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The Tempest
Lessons and projects by students and teachers. Though technically part of British Literature, we thought he deserved a spot all his own.
A Day in the Booth
This 42 minute lecture gives an intepretation of Stephen Booth's ideas about the importance of words in a text. Stephen Booth has said that "Shakespeare is our most underrated poet." This lecture tries to explain why that is true. Pictures from the Go Dog Go part of the lecture can be found at this gallery (you should be able to click and go there while the audio plays.
43:13 minutes (19.79 MB)
The Tempest - Some Colonial Songs
Lyrics to two songs that can be used with the Colonialism/Imperialism Tempest Group Work (or they also work well as part of an in-class discussion). The two songs speak of colonialism from different points of view, and they are: "Don't Drink the Water" by The Dave Matthews Band, and "Bed's Are Burning" by Midnight Oil. The first of these tunes was suggested by a student - who always prove to be an invaluable source for new media.
Forbidden Planet Movie Questions for The Tempest
The movie Forbidden Planet works incredibly well as a companion-movie when teaching The Tempest. The ideas, themes (a word I rarely use), and relationships between its characters both echo those found in Shakespeare's work as well as bringing up some of its own that are worth thinking about and discussing. I must confess that I rarely (if ever) show the movie version of a novel or play and much prefer to have students make their own critical connection to a new but related piece of work.
Literary Criticism Day 6: Marxist Literary Theory
This next to the last day is spent with the students working on Marxist Literary Criticism. In seven days it wasn't possible to cover all of the possible schools of Literary Criticism and those we do cover are admittedly simplified and rushed through. Perhaps the biggest goal is to give students enough of a taste and feel for literary criticism - when students have come back from college they have let me know that they feel confident talking about this material which was something that I certainly never was able to feel in discussions of Literary Criticism.
The Tempest and Colonialism - Group Work 1
This group work is designed for after students have read Acts I & II of The Tempest. In addition to having students make connections within the text to the ideas of imperialism and colonialism, it also brings in (using a separate handout) some outside texts that the students can then try to connect to Shakespeare's text. I have revised this handout in 2010 to include the idea of colonialism in Haiti and its lasting damage. As with most of the exercises here that have a political theme, I do attempt to keep it light-handed and to have the students draw their own conclusions. Read more »
Literary Criticism Day 5: Deconstructionism and Shooting and Elephant
This is, without a doubt, the most difficult of all of the concepts that the students will study during this week of Literary Criticism. In addition to their reading on an Deconstructionist's analysis of The Tempest - the students will also look at "Shooting an Elephant" from that same perspective. There are a some things that I have done to try to bring them to an understanding. The first is that I have given them two days to read and digest the ideas for todays collaborative exercise. I will usually go back to a straight examination of The Tempest - in the interim. The other thing that I have done is to try and give them practical explanations of Deconstructionism.
The Tempest Act 2 - scene 2 - Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban - 2009
In the midst of reading this scene - I talk about why I fell in the love with The Tempest, at an age not too different from that of my current students. We also talk about the idea that the "savage" Caliban is given some of the most beautiful lines in the entire play.
19:08 minutes (8.76 MB)
Literary Criticism Day 3: New Historicism and Montaigne's "On Cannibals"
Day Three of Literary Criticism consists of an examination of the school of New Historicism. As with all of the days of this unit, students will have read the night before - not only about that particular part of Literary Criticism - but also will have read an excerpt (in this case) from a New Historical perspective of The Tempest. By giving them a text that considers something that they are currently reading, I believe it helps them to become engaged in this difficult subject material. There is also a reading from Montaigne in today's reading - that is directly applied to both New Historicism and The Tempest (Shakespeare stole parts of it word for word for Gonzalo's speech about the island).
Caliban & Miranda: An Illuminated Text on The Tempest by Jurgis Alvikas
The student that created this insightful illuminated text is an artist and a brilliant thinker -- both of those are reflected in this presentation that uses the painting "The fall of Icarus" as its backdrop to show that connection of oppresion that exists on Prospero's Island. The use of animation, the music, and the text are significant, appropriate, and as I said brilliant.
The Tempest - A class reading - Act 1, scene 2
We pick up were we left off with the Tempest in the Lunchroom. We try to cover the largest scene found in any Shakespeare play -- and I must confess that at times all of the exposition makes it lose some of the usual zing. Still there are some really great bits of discussion here.
36:42 minutes (16.8 MB)
The Tempest - from Full Fathom Five (Act 1 scene 2) through the beginning of Act II - a class discussion - 2009
We pick up with the song, Full Fathom Five, and talk about Prospero's motives (in convincing Fernando that his father is dead), and go the beginning of Act I - where Antonio and Sebastian are awake and contemplate killing the king.
34:03 minutes (15.59 MB)
A Day in the Booth: Stephen Booth, Go Dog Go and the importance of text - Period 9 - 2009
If the reason that we read great authors like Shakespeare is because of their stories (as seems to be how most literature is taught in English classrooms) than why don't we read Shakespeare's source material? This forty minute lecture explores some of the ideas of Stephen Booth's text centered criticism in terms of paintings and the book, Go Dog Go. Though I can, in no way, give Dr. Booth's ideas that same weight that he does - they are ideas that have changed the way I teach. We also talk about Prospero's speech - "Now our revels all are ended.."
38:27 minutes (17.6 MB)
The Tempest: Act I - The Shipwreck scene
After the students pantomime this scene in the lunchroom - we come inside and give it a reading.
10:45 minutes (4.92 MB)
The Tempest - wrapping up the play - from Act 4 to Act 5 - Period 9 - 2009
We finish talking about The Tempest - there is much to talk about: Prospero giving up his powers - and a small sad but true story from a classroom long ago - and the wonderful epilogue (is it Shakespeare saying goodbye?). We also revel in the wonderfully ambiguous words of Prospero: "this thing of darkness I claim as my own."
41:30 minutes (18.99 MB)
Robert Browning's poem "Caliban"
Robert Browning's beautiful and thoughtful poem "Caliban." This poem gives students a valuable perspective -- Caliban's -- and does so in poetry that is skilled, touching, and valuable in its own right: "'Thinketh He made it, with the sun to match,/ Only made clouds, winds, meteors, such as that: /Also this isle, what lives and grows thereon,/ And snaky sea which rounds and ends the same./ But not the stars; the stars came otherwise;
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