Education News from Dr Young, aka Bob

Summer was a busy time for the Education Division, but not as hectic as the fall. Work continued throughout the summer on the new toolkit for teachers, and the kit made its debut at a workshop in California right after Labor Day. The kit contains a copy of Shakespeare Set Free, a booklet on preparing for a Shakespeare festival ("Page to Stage"), a DVD of the 2008 production of Macbeth (with eight special features), and one of elementary school students preparing for a festival performance of Hamlet ("The Play’s the Thing"). Also, there are laminated cards for two-line scenes, a laminated guide on how to use the kit, with the answers to some frequently asked questions, and a flash drive containing handouts, scenes for performances, podcasts, and videos that teachers can use in their classrooms. Because the flash drive can be easily updated by uploading new teaching materials, the toolkit should be a source of the latest resources for teachers for years to come. Teachers have had many good things to say about the kit, and we’re getting inquiries about when it can be purchased in the Shop. Soon, we hope. [edit - 12/17/09 - the Toolkit is now available in the Folger Gift Shop!]

In addition to working on the toolkit, the Education staff prepared for the new season of Shakespeare Steps Out/ Shakespeare at School with a number of new schools being added to the roster of participating schools. A new group of High School Fellows started class in early September and the "Shakespeare for Seniors" program introduced at the end of the last school year has been expanded for this year. We are continuing our work at New Beginnings (formerly Oak Hill), part of the Division of Youth and Rehabilitative Services. Shakespeare is now part of the school’s curriculum, and students will be studying Othello.

We are following up on our very successful June conference for elementary school teachers (Teaching Shakespeare in the Elementary School) with the creation of new web pages designed to encourage and support elementary school teachers across the district and throughout the country as they introduce the Bard to young people. We were successful in our application for a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for another Teaching Shakespeare Institute next summer, so we look forward to having a full-house of teachers at the library for four weeks next summer (June 28-July 23, 2010).

This year we’ll be working with the docents to create a "permanent" exhibit for the Shakespeare Gallery to be on display at the end of the theater season until the end of summer, so that visitors to the library during the summer will have an opportunity to see material about Shakespeare along with the exhibit in the Great Hall. A group of docents have volunteered to help create the exhibit, and more information will be distributed as the plan takes shape.

Our new brochure listing all of the events and workshops scheduled to take place looks terrific. There is a great picture of our wonderful docents taking some senior citizens through their paces in a "Shakespeare for Seniors" workshop.

We’ve gotten off to a good start this school year. Thank you for all you are doing to help bring Shakespeare into the classroom for students and teachers, and for helping the general public gain new insights and understanding about the Bard and his work.