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##  Online Resources for Teaching Shakespeare. ERIC Digest.                      

The Technology in Education 2001 Survey (Market Data Retrieval,                 2001) reveals that nearly 70% of schools report that the majority of            their teachers use the Internet for instructional purposes, and more            than 70% use computers on a daily basis. Parallel to the rapid                  growth in the number of users of Web sites has been an exponential              growth in the number of sites, challenging the efforts of teachers              and parents to identify and select the most relevant sites for any              particular project (Lu, 1999). This is particularly true for                    subjects or topics as exhaustively represented on the Web as William            Shakespeare and the teaching of his works. 
To assist educators in             effectively teaching the works of this critical author, this Digest             will identify and describe some of the most significant and useful              online resources. The Web sites were chosen on the basis of their               technical excellence, purpose, content, authorship, and general                 usefulness (Abdullah, 1998) for teachers and parents attempting to              introduce Shakespeare to their children.  Note that, consistent with            the nature of the Internet itself, most of these sites                          cross-reference each other in unique ways to create a cornucopia of             ideas for teaching and learning about the life and works of                     Shakespeare. I. LESSON PLANSIn a survey entitled Hot Spots:               Picks of Language Arts Web sites (Lu & Abdullah, 1999), teachers                reported that their favorite Web sites were characterized by a high             level of immediate applicability. Teachers who responded to the                 survey indicated that the most useful sites were those providing a              wide array of practical teaching ideas. The Folger Shakespeare                  Library and AskERIC Lesson Plans correspond closely to that ideal,              offering a wide variety of lessons plans, ready for classroom                   use. 
The Folger Shakespeare                                                   Library 
http://www.folger.edu/education/teaching.htm 
Since 1984,            the library has held eleven Teaching Shakespeare Institutes funded              by the National Endowment for the Humanities which bring together               scholars, master teachers, and actors and offer classroom teachers              the opportunity to do research in the world's foremost Shakespeare              collection. The Web site contains a lesson plans archive with                   materials introducing Shakespeare, and it also offers general                   lessons, elementary lessons, film lessons, interactive media                    lessons, as well as an abundance of lessons on specific                         plays. 
AskERIC Lesson                                                         Plans                                                                           
http://ericir.syr.edu/cgi-bin/lessons.cgi/Language_Arts/Literature            
This collection contains more than 2,000 unique lesson plans which            have been written and submitted to AskERIC by teachers from all over            the United States and the world. The collection grows with                      contributions from individual teachers. II. COMPREHENSIVE                     RESOURCESThis category of Web sites also includes lesson plans              and teaching ideas. However, these sites tend to work more as                   comprehensive collections of all things Shakespearean. 
Electronic             Shakespeare 
http://www.wfu.edu/~tedforrl/shakespeare/ 
This site             is maintained by Rosalind Tedford of Wake Forest University,                    Winston-Salem, NC. It provides access to an enormous array of                   Shakespearean sites, including those offering Shakespeare's works,              teaching resources, and Shakespearean theatres, festivals, and                  companies. 
Mr. William Shakespeare and the                                    Internet 
http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/intro.htm 
This site is              maintained by Terry A. Gray of Palomar College, San Marcos, CA. It              includes a rich variety of resources on the works, life and times,              theatre and criticism of Shakespeare. In addition, it links to sites            related to Shakespeare, Elizabethan, and Renaissance studies, as                well as to the Bible, Classics, and Medieval literature that                    influenced Shakespeare and other Elizabethan authors. The site also             contains courses and lesson plans. 
Shakespeare for Teachers and               Students 
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/shakes.htm 
This is a               Web site of the Internet School Library Media Center at James                   Madison University, maintained by Inez Ramsey, Professor Emeritus.              It features online texts of Shakespeare's works, biographies of                 Shakespeare, lesson plans, and information on the Globe Theatre,                Stratford-on-Avon, and other topics. 
Shakespeare                              Online 
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/ 
This site is                      maintained by Amanda Mabillard, who is also the Shakespeare guide on            About.com. Among the abundant resources found on this site are                  full-text plays and sonnets, analyses and essays, a biography and               sources for his plays. It also has an interactive capability,                   allowing users to ask questions and take quizzes. 
Surfing with the            Bard 
http://www.ulen.com/shakespeare/ 
This Web site is the work             of Amy Ulen of the University of Idaho. It includes a "Bard Zones"              section, focused on discussion, resources for students and teachers,            plays, reviews, and even a "fun with Willy," section devoted to "the            silly side of Shakespeare." In addition, it contains the Shakespeare            Magazine, in which free lesson-of-the-month plans are                           featured. 
