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You will recall that your assignment for this week asked you to pick and write about a popular YA text. My rule of thumb was if a movie had been made out of it. That's not the only rule, but it's not the worst one. It gives you the choice of any Harry Potter Book, all of Twilight, The Hunger Games, Percy Jackson even. There are probably others.
THIS WEEK'S CLASS: You are teaching a 9th grade College Prep English class at Bridgewater/Raynham high school. You are working with a class of 35 students: 34 students are white, 1 student is Cape Verdean, 19 are female, 16 are male, one male student is openly gay. The BR pass rate on the 10th grade MCAS is 84%. Roughly 85% of the students in your class come from a household where at least one parent has some college education. You have two students in your class whose parents are on the faculty at Bridgewater State University. You have limited access to technology in the classroom, but your students have access to computers, phones and the internet at home. You can familiarize yourself with the school here. THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: It's 9th Grade and you know what that means: Wherefore art thou Romeo--and Juliet, of course. R&J is one of those texts you can't get out of teaching if you are teaching 9th Grade English. Shakespeare, of course, always presents challenges in the classroom (for instance, for me, teaching a play where 14 year olds sneak off, get married, and then kill themselves, but that's just me). My challenge to all of you is to consider a popular YA text and think about how you could use that to help students really value and think about Romeo & Juliet. How could the one text serve as a bridge to better, richer, more useful understanding of the other? What cool things could you do? And, as always, what might be the joys of this plan? What might be less joyous? REMEMBER: You post by Wednesday at Midnight. Our Respondents respond by Friday. I respond on Monday.
40 Comments
Cayla Marks
10/10/2017 02:09:57 pm
Ironically, I wrote about Twilight in my Book Club Journal response, and I paralleled Jacob and Renesmee’s relationship to that of Romeo and Juliet. To delve into this further, I meant simply their allegiances, vampire and werewolf, parallel the familial dispute in R&J. Somehow, their strange soul bound relationship mimics the star-crossed-lovers due to the tension between where each of them come from. I do think this is somewhat of a stretch, simply because we cannot see the direct result of Jacob and Renesmee’s relationship, while we see the result of Romeo and Juliet’s directly. It would be increasingly difficult to compare the two as a bridging assignment. We could, however, examine the way love changes people and directly affects their lives. For example, Bella’s life changed when she met Edward. Her want for Jacob confused her and fueled a feud between the two men, but the feud existed prior to Bella’s introduction to both of the men’s lives. Eventually, the vampires and werewolves become more accepting of one another through the development of the narrative. Perhaps there is substance to discuss this feud Bella remedies in relation to love, and perhaps the class could examine the irrational choices love convinces people to make in both texts. How do we define rationality? How to we define love? Is the obsession-driven attitude Bella, Edward, and Jacob have for one other rational? Can love be rational, or will love always be somewhat irrational? I think exploring these ideas and combining themes from both texts would be rather hard to do at this grade level simply because of the complexity of these questions, but if the questions were framed in the correct way by the teacher through teacher-facilitated discussion there may be strong take-aways from it. I think rationality is a unique way to frame Romeo and Juliet, but this specific method is probably far too advanced for high school—but you never know!
Jen Sinnott
10/10/2017 05:13:02 pm
Don't say your idea is crap! Your idea of focusing on the rationality of love and love itself is not bad concept at all. It'll really make your students think about the two texts. Love is the two main themes of your two texts so to focus on it would be important and necessary. What's face it young kids don't like Shakespeare, they just don't. But if we can take the concepts that are in Shakespeare move it to a young adult text that we already know that they like (AKA Twilight) then they're not going to struggle as much when they get to the actual play. The steppingstones will be placed they just need to follow them. The only thing I would say would be to focus on more than just the theme of love try and tie them in to other things. Otherwise what you have is not a bad start.
Stephanie Doyle
10/11/2017 09:47:28 am
I don't think that your idea is rubbish at all. Having kids dive deep into two texts like this would help their understanding of the bigger picture involved in both texts. Trying to connect a book that kids might like to one that they have to read regardless is never a bad idea, and the sole fact that you can pull ideas out of the two make it so that you can see the options that there are in the two books.
Gabrielle Rosson
10/11/2017 10:46:37 am
I agree that the books ask us to consider the nature of love and the weight we put on it. The questions you ask are very philosophical and I think that can be really good and certainly inspire debate in a classroom. I also think it's good to talk about love because this is an age where kids are starting to go bananas from hormones. In a way, the subject puts it front and center and gives students an outlet for questions and discussion. The only issue wit teaching twilight in a classroom I feel, is that 1. There are so many books/movies that to stop at the first one would seem incomplete to me and 2. a lot of kids are embarressed to admit they like the series now. But I think if the point of this is to draw comparisons between authors, themes, genres...this is hands down one of the easiest choices.
