Spilling the Tea with Willie the Shake: A Shakespeare Exploration Club
An ongoing, drop-in clubhouse/roundtable/symposium on Shakespeare and related topics
Maureen Tobin (BS, MFA)
Average rating:
5.0
Number of reviews:(182)
What's included
1 live meeting
55 mins in-class hours per weekClass Experience
US Grade 8 - 11
Spilling the Tea with Willie the Shake is a hybrid creature with the head of a scholar, the tail of a social club, the legs of a clown, and the wings of an eagle who hangs out in a museum. PLEASE NOTE: The only prerequisite for this class is that the student has taken (or is taking concurrently) at least one of my Shakespeare classes. This ongoing class was created in response to a number of factors: 1. Several of my students from various classes have expressed a wish to be able to get together with other students who share an interest in Shakespeare. 2. Many of the students mentioned in #1 above have taken all of my Shakespeare classes, and I can barely keep up with their demands for new curriculum. What a cool problem (for me)! 3. During my longer Shakespeare classes, I've enjoyed seeing students make friends, and it’s especially nice to witness their excitement when they see each other again in a new class. For many of these students, getting to know each other fills an important need for connection. However, after the 5 or 7 or 12-week class is over, that connection ends until (and if) they're lucky enough to find each other in another class. 4. This one is 100% selfish. Working with these students has given me many gifts, not the least of which is their passion for Shakespeare. In my ordinary adult life, there are very few people with whom I can share my Shake-nerdiness--I love my friends and family, but it’s fair to say that on this very important subject, they simply do not “get” me. And none of them are interested in engaging in a debate about which character in Romeo and Juliet is the guiltiest or whether Touchstone is a good bad guy or a bad good guy. Spilling the Tea is an opportunity to explore topics related to Shakespeare (or whoever it was that wrote those plays), as well as a chance to read scenes together and do a little socializing with other people who love Shakespeare. The mood will be relaxed and collaborative. Activities might include, but are not limited to, small group scene presentations, solo monologues, mask-making and other craft projects, sonnet writing, scene writing or rewriting or updating, research, debate. The structure of this class may change, but my plan is to begin each meeting with an introduction to the day's topic. It might be a presentation, an article, a poem, a video clip or three, some music. . . suffice to say, it will be related to Shakespeare and is designed to kick off the conversation and activities. Scheduling note: To accommodate holidays, we will not meet on November 26, December 24, and December 31, 2022.jk Past Topics September 4--Trivia game! September 11--Bring your favorite monologue or soliloquy (or let me pick one for you when you get here). We'll translate and perform for each other. September 18--What about the 6th Earl of Derby? The Authorship Question September 25--Pirates! October 2--Scene stealing, translating, and sharing October 9--Elizabethan Blood Sports October 16th--Game Day October 23--Mary Sidney Herbert, the Countess of Pembroke--yet more of The Authorship Question October 30--All Hallows Eve or Samhain Night? How the Tudors celebrated Halloween November 6--Scene stealing, translating, and sharing November 13--Original Pronunciation Practice November 20--TBD, The Authorship Question November 27--No meeting today, see you next week! December 4--You vs. Thou December 11--Scene stealing, translating, and sharing December 18--Elizabethan and Jacobean Holiday Traditions December 25/January 1--No meetings on these days, see you next year! (January 8:) January 8, 2022--Plagues:) January 15, 2022--Star-crossed? Elizabethans and Astrology January 22--Making a scene with Celia and Roz January 29--The Hot Takes Game--come armed with your most interesting Shakespeare-Adjacent Opinions February 5--The Authorship Question: Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford February 12--Love, Courtship, and Marriage February 19--Trivia Day II February 26--Scene stealing, translating, and sharing March 5--Bluff and Bluster: Game Day March 12--Improv March 19--Games continued March 26--Play around April 2--Iambic what's a meter? April 9--Sonneteer Cage Match: Petrarch vs. Shakespeare (vs. Edna St Vincent Millay?) April 16 and April 23--No meeting, see you on April 30th! April 30--Scene stealing, translating, and sharing May 7--Games May 14--Prove your character is the very best character:) May 21--Superlatives May 28--Verbal and visual improv (it's not what it sounds like) June 4--Scenes June 11-Sonnet Elizabethan language trivia quiz June 18--TBA June 25--NO MEETING July 2--TBA July 9--TBA July 16/23/30 No meetings while I search for the author and several characters in England. I'll be seeing Richard III in Stratford on the 23rd, so that's pretty cool:) August 6--Did I find the author? Did I meet any characters? We shall see. Topics: Time keeps passing--This club has evolved, with much more student input on topics and activities. For example, some students thought it would be fun for us to dress up for Halloween. I came as Queen Elizabeth I, and even though the red hair dye was supposed to come out after one shampoo, I have no regrets. After six shampoos it has faded to a lovely fuchsia color. Lately we have been focusing on the sonnets. And we do a lot of game-playing and Shakespeare trivia quizzes.
