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In Shakespeare Studies, I had to write a paper and give a presentation on sumptuary laws in the Elizabethan Age. Some of these laws are available in microfiche, wherein one can produce a copy of a copy of the original text. My own university's library didn't have any of these microfiche despite having plenty of information on the topic, so on a visit to my parents' place up in Washington, I persuaded them to join me on a daytrip to Seattle so I could fetch the needed microfiche from the Suzzallo Library. With some assistance from a friendly librarian, I was able to get my copy of a copy of an original Elizabethan sumptuary law, complete with Elizabeth's signature. I passed said copy around during my presentation, and it being an upper division English class complete with grad students, everyone was suitably impressed. It was worth the extra effort to track down that microfiche.
The coolest project I've seen presented in university would have to be in my introductory Shakespeare class. We were split into groups, and had to perform a brief section from one of the plays we read in class. My group did one of my favorites, Titus Andronicus. But our video performance was not the best. Oh, no. The group assigned Henry the IV, Part I played out their scene using South Park characters, with Cartman as Falstaff. They did such a great job that even six years later, with many classes in between, that performance really sticks with me.
The middle school class I'm working with this term will be producing their own children's books this quarter. They will be partnered with a first grader from a local classroom, and write the book specifically for that first grader, with the child's interests in mind. As part of writing their own book, they will read other children's books and analyze them. We did the first analysis yesterday. It's interesting to work with them on this.
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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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