Courses Offered Next Semester:

Shakespeare Later #339008

Art thou prepared to read A LOT? If your answer is "yes," then perhaps one of Professor David Wilbern's courses is for you. While reading one entire Shakespeare play a week, out of a book that weighs twice as much as your head, might not sound that exciting, it's really not half bad.

Wilbern, a 30 year old teaching veteran, has a teaching style that is straightforward, something that even the greatest of intellectuals need at times. Wilbern centers his teaching style on what he prefers to call the three C’s: Content, Contract, and Community. This means that he tries to present new material to students in a way that makes it easier for them to either understand, or have "handles on the material." He also welcomes comments or ideas from students throughout his lectures. While he presents information, and teaches about the subject at hand during the lectures, he also provides a multitude of outside sources on his Blackboard website.

Along with everything that can be done outside of class, the actual lecture itself can actually be interesting. Wilbern uses a great deal of multimedia throughout each lecture to present the information to students of all learning abilities. He makes a valiant effort to show movies of each play, almost every class. If a movie is not available, he tries to at least have some other form of entertainment, whether it is an audiotape, or a movie trailer he found online. He is NOT the kind of professor who likes to stand around and listen to himself yap for an hour and a half. Wilbern even knows when he's been lecturing too long, and promises not to talk so much next time.

The actual work part of the course isn't half-bad either: 3 tests, 2 papers. He lets you choose your own topic on the papers, and as long as you've read the plays, the tests are definitely fair. Overall, Wilbern's Earlier Shakespeare course is so good that not only do I recommend it to others, I’m planning to take his Later Shakespeare course. I recommend that no matter your major, you take on Professor David Wilbern. With a little work and a lot of reading, it could be the most deserved A of your college career.