Overview
A. Philip Randolph Career Academy is a small co-ed career technical high school located in the East Falls section of northwest Philadelphia. Currently serving a student body of 350 students, we have the capacity to expand to 400. Students must complete state-mandated hours for their respective career path classes, pass a rigorous exit examination in the chosen field, and complete all the academic credits required of students across the city. The student body is primarily African American (92%) with a small representation of Caucasian (3%) and Latino/a (5%) attendees. Although our school has achieved Adequate Yearly Progress in writing and reading more than once, the students' level of comfort with complex and, some might even say — in the case of William Shakespeare — antiquated texts, is somewhat limited.
By providing an opportunity for students to take an in-depth, historical approach to the place of Shakespeare in the lives and aspirations of African Americans, involvement with this unit can increase students' familiarity with, and ideally their affection for, drama. With Julius Caesar (10 th grade), Macbeth (12 th grade), and Hamlet (Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition) firmly ensconced in the curricula for which I am responsible, a focus on human character both in the dramas themselves and in the lives of actors, whether amateur, semi-professional or professional, who struggled for their rightful place on our national stage may inspire students to regard their own challenges as exciting rather than daunting. The core curriculum of necessity fosters haste in completing segments in accordance with the planning and scheduling timeline, oftentimes disallowing the leisure for contemplation of Shakespeare's "invention of the human" that might resonate in the students' lives. Sophomores who are a year away from our state-mandated standardized tests may sharpen their literary comprehension and composition skills. The same will hold true for my seniors as they prepare for college-level writing and my Advanced Placement students who will be expected to produce that level of writing in May of their senior year.
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