We have come to the Midterm...

I can always tell when we are at Midterm, because I reach my peak tiredness, wake up earlier and earlier every day, and weekends are not only cold physically, but mentally as well. But, let's see how I have been doing with Shakespeare:

Learning Outcomes

1. Gain Shakespeare Literacy

I definitely have more literacy than I did before September. I have now read in their entirety: Hamlet, The Winter's Tale, Love's Labor's Lost, As You Like It, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew and Romeo and Juliet. Of all of these works, As You Like It is the play that I have the most in-depth knowledge about, with details of the play, as well as connecting it contemporarily.

Prior to this class, I had seen Hamlet live, and The Taming of the Shrew with Elizabeth Taylor. But, now I have seen Kenneth Branaugh's As You Like It, as well as The Winter's Tale in Cedar City and Macbeth at the Castle Theater. Especially with seeing Macbeth, I now understand more fully theater in Shakespeare's time.

I have also seen some parallels between Shakespeare and Contemporary/Visual Culture in the past few months that I haven't seen before. Not only are there parallels between characters, but also the use of titles, missionary work, and parallels to my own life as well.

2. Analyze Shakespeare Critically

I think that so far I have preferred contextual analysis over textual analysis, but I have done some of both. For textual analysis, while comparing Hamlet and Laertes, I minced words to discuss their righteousness. I also looked at the use of "The Man in the Moon" in The Tempest Contextual analysis was done about themes like Nature v. Nurture, I compared the banished Dukes in The Tempest and As You Like It, and probably my favorite post was when I discussed Romanticism in light of The Tempest.

With productions, I have analyzed As You Like It, The Winter's Tale, and Macbeth. I mostly analyzed them contextually, but with As You Like it, I did do a little bit of textual analysis.

3. Engage Shakespeare Creatively

I feel like engaging with Shakespeare Creatively is more than just a performance or imitation of some sort. I have enjoyed connecting Shakespeare to painting, art history, as well as interpreting his lines to apply them to our life through video. However, I also did a little exaggerated version of alliteration to prove a literary point about Love's Labor's Lost.

4. Share Shakespeare Meaningfully

With this learning outcome, I have shared globally, shared with my immediate family, and done this blog!

Self Directed Learning

I admit, it has been hard to blog off the cuff instead of thinking, "Oh man, I have to write about something pertaining to Shakespeare today!" But, I think I am getting better at applying Shakespeare to my life and all of the classes that I am dealing with right now. I think recently I have been more self-directed, as I have found the "All the World's a Stage" theme. My husband came home the other night and I had been working on the video I made about the Internet for hours instead of doing other homework...

Collaborative and Social Learning

I have enjoyed working in smaller groups, because then there is a guarantee that someone will comment on your blog, and you can also talk about them in class as well and continue the conversation over the internet. I usually also talk to my husband about what I am doing, and he laughs at my enthusiasm, as well as me deploring that I wish I had more time to do everything I want to with all of my classes. It has been fun this past week to broaden the learning/sharing horizons, and I am looking forward to doing that more in the future.

Looking Ahead...

I am excited to about the final project, although I'm not sure what I want to do/what there is that I can do, as well as focusing more on what I am interested in on this blog. This "All the World's a Stage" thing has really gotten my wheels turning, so I might keep noodling that out here. (That is unless something else slaps me in the face) Mostly, I think I need to analyze the text as we read more, but I think overall, I have been doing okay with the learning outcomes.