Educational Observation

I observed a high school English teacher as the teacher led the students through a study of Shakespeare's Hamlet. While the students have to complete a certain number of English classes to graduate, they can choose most of the English classes they take. This was not an advanced placement class, but the students in it had chosen it and so presumably had an interest in Shakespeare. There were 18 students in the class.

The teacher used a variety of activities to encourage her students to think about what Shakespeare really was trying to communicate and to foster a deeper understanding of the play.

She fostered intellectual development -- increased understanding of the play with the activities; social development as students produced projects in teams of three students; personal development as they were encouraged to find creative new ways to present old information. Students knew from near the beginning...
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