I work as a consultant to schools, which quite often puts me in the role of an instructional coach for teachers. You might have assumed that I’m independently wealthy from all of that sweet Thursday Morning Riddle money, but I find that having a day job is a pleasant distraction from counting my yachts. I’ve been in the job for 24 years, and still going strong!

A couple of years ago, I was meeting with two young teachers in a middle school in Brooklyn. I had coached each of them for about a year and a half. Normally, we would meet individually, but today there was a schedule disruption, and the three of us were meeting together.

Ms. F started the meeting by saying, “I did what you told me to do, and it worked!” “That’s great,” I responded, “what did I tell you to do?” I work with a lot of teachers, and don’t necessarily remember every conversation.

She said that I had told her to give her students a glossary of Tier II words to help them access a text. That’s something I suggest often. She added, “And I made the definitions really simple, too!” I was very pleased with that. “Oh, that’s a really good idea. There’s nothing worse than looking at a glossary to help you with a word, only to find you don’t understand the definition either.” Her voice went flat as she reminded me, “Yeah, that’s what you said.” I felt bad that I didn’t remember our conversation, so I replied, “Well, I really just go around to schools and repeat the same eight things over and over.”

It was a joke, a deflection to cover my embarrassment. But then Ms. F and Ms. S decided to sit down and make a list of the eight things I repeat over and over. And with the same giddiness that their students would exhibit if asked to do impressions of them, the two of them brainstormed the following list:

They were mocking me, yes, but I actually felt affirmed by the exercise, since the list they came up with was both an accurate caricature of my coaching propensities and a fairly good list of high-leverage practices that would improve the quality of instruction in most schools. And they had heard me.

But at the same time, it made me self-conscious (in a good way) about the work I do in schools. If I were to make my own list of eight things, even two years later, it probably wouldn’t be too much different than the list they made. And where the two lists might differ, the teachers’ list would have more credibility, since the gap would be between the coach I wish I was, and the coach that actually appears in practice.

Now that summer is here and I have a little more time to write, I thought it might be fun to revisit the list, and reflect on some of these “teacher moves” that lead to increased student learning. Maybe it could be a new weekly feature. The list is finite, and I might not even do them all, but I can’t think of a better writing prompt to keep my head in the game during the two month vacation. Even coaches get summer learning loss.

I’ve just updated the Shakespeare Reading Group Resource Page to include an additional 8 plays, for a total of 24.

So if your dream roles include Cleopatra or Falstaff, the Shakespeare Teacher has got your back. Enjoy!

As promised, here is the post celebrating the blog’s twelfth anniversary. There are currently 1,230 posts in 122 categories, and 3,441 approved comments.

A lot has changed in the past twelve years. I’ve changed. The Internet’s changed. The world’s changed. The Thursday Morning Riddle hasn’t really changed very much, so there’s some comfort in that.

I’m looking forward to a new year of blogging. I want to continue the riddles and anagrams and political essays. I also want to bring back some of the old features that I think gave the blog a distinct character. I want to write more about Shakespeare this year, and more about education. I’m also planning to add some more play divisions to the reading group page.

Year 13 stretches out before us. Come join me as we discover it together!

It’s time once again to look back at the last year of blogging and pick out the top posts.

I warn you in advance that four of the five are about Individual 1. Say what you will about this administration, but it does inspire some of my most motivated writing.

The fifth post is an announcement about changes to the website that I’ve been planning for a very long time and that I was finally able to complete this year.

Here are the top five Shakespeare Teacher posts from 2018:

5. Space Force! (August 10)

When Republicans want to do something they think is important, like corporate tax cuts or building a wall, nobody asks them how they are going to pay for it. If something’s a high priority, you find a way. But when Democrats want to protect the environment or provide for universal healthcare, suddenly the nation has empty pockets. This essay shows how the president’s unexpected call for a Space Force might help us all find some common ground.

4. Shakespeare Anagram: Sir Thomas More (June 30)

I wasn’t going to be happy with the policies of a Republican administration regardless. But I feel like the scapegoating of Latinos and Muslims that is occurring at the highest levels of this government goes far beyond left and right, and actually represents a betrayal of American values, both liberal and conservative. The essay that precedes the anagram focuses on Latino immigration, and uses a powerful speech from Shakespeare to highlight the main idea.

