"Thug Notes"

I'm always on the hunt to find ways to make literature more relevant to the lives of my students, most of whom, much to my chagrin, do not see the point of British Literature.  My students, both the AP and non-AP classes LOVE "Thug Notes."

Started by a few creative white guys (the "white" part surprised my students), "Thug Notes" is a modern video version of those handy yellow "Cliff's Notes" also called "Spark Notes" the rest of you read in high school to pass your English classes. (I didn't. Nerd that I am, I actually read the books. Always.) As we all know, the modern youth don't read - sadly, not even a condensed "Spark Notes" version of a book - this video series is an easy reinforcement of the plot and/or analysis for the students.  With a catchy tag line "Classical Literature, Original Gangster,"  this idea was bound to be a success with students! 

Sparky Sweets, PhD. doing his thing

What I don't like about "Thug Notes"?
1.  The stereotypes used.  To me, they are overused and cliche. It doesn't seem to bother my students though.
2.  The bad language - although most of the "bad words" are "beeped" out - there are plenty more used that have offended some and probably couldn't be used with every age group. I definitely wouldn't be able to use this site if I didn't work in a public school and with high school seniors.

What DO I like about "Thug Notes"?

1. Videos are short - I can give a quick overview of the book to the students without taking up too much class time.
2. There's more to it than just plot summary. The Analysis isn't too difficult for the kids to understand, and covers a wide range of ideas with insight and humor.
3.  It's creative - from the illustrations, to the music, the slang and the contrast of the thug living the high life in his fancy library - it's humorous and creative.
4. Most importantly: my students love it - with the humor, "slang" and pictures, my students remember the stories and even watch the videos on their own of books we haven't even read!  Anything that gets kids' into literature is a good thing to me.

"Thug Notes" has been featured in several prominent news stories. A few of which are The New York Times, and The Huffington Post.   "Sparky Sweets" is even on Twitter!

One last one:

Check out "Thug Notes" for yourself at http://www.thug-notes.com/