Dan Chahine
11/13/2017 12:30:40 pm
I feel like Twilight could be seen as a modern Romeo and Juliet because of how many similarities the two stories have. You could talk about both characters being star crossed lovers and how even though both people fell "in love" at first sight they were able to overcome all obstacles in their way to be together because their love for one another was more important than anything else. Even though Romeo and Juliet's families were in a feud they were willing to put their lives on the line for one another; while Edward didn't want to be with Bella because he was afraid he could not hold back his thirst for blood, they both took the risks and Bella was willing to die to be with him. There are many instances where you could compare the two and I think Twilight and Romeo and Juliet are very similar making Twilight a great bridge text.
Jen Sinnott
10/10/2017 05:08:21 pm
The text that I would choose to go hand-in-hand with Romeo and Juliet would definitely have to be Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I am sure most of you have heard of it, but if you have not it is the story of two teenagers who fall in love. But it's not just the cliché love story these two teenagers happen to have cancer. This novel actually takes its title from another Shakespeare play "Julius Caesar". It's in the streets loves ability to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Now the question is how would a teach it. Both stories are about to teenagers falling in love with people but they're really not supposed to be falling in love with. So to get them to understand the main concepts such as forbidden love and death, this book would be an awesome bridge. I would obviously have them read both stories , Fault in Our Stars being first. We would do a lot of group discussions to work through not only the story itself but the key concepts that we're going to see when we dive into Shakespeare. After we read both I think I have them write a short comparison essay, talking about what similarities and differences they saw in the book from the play. I think my internal goal would be to get the students to see that things that happened in Shakespeare's time can still happen today, and that the stories can be relatable even if they're hard to read. The only struggle I can foresee doing this plan would be getting the students over the fact that Shakespeare's written in a different style that is normally used today, which in turn could make it hard for students to draw comparisons.
Cayla Marks
10/11/2017 09:35:34 am
I really love that idea! I remember reading The Fault In Our Stars and it was a really devastating, but touching story about the two teens. I hadn't realized how well the themes of insurmountable obstacles between lovers really correlate well between R&J and this novel, but the way you put it makes so much sense! I think this is a wonderful idea and would work beautifully in an actual classroom. The language in Shakespeare is certainly difficult, but I've done some thinking about this and I think providing the students with a spoiler free synopsis of each act or each scene may remedy some of the confusing language. Perhaps they'd only read what you provide, but mostly I've seen Shakespeare read IN CLASS with supplemental reading at home for what doesn't get finished; in that case, it would work to help the difficult language.
Gabrielle Rosson
10/11/2017 10:51:16 am
I have seen the movie and own the book but haven't read it yet. The movie made me cry so much, and i many ways is better than R & J at getting to the heartstrings of students (My daughter is in 10th grade, she's read both books--loved Fault, hated Romeo). This book will really connect kids to the tragic nature of love and life. It will def inspire a lot of conversation too. I mean, how many students know what it's like to lose someone from Cancer? Many, to be sure. Interestingly, both of these books feature heterosexual relationships, so I do not now how we could include our student who is openly gay--but maybe that aspect can be ignored entirely?
Gina Mendes
10/11/2017 08:58:11 pm
Yes, I agree that students may see Shakespeare as too difficult to understand due to the writing style. That is often the case when teaching students Shakespeare, and the reason why they have little to no motivation to finish the readings, which is why I am glad you will be reviewing Fault in Our Stars first before diving into it because it will give your students insight to the themes without tripping up on the language. Of course, students need to be challenged but I agree that teaching Fault in Our Stars before Shakespeare is absolutely essential. I really like your choice of text to pair with Romeo and Juliet because it is a tragic story about two teens who fall in love but eventually meet their fate, just like Romeo and Juliet. I have seen the movie and I never would have thought to compare it to Shakespeare, but this idea is pretty good! You seem to have a pretty solid plan for how you would teach the class by specifically working on the key terms that pop up in Fault in Our Stars and I think group work is a perfect way for students to share the responsibility of such a complicated text like Shakespeare.
