Shakespeare Party!
The art group has been looking forward to this event. It was a wonderful opportunity both to see all of our physical art represented in one location and to receive feedback from a larger public. Before the event started, I played the song that I had written about Shakespeare's Hamlet on the piano to 'get in the mood', and was able to get feedback from a classmate! With regards to the art itself, it was gratifying to see people go up to the easel and point and make comments; it is motivating to continue to share Shakespeare via the websites that we have created: cnx, youtube, and deviant art. Also I enjoyed the comments that were made by one roommate of a classmate in the crowd that asked a question about how much feedback we had gotten from these websites already. I do admit that I did not engage others conversationally as well as I should have: I was worried about some issues at home and should have felt more social. But, we did engage people with Shakespeare on many levels, and I was indeed amazed-- outside our group the sharing was incredible too:
I loved how the performances gradually drew out progressively more impressed reactions from the audience, ending in the play and music video. It was fun to see how the skill of the actors, filmers, and music-video-ers left people floored. You could tell my their reactions that they weren't expecting to be amazed so much. I think my favorite moment was when Cadet Hess stood and we gave him an applause. To me it felt like Shakespeare was not just being shared, but being the means for connection generally among us. I started off the Q&A/sharing with my story of Claude the Homeless guy, and people seemed to enjoy that. Shakespeare became everybody's common ground there. Success!
In terms of our project itself, some of the process can be seen here, and some of the research our group did here and here.
Personal Assessment in the Learning objectives:
Gain Shakespeare Literacy
After reading all of the assigned plays start to finish, seeing two productions of Shakespeare, and being present every day of class to discuss Shakespeare, I am only starting to get a good feel for Shakespeare's voice. But I feel like I do have that start, which is motivating. I am beginning to understand why people like him so much: He allows us to approach ourselves in a different way that is good for reflection and introspection. I have reflected on the way I treat others, the way in which we might love better, etc. I think that the lesson plans that we created was also a good way for us to gain literacy (thanks for printing those, by the way!)
Analyze Shakespeare Critically
This was one of the areas that were deficient last assessment, and so I spent extra time here. I enjoyed reading Shakespeare closely, a project which I had not yet undertaken. Looking at just one passage closely for a little over an hour made me appreciate the detail that goes into every aspect of the plays Shakespeare wrote.
Another significant project that helped me engage creatively was to do research on what others were saying about Shakespeare: in the Spanish Lit context (it took some research to find, but it was possible!!!). I found some clues as to what Borges thought about Shakespeare in an interview, read a short story of his in Spanish about Shakespeare (La memoria de Shakespeare), and researched what other Hispanic Scholars were saying about all of this. This was one of the funnest blogs I've done. I got this idea from another research project I had done on what the Spanish scholars say about Shakespeare.
In a less involved project, I thought about and blogged similarities and differences between "King Lear" and another play: "La casa de Bernarda Alba".
Of course, the critical work that I did at the beginning of the semester (which was really more creative/ not as critical as I thought) was the translation: See here, and here, and here (where I got the idea). I did not focus as much on translations during the latter part of the class when we started our final projects: the other learning objective that I wanted more fully to fulfill was "Engage Shakespeare Creatively", on which I felt I should spend the majority of my effort (not having really done so yet).
Engage Shakespeare Creatively
This I found very enlightening. It was new to take a short piece of text, think about the words carefully, and respond without words the way I felt about it. This required our group to form a new blog altogether.
I responded to Horatio's interpretation of the Ghost when he sees it, and juxtaposed that with Hamlet's reaction of what I thought when he Himself must have seen the Ghost, to when Hamlet (in a soliloquy) questions himself and his bravery, to the famous "to be or not to be" idea (of course), and both to Ophelia "divided" and to the Last scene where everything seems to fall apart. I responded furthermore to the theme of acting in the play, and illusions (see here and here), and finally to the overarching theme I found in the play of waiting and hesitation. When Hamlet refuses to kill the king (as he is praying), when he calls himself a coward, when he wonders if he should commit suicide or not, etc. All of this spoke to me as to what he felt, while waiting and hesitating so much. This I responded to with an organ and flute original composition, which by itself required between 15 - 20 hours (open here if previous link will not work).
Share Shakespeare Meaningfully
Besides what I mentioned above about the actual gallery at the Shakespeare Party, I have worked on getting our curriculum up on cnx.org. I have not link yet since the curriculum still has not been cleared. Our group was involved, however, both in youtube and deviant art to get our project public.
I furthermore enjoyed the brief correspondence I had with Dr. Laura Campos from Spain, Sharing with Claude, of course, and sharing with my little brothers-in-law (the blog here reflects the preparation, I have not gotten the results up and running yet...)
And so, thus it is that Shakespeare and I are much better acquainted. Thanks, Dr. Burton, for a great semester.
