Language Matters

1. Consider/discuss a variety of different interpretations of ‘Lear’. The possible interpretations are:

• Feminist

• Marxist

• Freudian/Psychological

• Aristotelean

• Traditional Elizabethan

• Absurdist

• Family Drama

2. In small groups (no more than 5) students are to create an ‘interpretation’ of Lear. They may come up with their own, or develop one that they have read.

This requires them to complete the following:

• Research: Students must have one of the following: (each student is responsible for finding/reviewing one of these and reporting back to the group)

  • a podcast

  • a journal article

  • book chapter

  • a teacher tube or you tube video http://www.teachertube.com/   www.youtube.com

  • a website

Presentation of interpretation:

• Blog w/ posts (interactive, media uploads wordle, glogster, you tube video, slide share, images, podcasts etc) and comments

 http://edu.glogster.com/ 

Example glogster: http://bhewes.edu.glogster.com/king-lear-nihilism/

http://www.slideshare.net/ http://www.wordle.net/

• you tube video where students don the ‘mantel of the expert’ and present their argument – three separate ‘interviews’ or a ‘panel’ or a ‘rant’ video of acting a scene from the play – or a couple of scenes

• ‘mockumentary’ in which the play is analysed 

• mash-up

• Reflective piece in which the group’s chosen interpretation is explained and justified (linking to relevant research) as well as a discussion of their chosen medium and why it is effective in conveying their ideas about the play.

• Peer-marking: each student marks each group based on their argument, presentation and reflection. They must include a mark and comments for each section of the task.

Time allowed: 2 weeks