Teaching Shakespeare School 2011

The Teaching Shakespeare School

Summer and Fall 2011
at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford

The Teaching Shakespeare School provides for teachers an opportunity to learn approaches to teaching Shakespearean plays as drama. Teachers spend three days at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival previewing plays and working with a team of professional actors to explore strategies to help demystify Shakespeare: Wednesday, AUGUST 24, Thursday, AUGUST 25 and Friday, AUGUST 26.

What is the Teaching Shakespeare School?

The Teaching Shakespeare School provides for teachers an opportunity to learn approaches to teaching Shakespearean plays as drama as well as literature. Many English teachers read his plays to their classes as literary works only and thus the intent of the author and the impact of the work are lost.

What are the goals of Teaching Shakespeare School?

• To support the teaching of classical drama in general, and Shakespeare in particular, as a vital part of the educational experience.
• To enrich the teachers’ expertise in teaching Shakespeare by exploring the plays from a drama-based approach, by studying the plays in historical and artistic contexts, and by viewing and discussing the plays as productions.
• To increase students’ understanding of the dramatic process in general, and Shakespearean text in particular.
• To enrich students’ experience of the arts and their understanding of the central role the arts play in our lives.
• To enhance the enjoyment of Shakespeare for both teachers and students in the classroom and at the theatre
• To enhance artists’ and teachers’ creative development by encouraging partnerships, thereby promoting the appreciation and understanding of their interconnected endeavours.

Who are the teaching artists?

Artists who participate in the Teaching Shakespeare School may either be appearing in the current Stratford Shakespeare Festival season, or have performed with the company in the past. Actors who have participated in the program include:
Graham Abbey, Donald Carrier, Laura Condlln, Edward Daranyi, Diane D’Aquila, Keith Dinicol, Sarah Dodd, Barbara Fulton, Dana Green, Deborah Hay, Jonathan Goad, Adrienne Gould, Haysam Kadri, Jean-Michel Le Gal, Sarah McVie, Gareth Potter, Brad Rudy, Julie Tepperman, Sara Topham, Nicolas Van Burek, Jeffrey Wetsch.

Who can participate?

New and experienced teachers alike are encouraged to participate. The program is divided into three sections: Elementary (with a capacity of 35 teachers), Secondary English (with a capacity of 35 teachers) and Secondary Drama (with a capacity of 20 teachers).

Teachers must indicate at the time of registration the number of classes they will have participating in Stages II and III. The number of teachers accepted into the program will be adjusted according to the number of teachers with more than one participating class.

Preference is given to teachers registering in groups of two or more from the same school.

The Three (or Four) “Stages”

Participation in the Teaching Shakespeare School involves three stages (four stages for Drama teachers): Summer Workshop Sessions, Classroom Visits and Student Theatre Trips (plus the Student Players Festival for drama classes).

Stage I: Summer Workshop Sessions

Each participating teacher will spend three days in August at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival working with artists on sections of Tweflth Night and The Merry Wives of Windsor.  All participating teachers will have the opportunity to see performances of the plays over the course of the workshop days (in really great seats!) at no cost.
The purpose of these sessions is to encourage teachers and artists to form good working relationships in preparation for classroom visits. Artists and teachers will explore drama-based approaches to text, and plan and schedule artist visits to the classroom. A list of resource materials will be made available, with special recommendations. The Stratford Shakespeare Festival will provide handouts of all the exercises which the teachers and artists explore together. The 2011 workshops take place August 24 (9:00 – 4:00), August 25 (9:30 – 4:00), and August 26 (9:30 – 12:30).

Stage II: Classroom Visits

Each teacher will have been paired with an artist who will make three visits to the classroom, where together the teacher and the artist will work to enrich the students’ experience of the text and prepare students for the theatrical experience. Visits are one regular class period in length; at least one of these sessions should take place before the students see the play. The text used/explored should be one of the plays studied in August. It is important to note that the techniques explored in the August workshops are applicable to any Shakespearean text, and may be adapted to other non-Shakespearean scripts.

Stage III: Student Theatre Trips

Each teacher, with his or her students, will attend the Stratford Shakespeare Festival to see a performance of the play they studied. During the August workshops, teachers will have the opportunity to choose from a selection of dates in October for which excellent seats have already been reserved.

Stage IV: Student Players Festival (optional)

Students present a short scene from a Shakespeare play at the Student Players Festival at the Studio Theatre in Stratford, November, 2011 (exact dates tba).

What is the Cost?

• The Stratford Shakespeare Festival funds the August sessions and the classroom visits by teaching artists. On Friday, August 26, lunch will be provided for both teachers and artists.
• The only cost to teachers is transportation to and from the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in August, and any additional expenses incurred while in Stratford during the first stage of the program, including all other meals, and accommodations where necessary. Affordable accommodations are available at the Stratford General Hospital Residence. For information, contact the Residence at 519-271-5084 or visit their website at www.sgh.stratford.on.ca/residence/.
• The program does not cover the cost of student theatre tickets and transportation. The school and/or students will pay the student price of $25 per ticket. Seats have already been reserved for classes participating in the program. Schools must make their own transportation arrangements and the school and/or students must cover the cost of their transportation.
• A deposit of $120 is required to secure your registration. The deposit will ultimately be applied to your ticket order.  It is refundable only prior to June 1st.  For cancellations after June 1st your deposit will be donated to the Shakespeare School bursary fund (in which case a tax receipt will be issued).

PLEASE NOTE

• Participating teachers must commit to all three summer workshop dates. Teachers may forfeit their performance tickets if they have already seen the shows, and are not required to attend the August 26 luncheon.
• The continuity of the relationship between teacher and artist is intended to provide an opportunity for artists to observe and practice teaching pedagogy and for teachers to observe and practice new arts-enriched strategies in the classroom. Therefore, the three artist classroom visits are not to be considered as guest workshops: rather, teacher and artist work collaboratively to deliver curriculum.

It is also important that artist and teacher work together with the same class for three sessions, in order to deepen the learning and create a more meaningful experience for the students.