well it's probably one of the most well known and accessible Shakespeare plays. It was my favorite part of freshman English.

Hmm. Cultural literacy? (do people even talk about that anymore? shows how old I am!)

this teacher has some excellent ideas: www.huffenglish.com/?p=2...

but if you can't find a reason to teach it, you shouldn't, because the kids will sense that, and you'll ALL be miserable.

JackieB: I think that's a great reason. Also when kids are challenged and able to excel they gain confidence and grow as a person.

But there are other challenging books.

bleckley It's all about relationships and how it relates to their lives today. Who hasn't dated someone their parents can't stand?

I'm assuming w/ your long term sub position that this is part of the curriculum that you're required to teach...

JackieB: I'm not familiar with the term. Is the idea that it's such a widely known text that students need to know it?

Yep: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cu...

mindelei & honeymic: I can see the relevance of it . . . maybe I'm asking the wrong question - why does every student need to read it?

mindelei & honeymic: Can students get the same thing from R&J as they can from other books?

honeymic: Thanks for reminding me about Dana Huff's postings, I'd forgotten about her.

there are so many cultural references to R&J that they will draw a blank on w/o some familiarity. It is part of our cultural lexicon.

bleckley: You are very welcome! She rocks.

honeymic: She does!

I believe it expresses the melodrama and angst of the teenage experience in a timeless fashion. But there were some boys who just snickered

and rolled their eyes through the whole thing.

There were probably some girls too, but it was a long time ago and I just remember the group of boys in the back.

honeymic: do you think they snickered to fit in socially or because they truly didn't get anything from it?

to fit in, I'm sure. It probably wasn't their "cup of tea" but I have to think in retrospect that they got something out of it.

Here's what I'm thinking right now. Offer R&J to everyone who wants to read it. Also offer 40 books in YA genre that touch on same issues.

Conference with both groups each day in class.

that better than teaching R&J to everyone, or is it essential.

Will the groups be able to share with each other? The R & J group will probably need a lot of guidance. Compare/contrast seems great.

Yeah, I think there might be some cross conversations too.

Do you have the time to read R&J together as a class, and then have your students pick a contemp.book w/similar theme to read on their own?

Maybe. I think if I teach the play, I'm going to go all out and just focus on the play, because I think they'll need a lot of support.

Including the movie in the unit, if possible, is usually a highlight for the students.

We'll definitely include the movie, and we'll probably read aloud in class with the parts, along with double entry journals as homework.

I agree. It takes a little more work to warm up to and understand. You have to stop a lot and talk about what a phrase means.

Whenever I read any Shakespeare, I had to read it aloud. It was the only way it made sense to me (and remember, it wasn't written to be read

but performed)

As your class reads they will start to understand what a master wordsmith could do with a few words and the turn of a phrase.

That's one of the big benefits of taking on "the bard."

JackieB: Yeah, when we read in class, I'll have a student take a part. Do you think they should read alone the night before, or no?

What grade level? What's their prior experience with this type of text? Are they used to reading as HW? (and uhm, I teach math, so take this

with a grain of salt!)

(although I was the pseudo librarian at my prior job)

It's 9th grade. The first time they've read Shakespeare. They're reading an abridged but still lyric version of the Odyssey now in class.

JackieB: The subject isn't so important to me, you have the educational theory! And pseudo librarian is even more impressive.

I'm outta my league here. Interested in hearing what the others have to say though!

I'm still not sure how much reading they do for homework.

I vote for having audio versions available to listen to while they're reading it at home. We did that with an online course at my uni and

it made it all SO much easier to understand.

mindelei: That's a thought. Do you know the fair use issues involved with making that many copies off the top of your head?

I don't off hand...but BarbInNebraska shared an audio file site this afternoon that has R&J on it: etc.usf.edu/lit2go/title...

Free for the month of Novemeber: www.learnoutloud.com/Fre...

Thanks for those two resources, will definitely download them!