Shakespeare camp for teachers brings ‘play’ back to classrooms

More than 400 years after his death, William Shakespeare* is playing a dramatic role in Australian classrooms.

Following success in regional and remote schools, Australia’s national theatre company Bell Shakespeare has expanded its Regional Teacher Mentorship* Program and now accepts nominations from all Australian schools.

Initially focused on enhancing* Shakespearean teaching skills, this fully funded, year-long initiative improves job satisfaction for teachers and lifts overall school learning, Bell Shakespeare head of education Joanna Erskine said.

“It’s my personal opinion that most adults who say they hate Shakespeare had a negative experience in their own schooling with Shakespeare,” she said.

“They were not taught Shakespeare well. They probably had a desk-bound experience. It was probably taught (to) them as a book. It was probably an analysis*-based, essay writing approach, and there wasn’t any room for appreciation or play, and it just wasn’t an active experience.”

Among other elements, the program explores the importance of action when teaching Shakespeare. Action, as in physically moving and doing things, is so central to understanding and enjoying his works because he wrote plays, not books – and we don’t call theatre performers “players” and “actors” for nothing.

“They’re scripts, they’re blueprints* for performance and bodies in space,” Ms Erskine said. “Shakespeare usually exists in the English domain* (in schools) and so English teachers are teaching it in a … desk-bound approach.”

The theatre company decided to train teachers in how to teach Shakespeare in an innovative*, active way so that they could totally transform the learning experience for their students back in the classroom.

The program starts with four days in Sydney where educators are encouraged to be playful.

Throughout the year, participating teachers then get ongoing support, mentorship from artists, and opportunities to introduce innovative teaching practices in their schools, creating a wide and supportive community.

“You’ve actually got students up on their feet and we all know that students learn when they’re moving,” Ms Erskine said.

She said the company’s founder John Bell credited two teachers with transforming his life growing up in the regional NSW town of Maitland.

“He wouldn’t be John Bell without those teachers, so he always made sure that education was just core to the company and what we do,” she said.

Ms Erskine said each year, teachers expressed the program’s transformative* impact.

“By the end of the year, they’ve really transformed their practice and had real change implemented in their schools and helped invigorate* the whole school community,” Ms Erskine said.

“To just be celebrated in this way, a lot of teachers, when they finish the program with us in Sydney, they say … ‘I’m just remembering why I teach’.

“We had one teacher from Broken Hill High School who said he went back to school after the week in Sydney and his students said to him, ‘What’s wrong with you, Sir, you can’t stop smiling?’”

Teachers Mutual Bank chief marketing officer Nichole Banks said their organisation was committed to providing ongoing funding to ensure the program continued.

“Teachers … don’t get a lot of support, they don’t get a lot of professional development,” Ms Banks said.

Ms Banks said the bank was committed to supporting teachers to develop, grow and continue their love of teaching.

“We support a number of programs but I do think this is probably the most unique and interesting because it brings teachers back to being students again, but not just in a typical classroom setting,” she said.

“It’s very much about learning very different skills that they can take back to those communities. So, for us, it’s critically important that we’re continuing to support teachers in building capability* and capacity* in their roles as teachers, but also just to make sure that we are retaining* great teachers across Australia.”

POLL

• GLOSSARY
• William Shakespeare: world renowned English poet, playwright and actor (1564-1616)
• mentorship: giving younger or less experienced people help and advice over a period of time
• enhancing: increasing, adding to, strengthening, improving
• analysis: studying or examining something in detail
• domain: an area of knowledge or activity
• innovative: using new methods and ideas, something original and experimental
• transformative: causing a major, lasting change in someone or something
• invigorate: to give new energy and life to someone or something
• capability: power or ability to do something
• capacity: total or maximum amount that something can be done or produced or maintained
• retaining: keeping, continuing to have something

EXTRA READING

Comics to the rescue for young readers

Aussie kids introduced to stage life

TV star one day, student the next

QUICK QUIZ

1. How long ago did Shakespeare die?
2. Why is action such a central concept in the Bell Shakespeare program for teachers?
3. Who does theatre company founder John Bell credit with changing his life?
4. How and where does the program start?
5. Why does Teachers Mutual Bank’s Nichole Banks say this program is probably the most unique and interesting of those the bank helps fund?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Encourage your teachers!
Design a poster. The purpose of your poster is to encourage the teachers at your school to apply for the Teacher Mentorship Program.

Time: allow at least 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Visual Communication Design

2. Extension
“We should forget about Shakespeare, he’s out of date and too old fashioned for people in 2024!”

Use your research skills to help you write down at least five reasons that you could use to convince someone that this statement is wrong.

Time: allow at least 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English

VCOP ACTIVITY
BAB it!
Show you have read and understood the article by writing three sentences using the connectives “because’’, “and”, and “but” (BAB). Your sentences can share different facts or opinions, or the same ones but written about in different ways.