Cool Tool #1 - Staging It App by Shakespeare's Globe

Surprise, surprise.  I chose something related to Shakespeare for my first cool tool review.  Lest you think this is just an attempt to keep a gag going, this tool is amazing.

It is available to educators through the website for the rebuilt Globe Theatre in London.  It is part of a number of resources available to educators through their website.  The tool I am specifically examining is called the Staging It App.  

Users will be greeted with a screen like this

The idea is that students can use this app to direct their own short film version of a scene from Shakespeare play.  First, students select from five different scenes: 3 possible from Macbeth 1 from A Midsummer Night's Dream and 1 from Much Ado About Nothing.  Once a student selects a scene, they get to watch different clips of an actor or actors saying lines in different tones.  Each scene is broken into four subscenes.  For each subscene, a student can pick from one of four options for how the actor or actors deliver the lines.

The selection menu looks like this

In my example, I chose a scene from Macbeth.  You can see that I chose here that the actor should deliver this part of the subscene in a confident manner.  I chose this from options that included mastering courage, scared, confident or excited.  To help users in making an informed decision, the app provides students with copies of the script as well as additional background information such as mastering Shakespeare's verse.

Then, the student can download a video version of the four subscenes selected edited into a cohesive whole.  Here is what my final video looked like

This app has chosen Shakespearean plays most often taught in high schools like Macbeth and Midsummer Night's Dream.  Teachers could use this to support projects and readings around those plays.

The tool has many great uses for those who teach Shakespeare or drama in general.  To start, the tool demonstrates very well how the same line can be said multiple ways to give very different impressions.  In turn, those decisions about how a line is said add up over time to create the overall character that an actor and director create together.  Watching a fantastic Shakespearean actor helps demonstrate better how lines can vary with interpretation than just having students read aloud in class.

The tool would also be useful for classrooms because the final product contains shots of Shakespeare's Globe in London.  It would be a great way to discuss this unique space and how it mimics the performance space actually used.

Students should find the technology relatively easy to use.  Much of it is drag and drop technology which makes it easy to select an interpretation.  The hardest part would be finding a good way to share the final product video.  I had to download the video and post it to Youtube to be able to embed it in this blog.  I'm not sure that it would be easy to share this as an assignment in a classroom.  However, the extra step is really not that big of a deal.  I also think a challenge would be to find a way for students to see multiple videos (so they could understand varying interpretations) without getting bored by watching 25 videos of the same speech.  The teacher might consider breaking students into smaller groups.

Overall, I had a lot of fun working with this tool.