1. Gain Shakespeare Literacy: demonstrate mastery over fundamental information about Shakespeare’s works, life, and legacy
Breadth (knowledge of a range of Shakespeare’s works)
- In class I read (or listened to) several of Shakespeare’s works and wrote blog posts about each one. These include:
- The Tempest (http://ontiverosrachel382.blogspot.com/2012/01/on-next-episode-of-tempest-chat.html),
- Henry V (http://ontiverosrachel382.blogspot.com/2012/01/i-found-this-article-on-luminarium.html)
- The Merchant of Venice (http://ontiverosrachel382.blogspot.com/2012/01/shylock-and-self-fulfilling-prophecy.html)
- Hamlet (http://ontiverosrachel382.blogspot.com/2012/02/do-you-hear-what-i-hear.html)
- Love’s Labour’s Lost (http://ontiverosrachel382.blogspot.com/2012/03/loves-labours-lost-acts-2-and-3.html)
- I also viewed productions of The Merchant of Venice and Love’s Labour’s Lost and wrote reviews about them. Here’s my blog post about The Merchant of Venice production:
- http://ontiverosrachel382.blogspot.com/2012/02/childs-play-review-of-byus-merchant-of.html
Depth (more thorough knowledge of a single work)
- I used The Merchant of Venice as the basis of my research paper and my final project. Refer to sections 2–5 in this post, as most of my Shakespeare knowledge was gained by reading and analyzing this play.
- I also viewed productions of The Merchant of Venice and Love’s Labour’s Lost and wrote reviews about them. Here’s my blog post about The Merchant of Venice production:
- http://ontiverosrachel382.blogspot.com/2012/02/childs-play-review-of-byus-merchant-of.html
- I also viewed a movie about the scenes in The Merchant of Venice, which I wrote about in my media sources post:
- http://ontiverosrachel382.blogspot.com/2012/02/phase-2-performance-analysis.html
- Again, refer to sections 2–5 in this post for more information about my studies into Shakespeare’s legacy.
2. Analyze Shakespeare Critically
- I did most of my Shakespeare analyses on The Merchant of Venice. Here are a couple of my posts that discuss my critical research on the play:
- http://ontiverosrachel382.blogspot.com/2012/02/phase-2-annotated-bibliography.html
- http://ontiverosrachel382.blogspot.com/2012/02/people-really-do-care.html
- But I also delved a little into Hamlet, for example in this blog post:
- I also found a site that has a lot of critical essays about all of Shakespeare’s plays:
Interpret Shakespeare’s works critically in their written form, in performance (stage or screen) and in digitally mediated transformations. This includes:
- Textual analysis (theme, language, formal devices)
- Merchant of Venice: http://ontiverosrachel382.blogspot.com/2012/01/shylock-and-self-fulfilling-prophecy.html
- The Tempest: http://ontiverosrachel382.blogspot.com/2012/01/all-men-idle-all.html
- Contextual analysis (historical, contemporary, cultural)
- the different essays I read, mostly about historical influences on the text, but also influences of gender, race, and religion: http://ontiverosrachel382.blogspot.com/2012/02/phase-2-annotated-bibliography.html
- Application of literary theories
- the different essays I read, but here we’ll use the focus on existentialism: http://ontiverosrachel382.blogspot.com/2012/02/phase-2-annotated-bibliography.html
- Analysis of digital mediations
- video about The Merchant of Venice: http://ontiverosrachel382.blogspot.com/2012/02/phase-2-performance-analysis.html
3. Engage Shakespeare Creatively
Performance (memorization, recitation, scene on stage or video)
- I performed in my first two pre-video videos. In the first one, I monologue about the similarities between Jews’ situation in The Merchant of Venice, and in the second one I held up a quote from Shakespeare and then commented on it as it relates to Mormons today. It was very nerve-racking for me to be in the spotlight. The links to the two videos I starred in:
- I created a video that compares Mormons and their oppression today to the oppression that Jews (particularly Shylock) endured in the Merchant of Venice.
- The link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-_98RboNAQ&feature=relmfu
- This work is very artistic in that it tells a story using only comments from people I interviewed and quotes from Shakespeare’s plays (mainly the Merchant of Venice). I found music that I thought went perfectly with the different moods in the separate sections of my video. Basically, this is a work of art and very creative.
Collaborative creative project
- We all created 90-second video trailers to present as a group at the final presentation. I don’t know what the link to the page is, but when I find it I will post it. It’s like a web of our ideas, all of them connecting with each other and to the ultimate source: Shakespeare!
4. Share Shakespeare Meaningfully
Formal Writing. Develop and communicate your ideas about Shakespeare clearly in formal and researched writing and through a format and medium that puts your ideas into public circulation.
- I put my paper in rough and final form in a very public google.doc and on my blog.
Informal Writing. This mainly means through regular online writing
- I have shared ideas and tweethis statements on Facebook a few times during the semester to see what my friends who aren’t studying Shakespeare think:
Connecting. Share one’s learning and creative work with others both in and outside of class.
- This is a blog post about my experience sharing my ideas about Shakespeare with other people:
5. Gain Digital Literacy: Students use their study of Shakespeare as a way of understanding and developing fluency in 21st century learning skills and computer-mediated modes of communication. Those skills are grouped under the following categories.
Consume: Effective and independent selecting, searching, researching
- In this blog post, I researched a few videos that were comparable to what I made. I researched other videos about persecution—not only religious, but also prejudice concerning race and sexual preference.
- I also researched a lot of general stuff about Shakespeare, in particular Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, and Othello
Create - Producing content that demonstrates learning and which can be shared for others to profit from.
- I created four videos total, three in preparation for my final video. The last two videos I made required extensive editing (I won’t tell you how many hours they took to make). I had never had any previous video editing experiences before this, but now I’m pretty much a professional.
- I think that my video is very real because everything that my interviewees said were their own ideas. I gave them prompts, but often they went off-topic, and when that happened I got most of my useful information. These are real people with real problems who want to share their experiences with others struggling with these problems.
- I feel that my final video addresses very pertinent issues about Mormons, the troubles they face, and how to deal with those problems. I think that members of the LDS church as well as those outside of the church can learn a great deal from my video. I learned a lot just making the video. The people I interviewed helped me see many new perspectives on the issue, which I hope I expressed in my video!
Connect - Engage with other learners within and outside of the class to develop thinking and share more formal work.
- I posted all four of my videos online for anyone who wants to watch them. Here are the YouTube links:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-_98RboNAQ (final video)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQbOlF7JuyA (trailer for final video)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az9Om7EISto (prototype for final video)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afO0Vmquz7M (a preview of the preview)
- I also posted the final video on Facebook to see what my friends thought about it. Spoiler: they loved it.
- Several members of the class viewed my video and gave me criticism, which I very much appreciated.
- And I got one comment from a person I don’t know on the post containing my trailer video
- http://ontiverosrachel382.blogspot.com/2012/03/trailer-like-no-other.html
