Teaching Twelfth Night and Othello (Folger Shakespeare Library)

The Folger Shakespeare Library, the nation's most important center for Shakespeare study and scholarship, is also the center for Shakespeare education. At the Library's Teaching Shakespeare Institute, scholars, actors, and teachers from across the country work together at the business of teaching and learning Shakespeare.

This third volume of the Shakespeare Set Free series is written by institute faculty and participants. The volume sparkles with fine recent scholarship and the wisdom and wit of real classroom teachers in all kinds of schools all over the United States.

In this book, you'll find:

Clear and provocative essays written by leading scholars to refresh the teacher and challenge older students
Successful and plainly understandable techniques for teaching through performance
Ways to teach Shakespeare that successfully engage students of every grade and ability level in exploring Shakespeare's language and the magical worlds of the plays

Day-by-day teaching strategies for Twelfth Night and Othello -- created, taught, written, and edited by teachers with real voices in real classrooms.

Customer Reviews:

Bloody Brilliant

By Theseus "theseus" - December 24, 2008

I love this series so much. Have used it in the classroom to great success.

The underlying idea is very simple: take the plays off the page and they make sense to all students -- the high flyers and the ones with reading difficulties. Within these books are activities and projects that are bite-sized. They allow the script to be performed and/or analyzed and/or experienced WITHOUT the students having to undertake a full-blown performance.

AND there is no dumbing down of the text.

AND you can do a little of these books or every page.

BUT your students need to have the skills to work in groups.

Great for English, but not as much for drama classes

By Anjuli "Anjuli" - September 28, 2011

I taught Twelfth Night using this to a couple of Drama 10 classes and they complained about the amount of written work. I tried to edit it so that it was much more performance based, but they still complained. I know students always do, but still. Overall, these are fantastic books that totally make teaching Shakespeare fun and doable. The students enjoy it and they are great in an English classroom! I am still trying to figure out how to make them great in a drama classroom. :)

Great help for a first year teacher!

By Chellee McDougal "Chellee" - October 12, 2009

I am a first year English teacher and one of my classes is a gifted and talented class. When I saw Shakespeare's Twelfth Night on the curriculum, I freaked out a little, but this book was a lifesaver! I would recommend this book or any of the other editions to anyone who teaches Shakespeare. It's true, the best way to teach Shakespeare is to perform it!