The art group has been looking forward to this event. It was a wonderful opportunity both to see all of our physical art represented in one location and to receive feedback from a larger public. Before the event started, I played the song that I had written about Shakespeare's Hamlet on the piano to 'get in the mood', and was able to get feedback from a classmate! With regards to the art itself, it was gratifying to see people go up to the easel and point and make comments; it is motivating to continue to share Shakespeare via the websites that we have created: cnx, youtube, and deviant art. Also I enjoyed the comments that were made by one roommate of a classmate in the crowd that asked a question about how much feedback we had gotten from these websites already. I do admit that I did not engage others conversationally as well as I should have: I was worried about some issues at home and should have felt more social. But, we did engage people with Shakespeare on many levels, and I was indeed amazed-- outside our group the sharing was incredible too:
I loved how the performances gradually drew out progressively more impressed reactions from the audience, ending in the play and music video. It was fun to see how the skill of the actors, filmers, and music-video-ers left people floored. You could tell my their reactions that they weren't expecting to be amazed so much. I think my favorite moment was when Cadet Hess stood and we gave him an applause. To me it felt like Shakespeare was not just being shared, but being the means for connection generally among us. I started off the Q&A/sharing with my story of Claude the Homeless guy, and people seemed to enjoy that. Shakespeare became everybody's common ground there. Success!
In terms of our project itself, some of the process can be seen here, and some of the research our group did here and here.
Personal Assessment in the Learning objectives:
Gain Shakespeare Literacy
After reading all of the assigned plays start to finish, seeing two productions of Shakespeare, and being present every day of class to discuss Shakespeare, I am only starting to get a good feel for Shakespeare's voice. But I feel like I do have that start, which is motivating. I am beginning to understand why people like him so much: He allows us to approach ourselves in a different way that is good for reflection and introspection. I have reflected on the way I treat others, the way in which we might love better, etc. I think that the lesson plans that we created was also a good way for us to gain literacy (thanks for printing those, by the way!)
Analyze Shakespeare Critically
This was one of the areas that were deficient last assessment, and so I spent extra time here. I enjoyed reading Shakespeare closely, a project which I had not yet undertaken. Looking at just one passage closely for a little over an hour made me appreciate the detail that goes into every aspect of the plays Shakespeare wrote.
Another significant project that helped me engage creatively was to do research on what others were saying about Shakespeare: in the Spanish Lit context (it took some research to find, but it was possible!!!). I found some clues as to what Borges thought about Shakespeare in an interview, read a short story of his in Spanish about Shakespeare (La memoria de Shakespeare), and researched what other Hispanic Scholars were saying about all of this. This was one of the funnest blogs I've done. I got this idea from another research project I had done on what the Spanish scholars say about Shakespeare.
In a less involved project, I thought about and blogged similarities and differences between "King Lear" and another play: "La casa de Bernarda Alba".
Of course, the critical work that I did at the beginning of the semester (which was really more creative/ not as critical as I thought) was the translation: See here, and here, and here (where I got the idea). I did not focus as much on translations during the latter part of the class when we started our final projects: the other learning objective that I wanted more fully to fulfill was "Engage Shakespeare Creatively", on which I felt I should spend the majority of my effort (not having really done so yet).
Engage Shakespeare Creatively
This I found very enlightening. It was new to take a short piece of text, think about the words carefully, and respond without words the way I felt about it. This required our group to form a new blog altogether.
I responded to Horatio's interpretation of the Ghost when he sees it, and juxtaposed that with Hamlet's reaction of what I thought when he Himself must have seen the Ghost, to when Hamlet (in a soliloquy) questions himself and his bravery, to the famous "to be or not to be" idea (of course), and both to Ophelia "divided" and to the Last scene where everything seems to fall apart. I responded furthermore to the theme of acting in the play, and illusions (see here and here), and finally to the overarching theme I found in the play of waiting and hesitation. When Hamlet refuses to kill the king (as he is praying), when he calls himself a coward, when he wonders if he should commit suicide or not, etc. All of this spoke to me as to what he felt, while waiting and hesitating so much. This I responded to with an organ and flute original composition, which by itself required between 15 - 20 hours (open here if previous link will not work).
Share Shakespeare Meaningfully
Besides what I mentioned above about the actual gallery at the Shakespeare Party, I have worked on getting our curriculum up on cnx.org. I have not link yet since the curriculum still has not been cleared. Our group was involved, however, both in youtube and deviant art to get our project public.
I furthermore enjoyed the brief correspondence I had with Dr. Laura Campos from Spain, Sharing with Claude, of course, and sharing with my little brothers-in-law (the blog here reflects the preparation, I have not gotten the results up and running yet...)
And so, thus it is that Shakespeare and I are much better acquainted. Thanks, Dr. Burton, for a great semester.
