I’ve mentioned before that I needed a break from Arthur Miller, and I took advantage of the opportunity to include Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest in my Grade 12 University level English class. Following on the heels of our novel unit, students were anxious to be out of their desks, reading from a dramatic script, and quickly transforming readings into performances. The trivial banter of this play was cathartic for the students after the objectivism of Ayn Rand, simply art-for-art’s sake through farcical comedy.
The students are now thoroughly excited about seeing this play performed at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival at the end of May. The length of the unit (12 days) allowed for an understanding of the play without tiring the students of Oscar Wilde’s words.
What Worked Well
- They play divided nicely into five group presentations: two groups for Act 1, another 2 groups for the second act, and just one group for the final act.
- Asked to bring in at least one item as a prop or as part of a costume to represent their own character, most students entered into the spirit of aesthetic theatre and adorned themselves in costume from head-to-toe.
- With the drama room available, we enjoyed ourselves for a week on stage.
What Needs Work
- I must ensure that the rubric allows for a knowledge of lines without necessarily requiring memorization (because of time constraints), and separately grading the delivery of the lines.
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Fantastic! I went to high school in Montréal, and my school organized a trip to the SSF every year. However, they also organized a lot of other trips, and for monetary reasons, I was always forced to choose. Every year I skipped Stratford in favor of Toronto, Chicago, Hartford, or Orlando (made a lot of trips to Orlando). And as much as I enjoyed all of those other trips, I always wished I’d gone with my friends to Stratford, just once