On Monday (9-30):

Get out journals. Read the summary of Act IV aloud (as a class), while students underline the parts they think are significant to the play (we will discuss this tomorrow). Tape the Summary into your journals.

Watch the video clip from The Reduced Shakespeare Company’s version of R&J. It is 13 minutes long. After watching the video, return to journals and write 1) a personal response to the humorous approach, 2) explain how this version might be more appealing to a modern audience, 3) in what ways did the actors stay true to Shakespeare’s original intent and content in the play? 

If there is any time left, be finishing your novels, or work on your letter rough draft, which we will complete and peer edit in class tomorrow. BE SURE YOU HAVE AN ELECTRONIC OR PRINTED COPY OF YOUR ROUGH DRAFT FOR TUES/WED. CLASS.

For Monday: pair up and work to create theme statements for the first set of ideas listed on the BLUE HANDOUT I gave you when we started the outside reading assignment (group practice). Next class we will discuss and edit these statements as a whole class. 

The second half of class is for silent reading your outside novel, or writing the letter assignment related to the book you are reading. You must be done with the book Oct. 1. There probably will not be reading time in class the rest of this week, as we will be studying Act III in-depth.

The week of Sept. 9th, we read/listened to/discussed all of Act I. In your journals you should have a SHORT summary of each scene (all 5) that lists only the major characters introduced, and the new problems or complications that were introduced. DO NOT summarize everything that happened. There are online summaries for that.

The week of Sept. 16th, we are reading/listening to/discussing Act II. We will write an in-class summary of Act II on Thursday/Friday.

We will generally read one full Act per week.

BE SURE TO KEEP READING YOUR OUTSIDE READING NOVEL. If you don't like it, find a different one. If you can't figure out how it connects to a theme in the play, find a different one. If you finish early, go ahead and write the letter--the requirements, the formatting, student examples, and the rubric are all listed for you. It is DUE OCTOBER 4th.