Knowing that my students enjoy the "drama" of a good love story as well as the sub plot of warring families, I chose to consider the central themes in
Romeo and Juliet
as the basis of my unit. Social and cultural mores will be central to our discussion. The difficulty involved in presenting the "language of Shakespeare" will be circumvented through the use of
Folger's Romeo and Juliet,
where an up-to-date version of the lines is provided alongside Shakespeare's original lines. Since the poetic language of Shakespeare will present certain resistance, certain scenes will be chosen for reading. This, coupled with the use of films where the aural presentation by professional actors helps to eliminate lack of understanding, will round out the basic presentation of the central themes.
The films chosen offer a variety of experiences, from a traditional enactment, Franco Zeffirelli's
Romeo and Juliet
, to a setting in "the hood," Baz Luhrman's
Romeo and Juliet
. I have also included the film,
West Side Story,
as a way of appealing to the Hispanic population in my classes. Through discussion, journal writing, group collaboration, and the use of graphic organizers, I will ask my students to investigate how these central themes are handled in different cultures.
Computer technology will be the vehicle used as the students begin the unit. Doing a web search on the background of "The Bard" will introduce or re-enforce computer skills necessary for my students to succeed in today's fast moving society. Through a series of guided exercises, they will develop skills in researching. After investigating the Globe Theatre on the internet, the students will be asked to construct a model of it as a way to strengthen comprehension skills taught through direction reading and interpreting. Re-enforcement of these skills is critical and necessary to my students.
Throughout the unit, graphic organizers will be used to provide structure for the presentation of new or review ideas or concepts. Using graphic organizers will help students to actively isolate, process, and reorganize key information at the same time allowing them to approach the themes cognitively. They will be able to see relationships as well contrasts which sometimes they will record as a journal writing exercise.
The final strategy will be dramatic scene writing. This instrument will encourage cooperation, increase writing skills, develop organizational skills, and present my students with a sense of fulfillment and pride of accomplishment. Using dramatic skills and those learned as the result of our discussion on film, the students will experiment
with scene development. The final will result will be the presentation of the scene complete with costumes and scenery.