Teaching a Midsummer Night's Dream

I am terrible at blogging. Oh well, I won't dwell on it. I think most of what can be said about the Turner essay has been said. So, I'm going to move on into A Midsummer Night's Dream.

As I said in my introduction, I haven't read much Shakespeare. I could have taken a Shakespeare course in high school, but wasn't interested at the time. I give you this information because it is with this limited scope that I say that I would really like to teach a Midsummer Night's Dream when I become a teacher.

Maybe there are better plays (possibly) and there are for sure more serious ones, and in due time I will read all of them. But, I do know this after multiple readings of A Midsummer Night's Dream that I really enjoy it, and so I think teaching it would be fun.

I found a site that has a few unit plans for A Midsummer Night's Dream, and I find one in particular interesting. It is titled "I will hear that play" which is a lesson focused on the language of the play. Students focus on what they hear, not necessarily what they see.

Shakespeare can be frustrating, at least for me, because there is so little in terms of stage direction. It takes a little getting used to (and if anyone has some tricks for reading plays, I'd love to hear them. It takes me much longer to get a feel for a play than it does a novel). But, this lesson deals with what is being said, the sound of the language. The lesson calls for students to watch a scene from the film and discuss what they hear. I think this lesson is off to a good start, but then discusses the role of Foley artists in a play, which is not exactly what I would want to discuss when teaching Shakespeare, but that's what this teacher wanted to do.

I think though that this lesson is a good start, because it brings into focus the language of the play. To hear the words can work to some students' benefits (those who aren't as strong of readers, or learn better  by hearing). We've talked at length about the words that Shakespeare uses, and to hear them through an actor lends the work to a different form of appreciation.

I'm thinking about how I'd like to teach A Midsummer Night's Dream, as well as Shakespeare in general. I'm working on my own sort of unit plan for it. I'll share it at a later date. I don't know how many other teaching option students there are in this course, so bear with me strictly Lit people. I'll be writing a lot about this topic. "How would I teach this? How can this relate to the common core?" I think this has some merit though in a LIT course. After all, if you are going to teach something, you had best engage in it to your fullest potential.