Romeo and Juliet- Textured Text Set by Abagail Pena

Essential Question

penaa9412 — 2024-11-03 23:18:11 UTC

How do familial and societal ties affect a person's life?

"Romeo and Juliet"- Focal Text

penaa9412 — 2024-11-03 23:30:19 UTC

"Romeo and Juliet" is a tragic story centered around the yearning for love. Romeo and Juliet have fallen in love but are not allowed to be together. Their families do not approve of this union, and neither does society. Romeo and Juliet do not care, and with help from Juliet's nurse, they are united in marriage the next day. Romeo and Juliet keep this a secret from everybody because of what it would cost them. Romeo ends up getting involved in a street fight which ends in the death of Juliet's cousin, Tybalt. Romeo is banished from the town and Juliet is in great despair. Juliet attempts to be reunited with Romeo, so she fakes her death. Romeo is given the wrong message and believes she has actually died. He kills himself to be reunited with her. Juliet awakes from her fake death and hears of Romeo's death. She then stabs herself in order to join him in death. At the end of the play, both families of Romeo and Juliet are so broken-hearted by their loss that they agree to make up and put aside their differences.

"If You Come Softly"-Companion Book

penaa9412 — 2024-11-03 23:40:10 UTC

This novel serves as a reinterpretation of Romeo and Juliet, where their divide is shown through their race. The novel centers around high school students Ellie and Miah, who must deal with both familial and societal pressures keeping them apart. Throughout the novel, Ellie is told by her family that she can not engage in an interracial relationship. When Ellie and Miah are together, they are also judged by society. They are constantly gazed upon and gawked at. Ellie is questioned about her safety due to being around Miah, who is black. Ellie meets Miah's family and is welcomed with such warmth, but fears her family would not reciprocate that for Miah. Miah never gets to meet Ellie's family because he is shot to death by a police officer. The story ends in this tragic conclusion.

"Ballad of Birmingham"- Companion Poem

penaa9412 — 2024-11-04 00:19:59 UTC

Contextual Research Topics

penaa9412 — 2024-11-04 00:24:32 UTC

What biases do I or my family still hold that I was otherwise unaware of till now?
What is love?
Police Brutality
Are interracial couples more predominant in America today?
What would Romeo and Juliet's life look like if there was no divide in their family?
Rethink this question for "If You Come Softly", would Miah be alive?
Dive into Ellie's faith. What does it mean to be Jewish? How does Ellie's religion affect the outcomes in the novel?
If Miah had met Eliie's parents, how would they have reacted?

Lyric Analysis- "Love Story" by Taylor Swift

penaa9412 — 2024-11-04 00:26:21 UTC

TedTalk- Should You Care What Your Parents Think

penaa9412 — 2024-11-04 00:28:55 UTC

TedTalk- "Requiem For Alonzo: The Human Toll of Police Brutality"

penaa9412 — 2024-11-04 00:32:59 UTC

"Let American Be America Again"- Langston Hughes

penaa9412 — 2024-11-04 00:38:40 UTC

Movie Clip

penaa9412 — 2024-11-04 00:42:17 UTC

Additional Texts Connection to Essential Question

penaa9412 — 2024-11-04 00:56:24 UTC

I provided five additional texts that elaborate on the discussion questions: "How do familial and societal ties affect a person's life?". Only providing five was hard to do, but I think the five that I gave show a good glimpse into each section I want to talk about in this essential question. Starting with "Love Story" by Taylor Swift. This song is perfect in order to get students thinking critically about the text while still thinking about the themes present in the focal texts. "Love Story" is perfect for this first introduction because it recaptures the main essence of "Romeo and Juliet" but through song. Students will also be very familiar with this song, so that might entice them more to be present during the lesson and engage in the activity. I'm hoping this would be a perfect introduction to annotating a text and drawing conclusions from its work. Similar to this is the second text I gave. This is a TedTalk that talks about caring what your parents think. I think it's a great introduction to get students thinking about autonomy and how their parents are telling them things based on what they think is best for them. We can then talk about how that is represented in "Romeo and Juliet". The next text I gave was a TedTalk about police brutality. Now this would be in relation to "If You Come Softly", as the novel ends in police violence. This TedTalk will be a great introduction to a multi-day teaching on the impact of racism. Going along with that would be the fourth text, which is a poem by Langston Hughes. This poem talks about growing up in America, what freedom means, and who has it. This would be a text that I would also bring into the multi-day teach. While "Romeo and Juliet" may not specifically talk about racism, our companion text does. Our companion text is also completely centered on racism and how their family and society's view of race impacts their relationship. Similar to "Rome and Juliet", they, too, can not be together due to their family and society. The last text I gave was a clip from the movie "Rome and Juliet (1996)". I would probably plan to show more of the film in this unit, but the main idea would be to connect pieces of the film with the text and have student analyze differences as well as write about their emotions/reactions to hearing and watching it vs. reading it.