Shakespeare Set Free: Teaching Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth & Midsummer Night

by Peggy O'Brien

The Folger Shakespeare Library is one of the world’s leading centers for scholarship, learning, and culture. The Folger is dedicated to advancing knowledge and increasing understanding of Shakespeare and the early modern period; it is home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection and one of the leading collections of books and materials of the entire early modern period (1500–1750). Combining a worldclass research library and scholarly programs; leadership in curriculum, training, and publishing for K–12 education; and award-winning performing arts, exhibitions, and lectures, the Folger is Shakespeare’s home in America.

This volume of the Shakespeare Set Free series is written by institute faculty and participants, and includes the latest developments in recent scholarship. It bristles with the energy created by teaching and learning Shakespeare from the text and through active performance, and reflects the experience, wisdom, and wit of real classroom teachers in schools and colleges throughout the United States.

In this book, you’ll find the following:

· Clearly written essays by leading scholars to refresh teachers and challenge older students

· Michael Tolaydo’s brilliant and accessible technique for classroom teaching through performance

· Day-by-day teaching strategies that successfully and energetically immerse students of every grade and skill level in the language and in the plays themselves – created, taught, and written by real teachers

Genres: Teaching, Education, Shakespeare, Plays, Professional Development, Drama

288 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2006

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Shakespeare Set Free series is absolutely indispensable for anyone who plans to teach the bard in middle or high school. I found a dog-eared copy of this thing in my library at school last year when I taught Hamlet, and the kids absolutely loved the lessons I adapted from it. Solid, teachable, fun ways to get really complex ideas and language across to kids.

[Diz · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent resource for those who are teaching Shakespeare. Each of the three plays covered here include more than a month's worth of lesson plans, so if you have less time in your class, you can pick and choose from a wide variety of plans. I like that each lesson plan comes with a realistic way to evaluate the students's progress in the lesson. I don't teach Shakespeare in my class, but I was able to find some good activities to use in my readers's theater and scriptwriting classes.

[Jocelyn Lugo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great ideas for teaching Shakespeare. I focused on "Romeo and Juliet" personally, but the ideas for "Dream" and "Macbeth" were also good and were saved for future dates.

[Grace Mal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good instructions, but they do focus a lot on modern dramatic techniques. This definitely helped with my lessons though

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

For this book, I only focused on the suggested lesson plans of "Romeo and Juliet." I hope to review and apply lessons of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Macbeth" if/when I teach those plays. This book was very helpful in coming up with ideas for lesson plans, along with what to focus on.

As a young educator, I found some of the lessons to be spot on for my students, but others were not so much and, in my opinion, space fillers for the study of Shakespeare.

I was thankful for SSF being paired with the Folger edition of "Romeo and Juliet." The Folger edition is my favorite text and has the best footnotes and synopsis to accompany to text.

I would recommend this text to other young teachers or veteran teachers looking to add something new to the teaching of "Romeo and Juliet."

[Kari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Currently I am reading this book for class -- it's fabulous. We use so many of these lessons & this book challanges me to be a better teacher. I highly recommend it, or it's sister books, to anyone who teaches Shakespeare!

[Sarah Gross · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-have for anyone who teaches Shakespeare. I would love to go to one of Folger's mini-institutes someday!

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doesn't get good until p.27, but all of the lessons are practical and useful.

[Wendie Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really well done and easy to navigate.

[jdhazle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource. Used it extensively when teaching Romeo and Juliet.