I’m not going to lie. As a future ELA secondary teacher, telling me “Content is dead” hurt my ego a little bit. Come on... Mr. Billy Shakespeare might be dead, but his words aren’t!
Fine. You are right, Mr. U. Content really is dead... š
What matters is its application. Students aren't going to care about my content just because I do, they need a reason to care. Further, I need to teach them that truth has a half-life – anything that I might teach might be considered (or proven!) incorrect soon!
I will still be sharing my beloved content in my classroom, just through a different lens. Instead of lecturing about Macbeth, I will be teaching how to learn, unlearn, and relearn through Macbeth. I want them to be knowledgeable, but not in the old way. I want them to be knowledgeable, in the new way.
To do this, maybe we will go over the many character shifts, take a close look at ambition as a fatal flaw. Maybe we can look at what Macbeth might have looked like performed in the Globe theater in 1616 compared to the most recent film production. What is different even though the words in the play remain timeless? Do the words remain timeless? And how come? I could also ask about any preconceived notions about Shakespeare before starting our unit, and following the unit, could see how this changed.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I could modify this lesson and start to break down the four walls of my classroom within my content area? We are for sure going to be exploring the Globe Theater on GoogleEarth. What else should I do to make Macbeth engaging and not a tragedy in itself?
I need my content to feel alive in my class. I will miss it too much. Asking for a friend!
Paige
Not gonna lie, I think it would be really dope if you translated Mac B to the E with th into modern 2022 English. There are already some resources like https://nosweatshakespeare.com/plays/modern-macbeth/
ReplyDeletebut reading that is so meh...boring AF.
Try this:
LADY MACBETH (original)
Come on;
Gentle my lord, sleek o’er your rugged looks;
Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night.
LADY MACBETH (2022)
Bruh;
Don't be lookin crashy
Be lit with your peeps 2nyt
Of course you would need to do this collaboratively and maybe only a few lines at a time. Your engagement will be on point, 100%
Lowkey you're gonna be the GOAT when you put that together--Amirite?
Jack. This here be a masterpiece. Twas dark until these words hit screen.
DeleteI will be having my students do fun slang translations for sure. They have a lot to measure up to, as you clearly are a professional Shakespeare translator and Gen-z slang user.
Hey Paige,
ReplyDeleteThis blog post is sad but also motivating as an ELA teacher.
Shakspeare's works are so versatile and if you are a good enough teacher (and can understand the Zoomers), it can be engaging for the students. For example, you could show them the trailer for "Scotland, PA" (which is a comedy spinoff of Macbeth set in early 2000s Pennsylvania) at the beginning of the unit and then tell them that they'll be reading that story in the form of a Shakespeare play; that will definitely blow their mind.
If its an AP class, or they're just big fans of Big Bill, you can have them compare the first folio or quarto version of Macbeth from the 1600s to the modern No Fear version (or Jack's magnificent slang version once it's published) and see how different they are. Just some ideas :) we have our work cut out for us but it'll be rewarding.
Hey Davis! Thanks for the ideas. It's a great idea to reframe a Shakespeare by hooking the students with studying the modern adaptation first.
DeleteAnd it's a great point that only AP students or fans of Sir Billy will care to compare the translations. Maybe with Jack's published version all students will appreciate Shakespearian lingo.
Thanks again, Davis. We definitely need to collaborate in the future when we work out lesson plans for the Billy unit.
Another idea....what if you took the "idea" of Macbeth and over lay it on pretty much any modern tragedy and find that many of them follow the "Macbeth" story map? In fact what I think makes all of Shakespeare's plays amazing is he created the story map that is still used today. Whether humor, tragedy, the warriors triumph. The story line was created by Shakespeare...everyone else is a copycat. :)
ReplyDeleteOr what if you started with the big essential question: "Who was Shakespeare?" and I'd tell my class "Open up your laptops and you have 7 minutes to tell me something I didn't know or you didn't know about Shakespeare...ready...go" and see what they find. Who was this person we take so much about? Just an idea.