Twas the night before the last day of TSI...

Tomorrow is the last day of the Teaching Shakespeare Institute at the Folger Library in Washington, DC, an institute funded by an NEH grant. We have had four weeks of intense study of Shakespeare and the best ways to have our students access it.

My senses have been charged and my classroom practice will never be the same.

A lot of our work is on the Teaching Shakespeare Wikispaces page. It's worth checking out if you've enjoyed by - unfortunately too brief - missives about the program over the last four weeks.

I'm going to be writing some summative pieces in the next week or so, as well.

I start back with Baltimore City students on Monday, when the Summer Bridge for 9th graders begins. I'm excited, though wish I had a little bit more time to debrief the institute before then...

The Death of Reading

Online, R U Really Reading?

A debate about online reading, about whether it's "real" reading or not... certainly something that I'll hear more and more about in my career.

The focus on technology at the Teaching Shakespeare Institute is partially a way to be ahead of that curve.

Obama the Educator

Teaching Law, Testing Ideas, Obama Stood Slightly Apart: Good article. For all that we can say about NCLB, at least it put Education on the national agenda. People were talking about it. Unfortunately, it's been largely absent from this year's campaign. Hopefully articles like this will start to highlight some of the candidates' educational philosophies.

Mayor Dixon and the BCPSS

Oh, Sheila. Please keep your hands away from the BCPSS. On one hand, I do understand her point that mayors are blamed or praised for the success of the schools, so perhaps she should have her hands in the school board. However, there is no reason to add more cooks in the kitchen now that the school system has righted itself. Adding Dixon to North Avenue is bringing the old political establishment into a place that seems to have been pretty successful in expunging it.

And, besides, isn't it more than a little bit fishy that Mayor Dixon wants to jump on board with the school system just a couple of weeks after all the positive press of the jump in test scores? If it's not transparent political maneuvering, then it sure appears like it. And... does she feel threatened by the new sherriff in town, Dr. Alonzo? Do we see a battle of wills brewing? I sure hope not.

Stick to bringing down that crime rate, Mayor Dixon, which it seems like you've had some hand in doing so far, impressing even me, one of your biggest detractors at the last election cycle (Go Jill Carter!). Keep that up, and leave the schools along the righted path that they are on.

TSI Winding Down

The Teaching Shakespeare Institute is winding down. Today, I performed my final monologue from King Lear. I did not flub any lines and felt like it went well. I could have used my body more, but otherwise it felt good. I'm pretty sure I'll remember those 12 lines of text for the rest of my life.

In addition, today I presented my curriculum project, which I got into in a big way last night. I will be revising my lessons and hopefully one or more of them will be published on the Folger website in the coming months. An important part of the NEA grant is producing lessons for teachers around the country, so they'll be posted on the Folger website sometime soon. Maybe I'll post them here sometime.

Two more days left of the most enriching teaching practice of my career so far... hopefully the replenishment and inspiration I'm getting will last for months or years.

*****

Right now, in terms of curriculum, I'm deciding between Richard III and King Lear. Lots of factors go into it - which the kids like more (the former, probably), which links better to the other texts, which I think I'll be able to draw mroe from, which I can convince my colleague to jump on board with. It'll be interesting what comes of it.

Not forgetting the mountain

No time to blog tonight, so you just get a poem.

Witness

Sometimes the mountain
is hidden from me in veils
of cloud, sometimes
I am hidden from the mountain
in veils of inattention, apathy, fatigue,
when I forget or refuse to go
down to the shore or a few yards
up the road, on a clear day,
to reconfirm
that witnessing presence.
- Denise Levertov

Big project due tomorrow. It's done and it's not even midnight yet. I'm happy with it, proud even. I have figured out how to create podcasts and put them online for use by myself or other teachers. I have learned a lot about stage directions - most of them not Shakespeare's, so they are fluid - and performance, and another lesson integrates that. I have learned what scansion is and how Shakespeare used it to disrupt meter, like in that Richard III wooing scene. That's all in it. So is Chinswing.

Need to rest. I'm sicker than a dog. Eyelids hot, throat scratchy. I can't believe I'll be teaching again on Monday.

Accepting applause

"We spend all our lives working our asses off for some sort of recognition for what we accomplish, and instead of accepting it when it comes, we end up just rushing off the stage too quickly," said our wise, charismatic, and inspiring instructor today, just before we performed a practice of our first five lines of our monologues on the Folger Library Stage.

I went sixth, just late enough to get plenty nervous, and just early enough not to get comfortable. I felt really good beforehand. Then, I went onto the stage, and performing front and center and alone was a lot different than performing on the side of the stage under the din of all the other performers rehearsing. Everyone was quiet, and all eyes were one me. I knew who I was - King Lear, heartbroken that his favorite daughter hasn't played his game of flattery, unwilling to listen to reason as he disowns her - but couldn't quite get the focus right before I began. Consequently, I wasn't living in the moment and forgot my lines. I started and stopped twice, but ended up - finally - performing five lines that felt just right. I then grabbed my stuff and rushed off the stage.

Professor Jenkins said calmly, "______, drop your things on that chair right there, walk back to the center of the stage, and bow for us," and I remembered her opening lines and chuckled a little. Yup, she's right.

We do the whole monologue on Wednesday. On Friday, I'll be playing Hortensio in a scene from The Taming of the Shrew.

The Teaching Folger Institute exists on the notion that performance of Shakespeare is interpreation of Shakespeare - it's an inhabitation of the language and a reflection of understanding. I've always used a little bit of performance in my classroom study of Shakespeare. But, next year, I'm going to go a little bit nuts with it.

We have four days left of the institute. Like several participants, I'm wore down and ill; the 19-hour field trip (left house at 5:30am, returned at 12:30am) on Saturday was wonderful in many ways but didn't leave much down time this weekend, and I've been fighting off the fever and some head-cold like symptoms. We have a lot of work to do over the next few days. Still, this feels like good work, and I'm rather excited about my curriculum project, as I play around with a program called Audacity while I make a few podcasts that I plan on using next year in the classroom. Me, creating podcasts... actually rather hard to believe.

In other news, I made a rather ridiculous purchase for my classroom yesterday, the result of a $100-off coupon I received from Dell. I'm still in a state of shock about it, but I think it will really be a boon for my teaching and my students.