I just finished the first week of my Romeo & Juliet unit, and we haven't cracked the book. I haven't even handed them out yet. I have no idea if this is unorthodox, I'm floating in obscurity at my school. I don't have a master teacher, but from time to time I have a chat with one of the other English teachers. The reviews I get from the observers in the administration are glowing, so I know that my approach isn't just a random birdwalk with no reality. Students are learning, reportedly. But this is all new to me, and I'm on my own so I have this ongoing insecurity.
In any case, Romeo & Juliet have TONs of supplementary material, including several great films for newcomers to Shakespeare, (e.g. Standard Deviants' Introduction to Shakespeare, Looking for Richard, My Shakespeare, Shakespeare behind bars, and myriad editions of the play). So I've been running classes with the first half dedicated to frontloading vocabulary and learning trying out iambic pentameter, and the second half to watching and discussing some of these productions.
Actually, I don't think it's going to take us long to get through the actual reading of the play. I'm going to run the play like I used to run Shakespeare plays as an undergrad: watch the video with the book open in front of me, and stop every five minutes or so to make notes on what the heck is going on, who in the hell just got stabbed, and what it means.
It may be that I'm hitting my stride, but I have to say that so far I'm enjoying even more then Catcher in the Rye. Which is saying something.
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3 comments:
I'm surprised you don't have a master teacher or anyone guiding you directly. I have two master teachers of varying levels of involvement, though I don't think any administrators really know who I am.
I think it makes it extra hard without anyone directly guiding you, but at the same time it probably means you can take more risks without feeling like you need to answer to anyone. Dr. Cooks gave our class this piece of advice in our final class last semester: be the teacher you want to be NOW.
It sounds to me like your approach to setting up R&J is great for 9th graders who may never have read Shakespeare, so even though you've spent a week without actually starting the book yet, I think it will make it easier to go a bit more quickly because of the setup you're doing now.
Great that you're also consulting guides to get lots of ideas,too, and not just be working in a vaccuum, which is how I've felt at times.
Looking forward to hearing how it goes. I don't have to teach Shakespeare for another couple of months.
Hi,
Just wondering did you teach Catcher in the Rye. What approach did you use?
Poppy
Hey BardBoy,
How is your teaching going??
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