First Post, and a new Youtube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPETehMiApg&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3PWbguBchuBYZoXhZWiUh2z9f-SdptISoiDJy9RbdJ3_puXXoHY9plv8k
This is the link to Shakespeare for All, a new Youtube channel for my Shakespeare videos, and also, as it happens, it is my first posting on the new blog too. To make it easier to remember them, I've even given them the same name.
Academic life is becoming ever more complex, and one of the things we are being expected to do more and more (in addition to everything else) is to establish not just an online presence, but a more visually active and interactive one. The recent and ongoing virus situation has accelerated the trend, and I have been receiving more and more requests about doing some video presentations, especially from the Outreach people at the university where I work.
Outreach is becoming increasingly important. Not only does it have important educational benefits (obviously!) but it is something of a recruitment tool. It makes high school students and teachers more aware of what we do, and this matters in a university where 85% of the students come from what are euphemistically called disadvantaged backgrounds. Students need to see that having aspirations is not a bad thing, and that it is possible for people like them to go to university. I made quite a few visits this academic year to several schools in Gloucestershire, and more had to be cancelled when we went into lockdown. Even so, I saw nearly 700 students and they seemed to like what I had to say.
So did the teachers. They struggle on a daily basis with the damage that has been done to our school education system by the politicians, especially in arts & humanities subjects. The short-sighted emphasis on STEM only has created a crisis, and not just in my subject. The serious problem here is that even though English is seen as a second-rate subject in comparison, it is nevertheless compulsory. The perfect toxic environment is the result: a required subject that students are being told has relatively little value. Of course, this has pretty much been the case for generations, but I really don't envy the teachers who have to deal with this on a daily basis.
One result has been an increased call for expertise from the universities to help teachers cope with the swathes of material they have to convey, and this is where some of us have come into the mix. We can usefully supplement what goes on in the classrooms, and besides it's good for the students to hear another voice or two. I see the shift to online teaching, the increased call for video presentations, and the need for more Outreach as all part of a developing continuum.
Hence the Youtube materials. It has been exhausting doing all of this while at the same time coping with the huge amount of extra work generated by the move online, but it has been well worth it. The first batch of three videos is on Macbeth, and will be followed by three on Romeo and Juliet. I chose these two in the first instance because they are the two most often studied at GCSE; I will add others in due course. The idea is to have three per play because the teachers are telling me that what they need is accessible supplementary material on characterisation, plot and context. I have no intention of making them terribly complex, and I hope to limit the length to around half an hour at most so they can be useful in the classroom; the approach is entirely pragmatic. I won't be going into more technical or abstruse areas of critical theory in these videos, although I will record some separately on elements that will be of use to many of the plays. I'll also eventually move onto Shakespeare's poetry, especially the Sonnets, as well as plays that are not usually studied at school or, indeed, university. I'd also like to produce some videos on many of the poets and dramatists of the English Renaissance, not just that wee man from Stratford.
I have to thank Cathy and Cate for all their hard work on this. I'm just the talking head; Cathy did all the research on what works for this sort of presentation, and directs and shoots them. Cate has learned loads of editing techniques in a very short period of time, and seems to be enjoying it; she certainly likes to accumulate useful skills. Besides, she is an ideal source of information about what works and what doesn't, since she is always looking at the web. I just hope I haven't put her off Shakespeare permanently - she still has to do her own exams at one point!
Comments and conversations are welcome on here, although I reserve the right to moderate everything before I add it to any of the posts. This blog will therefore complement the channel, and I expect it to take on a bit of a life of its own. Anyway, it's about time I started to chronicle my work life as well as my hobbies; I've been blogging for over ten years now, and it is beginning to feel natural, almost strangely comfortable.
This is the link to Shakespeare for All, a new Youtube channel for my Shakespeare videos, and also, as it happens, it is my first posting on the new blog too. To make it easier to remember them, I've even given them the same name.
Academic life is becoming ever more complex, and one of the things we are being expected to do more and more (in addition to everything else) is to establish not just an online presence, but a more visually active and interactive one. The recent and ongoing virus situation has accelerated the trend, and I have been receiving more and more requests about doing some video presentations, especially from the Outreach people at the university where I work.
Outreach is becoming increasingly important. Not only does it have important educational benefits (obviously!) but it is something of a recruitment tool. It makes high school students and teachers more aware of what we do, and this matters in a university where 85% of the students come from what are euphemistically called disadvantaged backgrounds. Students need to see that having aspirations is not a bad thing, and that it is possible for people like them to go to university. I made quite a few visits this academic year to several schools in Gloucestershire, and more had to be cancelled when we went into lockdown. Even so, I saw nearly 700 students and they seemed to like what I had to say.
So did the teachers. They struggle on a daily basis with the damage that has been done to our school education system by the politicians, especially in arts & humanities subjects. The short-sighted emphasis on STEM only has created a crisis, and not just in my subject. The serious problem here is that even though English is seen as a second-rate subject in comparison, it is nevertheless compulsory. The perfect toxic environment is the result: a required subject that students are being told has relatively little value. Of course, this has pretty much been the case for generations, but I really don't envy the teachers who have to deal with this on a daily basis.
One result has been an increased call for expertise from the universities to help teachers cope with the swathes of material they have to convey, and this is where some of us have come into the mix. We can usefully supplement what goes on in the classrooms, and besides it's good for the students to hear another voice or two. I see the shift to online teaching, the increased call for video presentations, and the need for more Outreach as all part of a developing continuum.
Hence the Youtube materials. It has been exhausting doing all of this while at the same time coping with the huge amount of extra work generated by the move online, but it has been well worth it. The first batch of three videos is on Macbeth, and will be followed by three on Romeo and Juliet. I chose these two in the first instance because they are the two most often studied at GCSE; I will add others in due course. The idea is to have three per play because the teachers are telling me that what they need is accessible supplementary material on characterisation, plot and context. I have no intention of making them terribly complex, and I hope to limit the length to around half an hour at most so they can be useful in the classroom; the approach is entirely pragmatic. I won't be going into more technical or abstruse areas of critical theory in these videos, although I will record some separately on elements that will be of use to many of the plays. I'll also eventually move onto Shakespeare's poetry, especially the Sonnets, as well as plays that are not usually studied at school or, indeed, university. I'd also like to produce some videos on many of the poets and dramatists of the English Renaissance, not just that wee man from Stratford.
I have to thank Cathy and Cate for all their hard work on this. I'm just the talking head; Cathy did all the research on what works for this sort of presentation, and directs and shoots them. Cate has learned loads of editing techniques in a very short period of time, and seems to be enjoying it; she certainly likes to accumulate useful skills. Besides, she is an ideal source of information about what works and what doesn't, since she is always looking at the web. I just hope I haven't put her off Shakespeare permanently - she still has to do her own exams at one point!
Comments and conversations are welcome on here, although I reserve the right to moderate everything before I add it to any of the posts. This blog will therefore complement the channel, and I expect it to take on a bit of a life of its own. Anyway, it's about time I started to chronicle my work life as well as my hobbies; I've been blogging for over ten years now, and it is beginning to feel natural, almost strangely comfortable.
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