So in an effort to give us all a mental break from the seemingly fruitless research unit, I decided that it was time to move on with our lives and start wrapping up what we need to for the impending end of this school year. Technically, I'm supposed to teach Romeo and Juliet to my English I classes, but I don't usually manage to squeeze it in. Too many other essential units/assignments/projects etc. take priority and end up crowding it out eventually. I looked at my calendar and realized that I had roughly a week, maybe a week and a half if I had to stretch it before we desperately needed to move on to reviewing for their EOC. We were going to do just a quick overview of drama terms, a general summary, and maybe look at some of the most famous scenes and lines and then wrap up with one of the film versions so they could actually experience the whole story, but then the drama teacher gave me a copy of an abridged script of the play that when performed is only about 10 minutes or so long. It stays true to the most famous lines of the play (But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?) but tells the rest of the story in modernized language that's easy to change to suit the personalities of your students. Granted, this is in no way a serious take on Romeo and Juliet. It's melodramatic, over the top, and ridiculously silly...perfect for my ninth graders.
Oh, but what an epic fail it turned out to be. It had some good qualities--the kids enjoyed reading through the script, and they got to see some of our drama terms in action (stage directions, aside, monologue, soliloquy, etc.). My plan was to do a read-through a couple of times, choose who would play what part officially, and then move on to the auditorium to begin piecing it together as an actual play. Our drama teacher was even awesome enough to equip us with an entire rack of Elizabethan costumes to play with when the time came. But sadly, I don't think it will. We had fun for a while, but when it got down to the business of making it work, the kids rebelled...didn't matter whether we were in the classroom or the auditorium, small groups or whole class, trying to be serious and get it done or trying to be goofy and just play...it was complete and utter disaster no matter which way I turned. Being outside of our normal classroom environment was too much for them. Despite the ground rules I had established (NO ONE GOES BACKSTAGE!!!!), I found them diving and tripping behind curtains, getting tangled up in the ropes and pulls, running laps around the auditorium...and if they were actually working within their groups to accomplish something, they were arguing, insulting each other, and letting loose a stream of complaints. Again, despite best efforts to regroup and reconfigure, it was to no avail. Maybe I should blame it on the "super moon".
So our "fun" mini-unit ended with lectures on appropriate behavior for 9th grade students and a promise of returning on Monday to nothing but hard core EOC prep, which of course means that I'll be spending my Sunday afternoon figuring out exactly what that will look like. Come on, summer break!!
