Writing for secondary and post-secondary school English teachers, Moeller explains how to teach Shakespeare using the Socratic method, while also teaching students to think critically. His further aim is for students to use Shakespeare to learn about themselves.
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A teacher's teacher, former Great Books leader-trainer Professor Victor Moeller applies the insightful questioning methods ... Read moreof Socrates to selected works of Shakespeare with detailed time-lined lesson plans incorporating films, time-saving quizzes and original essay exams. Every English department's treasure and every English teacher's must-have, this busy-teacher-friendly resource is indeed the gift that keeps on giving and is never returned.
Greg Secora, high school English Honors 9 teacher Finally, I have found a most useful book that has already helped me to conduct good discussions that involve all my students with the plays of Shakespeare that I take up in my Advanced Placement classes (on a two-year cycle)—Macbeth, Hamlet, Much Ado, Henry V, King Lear, and Merchant of Venice. The focus of the book is not on expert critical opinion but on helping teachers and students to arrive at their own individual interpretations based on a close and active reading of the text. Comparison-contrast discussions of the film versions of these plays involves today's visually-minded students in ways that I have been unable to do until now.
John Bardin, Jacobs High School, Algonquin, IL If the goal of secondary English education is to foster in our students the ability to read texts closely and well, and an ability to think independently and critically, then Victor Moeller's Socrates Does Shakespeare: Seminars and Film is spot on. The book is not burdened with theory over practice, but it is thoroughly grounded in sound theoretical and pedagogical principles. For the beleaguered secondary and college English teacher facing all those students in classes or blocks every day, the practical helps in the book are life-savers. For anyone who wants to help the process of effective learning in the Shakespeare classroom, this book is a 'must have'. Do yourself a favor; read the book-and use it.
Michael Travers, Ph.D., professor of English, Southeastern College at Wake Forest (NC) Moeller's book is very helpful to a high school teacher interested in better teaching his students how to think about literature. After laying some helpful groundwork about how and why his Socratic method works, Moeller offers seminar guidelines for students to co-lead fifteen-minute discussions of specific Shakespeare plays. In addition to useful film guides and writing assignments, the lesson plans feature effective scaffolding techniques which lead students to compose their own effective Socratic questions for use in a class discussion to facilitate thinking and understanding. Supplemental reading suggestions, such as John Updike and James Thurber stories for Macbeth, invite students to make connections beyond the Shakespeare text, and are well chosen and relevant to students' lives. Socrates Does Shakespeare is a framework that will equip teachers like me, already employing Socratic methods once in a while, to do it more consistently with texts I already teach, and to consider new units basedon texts and films not yet part of our curriculum. Moeller has done much of the work for us by creating thought-provoking questions which lead students to explore the ambiguity of the plays and appreciate their complexity. I know my own students will bene
Gordon Hultberg, editor
Utah English Journal
To emphasize the performance aspect of Shakespeare, [Moeller] pairs each play with a filmed version to create a unit of study. In these units, he provides extraordinary detail. Teachers unfamiliar or uncomfortable with Shakespeare might be thrilled to discover a text that relieves them of so much preparation.
VOYA
Moeller's book is very helpful to a high school teacher interested in better teaching his students how to think about literature. After laying some helpful groundwork about how and why his Socratic method works, Moeller offers seminar guidelines for students to co-lead fifteen-minute discussions of specific Shakespeare plays. In addition to useful film guides and writing assignments, the lesson plans feature effective scaffolding techniques which lead students to compose their own effective Socratic questions for use in a class discussion to facilitate thinking and understanding. Supplemental reading suggestions, such as John Updike and James Thurber stories for "Macbeth", invite students to make connections beyond the Shakespeare text, and are well chosen and relevant to students' lives. Socrates Does Shakespeare is a framework that will equip teachers like me, already employing Socratic methods once in a while, to do it more consistently with texts I already teach, and to consider new units based on texts and films not yet part of our curriculum. Moeller has done much of the work for us by creating thought-provoking questions which lead students to explore the ambiguity of the plays and appreciate their complexity. I know my own students will benefit from the carefully thought out sequences he employs. I recommend this volume to teachers of upper division or honors high school students or adults.
Gordon Hultberg, editor
Utah English Journal
Vic's excellent manual illustrates his unique ability to describe in clear and concise language the 'how-to's' of preparing for and leading a meaningful discussion. It [is] a boon to education and a great gift to all faculty from grade one through 16.
Dorothy Lamberton, former Minneapolis and Suburban Area Adult Great Books Coordinator Show Less