Ah, Love! Romeo's Words of Love...and moving forward with Act I

At this point in the year, I am using daily Caught Ya's to reinforce grammar and conventions. The students go up to the SmartBoard and make corrections, and then we discuss their choices.  This is a very quick activity, and this particular Caught Ya follows a story line that is based on Romeo and Juliet.

To review the scene that we read during our last class, I found an online summary and removed some of the key words.  I had the students try to fill it in, and then we discussed the correct answers.  This is a simple, low-pressure way for students to refresh their memories about the facts of the play.

For this activity, I put parts of two of Romeo's Scene I speeches on the board.  I labeled one with A and the other B.  My desks are arranged in pairs, so I assigned different pairs one speech or the other.  Their guiding question was "What does this speech reveal about Romeo and his attitude toward love?"

I then gave students a few minutes to talk about it and take notes.  Then, I took volunteers to go up to the board and explain what they came up with.  While many students tried to start out by saying "Romeo is sad," eventually they got a bit more analytical and produced more thoughtful observations.

After we refreshed our memories and revisited Romeo's mindset, we continued reading in Act I.  I assigned parts for Scenes 2,3, and the very beginning of Scene 4.  Once we got to Mercutio's Queen Mab speech, I switched to the video and showed them some of the Baz Luhrmann version of R&J.  We watched from the Queen Mab speech until Juliet's line beginning with "My only love sprung from my only hate..."