Twelfth Night is a valuable play to be studied by junior high students as an introduction to Shakespeare because of its insights into human nature and cultural changes, interesting historical context, and entertaining qualities.
Do you think this is specific or arguable enough?
Annotated Bibliography:
Social Graph:
As far as a social graph I've got my cousin, Grayson. He's an actor and he's probably very familiar with Shakespeare. My old roommate Kirsten got a degree in English Teaching and would have helpful insights. My mom will she listen to whatever I say and provide me with intelligent responses. My roommate Jocelyn Gray, like my mom, will listen to whatever I say, and she comes from a different perspective.
New Media:
- Brighthub Education - http://www.brighthubeducation.
com/
This resource includes articles to help teachers be informed and prepared educators. There are articles on teaching Shakespeare and there are specific lesson plans for Twelfth Night for specific age ranges. - Slideshare - http://www.slideshare.net
This resource includes presentations created by anyone about a variety of topics. This would be a good place to find Shakespeare and middle school enthusiasts.
Social Networks:
- Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/
I've posted questions about Shakespeare on my Facebook page. I'm finding out which of my friends are closet Shakespeare lovers and can give me valuable insights into my topic.
Traditional Scholarly Sources:
There's a great article called Actors Will Kemp and Robert Armin: Shakespeare’s Fools – An analysis and evaluation by Joan Tucker of Drew University. It explains the historical context of Twelfth Night. Also there's a database called Teaching Resource Center on EBSCOHost. It includes scholarly articles for teachers about specific topics like teaching Shakespeare.
I think you are definitely going the right direction with your thesis. I wonder if you might want to be a little more specific. For instance, you mention that junior high students might be interested into twelfth night because of its insights into human nature. I wonder if you could tie that in to something that junior high students would care about. The play deals a lot with relationships, honesty, bullying, and questions of sexuality. These are all things on a young kids mind. It might help to find something specific like that to focus on. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ian here. Maybe choose one or two more specific topics (relationships and bullying, for example). I think that you are going in a great direction though!
Delete