I received the e-mail below, erroneously, as it turns out. I guess I have a similar e-mail address to the intended recipient. I thought it was fascinating, so I thought that I’d share it. It has no personal identifying content, so I don’t think there is any harm in posting this. I’ll take it down if anyone’s bacon ends up in the frying pan, as it were.
The e-mail appears to be a student teacher’s journal concerning her efforts to teaching Shakespeare to high school students. I have not edited the content.
Journal 3- 2/11-2-15
Monday- today was a tough day. It was my first day back after being out for three days and returning to a “graffitied” classroom. I jumped right into instruction, we started reading Act 1 Scene 1 of Twelfth Night. The desks were arranged into a circle, which was a change of routine for the students, so I had to address some new rules for being in this arrangement. I didn’t plan too much, except to read the first scene in a round robin fashion, interpreting and discussing as we went. By the end of this week of Shakespeare, I’ve found it’s better that they have some kind of graphic organizer in front of them while we are reading because there’s a lot of idle time for misbehavior. I addressed the graffiti in the way you suggested. “This is our room and it’s disappointing that someone has chosen to treat our space like this.” I have a feeling it was 1 student who is never in school, and when he is, does nothing but mischief, but I have no proof.
Tuesday- another tough day. I was exhausted and highly irritable, which made me agitated during class. Some students who don’t normally read, volunteered which was great. The kids were struggling a lot with the Shakespearean language, and I often felt like I was “lecturing them” in a way. Kind of like a college class where the teacher enlightens the students on the hidden meaning in the words, these kids don’t really go for that. It’s tough right now though. With all the breaks, and the time I missed, I wanted to get a lot of reading and interpretation done this week so we could pick up the pace. I tried a group work assignment today which didn’t go well in the first two classes, but worked in the third. I think it was because of the time constraints. We really only had like 5-8 minutes remaining in the first two classes when I handed out the assignment (create stage directions and movement for the actors in such and such lines), so they were ready for the next class.
Wednesday- Better day. My strength was back, so I was able to function with more energy and clarity. We read today with the No Fear Shakespeare version which helped the students. Again, though, it was mostly reading to move through the play and I felt as if I was drawing out all the meaning in the different characters, and only after a while did some kids start making connections and inferences.
Thursday- today the students really acted out the 5th scene in the 1st act. They stood in the middle and wore silly hats that I brought in. They really enjoyed this and it helped everyone gleam much more meaning because they were putting actions and movement behind the words. More kids are volunteering to take on parts, which is also great. We started reviewing homework which only a very few number in each class had completed. I was frustrated because I wasn’t sure if the students didn’t complete it because it was too difficult (it was 6 questions about Feste the fool, ranging from impression to specifics), or if they just didn’t look back at the scene to help them answer the questions. I think it was the latter, but I spent more time reviewing in the ELL class to make sure. In the class where we got through the reading we were able to do an excellent review activity, going around in the circle each person had to say the name of a character, and someone else had to explain this character’s role. They liked this and took notes for tomorrow’s quiz.
Friday- we played a review game and had a quiz. went well.