect Shakespeare with the student's modern life is how they will become interested. I feel like I am walking in that direction with my research: modern teaching methods of Shakespeare.


I also sent out a wide range of emails to current teachers asking them which plays they teach most often. All of them mentioned Romeo & Juliet since it is mandated in some states and practical in others. However, The Taming of the Shrew is the second most taught play according to the teachers I surveyed. I have started reading the play in its entirety, and plan to see the adaptations of the play as well.

Sunday Musings

1) Daily Shakespeare sighting comes from Ben Wagner

B) Thank you Jake for your post about Good Will Hunting quoting Henry V. I watched the movie as I got ready this morning, and it is now one of my favorite movies. That is one of my favorite parts about these blogs. We get to learn and try new things based off what others have recommended.

3) Have you ever searched "Shakespeare" in Twitter? Well, I did, and I could literally watch the tweets pile up. People are tweeting about Shakespeare every minute. I could barely keep up with the incoming tweets on Shakespeare let alone read the past tweets. My favorite tweet was from Kennedy-Nicole about her weekend drawing a comic about Shakespeare.

D) I was researching a bit of the history from Merchant of Venice before I start reading the play, and I ran across this article from PBS. Honestly, I didn't learn so much from the article's main point as I did a passing line from the author saying, "He was also an exceptionally good business man with a keen sense of what his audience wanted." I've always thought of Shakespeare as a writer not a business man. This line threw my preconceived perception of Shakespeare out. He was a business man. His plays aren't only famous now; they were famous as they were being written! Maybe this is obvious to some, but to me it was a revelation that Shakespeare wasn't writing for us, but he was running his own business. He was observing the world around him and writing plays that would appeal and relate to his neighbors. But they relate to as well? Has society not changed at all in the last 250 or so years? Are these characteristics of envy, war and love so ingrained in a person that whether they be good or bad characteristics they will not go away?