Amelia Fuss
10/10/2017 07:09:54 pm
The book I chose to write about (there have been no less than 30 adaptions or takes on the stories found in the book) is King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green. I think this book would work well with a lesson on Romeo and Juliet because it encounters similar themes of lust, passion, anger, and betrayal (amongst others). Because these texts don’t necessarily go together, I would use Green’s retelling of the original Anglo-Saxon stories as a model for translating unknown text into a more accessible format. I would read parts of the original Le Morte d’Arthur that was the first modern adaptation of the myths and parts of the myths written in Anglo-Saxon to show how Green has revealed, in modern language, the best parts of these stories. I would then have students work on making translations of Romeo and Juliet. Now, I hate the idea of translating. What student wants to do the work for that? I would go about this in two ways. For classes that are struggling, I would potentially give them the option to use spark notes or a translated edition of Romeo and Juliet and allow them to make a comic book so they can use summary techniques rather than word for word translations. This would allow me to assess their comprehension of the dialogue. For more advanced classes, I would ask for a more modern adaption. Just like Green modernizes love in King Arthur I would ask them to update the situation to modern day. I am not confident this would work as I am not confident in Romeo and Juliet but I feel like it is an assignment that I could begin with this as the basic and refine as I gain experience with its success. I am definitely worried that students would not be motivated to do this assignment because it feels like a lot of work so my goal would be to write it to specific classes and write in parts of the assignment to play to their strengths. However, although I foresee a bumpy road of refining ahead, I think I could get some really fun and entertaining interpretations.
Cayla Marks
10/11/2017 09:39:30 am
Perhaps you could split the class into small groups and assign them only one or two scenes to translate; then, you may use differentiated instruction to give them the option to draw a comic book, or to act it out, or simply write a summary. Finally, the students would present their project. This method allows for multiple levels and multiple intelligences to be taken care of, as well as eliminating some of the tediousness of translating the entire text.
Stephanie Doye
10/11/2017 09:41:31 am
Oddly enough I would choose the same book that I choose for my journal this week. That would be "Twilight". I did not compare them to "Romeo and Juliet" in my journal but I do think that it works. Edward being a Vampire and by nature he shouldn't have been attracted romantically to his 'food' per-say. As the story goes on although they both didn't kill themselves technically Bella did and Edward was already kinda dead. Bella and Edward went through high extremes to be together, Edward and Bella taking off to Arizona to keep James away from her father so he didn't die. The fact that after this matter Bella's father hated Edward and wanted him far away from Bella at all time but couldn't really stop it. even in Edwards family he has Roasealie that didn't want Bella and Edward to be together. Edward taking off to protect Bella and then Bella going to save him. By the end of the books there have been so many battles that the two had to face together so they could remain with each other.
Gabrielle Rosson
10/11/2017 10:39:06 am
The book I would teach my classroom alongside Romeo and Juliet is The Host by Stephanie Myers. (I noticed a lot of people went with Twilight and this is a good and obvious choice in my opinion as Myers goes out of her way to make the connection between the two stories by using similar themes and even quoting the play in her series.) The reason I chose The Host, however, was to highlight two things: 1. That Myers uses this theme (of conflicting family values) in a lot of her works, and 2. Because it was a story I particularly loved and the movie is just as neat. What particularly stands out to me in this book is that more than being a star-crossed lovers story, it is science fiction and therefore deals with big questions such as: what is our place in the world, what is love, is it possible to love someone (or something) we shouldn't, and do our mistakes and choices have value. I think R & J deals with these themes too. It focuses on the love but it's really asking students to ask bigger questions, like: should they always do what they're told, should they follow their heart? etc etc. My biggest complaint about R & J is always that he kills himself too quickly after finding her lifeless body. What does this say about youth and all of its impatience? A lot, I believe. Had he waited a little longer before reacting the story might have had a happier ending. Patience is a theme in The Host along with all of the others. It has the same tensions in the story of R & J, but it does have a happier ending because everyone is slow to react. This could be teachable for students because being a teenager is a very emotionally hard time; these years are the time to learn how to embrace our feelings without tearing the walls down all around ourselves. The joy of reading this book would be to read a sci-fi-fi genre and find its relevance for the class. Assignments could include writing a story about what happens after the book ends..is there some kind of peace or resolution between the Aliens and the Humans? And of course I could assign work which asks students to find comparisons between the books. The difficulties would be getting the kids to actually read it. Like Prof Torda said, once a book is assigned to a class, students lose interest. I know I would counter this by promising to show the movie which is a great flick if anyone hasn't yet checked it out.
Gabrielle Rosson
10/11/2017 10:53:30 am
I forgot to mention that the love angle of this story being between an alien and human as well as a hetero couple could create some inclusion for the student who identifies as gay. In this sense the gender issue is being challenged by suggesting love is even possible between species. I hope this makes sense and does not come across as offensive.
