Teacher-researcher, Katherine Macro spent six weeks observing an eleventh-grade Advanced Placement and Composition class at Sunnybrooke Central High School to examine the teacher's use of creative drama to teach Shakespeare. In this article, Macro describes ways the instructor used theater-based instructional strategies, especially a staged…

Student enjoyment is important when creating any unit, but teachers should also consider if an activity will enhance learning. In addition to being enjoyable, drama-based activities enrich learning by disrupting passivity, encouraging participation, and enhancing comprehension. This article showcases ways to include these activities in a unit…

How teachers can use such materials as parallel-text editions, graphic novels, and film adaptations to increase students' understanding of and interest in Shakespeare was the impetus for a classroom action research project that examined the effects of teaching methods on student comprehension and engagement. The author of this article…

Reading skills are vital to student success, and those skills could be practiced with Shakespeare "if students are taught reading skills in the classroom." The problem is that many teachers of English do not consider themselves reading specialists and do not teach reading skills to their students. Fred L. Hamel notes that teachers in a recent…

Claims Reader Response theories form the basis for helping students to enjoy reading and studying the classics. Discusses: (1) asking students to "step into" and explore the world of the text; and (2) helping students "step out" of the world of the text to consider it analytically. Presents drama activities to help students…

Describes how, at a school in Texas, Shakespeare becomes a teaching vehicle for learning-disabled students as they engage in a year-long class that studies Shakespeare and his times, as well as produce an entire play. Argues that the experience works so successfully because it is student-centered, collaborative, and experiential. (SR)

Discusses six books that offer beginning and veteran teachers classroom-tested ideas to help students read and write poetry and other literature, and interact with each other as they strive to understand and appreciate classic drama and novels. Notes four websites that are good sites for teaching poetry. (SR)

Describes in detail a successful unit of study done on the play "Cyrano de Bergerac" that both satisfies particular curricular demands and suits the temperament and interests of young adolescents. (KEH)