3. Macbeth’s Twitter Feed (April 23)

In honor of Shakespeare’s birthday, I mocked up images of a fake Twitter feed. It was purportedly from the historical Macbeth, but it was written in the style of You Know Who. It turned out to be a surprisingly good match. Macbeth’s paranoia and arrogance matched the same qualities in the grandstander-in-chief. In some cases, I was able to simply modify real presidential tweets; in others, I just used actual quotes from the play. The two temperaments blended together seamlessly.

2. Anthem 2018 (July 4)

Heading into Independence Day, a lot of my Facebook friends were openly wondering if they could still be patriotic when our leadership was taking us so far astray. I had planned to write a July 4th post celebrating the best of America. While drafting the essay, I wrote the line “We have conquered worse than this when we were not as strong.” And that’s when I realized that the post wasn’t an essay; it was a poem. I’m really pleased with how it turned out.

1. Shakespeare Teacher 2.0 (August 31)

This was the year that Shakespeare Teacher went from being an entertainment blog to being a resource-rich website. This happened when I added a new page to support Shakespeare reading groups with role divisions. I also added a new page to display my Plantagenet family trees. What’s in store for the future? Now that I have a home page and an organizational structure in place, I might add some new features. I also may continue to update existing features. Stay tuned!

I am pleased to announce the most significant update to this website since the addition of the blog in 2007.

I have just completed a project that I’ve been working on for many years. As long-time readers know, I’m part of a group that meets on a monthly basis to do readings of Shakespeare plays. To facilitate these readings, I put together a system for how to divide the plays into parts so that each reader gets a relatively equal-sized part and that nobody’s doing scenes with themselves. It makes everything run so smoothly, and I’ve always wanted to put those play divisions online so that others who wanted to do readings would have access to them. That website is now up. I hope that it will lead to more Shakespeare readings being held in the world, because they are a lot of fun.

Once my website had more than one thing on it (the blog and the reading group page), I thought it was time to create a home page, so I did. And, having a structure in place, I was able to elevate the Plantagenet family trees to have their own page, which is also now up. I also filled the home page with category links of blog features from over the years that I want to highlight.

So welcome to those new and returning! I look forward to our continuing this journey together!

Eleven years ago today, a new website emerged onto an unsuspecting Internet, dedicated to a mission of spreading joy, poetry, commentary, wordplay, and an original riddle every Thursday morning. This is a post about that website.

This past summer, I went through the archives and added 25 new category links for your browsing pleasure, including four politicians, three current events issues, seven individual Shakespeare plays, and one category collectively for the histories. I also added links for subjects I find myself writing about often, such as genealogy and game theory.

There are now 1,178 posts in 122 categories and 3,350 approved comments.

And I’ve just renewed the domain name for another year, so one day we can, at the very least, look forward to a January 1, 2019 post called “Twelve Years.”

What comes between the two posts is where the magic happens. I look forward to continuing the journey with you.

Has it really been four months since I’ve posted? Surely, the world needs my special brand of whatever the hell it is I do here, now more than ever.

The year got off to a pretty good start, and since I was productive here for at least the first eight months of it, I think it’s time to bring back an old feature: the best posts of the year recap.

I skipped the feature in 2015, since the only really notable post I wrote was a tribute to Grant Wiggins. In 2016, the only posts of any substance were about the cruise. But this year, the year the site reached 200,000 hits, even though my stamina ran out two-thirds of the way through, I did manage to put together a few posts I’d like to remember when looking through this category link in years to come.

So without further ado, I present the top five Shakespeare Teacher posts of the year 2017:

5. Shakespeare Anagram: Twelfth Night (August 25)

Since Donald Trump became president, the Shakespeare Anagram has undergone an evolution of sorts. It’s always been somewhat political (which is often the point), but this year the anagrams have been accompanied by increasingly lengthy essays inspired by the topic of the anagram. This was the last one I did this year. Compare it to the first one I did this year, and you’ll notice the shift.

