UNIT PLAN

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS 10-1

WHAT DOES ROMEO AND JULIET SUGGEST TO US ABOUT HOW INDIVIDUALS ARE
INFLUENCED BY LOVE?

WHAT IS LOVE?

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ROMEO AND JULIET 10-1
WINSTON CHURCHILL HIGH SCHOOL,
LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA
26 STUDENTS

In this unit, students will explore how individuals are influenced by love. As we dive into
this question of love together, the students will gain helpful skills in comprehending
Shakespearean text. As comprehension is a large part of student diplomas, this unit will help work
towards engaging students with Shakespearean literature, specifically, Romeo and Juliet. As the
students are approximately 14-15 years old, the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet actively engages
them in questions of love. They will be given the opportunity to express their thoughts, opinions,
and feelings towards topics like, arranged marriages, parental influences, fate vs. free will, and
many other thematic elements pertaining to young love. Many students may find Shakespeare
rather challenging due to the language used within the text, as well as the way that it is written.
What I hope to be able to do throughout this unit is change their mind about its relevance,
prepare them with the skills necessary to read Shakespearean language and comprehend what
is being said, and help them creatively and expressively represent their understanding.
Students will engage with Romeo and Juliet in a variety of different ways. Students will
get the opportunity to individually read the text, listen along to the audio versions of the text, as
well as follow along to film adaptations of the text. This variety will allow students to use a wide
range of reading strategies while we work our way through the text. It is important for students to
gain experience with these different ways of viewing, listening, and reading a text, because they
will all undoubtedly learn in various ways. Some students may take very well to just reading the
text individually and silently, whereas some students may love having that visual aspect in
addition to reading the text. We will engage and experiment with these reading strategies so
students can find what works best for them.
The assignments for this unit are directly tailored to aid student comprehension of the
text. The main goal, just like the reading comprehension aspect, is to ensure students are
exposed to a number of different ways to engage with such a complex text. Keeping in mind
that this will be their first time reading a play by William Shakespeare (for most of them), we will
do a number of introductory things to ensure they are given proper context for the play itself.
Moving on from that, students will engage with a variety of writing assignments that ask them to
dive into the text to consider multiple perspectives. Students will be given the opportunity to
embody a character and respond to a prompt from that character’s perspective. Students will
engage in group processes to interpret and perform a key prologue from the text. Students will
take on the role of director and create their very own interpretations of the famous balcony
scene. In addition to this, students will represent their understanding through quizzes a final

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written assignment, as well as a final project that is an all encompassing assessment of their
knowledge, interpretation, and understanding of Romeo and Juliet.
This wide range of assessments throughout the unit will allow students the opportunity to
express their understanding via their strengths. Some students may excel at taking quizzes,
whereas some students may have strengths in visually representing their knowledge and
understanding. I wanted to ensure students were given a multitude of assessments so that the
unit didn’t seem so stagnant and dry. The variety will also help them with their comprehension.

6-WEEK UNIT
66-MINUTE LESSONS MONDAY-THURSDAY
(DOUBLES ON THURSDAYS)
46- MINUTE LESSONS ON FRIDAYS

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
What is love?
What does Romeo and Juliet suggest to us about how individuals are influenced by
love?

Supplementary Questions:

Do teenagers know what true love is?

What is a tragedy?
What is tragic love?
How is love portrayed in the play?
What is fate?
Was Romeo and Juliet’s demise a result of fate or free will?
Who is responsible for this tragedy?

UNIT GOALS
Students will be exposed to William Shakespeare
Students will engage with the classical tragic structure of Shakespeare’s tragedies
Students will gain the skills necessary to read Shakespearean language by engaging in a
variety of reading techniques
Students will gain the ability to comprehend Shakespearean language by approaching
the text in a variety of ways
Students will track character development, prominent thematic elements, motifs,
symbols, and literary devices
Students will express their understanding through written prompts, questions and
assignments, classroom discussions, quizzes, oral performances, and lastly, through a final
project

GENERAL LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students will listen, speak, read, write, view, and represent to...

