The following courses are offered for Key Stage 3 teachers:
Active teaching of Shakespeare at KS3
Actively Teaching and Learning Shakespeare at KS3
Exploring Shakespeare's language at KS3 - 5
Directing Shakespeare with young people: building an ensemble
Connecting with Shakespeare through movement and voice
Shakespeare in Special Education
Engaging young people with autism with Shakespeare
Shakespeare Masterclass: Drama and Theatre Pedagogy
Accredited courses with the University of Birmingham
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Active Teaching of Shakespeare at KS3
Friday 15 October 2010, Waterside Space, Stratford-upon-Avon
Core texts: Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing
Friday 10 June 10 2011, Waterside Space, Stratford-upon-Avon
Core texts: Macbeth and The Tempest
This course will engage you in active approaches to teaching Shakespeare to extend your confidence and skills in rehearsal room approaches to text. It will focus on strategies for developing students' confidence in making interpretive choices, seeing a play from different characters' points of view and exploring the meaning of the language. The day will include reflection on using these approaches to capture evidence of learning which can be integrated into the ongoing assessment of pupils' reading at KS3.
'I learned how to focus on character motivation, find relevance for students and today's society. Focus on language was informative for potential written outcomes. Fun, practical and inclusive.'
Teacher participant in 2009
Cost: £130 non-members (£115 RSC Education Members)
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Actively Teaching and Learning Shakespeare at KS3
Friday 3 and Saturday 4 December 2010, NUT HQ in London
Friday 11 March 2011, Waterside Space, Stratford-Upon-Avon
We are inviting up to 25 Secondary English teachers to take part in a two-day seminar led by RSC practitioners. The seminar will focus on active approaches to teaching Shakespeare at KS3. The participants will then try out what they learned with their own class and then meet again to reflect on their successes and share good practice. Texts used will include Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice and Macbeth and the active approaches are transferable to all texts.
Cost: £250 (NUT members £150)
This cost includes lunches and refreshments on all three seminar days and one Roundhouse theatre ticket on 3 December 2010.
Optional B&B (£50) can be requested in advance for 3 December 2010
For more information and to book, please email Matt Chapman at the NUT CPD Programme: m.chapman@nut.org.uk
Exploring Shakespeare's Language at KS3 - 5
Friday 25 March 2011, Waterside Space, Stratford-upon-Avon
Core text: Julius Caesar
This course will take you on a deep exploration of Shakespeare's language and use an actor's approach to understanding, owning and using text. At the heart of this exploration is how the language drives action and how it informs understanding of character, relationships and the world of the play. It will engage you in a range of techniques to explore imagery, structure, sound and rhetoric that will deepen student's insights and personal responses to the play.
Cost: £130 non-members (£115 RSC Education Members)
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Directing Shakespeare with young people: building an ensemble
Friday 3 and Saturday 4 December 2010, London
This course will give you a range of techniques, ideas and creative ways to direct young people to perform Shakespeare. Working with the artistic staff at the heart of our work, you will develop skills and confidence in the practice of ensemble approaches to theatre-making and the exploration of text.
We will work practically to focus on key moments, scenes or speeches and also look at the way that voice and movement adds to the process of bringing them alive. This course will suit teachers of Drama, Performing Arts and other teachers looking to extend and challenge their practice.
Cost: £250 non-members (£235 RSC Education Members)
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Connecting with Shakespeare through movement and voice
Friday 11 March and Saturday 12 March 2011, London
This course will give you an immersive experience in the movement and voice work that is a key part of the RSC's artistic work with actors, as they go through the process of owning Shakespeare's language and creating their characters. Over the course of the two days you will participate in a physical and vocal journey into Shakespeare’s text to refresh your ideas and extend your repertoire of teaching approaches when working with young people. This may suit teachers of Drama, Performing Arts and English teachers looking to extend and challenge their students.
The course will be led by Struan Leslie, the RSC's Head of Movement and members of the RSC's Voice department who are integral to our rehearsal room and the on-going development of the RSC Ensemble.
Cost: £250 non-members (£235 RSC Education Members)
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Shakespeare in Special Education
Friday 4 February 2011, Waterside Space, Stratford-upon-Avon
Core texts: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet
This course is designed for teachers working with pupils who have a special educational need and will introduce a range of active, drama-based approaches to engaging children in Shakespeare that can be used in the classroom. The techniques will focus on experiential learning and on sound, rhythm and sensory approaches and ways to engage children in exploring the language. The course is structured to create a reflective dialogue about the barriers and responses to engaging your pupils in Shakespeare and ways to tailor active approaches to the needs of different children.
'I learned that the language can be accessed and responded to in many different ways by all learners, and that in many ways a mixed ability group can appreciate everyone's response.'
Teacher participant in 2009
Cost: £130 non-members (£115 RSC Education Members)
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Engaging young people with autism with Shakespeare
Autumn 2010, Roundhouse, London
Dates to be confirmed, please call to register your interest and we'll be in touch to confirm
Core text: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
This course will engage you in drama and rehearsal room approaches that will connect young people with autism to Shakespeare's language, stories and characters. The course is structured to create a dialogue about the barriers and responses to engaging your pupils in Shakespeare and ways to tailor active approaches to the needs of different children.
It will be led by Kelly Hunter, a member of our Acting Ensemble and co-founder of Touchstone, a theatre company which specialises in work with autistic young people. Kelly has recently been working for the RSC in an extended residency in special schools in London - this course draws on her learning from that work and her expertise in working with children and teachers.
Cost: £130 non-members (£115 RSC Education Members)
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Shakespeare Masterclass: Drama and Theatre Pedagogy
Friday 4 and Saturday 5 March 2011, Waterside Space, Stratford-upon-Avon
Core text: The course will focus on the Shakespeare play being performed on the evening of 4 March 2011 but approaches are transferable to other texts.
Working with, members of the RSC Ensemble, Education Practitioners, Cicely Berry Director of Voice and Text, and Jonothan Neelands Professor of Drama and Theatre at The University of Warwick, this course will be an in-depth exploration of the teaching and learning of Shakespeare. It's a chance to explore the text from different viewpoints: including through movement, voice, as an actor and also as participants in drama and rehearsal room practice. This course will give you a rich connection with the text, the interpretive choices of the production and will refresh your practice in the active teaching of Shakespeare.
Cost: £275 non-Members (£260 RSC Education Members)
This cost includes a ticket for the production on the evening of 4 March 2011.
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Accredited Courses
The Shakespeare Institute of Birmingham University in collaboration with the RSC are running a module on Shakespeare in Education which contributes towards an MA/ Post Graduate Diploma from the Institute. It will be an intensive six-day course from April 16 – 21 2011 in Stratford upon Avon including three days on active approaches to teaching Shakespeare.
Course information from the University of Birmingham »
For more information, contact Juliet Creese at The Shakespeare Institute on 0121 414 9501 or email j.creese@bham.ac.uk