Herby Jolimeau
10/11/2017 01:23:13 pm
I chose to write about the book Divergent for my book club journal. The book focus heavily on the theme of choice, but more importantly the choices we make determines what happens in our lives. Its also a coming of age story the deeper you get into the trilogy. This book would be prefect for incoming freshmen because there on the path to making big decisions that could affect there future. There are five groups in the story that are associated with various personality traits like bravery, knowledge, and honesty. After children turn 16 they are placed in these groups based off a test. If you were able to join multiple groups you were a "divergent". So as a lesson I would ask the class to explain why it is important to understand your role in society based off how the characters in Divergent came to there choice of faction. I would then ask the class to separate in to small groups and have them create there own factions. To have the students connect to and value Romeo and Juliet, I would then have them decide which factions the significant characters would be in based off there personalities in Romeo and Juliet. From there I would hope that would spark interest and bring about a conversation of personality traits and roles in society.
Alexandra Krista Dewey
10/11/2017 03:23:24 pm
I absolutely love the Divergent Series and was I surprised to see it was not mentioned on here more.I like how you to chose to use the first book, Divergent, as a connecting text for Romeo and Juliet. This book is somewhat romantic and focuses a lot on growing up, and finding your way in the world, based on your choices. A lot of teenagers will be able to relate to Tris because she is confused and unsure of her choices, yet is forced to make them anyways in order to move forward with her life. I like the idea of having your students place themselves, and other characters from books (Rome & Juliet), into factions. This is a creative idea and can help them understand what is like to be young, living under the harsh rule of others.
Laura Gittleman
10/11/2017 04:07:50 pm
Hi Herby, I love this idea! It would be really interesting for the students to decide which factions the characters would be in, I'm sure they could have a lot of fun with that. Alexandra mentioned that in both stories the characters are under harsh rulers, so that could be something you could explore too, like the restrictions that the characters face in their respective socities and how thet resist those restrictions. Like how Tris is divergent, so just by existing she sort of breaks the rules set out by her society (I only read the beginning of Allegiant), and that could maybe be related back to how Romeo and Juliet break the rules of Verona by falling in love.
Alexandra Krista Dewey
10/11/2017 03:02:03 pm
For my class, I would choose to discuss the Faults In our Stars. This book, although very heart breaking, can help students see another side of love. Love can be very painful sometimes and that is the harsh reality of it. This text can teach students about loss, grief, pain and their significance circumstances in our lives. It is a good way to introduce these difficult subjects to students who might have little experience with these particular hardships. Not only will this book help introduce these subjects, it will be a great gateway to Shakespeare. In fact, there are several references to his plays through this story. The author, John Green, was said to be inspired by Julius Caesar and the very title of his novel came from the quote, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings”. This quote is meant to express the hardships that come with being human because it is not fate that decides our destiny, but the choices we make ourselves. This is wonderful theme we can introduce into the classroom and it will spark interest for those who are curious about such ideas. Also, we can draw many parallels between Jon Green’s book and Shakespeare’s tragedies. The two main characters, Hazel and Augustus, are young and in love, but their romance is cut short when life takes a harsh turn. This happens for R&J as well, for although they are in love—they cannot pursue their lives together. Both of these texts pose great themes for this age group and I think many students will be able to relate to them. As teenagers, love is new and exciting, but also scary and intimidating. I think they need to see love from all different perspectives in order to understand it better, and these texts can offer them what they need to do so. R&J might be a bit harder to understand, and this can pose as a challenge, but if we are able to decipher them together, I think it would be a great learning experience.
Alexandra Krista Dewey
10/11/2017 03:07:12 pm
One more thing, I would teach these texts by presenting the Faults in our Stars first and having the students, and ask them to write a short passage on what love means to them. This way they can come up with their own opinions about the subject and decide what love means for themselves. I would then ask them to think about this same question while they are reading R&J, so they can apply their idea of love to what happens and further expand their knowledge based on what is happening.
Cristina Almeida
10/11/2017 03:45:14 pm
By focusing on the themes of love and sacrifice, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows can be used to help teach Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. In Romeo and Juliet, love is portrayed as a powerful and destructive emotion. It results in disastrous sacrifices being made such as families being emotionally torn apart and characters undergoing meaningless deaths. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, love is portrayed as a powerful and constructive emotion. Although love causes characters to sacrifice their lives for one another, the result (Voldemort’s defeat) is ultimately beneficial. Teaching these texts together can highlight these contradicting ideas. For one assignment, students could choose words from both books that relate to the ideas of love and sacrifice. With these words, students could make a found poem to represent each book. In a self-reflection, where students compare the two poems they’ve written, they would be able to see how Shakespeare relates love and sacrifice to death and violence while J.K. Rowling relates love and sacrifice to hope and life. By focusing on key words and phrases, students can start to overcome the complex language of Shakespeare’s works. I would enjoy seeing how students come up with a variety of poems even though they are all working with the same texts. I am worried that students may automatically assume Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other is not at all destructive because the story is considered to have one of the greatest depictions of love. I am also worried students may still feel overwhelmed by Shakespeare’s language even after this assignment.
