Something Digital This Way Comes: Using Technology to Understand Shakespeare

Outline

1. Introduction & Goals (3 minutes)
• Content: Welcome, session purpose, quick overview of tools (MyShakespeare.com, ChatGPT, Brisk, Canva/Adobe Express).
• Engagement: Quick poll: “Which of these tools have you tried before?”
• Process: Peer-to-peer; Turn to a neighbor and share one challenge in teaching Shakespeare.

2. MyShakespeare.com Demo (5 minutes)
• Content: We’ll explore modernized text, vocabulary pop-outs, and interactive videos that help students grasp meaning and context.
• Engagement:
I DO: Live demo of one passage.
YOU DO: Teachers explore the website on their devices.
• Learning Objective: To familiarize yourself with the various tools offered, and to see if this would be a good fit for your teaching.
• Process: Device-based activity; Explore website

3. ChatGPT for Sonnets (7 minutes)
• Content: Instead of dreading sonnet writing, students analyze AI-generated sonnets for structure, rhyme, and meter, which deepens their understanding.
• Engagement:
I DO: Generate a sonnet. The key is to let the students wrestle with the “imperfect” prompt.
WE DO: Groups analyze whether it meets sonnet criteria. If a student does create a “perfect” prompt, they can still analyze based on the criteria.
• Learning Objective: 1. Students will practice analyzing their sonnet to ascertain whether or not it is a Shakespearean sonnet or not. If you are teaching different types of sonnets, then this can be done with the different styles. 2. This also is a great platform to discuss quality of prompts, unreliability of ChatGPT, etc.
• Process: Peer-to-peer; Discuss how it could be applied to what you already do in the classroom or how it could enhance your experience.

4. Character Chats with Brisk (7 minutes)
• Content: Teachers will see how simulated conversations with Shakespeare’s characters can reinforce motivation, plot, and themes.
• Engagement:
I DO: Explain the Julius Caesar chat and directions.
YOU DO: Participants play around with the Julius Caesar chat
• Learning Objective: This tool works well when students need to review key concepts, character motivations, plot events, etc. I use this prior to assessments in lieu of a study guide.
• Process: Device-based activity; Explore tool and experiment with making your own

5. Tableau Newsletters with Canva/Adobe Express (5 minutes)
• Content: A visual storytelling activity where students capture pivotal scenes and present them in a creative newsletter format.
• Engagement:
I DO: Show how to do a sample tableau newsletter on Canva/Adobe Express.
YOU DO: Each participant/group picks an image (from the ones provided) and brainstorms newsletter content.
• Learning Objective: Academically, this activity makes students focus on the pivotal moments of the Shakespearean play. Socially, dressing up in togas in the 8th grade English class and taking photos around campus is a rite of passage for our students.
• Process: Gallery walk (if time); Share the newsletter that you made

6. Wrap-Up & Reflection (3 minutes)
• Resources, activity plans, and links to tools will be made available to teachers
• Questions?

Outcomes

This session will showcase four tools: MyShakespeare.com, ChatGPT, Brisk, and Canva/Adobe Express. Teachers will learn how the aforementioned tools can be used to support student learning with regards to Shakespearean poetry and plays. Then teachers will play with the tools to become familiar and explore possibilities for their own classrooms.

Supporting research

Byrnes, Joseph. “‘Shakespeare in the Classroom: A Modern Encounter with the Bard via CHATGPT.’” Medium, Medium, 1 May 2025, medium.com/@josephbyrnes3352/shakespeare-in-the-classroom-a-modern-encounter-with-the-bard-via-chatgpt-139e420d63c9.

“Why Do We Study Shakespeare?” Why Do We Study Shakespeare? | GCU Blog, www.gcu.edu/blog/teaching-school-administration/why-do-we-study-shakespeare. Accessed 30 Sept. 2025.

Purewal, Sandeep. “Shakespeare in the Classroom: To Be or Not to Be?” Warwick Journal of Education - Transforming Teaching, journals.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/wjett/article/view/42. Accessed 30 Sept. 2025.

Salhi, Lotfi. “Digital Technology and the Shakespeare Classroom.” Literary Endeavour, vol. X, no. 5, Oct. 2019, Literary Endeavour, https://literaryendeavour.org/files/ybvghxsipxvpnpybw4z5/2019-10%2002%20DIGITAL%20TECHNOLOGY%20AND%20THE%20SHAKESPEARE%20CLASSROOM%20-%20Lotfi%20Salhi.pdf
. Accessed 30 Sept. 2025.