This year’s WYNET Summer Conference, Rethinking Shakespeare, will provide teachers with opportunities to learn from a variety of educators who will be sharing their best practices for creating innovative and interactive teaching strategies that engage students in powerful learning by exploring connections between Shakespeare and their own lives.
The summer conference will be held on Monday, August 1, at Buffalo State College from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in Bacon Hall 115. Lunch will be provided. Interested parties should RSVP by July 29 to wnynet@gmail.com.
Explore Issues and Questions
What innovative instructional approaches are local educators using in their classroom when teaching Shakespeare?
What can English teachers learn from local actors, directors, and producers about teaching Shakespeare?
How can Shakespeare’s plays be incorporated into inquiry-based models of ELA instruction?
How can we create opportunities for students to become more active and engaged when we are teaching Shakespeare?
How might these instructional approaches apply to other texts we teach?
Speakers and Topics
From the University at Buffalo, Barbara Bono’s presentation, "Shakespeare and the 'Seven Ages of Man': And What About Women, and Other Possibilities?," will illustrate the effectiveness of putting image, word, tableau vivant, and mime together as the beginning of Shakespearean action in a class. It also lays out a roadmap to much of Shakespearean characterization and plot, and how this can contribute to identity formation in the classroom.
Also from the University at Buffalo, Katherine Marco’s presentation, "Dramatic Pedagogy: Embodied Shakespeare," will discuss an arts-based pedagogy that allows for Shakespeare to come alive. She will present some findings from her research that attend to the need for and impact of this kind of instruction on both student learning and identity. She will also demonstrate some of the exercises in an interactive session using several Shakespeare titles.
From Shakespeare in Delaware Park, Tracy Snyder’s presentation, "Acting Shakespeare," will bring an actor’s approach to dissecting Shakespeare's texts in the classroom, helping students break down barriers of the Bard and allowing the text to come to life.
From Buffalo State, Adrienne Costello’s presentation, "From Intimidation to Innovation: Empowering Teachers and Students to Explore Shakespeare with Creativity and Confidence," will focus on specific strategies English teachers can use to engage their students in meaningful classroom work with a variety of Shakespeare’s works typically taught in schools.
From Buffalo Public Schools, Deborah Bertlesman’s presentation, "Beyond the Globe: ‘Reading the Word and World'", will discuss strategies to use Shakespeare to help students critically read their lives and their world.