1) Explore thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences 


2) Comprehend literature and other texts in oral, print, visual and multi-media forms, and
3
 
respond personally, critically, and creatively
3) Manage ideas and information
5) Respect, support and collaborate with others

SPECIFIC LEARNING OUTCOMES

1.1.1 – Form tentative understandings, interpretations, and positions

a. Generate and experiment with strategies that contribute to forming tentative

understandings, interpretations and positions [for example, posing questions,
suspending prejudgment as appropriate, recognizing that initial interpretations
and positions may be inaccurate and incomplete, and recognizing that texts
may be inaccurate, misleading or ambiguous]

2.1.1 – Discern and analyze context

a. Use features found within a text as information to describe the communication

situation within which the text was created [for example, use specialized
terminology, jargon, acronyms and idioms within a text to describe context]

d. Identify the impact that personal context—experience, prior knowledge—has

on constructing meaning from a text

2.1.2 – Understand and interpret content

b. Paraphrase a text’s controlling idea, and identify supporting ideas and

supporting details

d. Describe the personality traits, motivations, attitudes, values and relationships

of characters developed/persons presented in literature and other texts; and
identify how the use of archetypes adds to an appreciation of text

2.2.2 – Relate elements, devices and techniques to created effects

b. Describe aspects of a text that contribute to atmosphere, tone and voice [for
example, textual elements, such as setting, music and lighting, and stylistic
techniques, such as a text creator’s choice of words and expressions]

2.3.1 – Connect self, text, culture and milieu

a. Identify and consider personal, moral, ethical and cultural perspectives when
studying literature and other texts; and reflect on and monitor how perspectives
change as a result of interpretation and discussion

3.2.1 – Select, record and organize information

c. Record information accurately and completely; and document and reference

sources, as appropriate [for example, document direct quotations, others’ ideas
and arguments, maps, charts, statistics, pictures and diagrams from books,
magazines, bibliographies, newspapers, audiovisual materials, electronic sources,
interviews and films to avoid plagiarism] 


d. Organize information logically [such as by question, by category, by

chronology or by cause and effect

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 3.2.3 – Form generalizations and conclusions

b. Draw conclusions that are appropriate to findings, reflect own understandings

and are consistent with the identified topic, purpose and situation

5.2.1 – Cooperate with others and contribute to group processes

a. Set appropriate personal goals for participation in a group; respect, be open

to, and be supportive of the thoughts, opinions and contributions of others in a
group; and share personal knowledge, expertise and perspectives with others, as
appropriate

RESOURCES
Banks, F. (2014). Creative Shakespeare: The global education guide to practical Shakespeare.
New York: Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare.

This source has a wonderful section on characters and archetypes. This section discusses
the presence of consistent archetypes that appear throughout Shakespeare’s works.

Baz Luhrmann (1996) Romeo and Juliet. 2 hours 10 minutes

Quirky film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. I will be showing the students some clips and
scenes from this film, but not the entire movie.

O’Brien, P. (1993). Shakespeare set free. New York: Folger Shakespeare Library.

This text has an entire Romeo and Juliet unit plan that Robert suggested taking a look at.
I will definitely be conferring with this source and using it as a guide for what is expected
in terms of a reading schedule, as well has possibly incorporating some of the activities
into my unit.

Oxford Next. (2010). William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: The Graphic Novel Modern text.
Ontario: Oxford University Press.

I really wanted to incorporate this text somehow in my unit. I want to show students that
there are other modalities in which this text can be presented to others. I may use just a
single scene from this graphic novel and look at the way this author interpreted and
represented Shakespeare’s original text. This text will also be a great asset for any student
who is struggling with the class text.

Palffy, G. (2015). The Shakespeare book: Big ideas simply explained. New York: DK Publishing.

This text has a wonderful timeline that I would like to keep up on display throughout the
Romeo and Juliet unit. I think I may also want the students to create their own timelines of
the play (have them identity key events and defining moments in the text) so this may be
a wonderful exemplar.

Saliani, D. Ferguson, C. & Dr. T. Scott. (1997). The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Canada:
International Thomson Publishing.

This is the text I was provided by my TA. This will be the primary text the students use as
they make their way through the play. There are helpful side notes and bits of information
that will be a great asset to anyone struggling with certain aspects of the play.

Smith. R. (2014). Romeo and Juliet. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

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 This text has a wonderful section that focuses on characters in the play, central and main
themes in the text, and the language that is used within the play. This will definitely be
useful for introducing the text as whole and providing students with background
information.

Sutcliffe, J. & Shelley, J. (2016). Will’s words: How William Shakespeare changed the way you talk.
Watertown: Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc.

I wanted to use this text as a gateway into showing just a small aspect of the relevance
of Shakespeare in today’s world. This text goes through familiar sayings and words that
we use in every day speech that were actually invented by Shakespeare. I found this to
be the coolest resource and I am absolutely so excited to show it to my students. I hope
it will generate and spark some interest for my students.

