English 345 Shakespeare/S. Flores

Optional alternative to in-class Midterm Exam. Note: if you take the midterm , you cannot later choose to complete this Summary-Response/Teaching Project assignment in lieu of the midterm grade.   This assignment carries a potential total of 50 points, the same as the midterm’s potential total point value.

Due date: Thursday April 16 hard copy in-class (or earlier in semester but no later than April 16).

Write a Summary-Critical Response that presents two focused summaries (Part One, 250-300 words for each summary) of key aspects of two of the essays in the respective Bblearn folder on the play you have selected: either Romeo and Juliet, or Julius Caesar, or A Midsummer Night’s Dream, or 1 Henry IV; for Part Two, the summaries are to be followed by a reflective, question -and problem-posing critical essay response to the summarized essays’ perspectives/interpretations/arguments (Part Two, minimum of 750 words) so that you draw out/take away what you consider to be the most interesting, problematic, and perhaps different emphases or ideas from the two scholarly pieces, in relation to what you would emphasize and build upon in teaching the play to high school students.

In Part One (two summaries) you should present a straightforward, selective account of what you consider to be each essay's primary, most important or engaging ideas and points of argument and interpretation. After reading each essay closely—perhaps making marginal notes or separate notes as you go to identify questions or reflect on why you consider a particular passage or concept important (for example, is it a major or new point in the argument, a significant piece of support, a summary of the opposition, an important theoretical premise/move/point of reference and departure)—you might then explore your initial approach to the Part One summary and to your Part Two response by determining to what extent and how the reading has influenced your views and understanding, by determining points of agreement or doubt, by determining significant questions raised by your experience with this essay, by determining the most important ideas you "take away" from the reading, and by reflecting on what you might "say back" to the author in sharing your perspective on the essay(s) and on the play, perhaps in the contexts of what we have studied thus far this semester.

As you write each summary, work from your sense of the scholarly essay's structure and content, and it may be helpful to have in mind (written?) the gist of each paragraph—its function or purpose and a brief summary of its content (what it "does" and what it "says," usually a response to an implicit question)—to produce material to consider for the summary.

Your summary should strive to represent the essay—or an important aspect of it—accurately and fairly. Be direct and concise, take as much as possible a fair, nonpartisan stance and tone, and except for brief quotes use your own words to express the author's ideas, use attributive tags (such as according to Smith or Smith argues that) to keep the reader informed that you are expressing another's ideas, and focus the summary to produce a cohesive and coherent account. You might begin the summary by identifying the question or the problem that the reading addresses, then state the essay's purpose or thesis and summarize its argument or primary analysis point by point (or as best you can, given the restrictions on length of the summary).

Part Two should express your understanding of the original essays’ rhetorical strategies and theoretical premises, and the effectiveness and significance of their respective arguments. You should also extend each essay's critical perspectives by explaining its potential relevance to teaching the play to high school students, and its relevance to other aspects of the play, or also you may read "against-the-grain" of the original argument to present a different or opposing perspective and argument based on your reading of the play (and our studies and other resources), on other critical perspectives, and on your own understanding and reasoning. Your response can be both reflective and persuasive in its emphases and aims, and our discussions and reading may inform your views. You may find it effective to compose a thesis for your response that maps out for readers the challenging, engaging, important points that you want to develop and discuss. Finally, include a complete bibliographic citation to note the author, essay title, place of publication, publisher, date, and page numbers for the article.

Optional appendices to affix to your Summary-Response Teaching Project:
a.         A list of study or discussion questions for a high school class.
b.         Assignment or activities for studying the play with a high school class. See, for example, the link on Bblearn to the Penguin/Signet Classics site for study guides to these plays, for some examples of typical activities/approaches for students.