{"product_id":"teaching-romeo-and-juliet-shakespeare","title":"Teaching: \"Romeo and Juliet,\" Shakespeare","description":"Teaching: Romeo and Juliet\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eShopify\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e“Romeo and Juliet” 12,983 words; some visuals\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eMy Review: Teaching Romeo and Juliet\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSome History:\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e In the 1980s and 1990s in Jefferson County, Colorado, a cursed socio\/emotional\/medical problem raised its ugly head—ten suicides at 2 different schools. In the 1980s, I taught English Language Arts to 12th graders at Alameda High School. During one school year, we lost 10 of our students to suicide and suicidal acts. One tragedy was in the school’s parking lot, another involved a car full of teen-aged girls and a car driven by a drunken boy. All were killed in an ugly crash on a side-street in the neighborhood. The incident that most affect me, my captain, all-star soccer player, took his life one day before the season ended. The school was on hyper alert for the sting of funerals and the reasons why they happened. Amazingly, no one objected to the teaching of “Romeo and Juliet” as part of the school curriculum. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e After transferring to another close Lakewood High School, I went through another 12 funerals in one year at Green Mountain High School. Kids from split families, drugs, and frequent school transfers were the reasons we “blamed” for this contagious outbreak. And, we were given an “order” to abandon teaching “Romeo and Juliet” because it was “too disturbing.”\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e So students at two similar high schools in two different neighboring schools were allowed to study the play, and not allowed to study the play. “What they don’t know won’t hurt them,” was the mantra for the ban. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAt Green Mountain, the English curriculum always had a Shakespeare play grounding the reading curriculum. “Romeo and Juliet” for freshmen; “Hamlet,” for sophomores; “Macbeth,” for juniors; and teacher’s choice for seniors. We were very proud of this, a little embarrassed for the ban, and the Seniors who had missed “R and J” their freshmen year, begged for “Romeo and Juliet”—so we gave it to them.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e In order to keep the study “upbeat” and Shakespearean, these seniors, who faced a little pushback from some faculty and administration, changed a lot about the way I approached teaching. This is the result.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e I was very surprised how easy it was to teach the seniors and how painful it was to teach the freshmen. Of course, the girls always embraced and generally loved the play.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e I’ve also taught this in Middle School to advanced readers and to a Community College Class who were getting college credit and high school graduation credit simultaneously.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e In each instance, we studied the play, read quietly and out loud, performed scenes from the play in class, discussed the play, and then “Watched” the play—as Shakespeare intended.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e I would almost always teach the class in this way…. Go slow, Go fast. Stage key scenes in class, after reviewing them. The Teacher is the director.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e","brand":"Mr. Brovsky's Office","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43231163777240,"sku":"","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/8862\/2040\/products\/randj.zefferelli.jpg?v=1661893647","url":"https:\/\/mr-brovsky.myshopify.com\/products\/teaching-romeo-and-juliet-shakespeare","provider":"Mr. Brovsky's Office","version":"1.0","type":"link"}