I'm planning a similar project for my medieval drama course in the spring,
and am currently having my Shakespeare students annotate scenes. You can
view some of the results at
http://guenon.ups.edu
and check the annotations to scenes from LEAR and TWELFTH NIGHT. I haven't
asked the students to learn HTML, but have asked them to give me their
annotations on disk. I then use HTML Assistant to format their annotations
and link them to the text. I ask them to comment on every thing from word
definitions to different performances of crucial moments. The assignment is
hardly perfected yet, but I'd be happy to share it.
For next semester, I intend to tie this project to another that has proved
valuable in the past: the students divide themselves into "guilds" of four
or five, then choose a play to perform. The performances are usually very
simple re: costumes, props and the like, and are done just for the class,
but the thinking that goes into the performances will provide a great deal
of annotation. In some cases, too, I have had the creative writers in the
class produce modernizations of the texts, and struggling with both the
stanza forms and finding modern equivalents for the words has taught them a
great deal. I'll end by endorsing Sandy Johnston's plug for the York plays.
I use the Beadle and King selection, and in combination with the York
records they're fascinating for students.
Peter Greenfield
U. Puget Sound
