Pam Webb

a writer's journey as a reader

Archive for the tag “Shakespeare”

18 Apr 2012
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#4: Required Reading for High School English


Having recently plunked out my series list caused me to wonder about creating other lists.  Yes, I am a confessed list maker.  I have Post-It squares tacked all over the place of To-Dos, Epiphanies, Story Starts, Poem Parts, and Lesson Plan Pundits.  The Cricket List will be an on-going project.  Today’s offering is #4: Required reading in high school English.  I encourage your suggestions:

The Cricket List:

1. Children’s authors and selected titles

2.  YA authors and selected titles

3.  Picture books

4.  Required reading in high school English:

  • The Outsiders(teens haven’t changed too much in the thirty years this has been out)
  • The Miracle Worker (Helen Keller is a hero favorite and goes a long way in learning about overcoming adversity)
  • Pride and Prejudice (all man/woman hate-at-first sight movies stem from this gem)
  • Sherlock Holmes (the original, to understand why Robert Downey and Jude Law’s version is pure entertainment)
  • Frankenstein (a riveting read and shows the fallacy of Hollywood’s meddling)
  • Jules Verne (original science fiction master storyteller)
  • Julius Caesar (politics gone wrong)
  • Hamlet (love-revenge-hate-murder-intrigue-dueling-witty wordplay–who could ask for more in a plot)
  • Taming of the Shrew (Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus four hundred years ago)
  • Othello (Shakespeare was ahead of his time with this tale)
  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream (a light-hearted romp which shows not all is tragedy on Shakespeare’s plate)
  • To Kill a Mockingbird (timeless classic which showcases the South both in a positive and negative way)
  • The Once and Future King (or some version of King Arthur–I like John Steinbeck‘s version)
  • Stargirl (beautiful story of not conforming to peer pressure or the consequences when one does)
  • John Donne‘s Holy Sonnet X (Death Be Not Proud)
  • She Walks in Beauty (timeless appreciation of beauty)
  • Rime of the Ancient Mariner (To understand Pirates of the Caribbean better)
  • Beowulf (so you can boo/hiss at the animated version and hope it will be done correctly someday)
  • Canterbury Tales (when you rewatch A Knight’s Tale you will laugh at the inside jokes)
  • Steinbeck (Grapes of Wrath, of course)
  • Mark Twain (American Lit wouldn’t be the same without him)
  • The Odyssey (understanding the epicness of heroes and their journey)
  • Romeo and Juliet (umm, how could one not read R&J?)

5.  Beach Reads

6.  Must reads

7. Saw the movie, then read the book

8.  Read the book, wish it were a movie

9. Poems to know and grow on

10. GoodRead gotta-get-to-someday reads

Posted in Books, education, Reading, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , ,
28 Mar 2012
2 Comments

Lost in Translation: Part Two–“The Play’s the Thing” or “How Now, Hamlet?”


Today we finished Hamlet and with the help Mel Gibson, David Tennant, and Danny DeVito I think my students understood (as Ben Jonson once said), “Shakespeare is not for an age, but for all time.”

Laurence Olivier is undoubtedly considered a master actor; however, his is not the version of choice when teaching Shakespeare’s Hamlet to a current generation.  Sifting through various versions, and there are numerous, I decided Ahnold would suffice in keeping their attention.

Overall opinion is this is how Hamlet should have handled stuff when he got home from college.  On the other hand, you can see how short the show became when he went from inaction to a “Last Action Hero” (how many recognized the clip?)

Yeah, teaching Hamlet, a four-hour play of a college kid who doesn’t know how to handle his dysfunctional family( one that would rival any modern reality television program) to a roomful of teenagers is a challenge.  Don’t get me wrong– Hamlet is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays.  My problem is how to get my students who thrive on the likes of 300 and Aliens and Cowboys as entertainment to appreciate the play as much as I do, or at least see the reason why it is still relevant for today, even though it is about 200 hundred years old.  So I gave it over to a master teacher to introduce my students to the likes of  the Elsinore gang.

Actually, the movie did help my students understand Hamlet better.  They saw how it improved the lives of the DDs, and comprehended that Shakespeare is a great way to sharpen critical thinking skills.  They may never read another Shakespeare play in their lives, yet, as I always I tell my students, if they can comprehend Old English they can comprehend anything they come across, from a diesel engine manual to putting together their new barbeue.

As we traveled through the emotions, intrigue, and the nitty-gritty of family life gone wrong, my students saw that the interests of the Elizabethan theater crowed wasn’t too much different from today: sex, violence, love and death.

Sometimes only a little is lost in translation.

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , , ,
20 Feb 2012
2 Comments

A Way with Words: Tagexdo


I love wordplay almost as much as I love playing with words.  I came across this site Tagxedo and I’m starting to take words created, mine and other inspirations, and create word art.  Here is a very basic one promoting my Book Boosters campaign (you have signed up, haven’t you?)  I simply wanted to express how books add color into our life, and how much I love books.  There is more than one way to present your “words, words, words” to the world.  Ooh, that gives me an idea…

Okay, it’s not perfect.  I know.  It was fun thinking up how many words I could connect with books.

I hope you check out the site and get your word play on.

Happy Pages,

CricketMuse

Posted in creativity, Uncategorized and tagged , , , ,

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