Feedback.

1. What I found useful?

- Acting out our parts
I found this particularly useful because when I took on different characters, their motives and characteristics becomes more evident and clearer to me. Before that, while I was doing some light reading on Othello, I just went through it like how I normally read books. But as Mr Martin said, plays are supposed to be acted out. So when it is actually acted out, it made so much more sense, compared to reading it on my own. I guess the magic is being involved in the progression of the play.

- The Circle
Group discussion indeed work wonders. As we moved through the play, we got to discuss the progression as well as the development of the characters as they become more 3 dimensional. Also, I got to hear other people's opinions about the plot/ characters which some were rather interesting. Some have also mentioned pointers that I have never thought of before. So this also allowed me to view the play in different perspectives. And somehow, this somehow allowed more justifications to be made about characters like Iago's manipulative nature and Roderigo's wimpy and whiny character.

- Close text analysis sessions
This made me realised I had missed out quite a lot when reading/ acting out Othello. During these sessions, it is then that I see what a genius Shakespeare is: his clever use or 'play' of words as well as telling this story through his characters. I particularly like analysing Iago's lines because it reveals a lot about his manipulative personality. And Shakespeare does it ever so discreetly in Iago's line so even after he has manipulated a character and us, the audience, sometimes it isn't surprising to find that we have actually been maneuvered around, dancing to Iago's little merry tune.

- Presentations
This method of allowing one group to be in charge of one certain aspect and then teaching it to the remainder of the class saves a lot of time. As our presentations have shown, this method is quite interactive as well. Besides ensuring that each student knows about what is presented, it also allows me to relate the information given back to the play, like how we did with Othello and Racism.

2. What do I like to do instead?
Well, I am actually quite comfortable with the current way of learning. But of course, I am open to any new and interesting ideas to spice up our way of reading/ learning Othello.

Nicole.