Summer Reading Assignments & Note About Assigning Shakespeare

Dangerously Irrelevant, an excellent blog on school leadership in 21st century, has an excellent list of six articles on why assigned summer reading is a seriously stupid idea. An important first step in good assessment is having good assignments. Forcing kids to do reading homework over the summer is obviously wrong-headed, but these articles will give you the amunition necessary to argue with those who still think it is a good idea.

On a related topic, any teacher about to take up Shakespeare could do a lot worse than to hang up posters banning the Shakespeare for Slackers series.. Aaron Kite provides the translation of Elizabethian English (the original text on the left hand page) into modern punk (on the right hand page) which is both hilarious and educational. Students get to understand the jokes in the original, get to observe how modern English is more linear than Shakespearian English, and gain a whole new appreciation for the original drama. Better than the Star Wars as Shakespeare books, in my opinion. Or assign a compare and contrast essay on the two versions if the whole 'banning' trick doesn't work....

Alternatively, try John Poulsen's Shakespeare for Reader's Theatre series, which gets students performing Shakespeare's plays within about 45 minutes of the start of the unit. Highly recommended.