Kasey Pelletier
10/11/2017 04:00:56 pm
I really like your idea of comparing these two texts and I honestly would never have thought to pair them together. I like the idea of looking at the contradicting concepts created by the authors: Shakespeare with love and destruction and Rowling with love and construction as you put it. In my response too, I wanted to give a different view on romance and love. Romeo and Juliet definitely is made to seem like an epic romance, but in reality, it is based on teens who lust for one another and die prematurely because of it. J.K Rowling shows it completely differently, in a way that helps build. I like the compare and contrast as a way to show varying types of love. I think that your idea will surely help them to see that Romeo and Juliet is not necessarily a heathy relationship. I think that they may struggle a little with language in any scenario, but if they understand the concepts, it may help them still!
Leah O'Bryan
10/11/2017 08:32:36 pm
I absolutely love this idea and I may be biased because I love Harry Potter, but I think you thought this through well and it fits. I agree with your connections that J.K Rowling shows, regarding love and sacrifice, then death and violence and hope and life. Those themes are all relevant to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. To be honest I think everyone is always overwhelmed by Shakespeare’s language. I loved Romeo and Juliet and still asked a million questions and looked things up to make sure I fully grasped it while I learned it in school, so that worry is something I think normal. I love the found poem idea, I think it creates a great way to show their skills, to be creative but also to sometimes prove they have read, especially if they use big words or silly words that J.K Rowling makes up, with spells and such. Overall I think it would work in this classroom, but are you worried about students not really reading the material and watching the movies instead? I considered this problem when I wanted to use The Fault In Our Stars. Just something to think about, I am sure every teacher does.
Gina Mendes
10/11/2017 03:47:50 pm
The text that I would teach alongside Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is Twilight. We know that R&J is a story about star-crossed lovers who are not supposed to be together. This is a perfect comparison to that Bella and Edward share. She is mortal, he is immortal, she is warm, he is cold. Edward is virtually everything that Bella is not, but yet we as readers find ourselves cheering on the happy couple. I really want to focus on the way that Twilight causes readers to feel empathy towards Bella and Edward. Especially teaching adolescent students, is important to choose texts that they can relate to, and while they might feel as though they cannot relate to the characters in 1300 R&J, if I bring in a text like Twilight, which is a more modern rendition of the same themes presented in Shakespeare; it will bridge the gap between the two texts. We will focus on the themes of love, death, and fate while being able to draw comparisons between the relationships of Bella and Edward and Romeo and Juliet. Twilight will be a perfect text to pair with R&J because most students are not looking forward to reading Shakespeare, so there will be some relief when they get to compare it to a more modern version of forbidden love. I would be excited to see the students' reactions to how similar the two texts are, although R&J was written long before our time and seems outdated to most teens. However, there is always a downside of having students compare literature. One difficulty that might arise while teaching these two texts in the same unit would be that some students might put more effort into reading one story rather than the other, therefore will not get a good perspective on how they can relate the two texts. I would also be worried that some students would feel rushed if they were trying to spend time with one story and analyze it to the fullest degree before moving onto the next one. To avoid this, I do not think there should be deadlines for competing “readings” for each night, the assignment will be to simply: read both novels and write an essay comparing their similar themes. It will be due as a final project so that the students feel as though they have as much time as they need to read and analyze both stories.
Kasey Pelletier
10/11/2017 03:49:19 pm
When it comes to Romeo and Juliet, I think that the book Looking for Alaska by John Green would be a really cool comparison point. Looking for Alaska is about a character named Miles who goes to a new school and becomes interested in a girl names Alaska. His feelings are forbidden in a sense, since she is in a relationship but they end up kissing and she dies afterword in a car accident. Miles clearly struggles with her death and eventually manages to cope with it. This in some ways seems like it could be more relatable to young students but still shares many connections to the classic Romeo and Juliet. First off, the language is more modernized which makes it easier to understand. Aside from linguistics, it is quite true to the tragic romance theme. Miles is in love with Alaska but she has somebody else, and while there is no family feud, they are barred from dating anyways. Also, her death is unexpected but unlike Romeo and Juliet, he doesn't die. For an activity bringing it into the classroom, I think it would be interesting to maybe do some sort of compare and contrast on the nature of romance. Maybe the differences of how they fell in love, what happened when they got together and how the romances ended. I think it's important to talk about the destructive nature of the love in Romeo and Juliet and Looking for Alaska, while still upsetting, gives a different perspective on how to react to romance and could enhance understanding of the play.
