Which Shakespeare play to teach?

[byucougs]

I teach 8th grade LA and I taught Midsummer Night's Dream this year. It went well. Next year I want to teach three plays. I think I am going to teach Midsummer again. Any suggestions for the other two? To the students that read this, do you have any fond memories of Shakespeare that you would like to share?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Ed "Mr. Belak"

[Asa Adams]

When I subed for a good friend of mine, who taught grade nine and ten, he had always loved to teach the kids hamlet. The fun part I had with it was showing the kids different versions of the films. Watching movies in class always grabed thier attentions! Try it out. i know you are only teaching 8 but, work with your school board's choices. If Hamlet is there, then reward the kids afterwards with movies, and popcorn.

cheers Ed

[cuppajoe_9]

I'm a big fan of Othello, personally, but The Tempest might fit into the curriculum a bit better. Macbeth is always a favorite. King Lear is great, but it might be a bit heavy for grade 8.

[Charles Darnay]

When I was in grade 7 and 8, we did Macbeth, Midsummer's Night Dream and Hamlet - and that's when I fell in love with Shakespeare.

They were abridged versions and we took them vary lightly - meaning we did not disect Hamelt's psychological reasons for his madness - but I think that it was enough to get a good number of kids in the class interested in Shakespear, which really pays off.

I know a lot of elementary school's who do Taming of the Shrew - personally, i think this is a bad idea. That plays seems to turn people away from Shakespeare for some reason.

[genoveva]

I would suggest reading some of his less popular plays. Enough with all the over done plays! Eek gads. Try one comedy, one history, one tragedy and one romance. Perhaps discuss the differences of each type, etc. We all know Romeo and Juliet, but who knows Coriolanus? A Midsummer Night's Dream- yes, a classic, but what about Troilus and Cressida. Go outside the box and discuss some plays that get little attention. Sooner or later, most students will read/watch the popular plays. Turn them on to something new!

I also wanted to let people know about two great resources: Leon Garfield's Shakespeare Stories I and II. These books have Shakespeare's plays re-written as a narrative to make it easier for the students to understand. Perhaps try a reading circle for the narratives, and then read the original Shakespeare more closely paying attention to word choice, structure, etc.

[Shannanigan]

I'm a big fan of Othello, personally, but The Tempest might fit into the curriculum a bit better. Macbeth is always a favorite. King Lear is great, but it might be a bit heavy for grade 8.

I performed King Lear in a drama class in 8th grade, and we pretty much understood it...though for the audience we created a scoreboard in the background to keep track of who was good, who was bad, and where they stood in rank and such as the play progressed...

I just did Othello, and I think I would have liked it a lot in 8th grade...I would recommed that...

and maybe watching "A Westside Story" after reading Romeo and Juliet, heheh...I found that entertaining in 10th grade...

[Jay]

I think your students might enjoy The Merry Wives of Windsor. It's funny and not too complicated.

[cuppajoe_9]

I would also recomend stayinig away from Two Gentlemen of Verona and his comedies in general. The man just wasn't that funny.

[ShoutGrace]

I performed King Lear in a drama class in 8th grade, and we pretty much understood it...though for the audience we created a scoreboard in the background to keep track of who was good, who was bad, and where they stood in rank and such as the play progressed...

I think that is a really cool idea - I, for whatever reason, just haven't seen that done.

I fondly remember studying Macbeth in 8th grade. Better than that, however (and this probably has to do with how old I was at the time), was reading and performing Much Ado About Nothing, and then watching it done in the Shakespeare fest.

Shakespeare was a blast at that age.

[Charles Darnay]

I would suggest reading some of his less popular plays. Enough with all the over done plays! Eek gads. Try one comedy, one history, one tragedy and one romance. Perhaps discuss the differences of each type, etc. We all know Romeo and Juliet, but who knows Coriolanus? A Midsummer Night's Dream- yes, a classic, but what about Troilus and Cressida. Go outside the box and discuss some plays that get little attention. Sooner or later, most students will read/watch the popular plays. Turn them on to something new!

I also wanted to let people know about two great resources: Leon Garfield's Shakespeare Stories I and II. These books have Shakespeare's plays re-written as a narrative to make it easier for the students to understand. Perhaps try a reading circle for the narratives, and then read the original Shakespeare more closely paying attention to word choice, structure, etc.

I completely agree with you..... except that we are dealing with grade 8's here.

There are a reason why his "overdone" plays are overdone - they are generally thought to be the most exciting/entertaining. Not to say that his other's are not as great or better (Much Ado about Nothing, Comedy of Errors, Trolius and Cressidea do not get nearly enough credit), but I think that they would not work for begginners

[kilted exile]

Ok, firstly I wish I had the chance to do shakespeare at that age. I did one shakespeare play (R&J) at school and that wasnt until I was 17.

I would suggest either Hamlet or Macbeth

[Petrarch's Love]

I would suggest reading some of his less popular plays. Enough with all the over done plays! Eek gads. Try one comedy, one history, one tragedy and one romance. Perhaps discuss the differences of each type, etc. We all know Romeo and Juliet, but who knows Coriolanus? A Midsummer Night's Dream- yes, a classic, but what about Troilus and Cressida. Go outside the box and discuss some plays that get little attention. Sooner or later, most students will read/watch the popular plays. Turn them on to something new!

This would be a good suggestion for college or possibly highschool students if they've been exposed to a fair amount of Shakespeare earlier in their curriculum, but I would not try out a lesser known play on a group of eighth graders. This is probably their introduction to Shakespeare. The plays seem overdone to someone who's read a lot, but they'll be brand new to most twelve and thirteen year olds. The reason the more well known plays are taught and performed more is that they are more engaging. I don't think I would have been as keen to read more Shakespeare if I had started out with Coriolanus (I also appreciated Coriolanus more when coming to it with more Shakespeare under my belt). On a practical level as well, the language is already going to take some getting used to and it really helps if the text is something that they've at least heard of and seems culturally familiar. I also don't think you can take for granted that people will naturally read/watch the popular plays as a matter of course. I've met many people whose only encounters with Shakespeare were in their school days, though they often remember the plays they read then fondly.

I think Macbeth would be a fun one, or R&J (especially since Juliet would, I think, be right around the age of the students).

[genoveva]

This would be a good suggestion for college or possibly highschool students if they've been exposed to a fair amount of Shakespeare earlier in their curriculum, but I would not try out a lesser known play on a group of eighth graders. This is probably their introduction to Shakespeare. The plays seem overdone to someone who's read a lot,

Good point!

[Pensive]

Is it necessary to teach them anything by ShakyShockyShakenPear? I don't think so that he is much suitable for students in Grade 8 but if you really want ShakuShockyShakenPear, then A Midsummer Night's Dream is fine, not too much complicated.

[Schokokeks]

I fondly remember studying Macbeth in 8th grade. Better than that, however (and this probably has to do with how old I was at the time), was reading and performing Much Ado About Nothing, and then watching it done in the Shakespeare fest.

I would like to ardently second Much Ado about Nothing, apart from Hamlet.
We did Much Ado this year and it turned out quite hilarious even for those dreading Shakespeare units before (our copy had a translation on the opposite pages, though! ). There is also a very recent movie version starring Keanu Reeves, Kate Beckinsale et al. which our teacher used for detailed discussion of several scenes.
As to Shakespearian tragedies, I think Hamlet is classic and there are so many references to it in other works that I think it should run under "an 8th grader's toughly acquired general knowledge" .
Good luck with your teaching!