The gappiness in Shakespeare: Performative possibilities

Martyn Rawson

doi:10.33178/scenario.16.1.3

Authors

Martyn Rawson National Tsinghua University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33178/scenario.16.1.3

Keywords:

Waldorf, Shakespeare, Performative approach to L2, Gappiness

Abstract

In this paper I outline a performative approach to working with Shakespeare in a Waldorf school, relating this to Smith’s notion of Shakespeare’s ‘gappiness’. It locates this teaching and learning in the context of block teaching, an innovative method used in some Waldorf schools. The paper offers a theoretical account of the performative approach based on the notion of learning in a community of practice and the immersion in unfamiliar landscapes of practice – in this case working with Shakespeare’s Macbeth- in relation to the developmental tasks of 17-18 year old school students. The workshop process in classroom learning is then described.

Author Biography

Martyn Rawson, National Tsinghua University

Dr. Martyn Rawson currently teaches on the International Master Programme of the Freie Hochschule Stuttgart and is Honorary Professor at the National Tsinghua University. He has been a teacher in Waldorf schools since 1979, and still teaches at a Waldorf school in Hamburg. He has been involved in teacher education for 30 years. He has published widely one Waldorf education, including editing the Waldorf Curriculum used internationally and recently published Steiner Waldorf Pedagogy in Schools for Routledge. He is also a co-founder of English Week.

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