Cristina Almeida
10/11/2017 04:22:22 pm
I think it’s great that you chose to compare Romeo and Juliet to a book where the main character learns to cope with the loss of the person they loved. The juxtaposition of these two endings will really help students understand how love is portrayed as a destructive emotion in Shakespeare’s work. In connection with this theme, it might be interesting to have students write a short story where Romeo or Juliet must similarly learn to live without the other and have time to reflect on his or her choices. Like the characters in Looking for Alaska, Romeo and Juliet’s relationship is also forbidden in the sense that Juliet is betrothed to Paris. This similarity could be used to bring up the topic of love and morality. More specifically, students could discuss whether or not love is powerful enough to excuse the immoral behavior of the main characters in both texts.
Amy Keith
10/11/2017 04:25:36 pm
Kasey,
Laura Gittleman
10/11/2017 03:58:07 pm
The book that I chose for my book club journal was The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, and I think it would tie in really nicely with Romeo and Juliet because two of the main characters, Blue and Gansey, have a bit of a forbidden love. Blue has been told all her life that she will kill hee first love if she kisses him, and she sees Gansey's spirit on a ley line on St. Mark's Eve, which means that he is either her true love, or she will kill him. This forbidden love doesn't stop them like in Romeo and Juliet, and ultimately Gansey does die after kissing Blue. I could use it to tie into Romeo and Juliet by showing all of the similarities as well as the differences, from the language Stiefvater and Shakespeare use, to the different stages of their relationships that we're shown. I think maybe a reverse classroom could be fun with these two texts after we've been working on them for a while, because both The Raven Boys and Romeo and Juliet are texts that students can really have fun with. The joys of teaching these texts would be how fun they are to read, but I am concerned about how my ninth graders will respond to some of the more difficult themes in both texts. Maybe I could have them write reading journals in response to some of those themes, like dying to be with someone you love, or being in dangerous situations that could result in someone's death. Or maybe a small group discusssion would be more suitable. Either way, it'd be very interesting to see how students would respond to me teaching the two texts together.
Amy
10/11/2017 04:23:40 pm
I can only imagine the horrors of having to teach Romeo and Juliet after my less than pleasurable experience of reading it in the ninth grade. And to say I read it is a bit of an overstatement. I crawled through each page praying for it to end. With that being said, I think it’s a really interesting idea to connect Romeo and Juliet with popular YA novel. Instinctually, when I think of romances similar to Romeo and Juliet the infamous love story of Edward and Bella from the Twilight series comes to mind. Both romances are equally intoxicating as well as dangerous. However, given the demographics of the classroom, I would imagine it a challenge to get 16 males to read both Twilight and Romeo and Juliet. Due to that, I’d suggest using a more “masculine” text. I’d argue to use Perks of Being a Wallflower as the text to bridge Romeo and Juliet together. Although the book is not explicitly about an all-consuming romance, there are common themes in both texts. In Perks of Being a Wall Flower the protagonist Charlie is torn between his real life and idealized life, which is similar to the dramatized feud between Romeo and Juliet’s families. It sounds like a stretch, but I think it would be really helpful for students to see that similar themes can be found in seemingly different texts. It is likely students will connect more with Perks, but creating this connection and then highlighting the similarities between both texts will allow students to relate to Romeo and Juliet and create a more pleasurable reading experience.
Greg Arthur
10/11/2017 05:51:39 pm
The book I chose to write about is The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I’ve seen a lot of logical choices (Twilight) that revolve around a love interest and divided parties, however, hear me out. The Outsiders presents the reader with a narrator whom is in the middle of a gang war. Ponyboy Curtis, a self proclaimed “greaser” and his crew are feuding with the Socs, a group of preppy upper class kids. These two groups have seemingly nothing in common, until Ponyboy is able to mentally bridge the gap between the two groups. The two groups end up fighting, both sides suffer deaths, and Ponyboy lives on to tell the story. This aspect of two feuding groups, a member who is able to relate to the enemy, and ultimately finds himself in the middle of the action is reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet. The Outsiders lacks a love interest, however both Romeo and Juliet feel like outsiders to their given group. If I were to attempt to bridge the gap between the two, I would have the students analyze what makes the two groups (the feuding families from R&J as well as the two feuding gangs in The Outsiders) different. I would have the students list their differences, and then try to find some similarities between the groups. What makes them stick together? Why do they do whatever actions they do? Etc. Then I would have the students try to explain reasons for why Romeo and Juliet, and Ponyboy, are able to sympathize with the feuding side of each given book. I feel that R&J is a book heavily influenced by choice and going against the norm, which is another prominent theme in the Outsiders.
