Teaching Shakespeare in the 21st Century

After some deliberation, and a helpful comment from Ian on my last post, I've decided that I am going to focus my paper on teaching Shakespeare in a junior high/high school setting. I mentioned originally that my focus applied very specifically to A Midsummer Night's Dream, but with some comments from Kasey and Catherine I've decided to expand it and focus more on the teaching aspect. I'm not sure how I'll end up tying A Midsummer Night's Dream into this, but I'm currently thinking that this play will be a vehicle to demonstrate how someone could actually use my research in the classroom. 

At this point my very short "tweethis" statement would be: The way that Shakespeare is taught in high schools needs to be adapted to better fit the 21st century. (Notice that I don't say exactly how it needs to change... but it's a work in progress, right? :) And here's my annotated bibliography sharing some of the ways that I'm hoping to gain insight into my topic/better focus my tweethis:

1. Social Graph

• I’m planning to talk to others in the class who are interested in exploring teaching Shakespeare. 
• There are a handful of professors that would be a good resource for me (specifically when looking at how teaching Shakespeare has evolved over the years): Dr. Grierson, Dr. Dean, and Dr. Crowe to name a few. 
• My dad teaches at Springville High School, so I have a handful of current teachers that I could talk to (also Ms. Miley at Springville Jr. High School). 
• I’ve also posted some questions on my Facebook, asking my friends about their experiences with Shakespeare in the classroom—what made their experiences positive or negative, etc. through which I’ve already received some feedback.

2. New Media

I think that new media will end up being a big solution that a lot of teachers may suggest to me—new media should be utilized to teach Shakespeare in the 21^st century (that may end up as part of my thesis statement). In another class I know that I found a lot of Apps aimed at assisting teachers with teaching Shakespeare… that could be something to explore. I was also hoping to watch a movie version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to see how that could be utilized in the classroom. Anyone have any other specific ideas regarding new media? Anyone finding anything particularly in regards to teaching?

3. Social Networks

I mentioned Facebook already, where I’ve posted some questions. I joined some groups on goodreads.com and posted questions here:

• http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1081893
• http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1081941
• http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1081887

I’m also a member of English Companion Ning, where I posted some similar questions in a group titled “Teaching Shakespeare.”

4. Traditional Scholarly Sources

I spent a good amount of time at the library and lugged about 10 books home either about A Midsummer Night’s Dream or about teaching Shakespeare. To anyone else focusing on teaching Shakespeare there is a TON of material on the 5^th floor of the HBLL. I’ll post later if I find anything particularly useful.

Well, now that I’ve narrowed my topic down a bit—what do you think? Anyone have any insights or suggestions?