Last night, my family and I watched The Hobart Shakespeareans, a public television documentary about the extraordinary work of an elementary school teacher in inner city Los Angeles, Rafe Esquith. Year after year, Rafe has his classes of immigrant fifth graders learn and perform a Shakespearean play. The Hobart Shakespeareans tells the story of how he prepares the class to perform Hamlet, which is really the story of how he teaches his class, and it captures the awe inspiring acting of his students. The performance of the students draw tears from noted Shakespearean actor Ian McKellen, who is deeply impressed by their understanding of the text and by the verve of their presentation.
Those of you in NYC can catch [or better yet, set your VCRs to catch] an encore performance on Channel 13 on Monday, September 12 at 12:30AM. [This time may be a little confusing; the actual showing is a half-hour after midnight, the evening of Sunday, Septembe 11.] For those of you outside NYC, you can find a local airing time here.
Rafe has written a book about his teaching experiences and philosophy, There Are No Shortcuts. Some selections of from that book can be read on the PBS website for The Hobart Shakespeareans, along with some recommended reading from Rafe’s students. If you feel especially inspired, you can buy a copy of Rafe’s book here. It is inexpensive, and all of the royalties go to help finance the activities of Rafe’s classes.
The story of Rafe’s classes will make you proud of being a teacher, and remind you of the nobility of the work we do. That is something we all ‘know,’ but still often forget. It is easy to forget these days in NYC, and in the rest of the US, because the larger society is caught in the thrall of a consumer culture of instantaneous gratification, and thus places less and less value on knowledge and education, and the work of the teacher. Indeed, as Rafe understands so well, our work as teachers is a counter-cultural enterprise.
Personal Disclosure: Rafe is a friend of mine, and I have visited his class in Los Angeles. We met in 1992 at the American Teacher Awards sponsored by the Disney Channel, when he was elementary school teacher of the year and I was Social Studies teacher of the year. I have written about his book, and the misuse of his work by educational conservatives, here.
