Teaching Hamlet in the Twenty-First-Century Classroom

Dr. Joseph P. Haughey is an associate professor of English education and assistant director of teacher education at Northwest Missouri State University, where he teaches classes in composition, literature, and education. His other research interests beyond Hamlet include incorporating graphic novels in antiracist pedagogies, the use of graphic adaptations in teaching canonical texts, the historical analysis of Shakespeare's evolving role in American education, and general issues more broadly in teacher preparation, critical literacy, antiracism in schools, and rural education. Before joining the faculty at Northwest, Dr. Haughey taught middle and high school ELA in California and Alaska.

• Prologue: “Begin at This Line” AcknowledgmentsChapter One: “I Could a Tale Unfold”: Telling a Good Ghost Story, Bard-StyleChapter Two: “There Is Method in It”: Hamlet’s Sinking Mental Health: Diving Deep into the SoliloquiesChapter Three: “Words of so Sweet Breath”: Listening to Women’s Voices: What Ophelia and Gertrude RevealChapter Four: “Like the Painting of a Sorrow”: Drawing Scenes from Hamlet: Getting Visual with the TextChapter Five: “I Have Been Sexton/Sixteene Here”: How Old Is Hamlet Anyway: Getting Gritty with Textual HistoryEpilogue: “This Business is Well Ended”Appendix B: “I Have Some Rights of Memory”: A Note on FortinbrasGlossary: “Words, words, words”Works CitedAbout the Author

Across five chapters, Haughey provides excellent suggestions for teachers who face the challenges of teaching not only Hamlet but all of Shakespeare. . . Haughey structures each chapter with appropriate learning objectives and recommendations for reading aloud only those portions of text related to each chapter's suggested higher-level thinking activities. . . Each chapter offers insights for studying Shakespeare as a creative writer, an actor, a literary critic, an artist, and an editor.