One teacher from Towers School in Kent wanted to tell us about what happens when students take a collaborative approach to Shakespeare.

Towers 1824 5

Towers School became an RSC Associate School in September 2016. They are partnered with The Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury and Canterbury High School, the Lead Associate School.

Over the past year Towers School has worked in a cluster with other schools across Kent who have been led and supported by the exceptional team at The Marlowe Theatre and Canterbury High School.

Teacher Becca wanted to share their experiences...

Towers 1824 3

Working as the lead teacher at my school within the Associate Schools Programme has shown me the power of shared experience.

My goal, as an educator, is to ensure that my students leave school with the tools that they need to be confident, engaging and eloquent. I see the value in the spoken word and importance of performance.

As a challenge, I tasked my mixed-ability year 7 class, who had been studying A Midsummer Night’s Dream using an active approach, with learning Sonnet 116 by heart.


Each student was given a line. Taking ownership of this, again, added a passion to their voices. Students were told to walk around the room, making eye contact as they went. As they did this, they would recite their line to someone else in the room. This allowed students to grow in confidence with their line, sharing a group effort to remember the language and rhythm.


Towers 1824 4

As I bumped into them around school, I would open the sonnet and say "Let me not…". I'd pause for them to continue the line. Taking Shakespeare out of the classroom and into the corridors, canteen and school playground was phenomenal.


The challenge did not stop there.

Students were given one more week to learn all fourteen lines. Within classrooms, their lessons would begin with a ‘Fill in the Gap’ activity, using the lines from the sonnet. As ever, I would continue to randomly test students - in the lunch queue, in the middle of writing, at the school gate.

Towers 1824


The Principal, sat eating his lunch in the canteen, was approached by two boys who asked, “can we tell you a poem, Sir?” They then recited Sonnet 116, in its entirety, in the middle of a packed canteen. Other members of staff would send me wonderful emails about my passionate year 7s, who had recited a poem to them with such vigour.

During a packed Open Evening, the Vice Principal gave a welcome speech in which she praised the fact that at Towers School, the students recite poetry at lunch. After which, a tearful parent came up to her and said, “you’re talking about my son, aren’t you?” She had recognised the change in her child and could not believe what he had felt empowered to do.

A collaborative, active and shared approach to Shakespeare allows students to shed themselves of any inhibitions and immerse themselves in a shared exploration of the text. My year 7 class understood that what they were doing was not easy but by doing it together, as an ensemble, they felt empowered.

Towers 1824 2
Pictured: Towers School students during an 'Active Shakespeare' lesson and during their performance with Canterbury High School.

You may also like