4. Shakespeare Follow-Up: Lie Detection (June 30)

An off-handed comment by Duncan in Macbeth inspired a deep examination into how lie detection has been viewed and used over the centuries. It also brought back a feature that I enjoy very much, and hope to continue in the future.

3. Making History (March 5)

This is another long one, but I had a lot to get off my chest. An Arkansas Republican tried to have the works of Howard Zinn banned from state-funded schools, and it set me off. When we decide how we are going to teach history, we need to first decide why we teach history, and we may not all agree on the answer.

2. Sean Spicer Does Shakespeare (April 23)

What if Sean Spicer hadn’t worked for Donald Trump, but instead was the spokesman for Shakespeare’s King Richard III? It might look a little something like this. I had thought about following up with Sean Spicer as the front man for Macbeth, insisting that Macbeth never met with the witches before becoming King, and then admitting that he had but there was no collusion. Alas, Sean’s time at the podium came to a sudden end before I could write it.

1. An Open Letter to President Trump (March 12)

This is sort of a comedy piece, but I’m actually serious about the underlying idea. There’s no reason Donald Trump shouldn’t support single payer. And he really is the only one who could make it happen. If he did, he might actually be seen as the great leader he thinks he is now. Believe me.

We haven’t done this for a while, but it’s time to celebrate another milestone. This blog has just reached 200,000 unique hits! Have some cake!

The blog started on January 1, 2007. It went public on January 6.

We reached 50,000 hits on June 7, 2010.

We reached 100,000 hits on September 19, 2012

We reached 150,000 hits on November 26, 2014

The 200,000th hit came in at 11:43pm on June 6, 2017 from Mount Laurel, NJ via a Google search. They came in to see the Family Trees for Shakespeare’s Histories.

At this point in time, there are 1,157 posts (including this one) in 97 categories and 3,312 comments.

Thanks to everyone who stuck with the site during the slow periods, which I guess is mostly Asher. And there’s much more exciting content on the way, which I guess is mostly Shakespeare Anagrams and the Thursday Morning Riddle.

Onward and upward!

Ten years ago today, I started a journey called “Shakespeare Teacher” that hoped to entertain, enlighten, and energize a small but dedicated audience of readers.

The world was different back then. George W. Bush was in the White House, and my dissatisfaction with that reality drove a lot of my early posts. I found myself with a lot to say, and Web 2.0 offered a unique platform to express my opinions and offer my analysis. When Barack Obama took office, I still cared about politics, but my edge became dulled by complacency.

I mostly sat out this past election because it was awful and because I thought Donald Trump could not possibly win. That was a mistake. Now, I find myself once again with a lot to say, but my platform for saying it is no longer what is was. Web 2.0 technologies have taken a backseat to social media, and most of us get our news and analysis folded in with our baby pictures and viral videos. Is there still a place for the Shakespeare Teacher and his twopence? I’m thinking that there just may be, if I can play to my strengths.

I’ve become very aware of the way that language is being twisted and manipulated in politics and society, and I can write about that. New policies will affect education and the arts, and I can write about that. We will see parallels between real life as it emerges and Shakespeare’s examinations of power, and I can write about that. And, of course, I can still entertain with the word games, puzzles, riddles, and anagrams that have come to define this tiny little corner of the Internet for the past decade. I might even write about teaching Shakespeare from time to time.

The Shakespeare Teacher is back. If you’re in, I’m in.

Happy New Year.

If you are one of the passengers from the Celebrity Shakespeare & Scandinavia Cruise, welcome! As promised, I am posting digital copies of the handouts from my talks, so if you missed one or didn’t get a handout, you can find everything here.

My first talk was on Hamlet. You can download the handout here. You can also read more of my posts about Hamlet at the category link here.

My second talk was on Shakespeare’s Use of Language. You can download the handout here. You can also read more of my posts about poetry at the category link here.

My third talk was on Shakespeare’s History. During the talk, I referred to a series of eight family trees that I compiled to go along with Shakespeare’s history plays. I used the first and the eighth of these as a handout for the talk. You can find all eight family trees here.

My talk today will be on Shakespeare’s Science. You can download the handout here. You can also read more of my posts following up on references from Shakespeare’s plays at the category link for the Shakespeare Follow-Up here.

Enjoy!