Elizabeth A. Johnson
Regarding Teaching Shakespeare
"Folger Shakespeare Library." folger.edu. Click on "Teach and Learn" on the homepage to access lesson plans centered around the production of Shakespeare. The Folger Shakespeare Library is an internationally recognized library holding hundreds of thousands of the most important Renaissance documents in the world, including original Folios by Shakespeare. Many of these are published online and can serve as primary source documents.
Shakespeare, William. Shakespeare Set Free: Teaching Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, edited by Peggy O'Brian. Washington Square Press, 1993. Three complete units centered on student interaction and engagement. Includes rationales, lesson plans, and worksheets for three plays.
Regarding Improvisation Games
ImprovEncyclopedia. 29 July 2010. ImprovEncyclopedia.org/games/index.html. This site has more than 500 improvisation games. Try 10 Fingers using facts that students create before they begin. With this game, students get to know a little about each other while learning to listen to each other.
McLeod, Hugh. Learn Improv. 29 July 2010. www.learnimprov.com. This site provides numerous improvisational games. Click on "Warm-Ups" under "Structures" on the left of the homepage. Try Clap Focus, Free Association, or Group Stop.
Regarding Social and Emotional Development
"School Development Program." Comer School Development Program. April 2010. medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/comer. This site details a social and emotional development program that was piloted in urban schools in New Haven, Connecticut in the 1960's. Since then, it has been reproduced around the world. The website provides rationales, examples, and ideas for teachers, administrators, and parents.
Robert W. Roeser, Jacquelynne S. Eccles and Arnold J. Sameroff. School as a Context of Early Adolescents' Academic and Social-Emotional Development: A Summary of Research Findings. The Elementary School Journal, Vol. 100, No. 5, Special Issue: Non-Subject-Matter Outcomes of Schooling [II] (May, 2000), pp. 443-471. This article highlights the importance of social-emotional development in young adolescents, ages 10-14.
Rothstein, Richard. Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic, and Educational Reform to Close the Achievement Gap. Washington, DC: Economic Policy Institute, 2004. This book gives a comprehensive summary of factors contributing to the achievement gap as well as proposed solutions. Educators can gain knowledge about just what they are trying to close.
"Sachs Lecturer Richard Rothstein Discusses Equality in Education 50 Years After Brown v. Board of Ed." Teachers College: Columbia University. 29 July 2010. www.tc.columbia.edu. This article has links to three lectures given by educational researcher Richard Rothstein in which he outlines causes of and solutions to the Achievement Gap.