1. There were only two performances shared of the poem “Porphyria’s Lover”. They both put a good deal of effort into their preporation and performances.
2. Once back in the classroom, a few students joined me for a little social simulation where I described a relationship between three people leaving one of them very uncertain of what decision to make in their future. Because of that indecision, they don’t make a decision and end up hurting as a result. The class got very involved in this discussion and generated a lot of energy and excitement.
3. This carried through when the students wrote out a character map as I drew it on the board. We discussed each of the characters of the Shakespeare play Hamlet and how they were related to each other. We drew hearts or crosses beside each name to indicate whether the character was well-meaning or had bad intentions. Some characters were both and we’ll read how that plays out in the performance.
4. We discussed a few lesser-known facts about Shakespeare himself. The idea that he was never formally schooled, that there are so many spellings of his name with the original literature and no actual signature on one of his works are all indicators that have led conspiracy theorists to believe he is not actually the author of the literature. We talked about the reality that so much of what is included in our daily media comes from lines from Shakespeare. When we are already influenced by the ideas from this writing, it is definitely worth it to study it and check it out.
5. In the end, the story of Hamlet is one of the most intense and well-developed. It is just a great story! I promised the class… they’ll enjoy it!

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