Jamie Gass

To Read or Not to Read Shakespeare? 12 Great Ways to Get to Know The Bard During COVID-19

/0 Comments/in , , , , , /by Jamie Gass
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

“There is no darkness but ignorance”

– Twelfth Night

With school closures impacting 50 million children across America, and a challenging transition to remote learning,  many parents are seeking supplementary material to enrich their children’s academic experience during COVID-19.  Fortunately, there is a wealth of information available to introduce children of all ages and reading levels to, arguably, the greatest literary figure in the English-speaking world, William Shakespeare. Playwright, poet, philosopher, The Bard, as he is known, has been credited with penning nearly 40 plays and over 150 sonnets, and coining 1,700 of the vocabulary words and phrases we use today. Below, we share a mix of accessible biographies, abridged versions of his works, and video tutorials that will cultivate interest in Shakespeare’s life, his Elizabethan era, and the wordsmithing craft that he perfected.

The Shakespeare Stories Collection – 16 Books

Retellings of sixteen of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays. This is a great introduction for young readers age 6 and up.

 

 

 

 

Who Was William Shakespeare?

Explore the origin story of the world’s greatest playwright, from his time in Stratford to a career in theater in London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare

This nonfiction picture book covering his life, his times, and his theater, is best enjoyed by children ages 4-6.

 

 

 

 

 

Shakespeare Stories

Author Leon Garfield carefully transforms twelve of the playwright’s plays into stories, and includes vivid illustrations to capture readers’ imagination.

 

 

 

 

 

Shakespeare Stories II

And when the first book leaves your kids clamoring for more, you can move on to the second volume, for nine additional plays: Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Measure for Measure, As You Like It, Cymbeline, King Richard the Third, The Comedy of Errors, and The Winter’s Tale.

 

 

 

Tales from Shakespeare

This volume, first published in 1807, includes accessible adaptations of all of Shakespeare’s comedies and tragedies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And AFTER you have read all of these works with your children, be sure to watch these helpful Sparknotes videos to reinforce concepts, such as character development, plot, setting, and important themes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get Our COVID-19 News, Tips & Resources!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Read related content:

Memorial Day: Honoring Our Fallen Soldiers and Cherishing Our Freedom

0 Comments
/
For many, Memorial Day is regarded as the official kick-off of…

Anti-Common Core News Round-up (May 3): Daily Caller, Heritage, AFT, Ed Week, Wash Times, IN, MO, NY, WI, ID, TN, AZ

1 Comment
/
As opposition to Common Core national  education standards picks…

What Anti-Common Core Activism in Tennessee Portends

3 Comments
/
Across the country, from Florida to Michigan, Colorado to Alabama,…

A stress on informational reading in the English class will not develop “critical” thinking (by Sandra Stotsky)

0 Comments
/
One of the sales pitches for Common Core's English language arts…

James McPherson, “The Legacy of Lincoln”

0 Comments
/
Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War historian and Princeton University…

150 Years of Lincoln’s New Birth of Freedom

0 Comments
/
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation…

New Guide to Starting Online Schools

Online or virtual learning is growing rapidly across the United States, but those interested in starting an online school should first define their mission and target audience, because the size and nature of the student body will dictate subsequent decisions, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

Study Calls for Reinstating Passage of U.S. History Test as Graduation Requirement

The Massachusetts Legislature should require the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to reinstate passage of the U.S. history MCAS exam as a high school graduation requirement and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education should provide teachers in grades 6-10 with examples of specific texts that could be assigned to prepare students to read a seminal historical text such as Federalist #10 in grade 11 or 12, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

MetroWest Daily News: ‘Trickle-down mandate’ hurts ed standards

Massachusetts should have conducted a cost analysis before adopting Common Core national education standards, as states like Alabama and California have done.

MetroWest Daily News: “Gass: State flunking the history test”

To ensure that knowledge of events like the War of 1812 would be passed on to successive generations, we must make passage of a basic U.S. history MCAS test a high school graduation requirement.

Worcester Telegram & Gazette: Classics? The dickens you say

According to Pioneer Institute research, Shakespeare is one of the very few British writers named in the nationalized English standards adopted by the commonwealth and 45 other states. So, watching “A Christmas Carol” on television may be kids’ only exposure to the magic of Dickens’ characters.

Rejection of Anti-Common Core Model Legislation a Sad End to a Bizarre Process

1 Comment
/
Pioneer Institute's statement on the decision of the American Legislative Exchange Council Board to reject anti-Common Core model legislation that had been approved twice by ALEC’s education task force.

Fall River Herald News: Mass. students miss out on Native American history

Understanding the complexity our country’s Native American past requires knowing U.S. history. Preferring softer 21st century skills like “media awareness” and “systems thinking” to academics, the Patrick administration in 2009 postponed a requirement, starting with the class of 2012, that Massachusetts public school students pass a U.S. history MCAS test to graduate from high school.

“Why Huck Finn Matters: Classic Literature in Schooling” (Sept. 19, 2012)

0 Comments
/
Pioneer Institute hosted a forum on September 19, 2012 at the…

New Study Suggests Remedies for Common Core Literature Deficit

State and local education policy makers in the 46 states that have adopted the Common Core State Standards should emphasize the literary-historical content that already exists in the standards and add an additional literature-based standard to address Common Core’s lack of literary content.

Huck, Jim and our interest in education

2 Comments
/
Twain famously noted that the difference between the right…

An expert’s view of national standards’ focus on non-fiction texts

0 Comments
/
(Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times) The Common Core national…