Shakespeare, known as one of our greatest writers, but it’s not always the easiest to understand, and that’s a problem in Christopher Webb’s class, where the mantra is you do whatever it takes to help connect the literature to the teenagers.  “First off, we don’t read the play. We read parts of it, and we kind of go through it, but we watch it, because the whole intent was to watch the play,” said Webb, who teaches English to seniors at Burleson High School. “I’m kind of struggling with learning sometimes,” said Alex Espanosa, a student in the class. “I’m in the need of, like, really needing someone, like, sit down with me and, like, feed it to my brain.”  That’s what Webb does, his words, his lessons, taking complex English literature and making it “lit.” When we visited, it was Hamlet. Class started with kids picking stresses in their lives, talking about them, the impact they have, and then dying to find common ground with the stress Hamlet faced.  “Seeing how they handle emotions and stuff, that’s definitely like a big thing is like emotion handling,” said Kinley Holt, another one of Webb’s students. “We study. We break down the speeches. But it’s important to make connections to the work, because it’s not just about stodgy reading something from 500 years ago. You want to read something or you want to connect with the story in a more interesting way,” said Webb. It’s working for Webb, his students say he’s the kind of teacher you can’t tune out even if you try.     Webb won a national contest for his teaching excellence and the connection he’s built with students at Burleson High. ...read more read less