Gustavo Barandas
10/12/2017 07:39:32 am
Hi Greg,
Jess Baccari
10/11/2017 05:52:52 pm
In high school I did not have to read Romeo and Juliet; I did not get to it until I was in college. I think it is for this reason that I think I have such a deep respect for the play. As I see it Romeo and Juliet is not just a tragic love story about two young kids that die for each other, in my opinion it has more to do with choice. Neither Romeo nor Juliet has a choice in which they can love because of their parents’ seemingly useless feud and obsession with what their children do. In the end the two young characters chose to end their lives because they feel they will never be satisfied, not only living without each other, but without being able to chose the direction in which their life goes in. So, they chose to die. By doing this they make the conscious decision to leave their family in order to stay together in the afterlife. This choice that they chose to make is what I want to focus on with my students. Because of this I think using Gayle Forman’s If I Stay, as an accompanying text would be a great idea. In Forman’s novel a seventeen-year old named Mia also has to make a life changing decision. Mia has been in a near fatal car accident with her parents. Both of her parents have died and Mia is in a coma, stuck in between life and death. Although Mia’s body is unresponsive her soul has an outer-body experience where she can hear and see everything that is going on around her, even the awful state that her physical self is in. Ultimately Mia needs to decide whether or not she is going to force herself to wake up and continue her life, or die and join her parents on the other side. The factor that ties these two texts together is that Mia’s boyfriend, the love of her life, is alive. Not only this but he is sitting by her hospital bed begging her to wake up, begging her not to leave him. So, she has to choose. Should she say goodbye to her life and stay with her parents or should she wake up to not only stay with her love but also to keep her life going? The book is a very powerful and thought provoking piece and I think it could generate a lot of mature discussion among the class. It will also greatly highlight the power of love, the different types of love, and the idea of whether or not love should be a deciding factor in people’s lives.
Gustavo Barandas
10/11/2017 06:57:23 pm
I am going to go out on a limb and have a different approach here. I honestly haven’t read a lot of Young Adult literature in English, especially because I come from a different background. I have read a few Shakespeare stories, including Othello, Much Ado about Nothing, The Tempest, and Hamlet, but I have never read Romeo and Juliet, but only seen the movies (Shame on me!). Schools in Brazil don’t really teach a lot of Shakespeare and I got to read it only in the United States. With that said, the book that I have chosen isn’t really a Yong Adult literature text, which is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. JE is a book that I have read and I can relate to RJ, at least in my opinion (Feel free to disagree!). Jane Eyre tells the story of an orphan raised by a mean and miserable aunt. Jane goes to school to become a teacher and later on in life as an adult she finds a job as a governess at a rich state owned by the influential Mr. Rochester. They fall in love for each other, however they belong to opposite social classes and social bias is a huge hurdle to overcome during that time of the novel. Jane Eyre’s unprecedented and feminist approach can help students better understand social clues and the context behind RJ’s rival families and their unfulfilling relationship. Actually, in Jane Eyre there’s a happy ending, however Jane and Mr. Rochester’s relationship have a several ups and downs and a few surprises that can help students relate to Romeo and Juliet struggles.
Leah O'Bryan
10/11/2017 08:36:50 pm
I have never read Jane Eyre, but what you have said makes complete sense. I see the struggle of love, and tragedy but do appreciate that Jane Eyre ends in a happy ending and Romeo and Juliet do not. I am wondering how you would teach this in the class and what activities you would have in your lesson. I do feel like a lot of people, even 9th graders, know about Romeo and Juliet and how it ends, in death, but when Jane Eyre does not, you could have the class start by introducing both books and have the kids brainstorm what they think the ending is going to be. I feel like more than not, they will all assume both books end badly, if they have prior knowledge of Romeo and Juliet. It could be a good conversation starter and then as kids read, they will be shocked to find a happy ending. Just a suggestion.
