Learning Life’s Lessons Through

Literature

Romeo and Juliet Scaffolded Unit

English 9

Developed and Presented By:

Sarah Crawford, Hamtramck HSCandy Lee, Wayne RESALinda McGarry, Wayne RESALynn Sossi, New Haven HS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON6mELAYeT0

Anticipation Guide

Unit Themes and Essential Questions

Disposition: Inter-Relationships and

Self-Reliance

Unit Themes:

--Decisions can have long-term effects.

--Being able to resolve conflict is essential to relationships.

--We learn from our mistakes.

Essential Questions to consider when making decisions:

• What are my choices? Out of these choices what seems like the best option?

• What experiences have I had previously that led me to make this decision?

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of my decision/choice?

• How will this decision affect my future?• How will this decision affect my family and

friends?• Can the decision be reversed if I am not pleased

with its results?

The Adolescent Brain

http://pbs-newshour.onstreammedia.com/cgi-bin/visearch?user=pbs-newshour&template=play220ram.html&query=%2A&squery=%2BClipID%3A3+%2BVideoAsset%3Apbsnh101304&inputField=%20&ccstart=1482366&ccend=2040957&videoID=pbsnh101304

Text-to-Speech Software

“The Teenage Brain”What were you thinking?! You climb into your car, turn the key in the ignition, and are assaulted by rap

music so loud the windows are vibrating. You just know your hearing will never be the same.

Blame it on the amygdala! It's a record-breaking frigid day. You're worrying about the pipes bursting and

your teen is going to school without her jacket. You ask her where it is and you get a blank look, then “Oh, it's in the car or “It's in my locker at school.”

Blame it on the amygdala! While you're muttering to yourself, “What is she thinking?!”, your teen's

amygdala is having a field day. Now, confess: You think the amygdala is the club of club-drug don't you? No, the amygdala is an almond-shaped part of the brain, nestled deep in the back, that pretty much controls the way teens act for their middle-school and high-school years. So the next time you're ready to bellow, “WHAT in the world were you thinking when you did that?”, remember this intriguing fact: Teens are NOT thinking the ways adults think because they absolutely, positively can't do that yet. Adolescent brains just aren't “hard-wired" like adult brains.

Scaffolding the Writing Process

Begin with the End in MindFinal Project: The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

Look at each day in R & J. Make a timeline for each day including the setting, characters, and major actions. Provide at least 15 entries and 5 pictures/graphics.

Romeo and Juliet truly fits the type of Elizabethan play called a tragedy. Using a graphic organizer for planning, write about three “tragic” actions that, to you, truly bring out the “tragic” elements in a tragedy. Develop into a five-paragraph essay.

Determine whether each character is a dynamic or static character. Offer evidence from the play to support your position. Choose 12 characters that had more than one or two lines in the play.

You are an investigative reporter and your assignment is to interview two characters from the play about the simultaneous deaths of the young lovers. Decide which two characters you are going to interview. Plan at least five questions for each character. Put yourself in the character’s shoes and thoughtfully answer the questions. Avoid repetition and see if you can point a guilty finger.

Haste makes waste—or so the saying goes. Write about three decisions that were hastily made in the play. How do you think the play would have been different if the decisions had been made in a more thoughtful manner? Develop into a five-paragraph essay.

So IF Romeo and Juliet had been married and together more than a day, would they have been a happy couple? Using a “Comparison and Contrast Web,” carefully analyze the personality of each character and then become a professional from e-Harmony and write two emails—one to Romeo and one to Juliet about the personality and compatibility of each character with the other.

Create a Romeo and Juliet comic book depicting various scenes from each of the acts of the play. Feature 12-15 significant parts of the play; include dialogue and thought bubbles in contemporary English. You may create original artwork and/or use computer generated images. Include a cover and bind your comic book.

Design a “My Space” page for your favorite character. Include a picture of character, a profile of character, a posting wall, pictures of friends, and a sample blog your character might have had with another character. Detail out your profile, blog, and posting wall conveying several characteristics.

Construct a collage-style quilt that offers an overview of the major events in R & J. Write an explanation for each of the 12-15 “squares” you design. You may pictures, symbols, and graphics to represent the events.

Decision-Making Writing

SETTING THE STAGE for Decision Prompt

• Brainstorm words students associate with decisions

• Tell your “decision” story

• Students start brainstorming ideas about their own “decision” story

PREWRITING

• Group Brainstorm--Tear and Share (#2a-b)

• Introduce Prompt and Answer Plan (#3)

• Possible Answer (#4) READ

• Analysis of Possible answer & choose a decision (#5) HIGHLIGHT

•Graphic Organizers (#6 & 7a-b)

PREWRITING:The final step

• Make a detailed plan from graphic organizer—use either framed writing or outline (#8-9)

• Five-paragraph essay vs. freedom of format

RUBRIC: What’s important to my teacher?

• Rubric (#11) Choose one area within each characteristic for a “6”

WRITING THE ROUGH DRAFT

• Set clear expectations

• Write rough drafts in class

• Observe, encourage, assist

EDITING

• Peer edit—(#10)

• RAGs from Kelly Gallagher’s book Teaching Adolescent Writers

HANDOUT

FINAL DRAFT & PUBLISHING

• May want to revisit “possible answer”

• Self edit (#12)

• Preparation to Publish (#13)

Reflection

• When the assignment is done and turned in, ask students to stop and reflect on their work– Learn anything new about you or your

writing?– What is best about your writing?– Anything you would like to go back and

tweak?– Anything you would like me to explain

more clearly or assist you with?

Final Project Philosophy

• “Begin with the end in mind”

• 9th grade disposition of relationships and growth toward self-reliance

• Research: Sternberg Triarchic Theory on Multiple Intelligences

Robert Sternberg’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences

(Appendix 62—”Final Project: The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet)

--real world connection

PRACTICAL

--connections with literature and real world

(middle row) CREATIVE

--visual or fictional

(bottom row)

INDIVIDUAL

ANALYTICAL

--looks at data, facts, writing

(top row)

“My Space” PageAppendix 70a-b

• All nine assignments contain same elements• Planning—step-by-step process and detailed

answer plan• Earning points—rubric presented in form of

questions and possible points• Rubric contains the following:

--Planning questions

--Content, accuracy, sincerity of thought

--Style and appearance

--Organization/format and conventions

The Language of Shakespeare

Profundity

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Are teenagers too young to experience “true love”?