Join us for a fascinating talk with Dr. Gail Paster, Director Emerita of Folger Shakespeare Library, as she explores the role of women in Shakespeare. Deepen your own understanding of the ways in which Shakespeare portrays women and the messages those portrayals send.

You don’t want to miss this! Join Folger mentor teachers and curriculum writers extraordinaire Dr. Deborah Gascon and Amber Phelps for a special sneak peek into the upcoming Folger Method Course on teaching Romeo and Juliet. In this session, you will experience a lesson on Romeo and Juliet (which can be applied to virtually any text – truly) and walk away with ideas and techniques to use right now while getting a taste of what’s to come in the upcoming two-day Folger Method course!

Get ready to go deep into the Folger Method in this two-day course taught by Dr. Deborah Gascon and Amber Phelps, high school teachers extraordinaire and authors of the Romeo and Juliet unit that will be central to the Folger Guide to Teaching Romeo and Juliet (to be published by Simon and Schuster in late 2023). Together, they will guide you through the principles and the essential practices that provide you, and all your students, with a way to approach not just Romeo and Juliet, but any complex text.

At the end of these two days, you will have experienced all parts of this proven method, you will see how it applies to teaching Romeo and Juliet and all kinds of complex texts, you will have practiced teaching and learning this way, and we will send you off with new techniques, new confidence, and new materials.

The Folger Method unleashes the potential of every reader to understand Shakespeare and other complex texts and to make real insights into literature without teacher explanation. Through this highly effective set of principles and strategies for helping all students grapple with complex texts, the Folger is revolutionizing how not just Shakespeare, but literature is taught. The Folger Method is an engine for educational equity that enables all students to own—and enjoy—the process of reading closely, interrogating texts, collaborating with peers, and creating meaning. Over and over again, teachers call this way of teaching and learning “transformative.”

In this three-week virtual summer institute (June 27 – July 16, 2021) sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, 25 middle and high school teachers immerse themselves into the hold that Shakespeare and early America have had and continue to have on each other–with full attention to the roles that indigenous, Black, brown and Latinx people play during this slice of history.

Join Folger Education July 19-23, 2021 for a professional learning experience unlike any other, no matter which Shakespeare play you teach. Help students use their own minds and voices—and the power of the humanities—as a force for good. Teach Shakespeare for a changed world.