Some people think the only way to learn about Romeo and Juliet is to just sit around in the classroom and read it and also take tests on it. None of this is true because over the course of the project, students have learned much more because if they were to just sit in a classroom, students would be so bored and zoned out they wouldn’t really learn much. This project made students interact with the book and one another. This project is valuable in the classroom because students will have these memories from this project for the rest of their lives and the students wouldn’t have had any of these memories if they were to have just sat around in the classroom. Another excellent reason why this project is valuable in the classroom is because the students had to take the time to do the project outside of school. This is good because it means students had to spend more time with the play which would mean that they would remember more. This project was also very collaborative and this is valuable in the classroom because students got to interact with other classes and even another state. This project also required responsibility. This is valuable in the classroom because students got to make their own decisions and this will help them make better choices in life. This also required the students to use many aspects of technology such as blogger, Skype, wiki, and social media; which is a very valuable lesson in the classroom because if students know how to use all of these programs they will be ahead of everyone else in the job field. There are reasons why this project might have a negative value in the classroom, but there are far more valuable effects in the classroom that will help the students exceed in life.
Reading Romeo and Juliet out of a book in the classroom won’t create many memories. However acting out the play will create many valuable memories that will never be forgotten. The reason creating memories is important is because high school is supposed to be the best time of the students life and it’s not like anyone would look back to freshmen year and say I remember reading Romeo and Juliet from the book in class because it was so fun, but the students will remember creating the play. The reason students will remember creating the play is because while they have been doing their jobs they have built friendships with students from other classes. Also, as Mr. Provenzanno said, this particular group of students is the only high school class to ever do this and that is something that should always be remembered. Another reason why this will always be remembered is because the students will always have this on tape. This is important because at the student’s school reunion they can watch their masterpiece and just think back to all the great times they had creating the play. The memories that have been created are very valuable in the classroom, but also students’ working outside of school is very valuable in the classroom.
Homework may seem like a bad thing, but for this project students usually had to work outside of school. This meant that students would have to do research on the play according to what position they had in the project. An example of this would be the soundtrack people; they needed a full understanding of the play. The reason the soundtrack people needed a full understanding of the play was because they needed to know exactly what was going on during a certain part of the scene. This required more research outside of school because just reading the book in class isn’t good enough because sometimes Shakespear is hard to understand. Although this took more time and required the students to have more homework, it was very valuable in the classroom because the students got to understand the play more fully and also make it more fun at the same time. This research project required students to work outside of school and learn more about Romeo and Juliet, but the collaborative aspect of the project is also very valuable in the classroom.
A project that requires students to work with students from other states is very collaborative. This project may seem like a waste of time because the students are wasting their time trying to communicate with students in another state, but that is not the case. During the time of this project, the students have learned how to communicate with one another in order to complete their job sometimes. An example of this would be the costume people. The costume people from south had to coordinate what the students were wearing in acts 1, 3, and 5 and also they had to coordinate with the Vanmeter students because they were in charge of acts 2 and 4, so if their outfits changed drastically it wouldn’t have turned out so well. This aspect of the job taught the costume people many lessons to be remembered later on in life, when they are trying to find a job. The reason this is valuable to the classroom and also with the students is for when the students is because it will create a habit of the students always checking their email. This is an excellent habit because in the future when students are interviewing for a job and if their constantly checking their email and quickly getting back to the person it would really show that they want the job and it will help the students chances. Students have learned many lessons to be remembered for the future and this will help teach students responsibility which is very important too.
This project has a value in the classroom for many reasons, but one of the main reasons is because of the responsibility that this project required. There are many fields in which responsibility lies and the ones that helped make this project valuable in the classroom were different for everyone. Students got to pick the job they desired and students made all the decisions on their own. In the end, the grade was based on self evaluation. At the start of the project Mr. Provenzanno passed out a packet and told the students that they should look it over and pick what job they desired. This is one of the reasons that the project relied mainly on responsibility because based on the job the students picked, they were stuck with that job every week whether they liked it or not. The thing is that there were many job choices to be picked from, so if the students disliked their job they picked it was their entire fault because they were responsible for their choice. Also, if the students did what the rubric said, they could easily get a 100 percent every week but most kids are just lazy and didn’t want to do their blog. Students are responsible for whether they pass or fail the class because the grade is purely based on effort, if there is enough information there, and if it is turned in on time. Responsibility is extremely valuable in the class room, but the technology aspect of this project is also very valuable in the classroom for many reasons.
Not only does this project require responsibility, it was also a very tech savvy project which meant students had to rely mainly on technology and know how to use a computer. This is extremely valuable in the classroom for many reasons. The reason why this is valuable in the classroom is because of the technology aspects of this project that will help students now and also later on in life. The numerous internet tools that students learned to use were Skype, wiki, blog, social media, and glogster. There are a copious number of reasons for why these internet tools will help students later on in life. Students will need to know how to use internet based programs for future jobs and the reason why they will know how to use these programs is because of their amazing English teacher Mr. Provenzanno who taught students how to use these tools throughout the project. It may seem like these tools will not help students when they are trying to find a job, but that is false. The reason why this statement is false is because later on in life if a job interviewer lives in another state they could just ask if they could Skype and if the student didn’t know how to, they would be out of luck and also out of an interview. Also these internet tools would just be very useful just to know in case students ever need to know how to do something related in that category and this would be very valuable in the classroom.
There are many negative parents who think that this project is a waste of time, but they are wrong because students have learned an enormous amount about Romeo and Juliet and that is what makes this project very valuable in the classroom. Over the course of the play students have accumulated many memories that will last them a lifetime. Students also had to work on this project outside of school and this was good for the students because the more time spent on Romeo and Juliet, the better the concepts will stick with them. The collaborative aspect of the project also helped students because they could create new friendships and also had to know how to communicate well with others. Over the course of the project, students had their own responsibility and depending on if the student did what they were told or not , that was the overall outcome of their grade. Technology was a key role in the making of the project because students learned many new popular internet programs that will help them succeed in life. All of these great topics are extremely valuable in the class room because not only did they learn more about Romeo and Juliet, they also learned more on what they need to do in the real world if they want to find a job and succeed in life. Parents seem to have many reasons why this project had a negative value in the classroom, but there are far more examples and reasons on how this project had a very positive value in the classroom.
