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16 January 2025

How To Connect Modern Students With Shakespeare

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For many educators, you say the name 'Shakespeare' and watch the lights turn off. Many students associate the name with 'boredom', and like algebra or statistics, they wonder: How is this going to help me in the real world?

But as we know, Shakespeare's impact on the 'real world' is inescapable: from the words he coined and the literary tropes he popularized, to his profound ability to write about deep human emotions.

So, how do you break down the 'stigma of Shakespeare' to appeal to modern students? (Skip to the end for a free resource to support your next Shakespeare lesson...)

Find the heart of the story

In our professional development course, Teaching Tragic Heroes: Tips for Enhancing Literary Analysis in Your Classroom, three ELA educators shared advice for engaging students in classic literature.

'Especially for younger learners', said Melinda Hall, 'you have to find a framework for students to make those personal connections with the characters'.

Self-proclaimed 'Shakespeare Geek' Laura Sheridan added:

'I teach Othello in 11th Grade, and I always start with four statements:

Raise your hand if you've ever disobeyed your parents – and we all raise our hands, myself included.

Raise your hand if you've ever been jealous.

Raise your hand if you know somebody who likes to stir the pot.

Raise your hand if you've ever been 'fooled' by someone who stirred the pot.

After that I say, You've all raised your hands, which means you're going to understand this play. I'm going to help you with the language, but you all understand the heart of what's going on here.'

'You can do that with any play', Laura added. 'If you can get students to understand that they already 'get' the personal choices that these characters make, then the story becomes accessible.'

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Explore Teaching Tragic Heroes: Tips for Enhancing Literary Analysis in Your Classroom!

Speak in their language

One of the biggest roadblocks to connecting modern students with Shakespeare is the language. It looks unfamiliar, and it can be difficult to interpret which has led to modern translations of Shakespeare.

But, fostering engagement is not about changing the words on the page. It is about changing how you share them. Picture this:

You're introducing Hamlet's iconic 'To be or not to be' soliloquy. Which approach would you choose?

  1. Traditional & Text-Based: Have students read the speech and silently list different interpretations.
  2. Dynamic & Memorable: Show four unique performances of the speech. As a group, ask them to identify what made each version different, and which version they connected to the most.

While text-based study is essential to any literature class, connecting the modern student with Shakespeare involves 'speaking their language': using multimodal and interactive strategies to engage them with the text and helping them look beyond popular interpretations to form their own connections.

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'To be or not to be' is just one soliloquy in our Compare and Contrast series...

Be open to learning

Shakespeare can be overwhelming - and not just for students. Class pushback and lack of participation can be demoralizing, and the prevalence of 'answers' online make it difficult to know whether a student truly 'understands' what the play is saying.

We know that educators need support when it comes to teaching Shakespeare, and that's why we have put together a comprehensive, ready-to-go Shakespeare Starter Pack.

Focused on Hamlet, this pack offers 8+ practical activities that can be adapted for any play, and aims to engage modern students while saving you precious planning time.

Inside this exclusive pack, you will find:

  • An introduction to Shakespeare and Elizabethan Theatre
  • Text-based analysis of character, theme, and language
  • Key scene 'Compare & Contrast' exercises

The activities and assessments in this Starter Pack also follow a differentiated learning strategy, helping you to support those students with a foundational understanding, all the way to advanced analysis.

Find out more and download your free copy of the Shakespeare Starter Pack today.