Maureen C. Howard
“A Hands-On Approach to Teaching Hamlet” is a demonstration of the involvement of students’ feelings, experiences, psychological growth in the learning of literary works. Although I have used a particular play for demonstration purposes, the method is applicable to other disciplines, especially the social sciences, and to any chosen literary genre.
For teachers teaching Shakespeare for the first time, or for those teachers seeking a new approach to familiar material, this unit may be followed step by step, or lends itself equally well to being employed piecemeal.
This unit is also a resource to help generate new approaches to using literary journals as a teaching tool. Scattered throughout the unit are suggestions for journal activities that may be used in connection to teaching “Hamlet” or may be easily adapted to other literary works being studied, or for use in Creative Writing Classes.
Another use that teachers may find for this unit is a tool to teach a Drama course. Many techniques are presented in the unit that can be used to help students improvise, prepare a scene to be presented, or learn new acting skills.
(Recommended for English 4 and British Literature Grade 12)
Key Words
Teaching Hamlet Drama Shakespeare William Pantomime Staging
