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For Educators

Professional Development

We are eager to share what we’ve learned in 8 years of UT Shakespeare at Winedale Outreach!  We are available for consultation or discussion via email or phone about approaches to studying Shakespeare in the K-12 classroom -- anything from how to integrate a TEKS-based project into a 4th grade Language Arts curriculum to how to bring performance elements into a high school English Lit class. We are also available for Professional Development workshops for teachers in Texas school districts, in which we break down the steps for a “page-to-stage” Shakespeare experiences of varying complexity. No previous interest in or experience with Shakespeare is necessary!

For more information on Professional Development for teachers or librarians (we can help advise on Shakespeare books that Outreach students have found interesting and useful), please contact Outreach Coordinator Clayton Stromberger at cstromberger@austin.utexas.edu.

Teacher Resources

In all our residency work, one of our goals is to give educators the tools they need to integrate the performance study of Shakespeare into their teaching in a way that fits their style, time constraints, subject interest, and grade level. We do ongoing research into best practices for working on Shakespeare with children and have plenty of tips and resources to pass along, from lesson plans to ways to integrate writing and social studies. Outreach Coordinator Clayton Stromberger has also visited and learned from top practitioners in the field, including the Folger Shakespeare Library’s education wing and Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. Our most important source for inspiration and ideas, however, has always been the founding director of Shakespeare at Winedale, Dr. James B. Ayres, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Texas at Austin, who now directs the remarkable Camp Shakespeare program.  (For more information on Camp Shakespeare, see the tab in the index on this site's home page.)

Shakespeare Kids Website

ShakespeareKIDS is an interactive Web site for children new to Shakespeare, children who already love Shakespeare but want to learn more, teachers, parents, and really, anyone eager to get up on their feet and start doing some Shakespeare themselves.

The Do Your Own Shakespeare section allows children to explore at home, alone or with friends, ways of performing six different roles from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and includes edited texts ready for downloading. Our site focuses on the Shakespeare at Winedale approach to teaching and understanding Shakespeare and provides educators and homeschooling parents with ideas and activities for all classroom settings, with a primary focus on grades 3-6.

From providing texts for classroom use to integrating Shakespeare education into TEKS prep, our Teachers and Administrators section offers tips and tricks that bring Shakespeare to life inside the classroom. All this and more is available at ShakespeareKIDS.