The Shakespeare Resource                                            Center 
http://www.bardweb.net/ 
J. M. Pressley has been the                  designer, webmaster, and content editor of the Shakespeare Resource             Center since its inception in 1997. This site contains resources                about Shakespeare's life and works, play synopses, and information              on Elizabethan England and The Globe Theatre. It also features the              text of Shakespeare's last will and testament, and resources on the             debate over the authorship of Shakespeare's works. III. SITES WITH            A UNIQUE FOCUSOne of the most useful categories of Web sites,               particularly for those doing relatively advanced research, is that              which offers highly detailed looks at certain aspects of                        Shakespearean literature. Presented here are two of the most useful             Web sites of this type. 
Shakespeare                                           Illustrated                                                                     
http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/classes/Shakespeare_Illustrated/Shake            speare.html 
Described by its author, Harry Rusche of Emory                    University, as a work in progress, Shakespeare Illustrated is unique            in that it explores the relationships between the plays and the                 painters, actors, and critics that have represented and discussed               his works. 
Shakespeare's Globe Research                                       Database 
http://www.rdg.ac.uk/globe/ 
This site, sponsored by the            University of Reading, UK and maintained by Lyn Holman, is dedicated            to providing background information on Shakespearean performances in            original conditions. IV. FULL-TEXT WORKS ONLINESites that                 offer the full text of Shakespeare's works are especially valuable.             The following are among the best. 
The Electronic Text Center of               the University of Virginia                                                      Library 
http://etext.virginia.edu/shakespeare/ 
This center                  contains a wealth of publicly accessible materials ranging from                 early Quartos, the complete 1623 First Folio, and early playhouse               promptbooks, to more modern editions and many bibliographical                   articles that discuss Shakespeare's works. 
The Complete Works of              William                                                                         Shakespeare 
http://the-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/works.html 
This             site was created by Jeremy Hylton and is operated by The Tech, MIT's            oldest and largest newspaper. It has offered Shakespeare's plays and            poetry to the Internet community since 1993. CONCLUSIONFinding            information on the Internet regarding  Shakespeare is a very simple             task; but finding the sites offering the most comprehensive,                    reliable, and efficiently presented information is more difficult.              The above sites provide excellent portals through which teachers,               parents, and researchers can venture into the online world of                   William Shakespeare. REFERENCESAbdullah, M. H. (1998).                    Guidelines for evaluating web sites. Bloomington, IN: ERIC                      Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication. [ED 436                   440] 
Lu, M.-Y. & Abdullah, M. H. (1999). Hot spots: Picks of                  language arts web sites. San Diego, CA: Paper presented at the 44th             Annual Meeting of the International Reading Association. 
Lu,                  M.-Y. (1999). Online resources for K-12 teachers: Children's and                adolescent literature. Bloomington, IN: Clearinghouse on Reading,               English, and Communication. [ED 436 009] 
Market Data                          Retrieval. (2001). The technology in education 2001: Nation's K-12              schools make major gains in technology. Retrieved May 29, 2002, from            http://www.schooldata.com/publications3.html 
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Digest #171              is EDO-CS-02-02 and was published in July 2002 by the ERIC                      Clearinghouse on Reading, English and Communication, 2805 E 10th                St. #140, Bloomington, IN 47408-2698, Tel. (800) 759-4723. Full text            at: http://eric.indiana.edu. ERIC Digests are in the public domain              and may be freely reproduced. 
This project is funded at least in              part with Federal funds from the US Dept. of Education under                    contract number ED-99-CO-0028. The content of this publication does             not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the US Department              of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products,              or organizations imply endorsement by the US Government.                     **Title:** Online Resources for Teaching Shakespeare. ERIC Digest.                      **Note:** Digest number 171.                                                           **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication, 2805 E.              10th St., #140, Bloomington, IN 47408-2698. Web site:                           http://eric.indiana.edu. Family Learning Association, 3925 Hagan                St., #101, Bloomington, IN 47401. Tel: 800-759-4723 (Toll Free); Web            site: http://www.kidscanlearn.com.                                           **Descriptors:**  Information Sources,  Internet, Lesson Plans, Online Searching,                Resource Materials, Secondary Education,  Theater Arts                       **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests,  Shakespeare (William),  Web Sites                             
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