Chill with Will Workshops
The great William Shakespeare was recently introduced to sixth graders in the Huntington School District’s SEARCH program and the youngsters took delight in exploring the playwright and his work and times.
The students have been taking a comprehensive look at Shakespeare, the Elizabethan period in which he lived and two of his well known tragedies, “Romeo and Juliet” and “Julius Caesar.”
“Not only did these children analyze the themes found in his play, they also made Shakespeare come alive because they were involved in many different activities associated with these scripts,” said Maryann Daly, SEARCH chairperson/teacher.
Comparing the modern day “West Side Story” to the original “Romeo and Juliet,” creating an original and personal coat of arms as the knights did in the Elizabethan time, competing in “pictionary” style games using words and Shakespearean expressions, role playing the Montagues and Capulets in a “Family Feud” style game and decorating a mask to wear to the Capulet Ball in the character they chose to portray, were just some of the many hands-on lessons.
Mrs. Daly said the sixth graders became “totally immersed” in “Julius Caesar,” analyzing the words and personalities of each of the characters, becoming press agents for one specific person, developing speeches to present at a town hall meeting, creating a negative and positive campaign through posters and speeches for their choices to be crowned the next Roman king, researching and getting to know the inner and outer self of each of the characters and creating character boxes for the culminating workshop.
Talented visiting teaching artist and educator Heather Thorgersen brought “Julius Caesar” to life during an insightful workshop. She led students in a role play of “the hall of conspirators,” recreating Caesar’s murder and highlighting the importance of the crowd in the spectacle.
The sixth graders presented an item that represented the inner and outer self of a specific person they chose to become. One student, choosing to portray Brutus, brought in a Rome flag to represent how patriotic he was. Another youngster drew a picture of a heart halved and painted on one side with red to represent the blood of his best friend Caesar that he spilled. The other half was painted blue to represent his patriotism to Rome. A third student brought in chess pieces to represent the strategies Cassius used to manipulate and convince the other senators to join him in killing Caesar. Still others brought in swords, crowns, rulers and created pictures to represent betrayal and conflict.
A second workshop proved to be another delight as Ms. Thorgersen and her actor friend, Tom Slott, a professional stage fight choreographer, showed the classes how actors prepare for and carefully script and practice the fight scenes found in many of Shakespeare’s plays – from the slap and punch (with sounds effects) to the hair pulling scenes to how they learn the art of fencing.
Student pairs were taught the art of staging a fight scene as well as the basics in fencing. “Needless to say, everyone enjoyed learning from these trained and talented professionals,” Mrs. Daly said. “What a wonderful way to culminate our Shakespeare unit. Shakespeare is alive and well in our SEARCH classes.”
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