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 10-1 Romeo and Juliet Unit Calendar (30 Classes) – March-April
4. INTRO 5. INTRO 6. INTRO 7. INTRO 8. ACT I
- Personal introduction “Will’s Words” as a NO CLASS - - Follow up on terms - Read Act I, Sc. 1-2
- Google Survey fun introductory ASSEMBLY (Audio) (14-20)
- Q&A activity - Introduction to
Characters - Work together in
- Introduce - PowerPoint + Follow pairs or small groups
Shakespeare Unit Along Literary Terms - Opinionnaire to summarize the
- KWL chart Notes (need to scene
- Intro video knows for the text)
- “Who was William - Share answers to
Shakespeare?” Notes - Iambic Pentameter create class
video summary (we will
- Tragedy notes add to this after key
- Read the prologue scenes are analyzed)
- Answer
comprehension
questions

ID Reminder

11. 12. ACT I 13. ACT I 14. ACT I 15.

RECUPERATION - Read Act I, Sc. 1 Read Act I, Sc. 2-3
Double Class NO SCHOOL
DAY (Audio- 11:58) (Audio – 5:07 + 5:40)
Read Act I, Sc. 4-5
- Get texts - Provide students - Pause and highlight
- Team review activity
with ACT I note key quotations
- Follow up on booklet – go through
- Read scene 4
characters it together so
individually
students know what is
(complete handout)
- 15 Minute Play in it
- Hand up, stand up,
- If time is remaining, - Stop after key lines
pair up
have students finish up or features to
their Opinionnaire highlight things for
- Watch Scene 5 from
write ups students – specifically
the Luhrmann
quotations that are
adaptation of Romeo
on the quizzes
and Juliet
- work through
- Introduce comic
character costume
strip summaries
analysis
- Do scene one
Introduce journal
together on the
assignment/reflection
board

18. 19. ACT II 20. ACT II 21. ACT II 22.

8:00-9:06 1:36-2:43 9:11-10:18 10:33-11:40 10:30-11:16

Quiz 1 (ACT I) – 30 Chorus prep – pre Listen to scene 1 First half of class to Sc. 5-6 (4:13 + 2:16)
minutes made groups (30-40 work on prompt book listen and pause with
minutes) Scene 2 – may carry appropriate handout
-Introduce Chorus over into Thursday’s Show an example of
Activity – make sure Chorus performances double – This is a long the balcony scene to - Consider questions
students read the + follow up (20 scene and very help students with
chorus ahead of time minutes) crucial scene their prompt books
so they are more
prepared for Prompt book + Stage Second half – go
tomorrow’s read direction activity – through Sc. 3 –
aloud. class time – due on language tricks
Friday (Monday,
-Finish ½ page journal depending on how 12:25-1:32
entry the progress goes)
(Scan 2.1 example) Scene 4 (9:43) listen
and pause +
appropriate handout
25. 26. ACT III 27. ACT III 28. ACT III 29.
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8:00-9:06 1:36-2:43 9:11-10:18 10:33-11:40 10:30-11:16

Ask for prompt books

Quiz #2 (1:40-2:10) ACT III, Sc. 1 +2 ACT III, Sc. 3 + 4 Quiz #3
Review Tragic
Structure Review tragic - Audio and follow Film + Questions Introduce Final
-Plot act 1 and 2 on structure along to handout Project and its Due
the triangle structure 12:25-1:32 Date
and identify moments 2:23-2:43
that support these Read The Wish Tree ACT III, Sc. 5
pieces of tragic
structure Film + Questions

- NOTE that ACT III is

the climax of the play
– the point of no return

-Consider: What is
Romeo’s Tragic Flaw?

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
1:36-2:43 9:11-10:18 10:33-11:40 10:30-11:16

ACT IV ACT IV ACT V Defense paper work

-Audio for scenes 1-3 -Audio for scenes 4-5 -Watch all scenes period
-Follow along booklet
Prompt: How far
would you go for the
NO SCHOOL person you love? –
reflection 12:25-1:32’

Introduce Defense
2:23-2:43 Paper – students must
Read The Wish Tree answer the question:
Who is responsible for
Juliet’s death?
*SEE

8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

8:00-9:06 1:36-2:43 9:11-10:18 10:30-11:16
10:33-11:40
Work Period Work Period on final Work period on final Work period on final
-Allow students to project project Work period on final project
either finish their project
defense papers or Defense Papers are
begin working on their Due Today
final projects

15. 16. LAST DAY 17. 18. 19.

8:00-9:06 1:36-2:43

Final work period for Gallery Walk

projects – they are Goodbyes
due tomorrow