Learning Goals
Students will continue their exploration of Shakespeare studies in a safe, friendly, and supportive atmosphere.
Students will collaborate and socialize with other students from around the country and even the globe.
Students will participate in designing the ongoing course by offering topics for future in-class projects and exploration.
Other Details
External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.
Sources
All reading and viewing materials will be provided by the teacher, or will be available free via the internet. On rare occasions, some art supplies (construction paper, shoeboxes, paint, etc.) might be needed, but this will be posted at least two weeks in advance.
Joined August, 2017
5.0
182reviews
Teacher expertise and credentials
Nebraska Teaching Certificate in English/Language Arts
Master's Degree in Music or Theatre or Arts from University of Nebraska
A retired English teacher, I hold an MFA in Creative Writing and a bachelor's degree in Language Arts Education from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. I currently work as a reading and writing coach for students of all ages. (Continued below the class list.)
Teaching allows me to share my passion for the written word. For example, inspiring a love of Shakespeare in formerly fearful young readers is one of my proudest accomplishments. I also believe writing is an essential tool for communication with the world and with the self. Art is for everyone!
For what it's worth, whenever I get a chance to travel to see a Shakespeare play, I do it. I've been fortunate to go to England a few times recently and have seen wonderful plays at both the Globe Theatre (The Tempest, As You Like It) and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (Macbeth, Richard III). Sometimes when I think about that "then I scorn to change my state with kings." (Sonnet 29.)
SCHEDULING NOTE: I understand sometimes it is necessary to miss a class. Just let me know and I can send a link to the video of the class missed.
A little bit about my teaching methods:
For all classes, students are encouraged to interrupt with questions, comments, etc. whenever they arise.
--My one-hour concept courses ("Irony" and "Connotation/Denotation") are more lecture-heavy, though questions and discussion are encouraged. I do pretty frequent checks for understanding because we are covering a lot of information in a short amount of time. These are the only courses where students are not expected to produce a final project.
--For the literature courses, I try to keep the lecturing to a minimum. I begin class by presenting background information and use guiding questions for discussion. The amount of reading done in class varies depending on the material and the students.
For the Shakespeare courses, there is no outside reading beyond what the student chooses for their final project. We use the Reader's Theatre method, with all willing students reading a part and fairly frequent checks for understanding. The reading is usually followed by video clips from different film versions of the scenes we have read.
For novels such as The Great Gatsby, The Haunting of Hill House, and The Hobbit, most of the reading is done outside of class, though I do like to read together occasionally when there's something particularly challenging in the material.
High-interest short stories like "The Cask of Amontillado", the 19th-century horror survey, and the novel Ready Player One are especially good for students who might be a little fearful or uninterested in reading, although in any given class only a third or a half of the students fit that description. Every now and then I'll have a group where every student is passionate about reading.
For these high-interest courses, we read a higher percentage of the work in class. I spend a good amount of that time modeling good reading skills; for example, "interrogating the text" by asking questions, replicating aloud what goes on in the mind of a good reader. This is especially good for students who need to work on reading comprehension.Reviews
Live Group Class
$14
weekly1x per week
55 min
Completed by 14 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 13-18
2-12 learners per class
