Literacy as Power in Hobart Shakespeareans

My keyword was “Literacy as Power” and when watching Hobart Shakespeareans, I could only think about Margaret Finder’s book Just Girls and how literacy plays an enormous role in the lives of developing adolescents.  Although, in Finder’s book literacy was seen as power in a more negative light because it was used to separate and define groups of girls in means of their literacy practices.  I feel as though this can be a negative or a positive thing, but when literacy practices lead to the making of different groups based on how “cool” or “relevant” their literacy practices are, I think that leads to a negative impact on how certain kids view literacy.  If the Tough Cookies don’t participate in the note passing that the Social Queens do, then they are not considered cool enough to be in their crowd.

In the Hobart Shakespeareans, literacy was seen and practiced in the most positive light.  The teacher at Hobart Elementary, Rafe, only wants the best for his students in terms of learning and expanding their knowledge of their country and its history.  I think that everything Rafe does in his classroom: the money system, practicing music, reading aloud, reading often, and most importantly, practicing and recreating Shakespeare, are all things that help developing students create their own literacy practices for life.  Because Rafe offers such diverse options of learning in his classroom, I think that students are more likely to find at least one aspect of his teaching that really connects to them and therefore pushes them in all aspects of his class.  Rafe uses literacy as a form of power to push students past their limits, especially in breaking down the stereotypes of “Latin” or “foreign” in his classroom, and prove that all students are equal in their ability to learn and grow, especially in his practice of Shakespeare.