Skip to content

Romeo & Juliet

No work will be accepted after Friday June 8 for this unit. 

Benchmarks:

  • 9.2.15 Wide-ranging vocabulary
  • 9.2.16: Effective Use of Rhetoric
  • 9.6.33: Awareness & Appreciation of Effects of Literary Techniques
  • 9.2.17: Uses a clear, logical, purposeful, and effective structure
  • 9.10.3: Effectively creates multimedia presentations

Essential Questions:

  • Why has this play endured for so many centuries?
  • Shakespearean language sounds “funny” to us. What expressions or grammatical constructions will sound “funny” to people 400 years from now?
  • Sonnets and other poems with very “strict” rules are challenging to write. Does writing a poem in this way require you to be more creative, or less? Explain your answer.

Summative Task:

  • Write a prologue/promotion for your book in sonnet form and use it to create a movie trailer
Other Tasks:
  • Read Romeo and Juliet independently and with the class. Use the following dates for guidelines:
Act I: Completed by Friday May 11 (click here for full text audio of Act I)
Acts II and III: Completed by Friday May 18
Acts IV and V: Completed by Friday May 25

Students will need:

Activities to support Bloom’s:

Benchmark 9.2.15 Employs a wide-ranging vocabulary Poss. Points
KNOWING Read and discuss the Romeo and Juliet vocabulary 1
UNDERSTANDING “Pass-add” activity 2
APPLYING Write sentences about your self-selected novel using each vocabulary word. Make sure each vocabulary word stands out by using bold, CAPITALS, colors, underlining, or another format to make it easy to see. 2.5
ANALYZING Identify the ten words you would most likely use in your sonnet 3
CREATING Write a prologue/promotion for your book in sonnet form and use it to create a movie trailer 3.5
EVALUATING Feedback to 3 peers (see below for requirements) 4
Benchmark 9.2.16: Effective Use of Rhetoric Poss. Points
KNOWING Read “Then you are quoting Shakespeare” and copy the cliches you see.

  • Read & take notes on thee/thine etc
  • Listen and take notes on verbs in SSP’s time
  • Participate in a pass-add activity in class to create sentences
 1
UNDERSTANDING Restate each cliche in your own words 2
APPLYING Choose 10 of the restatements from above, and rewrite them in “Shakespearean” language, using thee/thine and SSP’n verb forms 2.5
ANALYZING Identify one place in your book where a cliche applies, and one place in Romeo & Juliet where the same cliche applies. Write a paragraph explaining how it applies to each book. 3
EVALUATING List the 10 cliches that you rewrote into Shakespearean language in order from “most user friendly” to “least” (in your opinion) 3.5
CREATING Write a prologue/promotion for your book in sonnet form and use it to create a movie trailer 4
Benchmark 9.6.33: Awareness & Appreciation of Effects of Literary Techniques Poss. Points
KNOWING Read handout and websites, and view ppt about puns/allusions 1
UNDERSTANDING Choose 3 puns from notes or select others from the play and briefly explain them. Do the same for 3 allusions 2
APPLYING For each of the 3 puns you chose, explain how it fits your novel.For each of the 3 allusions you chose, write a modern-day equivalent that would fit into the world of your novel. Use persons, events, and characters that you and your peers would recognize.Click here for an example of how to do the puns/allusions assignment. 2.5
ANALYZING Explain how the 3 puns you chose fit your novel. Then write a paragraph explaining how the 2 of the allusions would fit your novel (can be the original allusion from the play or the new ones you created). 3
CREATING Write a prologue/promotion for your book in sonnet form and use it to create a movie trailer 3.5
EVALUATING Provide a note of explanation about the puns/allusions you included in your sonnet and the intended effect, OR answer 2 of the 3 “essential questions” from above (see below for requirements) 4
Benchmark 9.2.17: Uses a clear, logical, purposeful, and effective structure Poss. Points
KNOWING Watch video about features of sonnets; take notes 1
UNDERSTANDING Find 3 sonnets in Romeo & Juliet. Copy and label. 2
APPLYING Find 3 more Shakespearean sonnets; copy and label. 2.5
ANALYZING Write a paragraph summarizing the difference between the 1st 3 stanzas and the final couplet in a sonnet. Click here for an example. 3
EVALUATING List 25-30 details from your story that you might include in your sonnet 3.5
CREATING Write a prologue/promotion for your book in sonnet form and use it to create a movie trailer 4
Benchmark 9.10.3: Effectively creates multimedia presentations Poss. Points  
KNOWING Watch R & J movie trailer and Gnomeo & Juliet movie trailer 1  
UNDERSTANDING Brainstorm a list of common features of movie trailers and discuss why they are effective 2  
APPLYING Create a mind map of elements, images, sounds, and text that you will include in your movie trailer 2.5  
ANALYZING Investigate available songs related to Romeo and Juliet and choose one or more to use in your movie trailer 3  
CREATING Write a prologue/promotion for your book in sonnet form and use it to create a movie trailer 3.5  
EVALUATING Final reflection 4
Requirements for peer feedback on 9.2.15: 
  1. Each paragraph must be at least 5 sentences (x3)
  2. You must post the feedback on the student’s blog, then copy/paste it into your own blog
  3. Tell them what they did well (in terms of showing their learning about sonnets, puns, allusions, cliches, Shakespearean language and grammar, and vocabulary)
  4. Tell them one thing that they could improve upon

Requirements for final reflections on 9.6.33: 

  • You must write at least one paragraph of 5 or more sentences
  • Be specific
  • Show me what you learned