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The Arts and Romeo and Juliet HomeThis is a featured page

Romeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet from Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 movie

I will always remember my tenth birthday—October 1, 1972. I liked even numbers, and there was just something right about being ten, exactly one decade old, and living in Salisbury, North Carolina. It was a small town then, or relatively small. We had one movie theater in town and that week it was playing Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet. My mom thought taking me, just me—not my three younger sisters—to see it would be a fitting “rite of passage.” The two of us arrived early at the theater, and from the opening scene to the closing credits, I was mesmerized by the music, the costumes, the gorgeous actor and actress, and the tragic story. I remember being puzzled by questions of why Romeo and Juliet would do something as foolish as committing suicide. I did not understand much about love or the world of adults or even adolescents, but I remember being completely moved by the pageantry of the movie. I watched Romeo and Juliet again recently and understand why I was so moved—it is a beautiful movie.

This wiki explores different art forms, movies, ballets, music, fine arts, and literature, based on the story of Romeo and Juliet. In the English classroom, the benefits of understanding a story and the themes of a story through different texts include improved critical thinking skills, improved understanding of the main text, and developing multimedia literacy skills. Using different texts to increase understanding is called intertextuality. Wikipedia defines intertextuality as "the shaping of texts' meanings by other texts. It can refer to an author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text or to a reader’s referencing of one text in reading another."

While it would be impossible to explore all of the different texts relating to Romeo and Juliet in a high school classroom, this wiki offers suggestions from which to choose and suggestions about how to use them. Included are articles and links to articles about intertextuality and teaching Romeo and Juliet. I also inlcude my research on using digital media in the ESOL English classroom.

This wiki is designed to give teachers and students a wide variety of choices for projects and discussion topics. I based my wiki on my belief that more student choice leads to greater interest and motivation.Teachers and students can apply their own creativity in creating specific lessons and projects utilizing the resources from this wiki.






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vchunting 		Latest page update: made by vchunting , Apr 26 2010, 1:55 PM EDT (about this update About This Update vchunting Edited by vchunting

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