snowy

Here's part of my sample curriculum for "Romeo and Juliet"--a lot of the ideas were taken from the Folger Library guide for teaching R&J. I taught this unit a couple of years ago at a high school in Washington.

1. Students read scenes aloud.
2. Students, after reading scene where brawl between Montagues and Capulets takes place, get to act out said scene complete with prop swords. Yes, swords in the classroom. They're plastic. The kids have fun with them.
3. Students, after reading party scene, get to re-enact it--students may learn to do a Renaissance-style dance for extra credit, and a class party is held while the group performs their dance (this works best on the Friday before Christmas).
4. Other scenes get acted out as well, though perhaps with not as much gusto. But by the time you've done the activities above, the kids are hooked.
5. You finish every day by watching the scenes you've read on video--be it the old Zeferelli R&J, the BBC production, or another.
6. You save the modern Baz Luhrmann video for the very end of the unit so the kids feel they have something they're working towards (a movie day).

Using these activities and others, these kids got really excited about Shakespeare. They asked about a million questions regarding other Shakespeare plays and what I would recommend for them to read next! I was amazed. I also brought in my "serious" Shakespeare books alongside my silly ones (my huge Penguin annotated Shakespeare, some critical books from the university library, etc along with Shakespeare for Dummies,The Guide to Everything Shakespeare, etc). I also revealed that for some of Shakespeare's works even college students need Cliffs Notes. That put them at ease by letting them know I had once been in their shoes and occasionally, with other plays, continued to be in their shoes. It also gave them some fun references to look at.

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau