Demiroz 1 Emine Demiroz English 5500 Teaching A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Discussion of Various Interpretations of Themes Shakespeare has been at the center of the high school English curriculum in the United States since the advent of the McGuffey Readers in the mid-nineteenth century to the revision of the canon at the end of the twentieth (Crowl xiii). When the National Curriculum in English first came into existence in 1990, Shakespeare was the only author compulsorily prescribed for study by all the nation’s children (Blocksidge 2). This enforced remedy has reflected nationwide on English curricula at all grade levels more than two decades, and as of today, The National Curriculum in English requires all students to have some experience of the works of Shakespeare in 3 rd and 4 th Grade. Shakespeare has not only been effective on the content of English curricula, but also has shown its impact on standardized assessment. Gibson asserts that the majority of 9 th grade students will soon be tested on one of the three Shakespeare plays: Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, or Julius Caesar in the writing section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) (140). Among those, A Midsummer Night’s Dream has shone out because of its adaptability and cohesiveness with secondary school English curricula. According to the Cooperative Testing Division of Educational Testing Service survey, A Midsummer Night's Dream is among the seven most popular Shakespeare plays with secondary school teachers (Black 21). A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of the three Shakespeare plays to be studied in schools as part of the English National Curriculum. It is also one of the best loved and most performed of Shakespeare's plays (Griffiths 1). It is a delightful play to teach since its characters