Yorktown students take it back to Shakespeare's time
May 4, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.
Students in English classes at Yorktown High School contributed to the Shakespearean Fair by:
Making tapestries and playbills
Creating power point presentations on Shakespeare's works
Judging colorings of Queen Elizabeth done by the elementary school students
Creating Renaissance-looking newspapers
Dressing up like those in the Elizabethan era
Making Shakespeare brochures
Collecting Elizabethan-era music
YORKTOWN - The library was filled with Elizabethan-style decorations.
Tapestries of William Shakespeare's famous plays hung over the book shelves.
Playbills and colorings of Queen Elizabeth decorated the tables.
Light Elizabethan music filled the air.
Yorktown High School held a Shakespeare Fair on Tuesday as part of an end-of-unit study of Shakespeare. It continues Wednesday.
For the unit, students read some of Shakespeare's most celebrated works, such as "Julius Caesar," "Macbeth," and "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
English teacher Teresa Childress had to explain things students didn't understand because the language is much different.
"She tells us how it's really hard to read, but she explains it to us better," said Crystal Buesing, 16. "She explains to us how people don't like to read and how we don't use that language anymore."
Sophomore Kimberly Alvarez found the famous author to be pretty interesting, she said.
"I think it's awesome," said Kimberly, who wore a purple Elizabethan dress. "I think if we got the chance, we should learn all this because it's history and it's really cool."
Those who dressed up, such Kimberly and Crystal, taught other students who visited the exhibit what they've learned about Shakespeare.
One thing that stuck out to Crystal is his gravesite.
"He was buried in a church and he put a curse on his grave so that no one would move it," the sophomore said. "They used to dig up their graves and put other people in them, but he cursed it so that they couldn't touch it."
On display at the fair was a small replica of Shakespeare's wooden Globe Theatre, where his plays were performed.
"All you needed was a penny to get in," Kimberly said. "One penny to sit on the bottom, and two pennies to sit on the balcony."
Having events like this makes learning more fun, Childress said.
"I've been very surprised how much they've retained," Childress said. "I was surprised when I first offered it that they really did want to do it."