The juniors have been reading F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and examining the cultural atmosphere of the 1920s. One afternoon they created their own surrealist- or art deco-inspired photo collages. I was incredibly impressed with their end products.
My 9th graders began the second semester reading Romeo & Juliet. Their cumulative assignment was to work in groups, change the lyrics of a modern song to reflect the themes of this Shakespeare classic, and perform the rendition for the class. Even though Sarah Stalcup, Stacy Cary, Danielle Cooper, Megan Rutherford, and Sarah Watson, gave me specific instructions NOT to listen to Bodak Yellow by Cardi B, I'll let you decide if you think it necessary before reading their modified lyrics;)...
(By the way, this group's performance was awesome!)
Said Romeo, we can't be together if we wanted to
The Montagues and Capulets just always seem to feud.
Hit the road, we can't please them both, It's just me and you.
They'll be quick to cut us off, so don't get comfortable.
Look we can't wait now, we gotta be quick to move.
I said we can't wait now, we gotta be quick to move.
If I see you and I don't speak, just know that I still love you.
I'm a Capulet, you're a Montague
My family makes bloody moves.
Now they say I'm gon' marry who
Let's find out and see, honestly
You know where I'm at
You know where I'll be
I'm in the tomb just to see you
I'm there just come find me
Honestly, yeah, I'll be back now just you wait and see
I'll take this potion then wake up
I really hope that no one sees
I don't bother with our parents
Don't let our parents bother me
I hope you get this letter and know
After this it's just you and me
Look, I'll just have to cut to the chase
You just wanna chill with your boo but, she's in a tomb
I might go back home today
I just wanna see her face
When I do, I don't think I can take the pain
I'm like okay
I need to do what I want
I'll buy me some poison that kills
And I'll be with her
And when Juliet wakes up
She sees Romeo layin in the front
So she went to be with him
I Know you probably heard of them
Their parents heard and went to see
I hope y'all know this went to far
And then both families just agreed
They ain't got no time to feud
I wish Romeo and Juliet could've seen
Both families shook hands and made peace
Believe it or not, some high school students do not enjoying learning new vocabulary words. To try to make it a little more engaging, the sophomores and juniors recently had to run around the school, looking for people or objects connected to our new vocab. words. The challenge was to get every group member and the clue in each picture.
Here are a few scenes from the first (sure to be annual) vocabulary scavenger hunt...
