How to Support Students With Reading Shakespeare's Plays

When I taught high school, I always ended the year with one of Shakespeare's plays, Romeo & Juliet for ninth grade and Julius Caesar for tenth.⁠ Students loved getting into character and acting out scenes from the plays. But it can be a challenge to make modern day connections with a text written over 400 years ago.⁠ Here's how I supported students with reading one of Shakespeare's plays.⁠

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How to Teach Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: Wrapping Up The Play

After students finish reading Act V of Julius Caesar, they will continue to apply their knowledge and understanding in the form of various assessments. We watch a film version or two, review for and then take a final exam, and have one last discussion in a Socratic Seminar.

How to Teach Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: Act IV and V

After reading Act III of Julius Caesar, students understand that not all characters view omens and superstitions the same. We notice how Shakespeare builds towards the chaos surrounding Caesar’s murder and what he does to create the tension. Act III is important because it is packed with drama. We watched how characters’ plans succeeded and failed, taking us in a different direction than expected. With Julius Caesar– our title character– now dead, we will read to see how Shakespeare wraps up the play and whether “justice” will prevail.

How to Teach Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: Act III

After reading Act II of Julius Caesar, students understand the pros and cons of Caesar’s ambitious nature and his decision-making skills. We see the notable differences between Cassius and Brutus and understand that Caesar’s death is likely imminent. In fact, teachers should make note of the fact that Caesar is killed in the beginning of Act III, which begs the question why would Shakespeare kill off the title character in the middle of the play, and what does that leave in store for the rest of the play?

How to Teach Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: Act II

After reading Act I of Julius Caesar, students understand the conspirators’ plan to defeat Caesar– who we only see a little of in Act I but hear a great deal about from other characters– and understand how certain characters are using language to manipulate others into joining the conspiracy. Readers become more acquainted with Caesar in Act II as well as the only two women in the play: Calphurnia (Caesar’s wife) and Portia (Brutus’ wife).

How to Teach Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: Act I

When teaching one of William Shakespeare’s dramas to secondary students, it is all about digging in and having fun. I begin building engagement during the week I spend introducing the play Julius Caesar. Here's my approach to Act I.

How to Teach Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: Introducing the Play

Rarely are students excited for reading a drama, let alone one written almost 500 years ago. It is much more likely that you’ll hear groans and complaints when you announce that your upcoming unit is Julius Caesar written by William Shakespeare. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Your students, as mine did, can learn to understand and even to enjoy the old bard’s messages about relationships, ambition, and betrayal.

In this series of blog posts, I'll describe how I teach each part of Julius Caesar, starting with how I introduce the tragedy to students. As with any new piece of literature, especially one you know will be challenging for students, hooking them from the get go is crucial.

On My Bookshelf: Still Star-Crossed by Melinda Taub

The basic plot from Amazon: Soon to be an ABC TV show by producer Shonda Rhimes! Still Star-Crossed follows the aftermath of the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet, as mysterious figures in Verona are determined to reignite the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets.

In fair Verona, enemies still walk the streets.
Two news hearts. Same two families.
The fight to the altar is about to happen.
All. Over. Again.

This homage to the classic Shakespearean tale of Romeo and Juliet will have readers pining for a star-crossed love of their very own.

Why I liked it: Still Star-Crossed picks up where Romeo and Juliet, my favorite of Shakespeare's plays leaves off. With the two young lovers dead and buried, the play's minor characters become major ones. At the center is Rosaline, Romeo's love interest before Juliet, niece of Lord and Lady Capulet, and childhood playmate of Prince Escalus. Escalus calls on Rosaline to marry Benvolio Montague, Romeo's cousin and best friend, to solidify the peace between the two families while unknown forces seek to continue the feud by vandalizing the statue of Juliet.

The characters in the novel are consistent with Shakespeare's descriptions but truly come to life in the novel with a few new additions who are equally interesting, such as Livia, Rosaline's sister and Isabelle, Prince Escalus's sister. Benvolio is still benevolent, the Nurse is still as bumbling as ever, and Friar Laurence is still feeling responsible for Romeo and Juliet's tragic deaths. The novel is peppered with language from Shakespeare's play and its plot twists surprised me throughout.

Classroom application: This novel would be a great addition to your high school classroom library. The action and suspense will draw in both male and female students. Middle schoolers might not appreciate the connection to Shakespeare's play (typically read in ninth grade) as much and it does include alcohol, violence, and an almost rape scene. I'd also recommend it as a whole class novel following reading Romeo and Juliet. It would be a great way to introduce students to fan fiction writing.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Still Star-Crossed for yourself, you can find it on Amazon here.

Note: The Literary Maven is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

How to Teach Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: Making Real World Connections

After students finish reading Act V of Romeo and Juliet, I don't want them to write off the play as just a far fetched love story from the past.

I use three nonfiction articles to show students that love, and the hate that can tear that love apart, are very much still a part of today's world.

Romeo and Juliet in Bosnia
Our first read is an opinion piece from the New York Times titled "In America; Romeo And Juliet In Bosnia." The piece was written in response to a PBS documentary focused on Bosko Brkic, an Eastern Orthodox Serb, and Admira Ismic, a Muslim, who met and fell in love, but died together trying to escape Sarajevo and the Bosnia-Serbian conflict taking place there.

In our discussion following the reading, we compare and contrast Bosko and Admira's conflict with the one Romeo and Juliet faced. We also compare and contrast the feelings of Bosko and Admira's family members to feelings of the Montagues and the Capulets. Finally, we compare and contrast the death of Admira and Bosko with the death of Romeo and Juliet.

