As the semester comes to a close I am evaluating what I have learned and done during my Shakespeare course to fulfill the requirements and learning outcomes established by my Professor. I have references several previous blog posts showing my work throughout the semester.
Gaining Shakespeare Literacy
Depth-- For our research paper we were required to focus on at least one play with excruciating detail. I consumed a different play each week during this process, but ended up with
A Midsummer Night's Dream. You can find the details in the
textual analysis blog post and in
my final paper.
Legacy-- To fulfill this requirement I really looked into Shakespeare in popular culture. I have three blog posts that really represents these findings:
connecting with others and
possibilities and
market study. There are also several examples in my
group prezi under the 'Why should we incorporate technology?' section.
Analyze Shakespeare Critically
Textual Analysis-- For deep textual analysis I concentrated on the use of language and themes in:
The Tempest talking about the language and stylistic choices of Shakespeare,
Shakespeare sonnets language in an English- Spanish comparison, and
Macbeth and the witch's influence.
Contextual Analysis-- This is a very broad category that I mainly included in cultural analysis and a few in contemporary/ historical:
The Tempest about Miranda and the representation of women,
Henry V and the related representation of masculinity,
Merchant of Venice and Shylock's place in society/ the play,
BYU Merchant of Venice & Hamlet BYU's adaptation of Merchant of Venice ties back to
Hamlet (which is specifically geared for educated audiences),
A Midsummer Night's Dream and relation to contemporary relationships we have to deal with in education, and
Love's Labour's Lost and how BYU adapted it to a contemporary and historical time of the WWII era.
Application of Literary Theories-- Many of these conversations also fit into other categories, but I choose to talk about various literary theory topics such as:
The Tempest about Miranda and the feminism aspect,
Henry V and masculinity,
Merchant of Venice and comparing those relationships to modern representations,
Coriolanus and modernization through film, and
Love's Labour's Lost and the modernization of the play to the WWII era,
Analysis of Digital Mediations-- I really felt like these two posts fit this category the best:
Merchant of Venice and Shylock's relationship with the audience through the film medium, and
Coriolanus through digital art.
Engage Shakespeare Creatively
Collaborative Creative Project-- For my final re-purposed content I participated in an "Teaching/ Education" group with
Tara Pina and
Mallory Stevens. We worked and combined our material to make a
collaborative trailer for our collaborative final
prezi presentation.
Share Shakespeare Meaningfully
Formal Writing-- This was fulfilled with
my research paper and then as I re-purposed it with my group it became a less formal but more consumable form of the key ideas of my group's formal papers.
Informal Writing-- This was fulfilled constantly through my blog. Blogging gave me an opportunity to informally process my ideas and essentially 'talk' things out with myself and then others could comment on my ideas.
Connecting-- Throughout the entire semester my professor really pushed for social proof-- reaching beyond the classroom for connections. I sent out several groups of e-mails and got various responses from
high school teachers and
professors. This really helped shape the outcome and direction of my paper because it made me aware of what is
actually happening in schools rather than what I believe is happening. My most recent list for the social contacts that I have really kept throughout the semester and will contact to promote my final project are listed in my
market study post. I also really connected with the people I did interviews for throughout my research process: Lisa Halverson, Dr. Dave Hunt, Brian Ellingford. For inside the classroom contacts, I shared my research paper with
Tara Pina and, of course, later Mallory Stevens for our group project.
Gain Digital Literacy
Some of the guidelines for this requirement are independent researching, producing content that can be shared with others that represents learning and connecting with people in and outside of the classroom.
I feel like I have showed a great progress and work of all of these elements through the other learning outcomes. My blog posts publish content that shows my learning in consumable pieces. The content of my blog posts show my independent learning and researching.
Half of the Shakespeare plays I read this semester were independent learning (we did not read it as a class). I have also listed several times the blog posts that show my connecting with others inside and outside the classroom.
This Shakespeare class was a new and interesting experience. I think I was very successful in learning and accomplishing the outcomes/ goals my professor set up. I would give myself an A.... just saying ;)