Gustavo Barandas
10/12/2017 07:21:43 am
Hi Leah,
Samantha Correia
10/11/2017 07:26:37 pm
Although I did not write about this text for my Reading Journal, I would consider teaching the YA novel They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera. Since this book only came out last month, it is not as popular as some of the other great ideas I’ve seen on the discussion board, like The Fault in Our Stars (though They Both Die at the End is currently on the New York Times YA lit best-seller list). But since I’m currently reading it right now, I’ve noticed some distinct parallels between Romeo and Juliet and this text. They Both Die at the End tells the story of two teenage boys, Rufus and Mateo, who have been told that they only have one day left to live and they must figure out how to live the rest of their lives in one day. Though this sounds like a familiar trope, it is quite different in many ways. This novel takes place in a slightly alternative present-day New York City, where a company named Death-Cast somehow knows the exact days that people are going to die and calls them to tell them about it. This isn’t so that people can try and prevent their deaths, because they cannot prevent it, but instead so that people can say goodbyes and do everything they never did in life. Obviously the major flaw with assigning this text and comparing it to Romeo and Juliet is that it would reveal the ending of Romeo and Juliet; it would reveal a major plot point for students who are trying to get away with not reading the play. But I think it would be great for students to compare how Rufus and Mateo find love in one another on their end days, and how this compares to the love between Romeo and Juliet. I would ask students to write about Rufus and Mateo’s actions on their last days and compare them to Romeo and Juliet’s decisions, and how their feelings about life are similar and different. Also, I would use this text to talk about the roles of oracle characters (a.k.a Death-Cast), which are sometimes also seen in Shakespeare plays. I would want my students to think about the impact of an oracle and how this affects the idea that people can choose their futures. Are futures set in stone, or can we change them?
Leah O'Bryan
10/11/2017 08:26:34 pm
Given the fact that I did love reading Romeo and Juliet, I know I mostly stand a lone. Trying to understand Shakespeare can be difficult, especially in the 9th grade, but one book I think would go well with this is The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. Not only did I love the book, but the movie was great as well. I feel that this is a great fit because Romeo and Juliet is about young love and great tragedy, and you get the same exact thing in The Fault In Our Stars. Both main characters in Green’s novel have cancer and are torn apart by it, but it shows how young love can overcome huge obstacles in life. I think with this, I would love to have half the room read Romeo and Juliet, and the other half read The Fault In Our Stars. After each group read certain chapters, during class they would write reading journals about the readings and discuss among the groups. I would oversee their findings and join their discussions. After finishing, I would pair each student up with on another. All of the ones who read Romeo Juliet would be paired with another person who read The Fault In The Stars. They would then work together to tell each other about their books and then make a chart/poster to compare and contrast the two, dealing with Plot, Characters, Themes, Motifs, etc. I’d also want them to dive deeper and find literary criticism about both books and try to find criticism and or journals comparing the two, if possible. I would pair myself up with the extra student because we have an odd number. At the end of the whole unit, each pair would present their findings and poster to the class. Now I know the faults in this assignment. Most students won’t want to read Romeo and Juliet, but consider the male students not wanting to read a novel that is known to be a “chick flick.” What it comes down to is that not every one is going to be happy and get what they want, so my answer to that is, tough luck. But I do hope this would bring a sense of camaraderie and community within the classroom and to share ideas and research together.
Amelia Fuss
10/13/2017 07:01:37 am
This week’s prompt made us all think outside of the box. The majority of us are already worried about presenting Romeo and Juliet to high school students, ninth grade being especially difficult. The greatest challenges we’ve agreed upon include the age of the students, the language of the play as inaccessible, and student interest. Kasey, Amy, and Greg also point out the difficulties of gender in the classroom. A lot of the books we chose this work included romance or themes of love but a perceived struggle of focusing on these themes is keeping the male half of the classroom engaged. In responding to Jen, Gabrielle also brought up her concern about inclusion. Many of the stories including R and J that we chose present heterosexual relationships so some students may not be able to identify themselves with the characters.
Cristina Almeida
10/13/2017 07:46:44 pm
For this week’s discussion board, everyone chose a popular young adult text to teach alongside Romeo and Juliet in order to make Shakespeare’s work more accessible, relevant, and engaging to students in a 9th grade College Prep English class at Bridgewater-Raynham High School. Although Romeo and Juliet appears to be limited in terms of its relatability and intrigue due to its focus on a white, heterosexual couple, its outdated language, and its emphasis on the clichéd notion of love at first sight, everyone came up with texts, themes, and assignments that would allow them, as teachers, to overcome these obstacles in a variety of ways.
Cristina Almeida
10/13/2017 07:48:09 pm
....two important themes. While focusing on the themes of lust, passion, anger, and betrayal in both texts, Amelia Fuss would use King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table by Roger Green to help students learn to translate Romeo and Juliet into modern English.
Dan Chahine
11/13/2017 12:20:25 pm
At first I was going to say Twilight as well because it is so obvious, both stories consist of two people who are completely different and everything is set against them but they become star crossed lovers even though they know its wrong, their love/infatuation towards eachother holds no bounds and cannot be prevented by any means. Easy right? But, I decided to stick with what I wrote about in my essay which was The Hunger Games. I know what you are thinking as well, it must be Katniss and Peta who I am comparing to Romeo and Juliet but that is wrong. Leave a Reply. |
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