Besides comparing and contrasting the characters of Shakespeare's tragedy and this real life couple, we also focus on the hate that complicated Bosko and Admira's relationship, and whether that kind of hate still exists. The Bosnia-Serbian conflict lasted from 1992-1995, and while that was only twenty some years ago, it can feel very far away for students. Showing the documentary or clips from it, can make the events seem even even further in the past for students because the quality of the video is so different from what they see today.

Romeo and Juliet in Afghanistan
Our second read is a series of articles from the New York Times focused on two young Afghans in love. "2 Star-Crossed Afghans Cling to Love, Even at Risk of Death" is followed by other articles and several video interviews. Zakia is 18 and Mohammad Ali is 21, both the children of farmers in this remote mountain province. Mohammad Ali is a Hazara, who are mostly Shia Muslims. Zakia is a Tajik, a Sunni ethnic group. Despite threats of death from her family, the young lovers elope and become fugitives. The articles, the first of which was published in the spring of 2014, follow their attempts to flee the country until they are able to seek asylum in the United States in the spring of 2016.

In our discussion following the reading, we compare and contrast Mohammad Ali and Zakia's conflict with the one Romeo and Juliet faced. We also compare and contrast the feelings of Mohammad Ali and Zakia's family members to feelings of the Montagues and the Capulets. While their love story does not end in death, we discuss the challenges that still remain for the couple.

Dear Juliet
Our final reading is more about love than hate. "Dear Juliet: Let Me Tell You About My Problem" explains the letter writing phenomenon more recently featured in the film Letters to Juliet. The Club of Juliet is a private organization that receives, translates and answers Juliet's mail; she now receives 50,000 letters a year.

In our discussion following the reading, we examine the reasons why people write to Juliet. Some of the letters described in the article mirror the plights of Bosko and Admira and Mohammad Ali and Zakia. I also have students write their own letters to Juliet. The letters can be a response to the play, filled with unanswered questions, or of a more personal nature. The last time I mailed them off, it did take a year, but my students did get a response from Juliet!

Assessment
After reading all about all three topics as a class, students have a choice of which one to follow up on with further reading, research, and completion of a project. For Romeo and Juliet in Bosnia, students compose an interview script with a member of Bosko or Admira’s family 20 years after their deaths. For Romeo and Juliet in Afghanistan, students create an informational pamphlet about seeking asylum in the United States. And for Dear Juliet, students write a movie review of Letters to Juliet, including analysis of the accuracy of the representation of Juliet’s Club.

You can find all of my resources for teaching Romeo and Juliet, including the materials described above that I use to make connections with the play, here.

How to Teach Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: Act V

After reading Act IV of Romeo and Juliet, students are well aware of all the things that could possibly go wrong and they can't wait to see how it all ends. Here's my approach to teaching the final part of the play.

Planning Out The Reading

I don't want to kill the play, so in each act, I generally choose to read the scene with the events most important to developing the plot. In Act V, that is the final scene. While I usually choose one other scene per act to read, Act V is short so we just read one.

I provide short summaries for any scenes we skip to fill students in on the less important events. I like to spend about a week on each act of the play, so the days we don't spend reading are spent on after reading activities, writing, and a short assessment.

Before jumping into this week's reading, we'll spend a few minutes reviewing the scenes from last week. I'll also review dramatic irony (introduced in Act IV) using examples from previous scenes and couplets, which I cover in a poetry unit earlier in the year.

Act V, Scene III
This scene is meant to be read independently because of the number of monologues. It includes summaries of Act V, Scene I; Act V, Scene II; and parts of Act V, Scene III. Then I provide the text of Act V, Scene II with the original text and the modern translations side by side. I edit the scene by cutting lines out. After reading, students translate words from the original to modern text, and vice versa. Then students answer short written response questions to demonstrate comprehension. We review this together at the end of class.

After Reading Activities

By the time the play ends, students have been on as much of an emotional roller coaster as the characters. They are often unsatisfied with the lack of specificity of the Prince's statement about pardons and punishments at the end of Act V, Scene III. I give students a chance to journal about who is to blame for the death of the two young lovers and what the punishment should be for those responsible. We also return to the idea of "what ifs" from Act IV. Students reflect on how both Romeo and Juliet and the adults in their lives could have acted differently to prevent such a tragic ending.

If I haven't already taught Shakespearean sonnets as a part of my poetry unit earlier in the year, I'll introduce them to the poetic form now. After reading one of Shakespeare's sonnets, I show my students the clip from 10 Things I Hate About You where Kat reads her “sonnet” to the class. I have my class decide if she is following the format of a Shakespearean sonnet (hint: she doesn't). You may have to play it several times for the students to make a decision.

Then we write some silly sonnets of our own. I start with a fill-in-the-blank template to help them get started with lines like "I love you like a kid loves birthday cake" and "I even love your stinky feet." We do some whole class brainstorming of words that rhyme with the provided lines and when finished, I let students share their favorite lines. Finally, I set students off to write a sonnet on their own. This one can be silly or serious. As students work on their own poems, I remind them of the rhyme scheme and if they are comfortable with that, I challenge them to also use iambic pentameter.

Writing & Assessment
At the end of the week, I will give students a choice of two constructed response prompts, one connected to each of the scenes on which we focused. This is a chance for them to independently express their understanding of what we read, practice citing text evidence, and continue to build on their writing skills in general. 

I also assign a text based assessment, which covers Act V. The assessment includes a section of Act V, ten multiple-choice questions, and two choices for a written response. Questions ask students to to analyze characters words and actions, to paraphrase important lines, and to define and give examples of dramatic irony and couplets.

You can find all of my resources for teaching Romeo and Juliet, including the materials described above that I use to teach Act V, here.

Read on for my approach to making real world connections to Romeo and Juliet.