Checking My Shakespearean Temperature

Midterm Post

1. How have I gained Shakespeare literacy?

Looking back on our first day of class, my literacy of Shakespeare has increased ten fold. This has mainly come from reading the plays, watching the performances, and listening in class. Every play we have read has been new to me, and although I still feel inadequate when discussing them, my knowledge is much deeper than before. The deepest things I have learned are the ones I have spent the most time researching on the Internet. Thus in my posts about Henry V I felt the most confident because I read professional commentary on the subject. Breadth however, has come from reading classmates posts about their place and especially discussing them in the car on the way up to Salt Lake. The performance I saw there, along with others I have watched (including Henry V and Winter’s Tale) have also attributed to my Shakespeare literacy. Hearing Brother Burton say, “You have some Shakespeare literacy now" made me feel good not because I was flattered, but because I felt there was truth in it.

2. How have I analyzed Shakespeare critically?

I think reading through my blog posts, which are beginning to focus on how Shakespeare comments on society’s ethics show how I have critically analyzed Shakespeare. Two posts that come to mind link Winter’s Tale and the Tempest together talking about honesty and loyalty. Theme analysis is an important part of the learning outcomes as well as analyzing through language and formal devices, which I explore in my post For Entertainment’s Sake regarding Love’s Labours Lost. Reading opinions from other authors and taking time to understand what Shakespeare is saying is the most effective way I have found to analyze his work. This can be best seen in my post about war from Henry V (see section titled "A Little History") where I consider the historical events taking place compared to what Shakespeare wrote about England and war.

3. How have I engaged Shakespeare creatively?

This is a great question. I love creativity. One creative suggestion Brother Burton gave that I took the time to do during my personal play was writing summaries for individual scenes. This helped me to remember a lot more and was a commodity when I went back in search for a particular aspect. Another thing that has helped with going back is my use of highlighting. I have four different colors I have used to highlight themes and different parts of the text that jump out at me. You can see this being used in my post about rhyming from Love’s Labours Lost. Another thing I plan on doing is looking up Youtube videos that correlate with a topic from class to see what others voice about the subject. It would help me to learn because I am a visual person.

4. How have I shared Shakespeare meaningfully?

The best way I have shared Shakespeare is definitely through blogging. Not writing on my personal blog, but reading other’s and replying to people’s comments has been effective to keep the topic on my mind daily. I have tried to read more than one person’s blog every day to have a better understanding of what is going on in the group. I try to leave meaningful comments as found on Christa’s blog about Ariel and Prospero's being puppet and puppeteer, or J.J.’s blog about Figment of Imagination to develop insights pointed out by them or that I recognized in light of their post. Further, many conversations have led to Shakespeare, including with my mom, an alumni and English major from BYU, and the girl I have been dating. We have talked about the Tempest, watched Henry V (nice cheap date), and discussed the festival that her family attends yearly down in Cedar City ;).

B. Self-directed Learning

The two most influential things in my self-directed learning have been the use of highlighting, and talking with other students substantially about their assigned plays. By using highlighting in my writing I have been more alert when I read, looking for different themes, word use and important lines. This has enhanced my depth. From reading other student’s blogs, to channeling a conversation on the drive to Salt Lake, I have learned about many of Shakespeare’s plays. These include Macbeth, Measure for Measure and Much Ado About Nothing, and other plays. Doing this has built my breadth of learning. Hearing other’s opinions and listening in class has taught me what to look for, for example poetry in a play or lighting on a stage. As I continue to meet with my group, my thinking evolves, mostly because they are far ahead of me in critical analysis. I plan to document a lot of my learning in my final project which I am thinking will consist of YouTube videos, or some way of teaching Shakespeare.

C. Collaborative and Social Learning

Many students have helped me become more literate in my Shakespearean knowledge. J.J. has blogged and commented effectively, while Christa and Kelsie have given unique insights during group discussion. Talking to Kara about her individual play and others we read has also helped form my opinion about Shakespeare and his writing. While working in our assigned groups, I have enjoyed reading each other’s blogs and discussing what we analyz

ed from the text, but I feel the discussion can be improved. One way it could be more interesting is if each group was given a theme to focus on in their discussion. After that, each group could summarize what they found. Doing this would help us get to know our classmates more and talk with them more about our plays. I have been able to talk extensively outside of class (especially in our car rides) to other people about their experience in the class. Beyond this, I have discussed with friends what we have read as I boldly admit that yes, I am in a Shakespeare class. Interestingly enough I have found that many BYU students know a lot about Shakespeare.

D. Looking Ahead

I plan to continue to learn on my current course. By doing the blogs and reading assignments I have found that my literacy has increased significantly. Also, participating in class discussion is important to me, as well as group and outside personal discussions. Looking toward the final project, I plan to teach others about Shakespeare. In doing this, I know I will learn more about him and his writings along the way. Through videos, presentations, or writing I plan to document my learning and put the documentation to use for my final project.