Yes, we do Shakespeare!

Here's a great, detailed study of the "original pronunciation" of Shakespeare, complete with rhymes and puns we can't even hear in our modern English:


 I love it because the Bard is alive and kicking, right here in the Kentucky Core Academic Standards:

Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.)

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.) 

Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work (e.g., how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible or how a later author draws on a play by Shakespeare).

In our Reading Standards for Literature, Shakespeare is the one required author, with the first two standards above applying to grades 11 and 12.  The third entry is for grades 9 and 10, and it lists Shakespeare as an example rather than a mandate--though I dare anyone to come up with a better author than Shakespeare to use for this sort of analysis.

 --Posted by Susan Perkins Weston

[Hat tip to Cindy Baumert!]