Earlier in this course we spoke about engaging our students beyond the limit of canon captured in printed text. I was reminded of my practicum where I was entrusted with providing the ‘hook’ lesson to a reluctant class turned off by the mere mention of Shakespeare.
What I love about literature is its timelessness. For example, Macbeth‘s (the text we were studying) themes of morality and power are still relevant today. I wanted to pass that onto my students and discover a way for them to fall in love with the content before getting lost in the language. The pressure was on when preparing but I hope (and think) it paid off! To put it briefly, we participated in a few activities, watched a TED-Ed video, and discussed morally ambiguous scenarios (This discussion was the highlight!). I’m sure that if I dove into the text right away, I would have lost them.