Unit 2 Lesson 5

Introduction:  In this lesson, students will begin a close reading analysis of Romeo and Juliet’s first encounter at the Capulet Ball . Students will focus on Romeo’s initial overture to. Slowing down the pace and unpacking Romeo’s first four lines will enable students to construct the complex foundational understanding necessary for their continued engagement with this multifaceted extended metaphor. In Lesson 6, students will continue their analysis of this excerpt as they explore how Juliet’s response shapes the dialogue that follows, and what this increasingly intricate interaction might reveal about these two complex characters.

Standards

RL.9-10.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

RL.9-10.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy. CCRA.R.7 : Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

Assessment: Stage Direction Tool

Aim: How does Romeo and Juliet express each other’s feelings at the first sight? 

Vocabulary:

•  shrine (n.) – a place in which devotion is paid to a saint or god; a tomb for the dead
• pilgrim (n.) – one who travels to a shrine or holy place as a devotee
• saint (n.) – one who is officially recognized after death as being holy
• palmer (n.) – another word for pilgrim
• purged (v.) – gotten rid of; cleared of guilt
• trespass (v.) – to sin; to enter someone’s land illegally
• prodigious (adj.) – being an omen (obsolete)
• profane (v.) – to treat something sacred with contempt or irreverence

Agenda

• Homework Accountability
• Watch Romeo + Juliet [27:57–30:26]
• Opening Activity
• Text-Dependent Questions and Activities
• Stage Directions Tool

 Materials:

• Film Tool: Stylistic Choices
• Film Clip: Romeo + Juliet [27:57–28:46]
• Stage Directions Tool

Learning Sequence

1. talk in pairs about how they can apply their focus standard to their text.
2. Pass out blank copies of the Film Tool: Stylistic Sheet and watch the film.
3. Students record the main events and share in class.
4. Hand out Stage Directions Tool .Follow along on your tool as you listen to a masterful reading of lines 104-111.
5. Provide an explanation of imagery, for example: Authors use descriptive language to create imagery. Imagery can have different functions in the text. Sometimes these visual pictures add detail to an author’s description; other times authors employ figurative language to make a comparison that helps illustrate a point the author or character is trying to make.
6. Reread Romeo and Juliet’s dialogue (1.5.104–111) and identify and circle all the images in this passage in your tool. share the images you have identified. Respond: What do all these images have in common?
7. Read through Romeo and Juliet’s dialogue again and underline any other words associated with religion on your tool.  Respond:  a. What is the holy shrine that Romeo’s hand is unworthy to touch? b.  How can this description help you to understand the meaning of the word profane (92) in this context? C. What is Romeo comparing his lips to? Underline the words in the text. Using the vocabulary box at the bottom of your tool, paraphrase what you’ve underlined. D. . What gentle sin are Romeo’s lips about to commit? E. How might your understanding of this passage change if the word gentle (in “gentle sin”) was replaced with rough? How does the adjective gentle inform your understanding of Romeo’s tone and intention in this passage? What other adjectives in lines 92–95 support this understanding? F.  Refer to the definitions of pilgrim and shrine at the bottom of your tool. What extended metaphor is Romeo constructing in these first four lines?
8. stage directions tell the actors what they will be doing as they speak their lines.
9. Respond to the following questions in pairs: If you were going to write a stage direction for Romeo to accompany the first four lines of this scene, how would you direct the action? Take a minute to think independently, then discuss with your partner. Share in class.
10. Frame a model stage direction to accompany these lines.
11. Record this collaboratively formed stage direction on your own tool. You can refer to this stage direction as a model in your continued work with this tool in the next lesson.

Homework: Reread a portion of the excerpt from this lesson and respond briefly in writing to the following question: How does Romeo’s initial approach towards Juliet compare to his approach towards Rosaline?  Be ready to hand in your written response at the beginning of the next lesson.