It was a big week around here as our new principal was announced – a beloved assistant principal was given the crown, so all is well. Now that the drama in the staff lounge has settled down, I can refocus my attention to the drama on the page. This week, Romeo will meet Juliet for the very first time. My freshman girls will swoon; my freshman boys will laugh at “princox” and “cock-a-hoop.” Good times, for sure.
Here is this week’s plan (please note: all of the individual Romeo & Juliet lessons mentioned below are available in the full unit located here):
Monday
Open with a five-minute M.U.G. Shot (Mechanics, Usage, Grammar) mini-lecture/bell-ringer.
Review the answers to the practice S.A.T. section that students completed this weekend.
Assign roles and read R&J Act 1, Sc. 4 aloud in class. (I usually cast myself as Mercutio for this scene, since the Queen Mab monologue can be rather daunting for an unprepared student volunteer.)
Launch a discussion of Queen Mab and assign students to illustrate lines from the monologue. Share student samples from previous classes.
For HW, students will finish their Queen Mab line illustrations.
Tuesday
Discuss the Act 1, Scene 4 study questions in teams of two and then as a full class.
Assign roles and read Act 1, Sc. 5 aloud in class.
View video clip of the Baz Luhrmann version of Act 1, Sc. 5. (Yes, young Leo DiCaprio still gets my kids’ attention.)
For HW, students will complete study questions for Act 1, Sc. 5 on their own.
Wednesday
Open with a ten-minute Words on Wednesday vocabulary mini-lecture/bell-ringer.
Real-Life Romeo & Juliet non-fiction activity.
Complete 20Time planning session exit tickets.
For HW, students will finish their short answer responses to the Real-Life R&J activity, if they didn’t finish in class. They also need to bring their 20Time materials to class tomorrow for a Thursday work session.
Thursday
Assign the 20Time end-of-project speech and hold a lottery to determine the speakers’ schedule. To keep my sanity, we’ll have students present speeches on four Thursdays in May and early June. In an earlier post, I wrote about speech fatique and why I no longer stack speeches all in one week. Also, I’ll model my expectations for this speech by giving my own what-I-did/what-I-learned speech about my 20Time experience, filming the 10-part YouTube series on classroom management.
The remaining time (maybe half the class session) will be given for students to work on their projects.
For HW, students need only to remember to bring their S.S.R. books to class tomorrow.
Friday
Quarter Trio teams will play Word Addiction.
In-class S.S.R. reading time for the remainder of the period.
For HW, students will complete an Analogies worksheet and continue working on their 4th quarter S.S.R. reading assignments.
Teach on, everyone!