Class Information
Instructor: Bloom, Gina
Time: TR 3:10-5:00
Location: 234 Cruess
Description
This course (open only to students who have been accepted into the Play the Knave teaching internship program) provides a foundation for teaching Shakespeare in K-12 schools with a particular focus on how digital technology and theater-based activities can enhance students’ understanding of the plays. In addition to reading education theory on these topics, we will put this theory into practice. Our central focus will be the Shakespeare digital game Play the Knave, which brings together digital technology and theater-based activities in a unique way. Play the Knave provides a way apply what you learn through two forms of community engagement:
(1) visiting area schools to help facilitate teachers’ use of Play the Knave in their Shakespeare curriculum and assessing the impact of these lessons
(2) developing a suite of lesson plans and assignments that will help future teachers use Play the Knave in their classrooms. These materials will be published on the Play the Knave website teaching portal. Unlike much of the work you do for college classes, what you produce in this class will be public facing: the most important audience for your work is not the professor, but K-12 teachers.
As you produce these teaching resources and work with the game in actual classrooms, you will be studying Play the Knave’s effectiveness. You will work in teams to formulate a research question that can be explored through your fieldwork in a local school, design a study to investigate the question, gather data at your school site, and present a report on your findings.
Grading
Pass/Fail
Texts
Teaching Shakespeare with Purpose A Student-Centred Approach, Ayanna Thompson & Laura Turchi
Coursepack online