Looking for an engaging one-time class that will help your students gain the confidence and skills they need to read Shakespeare independently?    

So often, teachers think that the only way they can introduce their classes to the Bard is by working through the same old boring power point lectures on when Shakespeare was born, when he died, and where he lived.

But Shakespeare’s work is popular 500 years after he died for a reason.  The universal themes and questions of his poetry and plays are still very much relevant today.  

If you want your learner to be excited to read the often challenging work of one of our greatest writers, you need an innovative class that will help them to truly read and understand the words, engage independently with texts, and build the skills they need to read challenging poetry on their own. 

This engaging class focuses on one main question: What is the best way to approach death and dying?  It’s a question that has been asked for centuries, and it is one that has never been fully answered, even by the greatest poets of all time.  And yet, it is an important question to ask, especially for teenagers who are still struggling to define their world.

As they work through different answers to that question in this engaging unit, students will analyze William Shakespeare's poem Sonnet 73 or "[That Time of Year Thou Mayst In Me Behold]" and Dylan Thomas' poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.”  These two iconic poems offer two very different views on these important questions.

This class is a great way to introduce students to Shakespeare’s language, and it’s also a great stand-alone class that will get students thinking critically, discussing big ideas, and having fun exploring language and meaning.

When your learner explores two iconic poems on death and dying in this innovative class they will:

--Get started thinking about the bigger themes and questions by opening with quick-writes and low-key discussion.

--Boost their confidence in reading Shakespeare’s sometimes challenging language.

--Work through the poems with the support and scaffolding that they need to engage independently with the texts.

--Be inspired to think critically with the engaging discussion questions, close reading questions, and writing prompts.

--Analyze diction, imagery, figurative language, point of view, shifts, poetry forms, tone, repetition, rhyme, and theme in poetry

--Better understand their own views on death, dying, and how to approach our inevitable ends.

Classic poetry doesn’t have to be intimidating!  This one-time class is a fun yet challenging introduction to two of the greatest writing of our times.