Young Shakespeareans of North Minneapolis

On the North Side of Minneapolis there assembled this summer a foursome of students whose life descriptors would not typically make one think of the Shakespearean enthusiast. All will be Grade 9 students during academic year 2011-2012.

There is, for example, Raul. Raul enrolled in the New Salem Educational Initiative late in his Grade 6 year. At the time he was failing math and generally floundering in his subjects at school. His family is from Ecuador and speaks Spanish at home. Raul came immediately under my supervision in a minimum of one two-hour academic session every week, moving through a logically sequenced program of skill development in math and reading. Within two months Raul had pulled his math grade up to a “C-,” was doing better in each subject at school, and was manifesting no anger management problems. By his Grade 8 year, Raul was consistently making the “B” honor roll and in math was making “B’s” and eventually “A’s.” In the meantime, on the way to and from each weekly session (I provide transportation to all of my students) Raul was continuing to ask me questions aplenty in his insatiable curiosity and intense pursuit of knowledge. One day a question about Shakespeare resulted in my guiding him toward >Hamlet<, >King Lear<, and >A Midsummer Night’s Dream<; before academic year’s end he had read the two tragedies in their entire Elizabethan versions and awaited a chance that would soon come with the comedy.

Consider also the case of Maria, another native Spanish speaker, in this case from El Salvador. Maria had enrolled in the New Salem Educational Initiative as a Grade 5 student during 2007-2008. At the time she was functioning two grade levels below that of school enrollment in math, two years below standard in reading. By her Grade 7 year, Maria had pulled fully up to grade level in both key skill areas and had embarked on a college track course of study. She responded with alacrity to a wide ranging program in the liberal arts, always listening with great intensity to my comments on the worlds of history, government, literature, natural science, and the fine arts. Shakespeare also came into her consciousness, and she began aggressive college-level vocabulary instruction in anticipation of the day when she would take on something as challenging as the Bard.

Then there is Samantha, a native of Nigeria whose first language is Yoruba. She was a respectful but rather indifferent student when she first enrolled in the Initiative during her Grade 5 year of 2007-2008. She was functioning one grade level below that of school enrollment in both math and reading. By academic year’s end, Samantha was functioning at grade level in both key skill areas. By Grade 7 Samantha had reached a take-off point of high ambition, moving through advanced vocabulary lists and reading material, exploring diverse material from across the liberal arts curriculum. Her ears also perked up when our conversation turned to Shakespeare; she had relatives studying in Great Britain, and the Bard’s name rang a bell.

And there is Marianna, the most remarkable of all of these fabulous students. She began studying in the New Salem Educational Initiative when she was in Grade 3, floundering in school and failing to show grade level results in either math or reading. By her Grade 5 year she was securely at grade level, taking an elevated interest in all subjects, including classical literature; she began at that point to read selections from Shakespearean plays such as >Romeo and Juliet<. With her longtime tenure in the Initiative, by Grade 6 Marianna was moving well along in a course of college preparatory study of the sort one would expect of upper middle class children at private schools

But none of these students is even middle class. They all come from impoverished families, including two cases of serious familial dysfunction. But they all responded to an aggressive program of skill development, enthusiastic teaching, ambitious academic goals, and the close relationship that their teacher in the Initiative was forging with their families. During this summer 2011-2012, I led these students in a reading of >A Midsummer Night’s Dream<. We discussed every verbal nuance, the many references to classical mythology, and the chief thematic elements. Then we traveled to the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, Minnesota, to see a splendid performance of the play.

At the play, these inner city students laughed as hard as if they were seeing a teen gross-out comedy. They were more attentive than many of the adults in attendance. They talked excitedly on our way back to Minneapolis and expressed a strong desire to return the following summer to see >Hamlet< and >Two Gentlemen of Verona<. These Shakespeareans of inner city Minneapolis should remind us all that students of any economic background and any life circumstance can succeed when we treat them seriously as students, provide the instruction that underscores that seriousness, and establish elevated goals along a path that they traverse in logical sequence toward the academic summit.