The impetus for this Approaches to Teaching volume on The Taming of the Shrew grew from the editors' desire to discover why a play notorious for its controversial exploration of conflicts between men and women and the challenges of marriage is enduringly popular in the classroom, in the performing arts, and in scholarship. The result is a volume that offers practical advice to teachers on editions and teaching resources in part 1, "Materials," while illuminating how the play's subtle and complex arguments regarding not just marriage but a host of other subjects--modes of early modern education, the uses of clever rhetoric, intergenerational and class politics, the power of theater--are being brought to life in college classrooms. The essays in part 2, "Approaches," are written by English and theater instructors who have taught in a variety of academic settings and cover topics including early modern homilies and music, Hollywood versions of The Taming of the Shrew, and student performances.

This contemplative anthology offers personal essays by notedscholars on a range of topics related to the teaching ofShakespeare. Ideal for the graduate student, it addresses many ofthe primary concerns and rewards of the discipline, drawing on thevariety of special skills, interests, and experiences brought tothe classroom by the volume's distinguished contributors. Offers insight into the classroom practices, special skills,interests, and experiences of some of the most distinguishedShakespearean scholars in the field Features essayists who reflect on the experience of teachingShakespeare at university level; how they approach the subject andwhy they think it is important to teach Provides anecdotal and practical advice for any readerinterested in teaching the works of Shakespeare Engagingly candid

Shakespeare's history plays make up nearly a third of his corpus and feature iconic characters like Falstaff, the young Prince Hal, and Richard III--as well as unforgettable scenes like the storming of Harfleur. But these plays also present challenges for teachers, who need to help students understand shifting dynastic feuds, manifold concepts of political power, and early modern ideas of the body politic, kingship, and nationhood. Part 1 of this volume, "Materials," introduces instructors to the many editions of the plays, the wealth of contextual and critical writings available, and other resources. Part 2, "Approaches," contains essays on topics as various as masculinity and gender, using the plays in the composition classroom, and teaching the plays through Shakespeare's own sources, film, television, and the Web. The essays help instructors teach works that are poetically and emotionally rich as well as fascinating in how they depict Shakespeare's vision of his nation's past and present.

Here are the books that help teach Shakespeare plays without the teacher constantly needing to explain and define Elizabethan terms, slang, and other ways of expression that are different from our own. Each play is presented with Shakespeare's original lines on each left-hand page, and a modern, easy-to-understand "translation" on the facing right-hand page. All dramas are complete, with every original Shakespearian line, and a full-length modern rendition of the text. These invaluable teaching-study guides also include: Helpful background information that puts each play in its historical perspective. Discussion questions that teachers can use to spark student class participation, and which students can use as springboards for their own themes and term papers. Fact quizzes, sample examinations, and other features that improve student comprehension of what each play is about.

Describes a performance approach to teaching Shakespeare's plays in high school and college, using performance activities that include analyzing casting, rehearsing, and performing parts of plays.

This teaching guide for high school college instructors begins with an introduction on "Shakespeare and the American Landscape," by Samuel Crowl, and includes the following 32 essays: "Some 'Basics' in Shakespearean Study" (Gladys V. Veidemanis); "Teaching Shakespeare's Dramatic Dialogue" (Sharon A. Beehler); "Shakespearean Role Models" (Ruth Ann Gerrard); "The Use of Quotations in Teaching Shakespeare" (Leila Christenbury); "Getting To Know a Play Five Ways" (Martha Tuck Rozett); "Toward a Teachable Shakespeare Syllabus" (Robert F. Willson, Jr.); "Shakespeare off the Page" (J. L. Styan); "Goals and Limits in Student Performance of Shakespeare" (Charles H. Frey); "Using Improvisational Exercises to Teach Shakespeare" (Annette Drew-Bear); "Enacting Shakespeare's Language in'Macbeth' and 'Romeo and Juliet'" (Elizabeth Oakes); "Sparking: A Methodology to Encourage Student Performance" (Joan Ozark Holmer); "Changing the W's in Shakespeare's Plays" (Michael Flachmann); "Love, Sighs, and Videotape: An Approach to Teaching Shakespeare's Comedies" (Michael J. Collins); "Shakespearean Festivals: The Popular Roots of Performance" (Demar C. Homan); "Introducing Shakespeare with First Folio Advertisements" (Daniel J. Pinti); "Versions of 'Henry V': Laurence Olivier vs. Kenneth Branagh" (Harry Brent); "Picturing Shakespeare: Using Film in the Classroom to Turn Text into Theater" (James Hirsh); "Shakespeare Enters the Electronic Age" (Roy Flannagan); "Shakespeare Is Not Just for Eggheads: An Interview with Two Successful Teachers" (Linda Johnson); "Teaching Shakespeare against the Grain" (Ronald Strickland); "Shakespeare and the At-Risk Student" (David B. Gleaves and others); "Decentering the Instructor in Large Classes" (Robert Carl Johnson); "Where There's a 'Will,' There's a Way!" (Mary T. Christel and Ann Legore Christiansen); "Digging into 'Julius Caesar through Character Analysis" (Larry R. Johannessen); "A Whole Language Approach to 'Romeo and Juliet'" (John Wilson Swope); "'Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care': Responding to 'Macbeth' through Metaphorical Character Journals" (Gregory L. Rubano and Phillip M. Anderson); "Building a Bridge to Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' with Cormier's 'The Chocolate War'" (Margo A. Figgins and Alan Smiley); "Three Writing Activities to Use with 'Macbeth'" (Ken Spurlock); "The Centrality of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'" (Hugh M. Richmond); "If Only One, Then 'Henry IV, Part 1' for the General Education Course" (Sherry Bevins Darrell); "Teaching 'The Taming of the Shrew': Kate, Closure, and Eighteenth-Century Editions" (Loreen L. Giese); and "'Measure for Measure': Links to Our Time" (John S. Simmons). (SAM)

An improved, larger-format edition of the Cambridge School Shakespeare plays, extensively rewritten, expanded and produced in an attractive new design.