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Gone are the days of the word text meaning solely print material. While, especially in English classes, the majority of texts that we use will be of the print variety (novels, textbooks, articles, journals, etc.) it is important for teachers to understand the benefits of using other forms of texts and media. As is created my text set for Macbeth on Blendspace, I did a FLIP analysis of each item that I added to the set. This allowed me to see the benefits and drawbacks of each text that I planned to use.

I will start with the more traditional form of texts: print material. Even within the realm of print texts, there are so many choices to be made. The first, and simplest, decision that I made was to find texts that would help students to be able to understand/Decode Shakespeare’s language; I needed to find effective mentor texts. In a way I ended up working backwards from Macbeth. I wanted something that was still Shakespeare but easier to get through, so I decided on the Sonnets. They are much shorter and easier for students to take on as their first experience with the language; however, Shakespeare is still difficult since he wrote in Early Modern English. I needed to find a mentor text that would bridge the gap, or at least allow the students to practice the strategy of chunking and paraphrasing in order to decode Shakespeare. Here I did not necessarily go in order. I decided on Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein as an introduction to the strategies. It uses language that students are familiar with so that they can practice the skill without too much struggle. I realized that I would need one more text to bridge the gap between Where the Sidewalk Ends and the Sonnets. I wanted something written in Present Day English, but with some difficult/unfamiliar language. For this I chose Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven because it does take some decoding to get through, but most of the difficulty is still easier than reading Shakespeare.

While it might be okay to have a lesson based around these four texts, I wasn’t done yet. I began thinking of what I struggled with most when it came to reading Shakespeare in high school. I really struggled with the flow of Shakespeare’s language. When I was able to hear someone else read it, it all made so much more sense. I set out to find a recording of Sonnet 18, and lo and behold I found one that was read by none other than Tom Hiddleston. This has two benefits, the one listed above and also the fact that through texts such as music/audio and video we can bring celebrities into the classroom and make the printed texts come to life.

Macbeth is a play. It was originally written to be seen not to be read, which is why I decided to include a production of Macbeth that the students can watch after reading the text. This helps to make sense of sometimes confusing (or missing) stage directions. As well as show the students how the text would have been encountered historically.

Teaching in the 21st century requires us to acknowledge that the word text is constantly evolving and we need to make sure to stay on top of the emerging forms of texts and include them in our lessons in order to enhance our students educational experience.