Pre-Flight

I'm back on Blogger and in the midst of packing for my next adventure. Over the next 17 days, I will be visiting London, Edinburgh, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Paris!

I have the opportunity to do this now because at my high school we have a two-week Senior Project period after exams to work on our own unique projects. I took AP European History this year (it is a fabulous class by the way), so I thought that traveling to Europe and bringing history to life would be a wonderful experience. I also knew Europe would be the perfect destination because I wrote my senior thesis on William Shakespeare's greatest tragedy Hamlet. In addition to visiting sites and seeing art work that I learned about in Euro, I wanted to further my appreciation of the Bard by visiting his birth place (Stratford-upon-Avon) and checking out the Globe Theatre in London. 

I actually started my Senior Project before this May. At the end of April (more specifically, April 23rd, Shakespeare's birthday), I went to the sixth grade to share with them some of what I have learned about Shakespeare throughout my high school career. 

 (Me with my old-fashioned Post-It Note Board) 

I started by having each sixth grader write down something she knew about Shakespeare on a sticky note and told her to stick it on a board that had Shakespeare's face on it. I shared this information with them over the next few pages on the Post-It Note Board:

Born: April 23, 1564

Died: April 23, 1616 (52 years old)

Occupation: Playwright, poet, actor

Nickname: “Bard of Avon”

Family: Married Anne Hathaway – had 3 children: Susanna, Judith, Hamnet

Wrote 3 types of plays:

1.     Comedies – often included mistaken identities, women disguised as men, miscarried letters, weddings

2.     Tragedies – main characters doomed to death

3.     Histories – stories of kings and great noblemen living in times of war and rebellion

Wrote 154 Sonnets:

                  14 line poem

                  Iambic pentameter

            “Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?” (Sonnet 18)

Rhyme scheme in a Shakespearean sonnet is a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g; the last two lines are a rhyming couplet.

Master at portraying human nature in his works

“Holds up to his readers a faithful mirror of manners and of life.” ~Samuel Johnson 

***

Next, I handed out copies of part of a scene from Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night and had the 6's take turns reading as Viola and Olivia. I explained that though Shakespeare's language seems complicated, his themes, morals, and ideas are still applicable to life today. To prove that this was true, I showed them clips of She's the Man, a modern adaptation of Twelfth Night starring Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum. I'm pretty sure the hilarious film was their favorite part of the lesson. 

Teaching the sixth graders about Shakespeare and how he is still relevant today was a surprisingly rewarding experience. Below is a picture of me with one of the classes that I taught. 

Now that my exams are over and I finished teaching the sixth graders, I can focus all of my energy on my trip, the last part of my Senior Project. Tomorrow, I have a 5:45am flight to look forward to...that should be fun. Next time you hear from me, I'll be in London!