Well obviously I was first astounded by the age of these kids! When I heard the phrase “The Hobart Shakespeareans” I assumed it was a group of old men that studied literature. Ironically, that stereotype is exactly what the documentary was about! The Hobart Shakespeareans are actually a group of elementary school kids that perform plays by Shakespeare, rooted in Hobart Elementary School. The film was extremely inspirational. Apart from the cast stating it directly, I never would have guessed the poverty and violence these kids grew up around because they seem so smart and positive. I have heard a lot over my years in school that teacher do not get paid enough, or that they only got into the career because they cared. I always agreed with this, but it was hard for me to understand how kids from different backgrounds could be influenced by teachers since I grew up in a predominantly white suburb with little money problems. Of course, I don't mean to sound arrogant, I had plenty of issues of my own; but I dont consider myself to fully understand the struggles with racism and violence that these kids have on a daily basis. This being said, The Hobart Shakespeareans really opened my eyes to just how much of a difference this school makes on kid’s lives. It also got me thinking, school has been the same (structure-wise) for many years. There has to be an infinite amount of improvements we can make, such as this film illustrates with the alternative year-round, hands-on based circulum. My mind was flooded with ideas and excitement; but it made me wonder why ideas and adaptations to standard curriculum aren’t as big or widely accepted. I briefly looked up some key terms that relate to this, and I found there are tons of schools and clubs that do similar things, like a high school where you can create your own “major” or area to study, rather than only predetermined general education courses. Ian McKellan, a Hollywood actor, visited the Hobart School, and raved about it in the film. “The best part of the Hobart Experience”, he said, “is that they know what they’re saying!” This, and the schools impressive reading proficiency scores, show that there’s more to reading than words, and these kids get it! Overall, the film was extremely intriguing and I wish we could implement more like it!
Personally, I want to make a goal for myself to find something I feel very passionate about, and really work at it, outside of the classroom. I want to do this for my passion with animals, and start building a business platform where I can train and work with animals more. I will have to sacrifice some of my free time, and do some melancholy research; but in the long run, it will be well worth it and build me as an individual!
I agree, the school is trying to improve the children’s learning but they are also trying to improve there town by educating the younger kids for the future. I believe more schools around the US need to take more action into the learning. More action in the learning and more educated people can make a huge difference in many ways in our country.
ReplyDeleteI like the quote you used because it is important to note that these students aren’t just saying words written for them on a piece of paper. They are connecting to the character and understanding every word and meaning behind every sentence. They can read between the lines to get the full story that may not be necessarily presented in the text. His teaching style is very effective and I think if more teachers adopted this way of teaching, students will be more inspired to be themselves and always continue learning and we would be left with a more educated society as a whole.
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