Susan Patella

Susan Patella is a 6th grade English teacher at University Prep in Seattle where puts on a Shakespeare play each year with her students.

Audio Excerpts

Patella discusses how she talks about metaphors with her students. Metaphors do for language, she says, what espresso does for coffee.

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Go behind the scenes of a Romeo and Juliet rehearsal.

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Double, double, toil and trouble. Listen in as the witches rehearse Macbeth.

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Interview Excerpts

SHAKE HANDS WITH SHAKESPEARE

SUSAN PATELLA: And so when I decided that I wanted to start doing Shakespeare with kids that one is I really wanted them to have a broad exposure to a lot of different types of plays—of Shakespeare’s plays. But secondly I decided I wasn’t going to—I don’t want to say dumb down the language, but I was not going to use anything other than Shakespeare’s words. So I edit the scenes for length, sometimes appropriateness for that for the age group. Some things are not exactly appropriate. And then give them the language.

And it just started out like a little thing I did in my classroom. You know, okay, we’re going to put on our scenes and it was very—it was just basically like a little project that we did. And I honestly don’t know where we got the idea to start putting it on a stage. But it was like one of those, “Hey, let’s put on a show,” kind of thing. And we rented a stage and the idea was basically to do it for ourselves and for a few family members and that kind of thing.

But it’s just grown so much over the years that it really is—many of the sixth graders would say—the highlight of their sixth grade year. And they’re astounded that they can do it. But they can and they do it beautifully.

OPENING THE DOOR

SUSAN PATELLA: Here’s the language and what I feel like I do is I lead them to the door and I give them a way in. So if I teach them to understand the intricacies of the language and say ah, this is a metaphor, this is a simile. Oh, look, a hyperbole here; isn’t that great? Or look at the way he puts these two thoughts together.

If I give them ways to see it and I just leave them there, it’s not my responsibility to push them through the door; I just sort of put them at the door and then give them the way in. And some will enter in and some won’t. Or will just stand at the door and watch the other people go in.

And I think that’s why it works so well to do this with sixth graders is because they’re pretty fearless. They go, “Sure, I’ll do it. Yeah, okay.” Give me the bungee cord, you know, sure. I’ll jump off this.

STEVE ROWLAND:  Now why is that? Why are sixth graders good at that?

SUSAN PATELLA: Well, I think like in some way they’re—okay, just a couple of thoughts came. One is that they still like to play at that age. And I try to get them to transfer the meaning of play, like playing baseball in a field, to play, like being a player on a stage. And so they still like to play.

And they’re at that point in their lives where they’re willing to venture out. They need to know you’re there but they go, “Okay, all right. I’ll do this. I’m going to check to see if you’re here behind me, but I’ll do this.” And they’ll step out.

Not too much further down the line, and they’re so aware, they become so much self-conscious and they open up a social life that in some ways inhibits them more. You see? They open up into a social life, but then their sense of what they can do and can’t do kind of closes up because it all is in relationship to that social life.

METAPHORS

SUSAN PATELLA: The beauty that you’re talking about makes me think about a metaphor. For example, one that I share with the kids: in Romeo and Juliet, is the east and Juliet is the sun—to teach them the concept of metaphor and to say, well, you know, where is the metaphor there?

And they say—they know what a metaphor is so they say Juliet is the sun. I said well, why did he say that? Why didn’t he say that, you know, she’s this sort of luminous light, you know, and warmth and all that thing in the night? All he has to say is those four words: Juliet is the sun. And look at what’s in those four words that’s way beyond any description with a lot of words.

I tell them, I said that figurative language is like the espresso of language. So, you know, you think about what is espresso to everyday language? Well, it’s really rich, it’s condensed, it’s strong, you don’t need very much of it to, you know, make the impact. So that’s what figurative language is. And so isn’t that amazing?

And then to say well, look at how often you do that in your lives, too. They’re always using hyperbole and similes and that sort of thing to describe what’s going on with them. So it’s there. I think you just need to call their attention to it.