Professional Development

The Folger Shakespeare Library offers a range of programs for teachers, both at the Folger and in a classroom near you.

Teaching Shakespeare 2016

Since 1984, the National Endowment for the Humanities has supported the Teaching Shakespeare institute, an intense, month-long study of Shakespeare. The institute looks at Shakespeare's work from three essential perspectives: scholarship, performance, and curriculum. Occurring in Summer 2016, this rigorous but joyful program gathers secondary school teachers from all over the country for multifaceted studies of plays, poems, criticism, rare materials, live theater, and educational technologies.

TSI: Professional Learning Days

Led by master teachers in the Folger National Teacher Corps, these one-day workshops provide lively, hands-on practice with techniques that work with all kinds of students in all kinds of classrooms. Through a range of activities rooted in Shakespeare’s language and aligned to national standards, teachers learn how to get students on their feet and into complex texts in minutes. Professional Learning Days draw on the Folger’s unique blend of scholarship, performance, and education, and can be customized to incorporate texts from your school’s curriculum. 

Master Classes

Each Folger Education Master Class focuses on a single play, and brings you online and in real time one hour jam-packed with great professional development from experts: aspects of scholarship and performance plus strategies successful in teaching the play to all kinds of students. A packet of handouts and classroom materials accompanies each class. Master Classes in the 2015-2016 school year: Hamlet, Othello, and Julius Caesar.  

The English-Speaking Union

Folger Education is proud to partner with the English-Speaking Union to offer workshops for teachers across the country. Led by Folger National Teacher Corps members, our Professional Learning Days with ESU branches offer hands-on practice with the Folger approach along with special access to the scholarly resources unique to the Folger. For more information, contact Folger Education  or your local ESU branch.

DC Public Schools

We love our city and its teachers. We're working with DCPS on a robust professional learning initiative that includes workshops and curriculum materials for teachers. Check back soon for more information.

TSI: Summer Academy 2015

In July 2015, we held our first-ever Teaching Shakespeare Institute: Summer Academy, a week of powerful professional development led by master teachers, scholars, and performance faculty. Twenty-nine teachers from twenty states and the District of Columbia took a deep dive into Hamlet to extend their own content knowledge and gain strategies for teaching the play to middle and high school students.