Romeo and Juliet: Act One character blogs

The goal of your blog is to express the thoughts, feelings, and history of your chosen character in a variety of ways. As you design your blog, you should always consider whether you are representing your character accurately, based on the text. It is absolutely fine to add details to your character’s life that are not mentioned in the text, as long as they are both appropriate to our school context and in line with the way the author describes your character.

Each group will create their own blog at blogspot.com for their character. We will be visiting the blog at the end of each act in Romeo and Juliet and there will be class time set aside to do this. I will link all the blogs to our class blog, but please become followers of the other blogs as you will need to visit them to comment on blog posts, try their surveys, and view their content.

Everyone’s blog MUST have ALL of the following (although you can choose at which stage of the play you include these):

• At least five posts written from the perspective of your character at the end of each act. These posts should be at least 250 words each. Each post must reflect content and themes of the act that was just read. Use the “ Act One: Things to Consider” section below to assist with your blog post.

• At least one post must have a related image within it.

• A sidebar that includes at least three links grouped around a theme of interest to your

Character

• A header with a title that matches your character and blog content, with a quotation

related to your character from the novel as a subtitle.

• A photo of your character (as you imagine him or her) on the sidebar with a brief

description of your character (role in life, relationships, goals, location, etc.)

Everyone’s blog MUST have ONE of the following:

• A link to a video or an embedded video

• A survey for viewers

• An additional set of links grouped around another theme

• Photo slideshow

• graphic and quotation

Each time we post, you will also be responsible for visiting each of the other character’s blogs and respond, via character, to their post/content of their blog page.

ACT ONE: THINGS TO CONSIDER

Literary Elements

Foreshadowing:  The Prologue states that this is the story of “star-crossed lovers.”  There are four strong foreshadowings of evil in Act 1.  

Pun:  A pun is a play on words.  Usually a pun involves words that sound alike, even though they are spelled differently and have different meanings.  In scene 4, Romeo is punning when he tells Mercutio why he cannot dance.  “You have dancing shoes / With nimble soles.  I have a soul of lead / So stakes me to the ground I cannot move” (1.4.14-16). 

Paradox:  A paradox is a statement that appears to contradict itself, but that on closer examination reveals a truth.  For example, when Juliet describes Romeo as “My only love, sprung from my only hate!” (1.5.152) she appears to contradict herself.  On closer examination, however, you understand that she realizes a sad fact: Romeo, her “only love,” belongs to the Montague family, a family she has been taught to despise since birth, hence, her “only hate.”  In scene 1, Romeo describes his love for Rosaline in a series of paradoxes.  See 1.1.181-187. 

Aside:  An aside is a remark whispered by one character to another, which other characters on stage are not supposed to hear.  In Scene 1, for example, when Sampson and Gregory pick a fight with the Montagues, they plan their strategy through whispered asides.

Discussion questions (you do not have to answer the questions in your post, but you may want to take them into consideration when you are writing your blog post and commenting on the other character’s blogs)

1. Discuss the sources of tension in the first scene.  Why are these characters upset?
2. How does Romeo describe the woman he loves in Scene 1?  Refer to things like word choice, connotation, tone, figures of speech, and so on.
3. Describe the Nurse.  Describe her relationship with Juliet.
4. Who are Romeo’s friends and what is their plan?  Discuss the debate they have with Romeo, as well as their motivations for this plan.
5. Describe Romeo’s reaction when he first sees Juliet.
6. Discuss the parallelism between Romeo’s “story” and Paris’ “story so far in Act 1.
7. Refer to Mercutio’s lines in Act 1.  What kind of friend is he to Romeo?  Would you like to have him for a friend?  If so, why?  If not, why ?
8. Discuss the Prologue and what you already know about the play.  If you were Romeo and Juliet, would you follow love or stay loyal to your family and friends?  Explain your reasons.

Blogging Thoughts

I chose to explore the use of the blog in our class to supplement “13 Reasons Why”. In addition to blogging being a tool that supports a “less-paper” course and you, as 21^st-century learners, I wanted to use a medium that would both engage and support your reading comprehension and discussion of the book’s themes that was not “basic-recall” questions.

As well, I did not want to only use the blog to support our reading and tried to incorporate other elements to our reading of the novel: video (My-so-called-life, Stand by Me and The Last Lecture), writing (beyond the blog – “13 inspirations” composition), representation projects (t-shirt and web at back wall), discussions (i.e. fishbowl), drama (still-images) and questioning/opinion responses.

Having said that, Ms. O-Quinn and I would like some feedback on your blogging experience. Consider the following questions in your response:

• Before this blog, had you published anything on the internet?
• Did you prefer writing on the blog or writing on paper?
• What did you like/not like about blogging?
• How can a blogging project be used to teach 21^st century skills, such as creativity, communication skills, and technology literacy?
• Did you learn anything new about computers / technology? Do you think this knowledge could be useful for you in the future?
• What did you like/not like about writing, reading and responding to blogs?
• How does/doesn’t blogging support your learning? Understanding of themes from the novel?
• Should blogs be used in the classroom? With novel study?
• What aspects of blogging you have struggled with or not struggled with?
• What other blog activities would students engage with?
• Do you believe that writing on a blog can improve your English?
• Would you prefer to choose your own topics or would you rather be given specific tasks?
• Do you think it is better to have one class blog (as we had), or would it be better for everyone to have their own blog?

Literacies

For the first part of today's class you will be creating your Literacy (they will be put on the walls). See the Literacy sheets given out yesterday and which group you signed up for.

When you have completed your literacy and posted it to the back wall, I would like you to complete a paragraph response. Your paragraph should follow the guidelines of a "good" paragraph as shown in previous blog posts. Essentially, explain what your literacy is (and each component) and its significance in relation to the book/cassette.

After we have asembled the back board and you have a chance to view the literacies and people's written portions, you will repond (comment/question) to two people's posts.

Have fun!

The blogs of AWESOME

During the discussion and reading yesterday, several people commented on Hannah’s choice to focus on the negative components of her life, rather than look at the positive.

Since we have been dealing with some heavy issues in the book lately (and it’s Friday!) your blog post today will be about ‘something AWESOME’ that you like in your life.

Have a look at:  http://1000awesomethings.com/ This will give you some ideas for what you would like to write about and the style on which you could write it.

As well, remember to comment on two other people’s posts.

Big Issues faced by Teens

So far in the novel, we have come across several issues (some more overt than others). For this post, I would like you to select any THREE issues that the novel has raised so far and respond to the issues. (Make sure that you make reference to the novel: quotes, paraphrasing, referencing, citations, etc.) Your response could include the following:

• what the topics stir in your own thinking/memory
• associations to others texts, events, references
• your own feelings about the ideas, tone and/or style of the work
• your own feelings about the depiction of the topic
• words/passages that you think are important to extending the significance of the topic
• images that stand out in the work
• repetitions of ideas, words, phrases and/or images
• connections among passages or ection of the work
• identification of symbols present in the work
• speculation about theme
• questions that are raised

You will be responding to two other people's posts. Having said that, keep in mind that we are discussing highly sensitive topics and many of the posts may involve personal connections.