Making it relevant

Relevance is always the challenge in teaching classic literature. In the past I've found myself getting too caught up in teaching the content and forgetting about what's important to my audience. This year in my Romeo and Juliet unit for freshman English class, I decided to focus less on sharing all my "storehouse of knowledge" and instead hone in on the elements that would be pertinent--and therefore interesting--to my students. I took a step back and thought about what my goals for a Romeo and Juliet unit are. Basically, after studying the standards, I came up with two overarching goals. First, I want my students to appreciate and understand Shakespeaere's language, including his use of word play and puns. Second, I want them to "get" the story in a way that allows them to make connections to their own lives. For a starting point and to overview the plot, we watched West Side Story. Later, once we have finished with R&J, we'll use WSS to write a compare/contrast paper--a skill the students need to practice anyway. After WSS, I told the students how, like Tony and Maria, Romeo and Juliet met at a dance as well, but a masquerade ball. We decorated paper masks with paint and glitter and held our own masquerade ball.

In a book by The Folger's Shakespeare Institute, Shakespeare Set Free, I found a renaissance circle dance, and I downloaded some renaissance music on my phone to play through the sound system. After our masks were ready, we put them on and I taught the class the circle dance, complete with bows and curtsies to honor our partner. It didn't matter if boys danced with boys or girls with girls because in Shakespeare's day, there were no women in the theater, and all the actors would have been men and boys--even the ones playing women. (Juliet was played by a man!)

Since I have Freshmen--and a lot of boys--I didn't really expect them to participate or enjoy the dancing, but I was pleasantly surprised that they got into it! I think wearing the masks helped because they could feel they were "hiding" or playing a part, not really being themselves.

We read Act 1 together in class, a chore that was made considerably easier by using Michael Tolaydo's method as outlined in Shakespeare Set Free. Act 1, Scene 1 involves some individuals from each of the warring households insulting each other, so after reading it, we familiarized ourselves with Shakespeare's language by creating insults and hurling them at each other! Phrases such as "Thou wanton eye-offending manikin," which may translate into "You sleezy, ugly, little woman" (or worse!), were particularly popular. In trying to keep it relevant, I pointed out that Shakespeare's plays were often considered a bit on the "racy" side, but that because we don't understand the language, his puns and often dirty jokes go right over our heads. I sometimes wonder if the Powers-That-Be who require public schools to teach Shakespeare really understand his work. If they did, I'm not sure they would want high school Freshmen reading it!

While reading Act 1, I pointed out some of the crude humor, including obscene gestures and "locker-room" talk about sex. I explained that to those who understand the language, Shakespeare's works are quite risque. (At which a Freshman boy blurted out, "Well, teach us to understand it then!") After reading as much as they could stand (not much), we watched Act 1 of the BBC version on DVD. This gave me opportunity to point out such stage elements as the chorus and soliloquies, though truthfully, I found this version pretty boring and badly made. At least, though, we were able to hear the lines delivered.

Then I found the 1996 movie version starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Set in a modern coastal city called Verona Beach, this version is controversial, and some older English teachers don't like it because of the artistic license director Baz Luhrmann has taken--for example, instead of fueding families, the Lords Montague and Capulet appear to be warring mafia heads of "family" and instead of swords, everyone carries a gun. I like it, though, because it is fast-paced, action-packed and still uses the original language of Shakespeare. The same students who struggled desperately to understand the text and who yawned through the BBC version, now sat up, stayed awake and understood almost everything that happened! In fact, one student (a boy who barely passed first semester) said he went home after the first viewing day and rented it because he couldn't wait to see how it ended! Occasionally I stop the video and ask students to clarify what's going on--almost always they have followed the story perfectly. I was surprised at how many of my students didn't know how the story ended and were truly shocked and angry.

I used to think that teaching classic literature meant the students had to read every word in its original form. I still believe students need to be exposed to the original language, but sometimes small doses can be more powerful than the whole. Overall, as the goals I set before, I wanted them to understand and use Shakespeare's language and to know the story line. The 1996 movie version helped me to get my students to that place. Pointing out the puns and plot elements that appealed to their adolescent mentality helped too. In the end, they don't really care how much I know about Shakespeare and his works, and even if I stand up front all day spewing my knowledge, it doesn't soak in. Instead, a sprinkling of the language, a focus on the seedier side, and a modern take on the movie probably made a much bigger impact than a thorough reading of every word could ever have done!