While the freshman English class begins reading their first Shakespearean play, Romeo and Juliet, Chelsea students are taught to see the importance of reading Early Modern English and the learning the lessons that come with it. Teaching this with engaging activities like acting out sword-fighting scenes with pool noodles seems to be one of the best methods to foster understanding and is a popular technique with the students.
Firstly, the switch from eighth grade to a more rigorous and challenging freshman writing curriculum can be a struggle for some students, so teachers try their best to find exciting and more effective teaching methods.
“In ninth grade, it’s more focused on analysis writing, and even though that’s not a huge focus at the middle school level, it’s very new to a lot of our students when it comes to writing styles,’’ English teacher Alyssa Knupp said. “So we just make sure the engagement strategies are there for students, and our focus is to keep students engaged, keep things as fun as possible.’’
Coming up with ways to keep some students engaged and excited about reading can be challenging. However, the teachers at Chelsea are equipped with lots of resources and creativity.
“I’d say the most memorable thing that’s happened so far is when we acted out when Juliet and Romeo got married,” freshman Emma Busch said. “Mrs. Knupp edited the people reading Romeo, Juliet, and Friar Lawrence’s faces onto the board, and it was really funny.”
Every student learns a little bit differently from the other. The struggle for teachers is teaching in a way that all students can relate to and become successful with.
“I think some students will struggle with the language at first, and that can make it difficult,” Knupp said. “And there’s hesitation surrounding Shakespeare because it feels hard like anything else, but once we start acting out the scenes and connecting the story to real world experiences, I think a lot of students tend to come around to it and see that there are a lot of connections between both the text and modern times.”
Students seem to have a positive reaction to the teaching approach of Shakespeare compared to other forms of writing. Not only reading, but acting out the play really helps with overall class understanding.
“With Romeo and Juliet, it’s written as a play. So things move a lot faster, while Frankenstein is very slow,” Busch said. “But both of the stories have harder language to understand. Romeo and Juliet, for me, is easier to understand, especially because it’s written as a play. People act it out, while you can’t see what’s happening with Frankenstein. You sort of have to figure it out, without any visual representation of what’s happening.’’
