Lessons from Shakespeare’s Classroom

Robin Lithgow was the first ever Theatre Adviser, and later the Director, of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Arts Education Branch. In that role she and her colleagues were the architects of the Elementary Arts Program, serving every one of over 550 elementary schools, with itinerant teachers in dance, music, theatre, and visual arts. She is the daughter of Arthur Lithgow, perhaps the only person ever to have produced every play in Shakespeare’s canon. She is the sister of the theatre and film actor, John Lithgow, who has kindly illustrated this book.

• TimelineCast of CharactersAcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1. Time Travel: Setting the sceneChapter 2. Engagement before Information: Instruction in both colloquial and rhetorical language in Elizabethan schoolsChapter 3. Angels and Eaglets: Schoolboy actors set the sceneChapter 4. Good Behavior and Audacity: The training up of Elizabethan schoolboysChapter 5. The Lego Snap of Learning: Research in arts education and neuroscience Chapter 6. Context: The Hatch and Brood of Time: A brief history of the English ReformationChapter 7. Erasmus’ Egg: His life and his works in support of performing arts in educationChapter 8. The Delightful Mulcaster: Playmaking schoolmasters in Tudor EnglandChapter 9. Per Quam Figuram? Rhetoric in Shakespeare’s classroomChapter 10. Erasmus Writes Colloquies: Classroom training in Latin conversationChapter 11. The Little Eyases: Professional boy actors in the 16th centuryChapter 12. ConclusionBibliographyAppendix I: Performing the ColloquiesExamples of Erasmus’ Colloquies in Latin and English Proci and puellae (Courtship) Naufragium (The Shipwreck) Uxor (Marriage) Abattis et eruditae (The Abbot and the Learned Woman) Herilia (A Master’s Commands) Appendix II: Selection of Educational Drama Resources for Teachers Index

''I guarantee that Lessons from Shakespeare's Classroom will be the most surprising, most readable learning you will do all year, and that you will laugh out loud in every chapter. Zwounds!—hie thee to these pages most expeditiously.'' Eric Booth, Actor and author of "The Everyday Work of Art," "The Music Teachers' Bible," "Playing for Their Lives," and "Tending the Perennials."''Robin Lithgow has done anyone interested in Shakespeare or education (and more particularly those of us interested in both Shakespeare and education) a great service with her book. By detailing the classical grounding of Shakespeare’s writing she shows us the great tradition of which we are a part; a tradition that expands in its inclusivity as the world changes and evolves. This tradition is the "fertile soil" that contributed to the brilliance of Shakespeare’s generation and lights a path for our own. It is truly an "education for the benefit of the commonwealth," which we perhaps need now more than ever.'' Louis Fantasia, Artistic Associate, Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles''Lithgow’s book reanimates the Erasmian spirit of teaching in all the best ways: it’s artfully copious, humanely conversational, and models throughout a witty flair for drama. Her students were fortunate; now we are, too.''Scott Newstok, author of How to Think like Shakespeare