Marsha's Learning Outcomes

1. Gain Shakespeare Literacy
Before this class I actually didn't realize how little I knew of Shakespeare. In the beginning Dr. Burton kept mentioning the names of these plays that I had never heard about, and even in the end I know I hadn't heard of at least one of the plays that someone did their final paper on. I learned about the history of the plays, as in the sequence in which they were written, and was fascinated by Shakespeare's apparent progression from his earlier plays to his later plays. I learned also about the differences in various versions that are out there. I already knew a fair amount about the early productions of Shakespeare and how those were formatted, but I had never learned about music in them before. I gained a better understanding of Hamlet most particularly in this class. I always hated that play before. It's a little tedious, what with Hamlet saying the same things all the time, and I never really understood him, but actually comparing the different productions that we watched and looking at different thoughts from fellow students and different directors helped me catch on to a little more of the depth of that play.

2. Analyze Shakespeare Critically
I have written analyses of Shakespeare's works before, but I had never gone in depth as much as I did in this class. I particularly enjoyed writing the first paper, which I did on Henry V. An issue I had always had with Shakespeare before was that it didn't appeal to me aesthetically, but I can always enjoy analyzing a work, so that helped me enjoy it more, and it helped me tie Shakespeare's genius into an appreciation of his work. I was amazed to learn this semester how much of Shakespeare's work was borrowed. I didn't realize a lot of the elements in his plays as well as many of the actual plots were taken from popular stories from his time. I was particularly interested, of course, in a contemporary production that was very similar to Merchant.

4. Share Shakespeare Meaningfully
My friend posted this to my Facebook wall while I was finishing up my final paper research:

"This is what I think of when you post Shakespeare things: http://www.demotivation.us/shakesbear-1258682.html"

I don't know if I would call this "meaningful," but it was fun to share my thoughts with friends, and my roommates definitely know a lot more about Shakespeare than they thought they would at the end of this semester. My roommate helped me prepare for the first video we did, and said it really made her think about Shakespeare again, since she hadn't since high school. I had never submitted a paper for actual publication until this year, and I am excited to have my research in the ScholarsArchive.

5. Gain Digital Literacy
I had never even heard of sites like LinkedIn before this class, let alone thought to use them for research. I learned how to use them for this semester. I also learned more about ways I can use more social networks for research. I had some useful ideas shared just on Facebook, and I even shared with a friend online how she could do the same. She thought I was kidding at first. I loved getting to make a video of my argument in the beginning. I will enjoy making another. This is incredibly helpful, and I think also more interesting for the consumer to view than to read.

Before this semester I didn't really like Shakespeare. I'd say the greatest success for me in this class was just me learning to appreciate his work better. I'm still not sure I'm on board the "Shakespeare is the greatest writer in the English language" bus, but I really enjoyed reading some of his work and getting more familiar with him. I particularly liked Henry V. I had never read any of the history plays before, so that was a great experience.