Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Romeo and Juliet Essay

Some people think the only way to learn Romeo and Juliet is by reading it out of the book.  There are other ways that students can learn Romeo and Juliet, one of them is by doing the play in the classroom.  This is a better way of doing Romeo and Juliet for many reasons. One reason is because it teaches the students responsibility. Also another reason is the play creates more memories then just reading it in the class would. Another reason is because it gives the students technical skills.  Other examples of how students learn more from doing the play is they get hands on experience and better communication skills.  Reading Romeo and Juliet out of the book is what a normal school will do, however acting out the play will give the students a better learning experience.
Responsibility is one of the most important things that a student should learn coming out of high school.  Once a student graduates they will have no parents to help them with many things so they will have to have responsibility.  By performing the play instead of reading it out of a book and then taking a test it teaches the students responsibility.  It teaches them this because if a actor decided not to show up for a filming session then it throws of the whole thing and the director would have to decide if they want to film something else or just not film at all for that day.  Also if some of the smaller roles like soundtrack or props don’t do a good job then the play will not turn out as good as it should because some students were not responsible.   Responsibility is a important thing the students learned from the play, but another important thing we did was create memories.
Not only do students learn responsibility by performing this play, but they also create many great memories by performing this play instead of reading it out of the book.  Having memories in high school is very important.  The students would not want to leave high school only remembering reading and then taking a written test on Romeo and Juliet.  After doing this play the students of Mr. Provenzano’s class will remember putting on this play with the students from Van Meter, Iowa.  This is something special because we are one of the only if not first high schools to put on a play with a school from a different state.  The students will graduate remembering this play and how much fun they had doing this. Some students will remember this play more than others, for example an actor will remember doing this play more than a person with the role of print ad will.  That is one reason why performing this play is a much better idea then taking a test on it.
Not only does performing this play give the students memories it also teaches them technical skills.  The students learn how to use skype, blogger, and social media.  All of these will help the students of Mr. Provenzano in the future.   Almost all of the students will have to use Skype in the future whether it is for a job interview or just to talk to a friend so this is an important thing to learn to use for the future.  Having the students use Skype in the classroom will help them gain communication skills.  Also using a blog will help the students gain knowledge for how to use a blog.  This will help the students in the future because the students will have better writing skills after using blogger.   Also for some people it is a hobby and using blogger might have been very fun to do.  Another example of how students gained technical knowledge from this is they used different social media websites.  This helps the students because for most companies or jobs have a page on a social media website like facebook or twitter.  Using technology for this play will help students in the future, but so will teaching students responsibility.
By using technology in this play will help the students, however having hands on experience with performing this play is important too.  Having hands on experience will help the students for many reasons.  One of these reasons is because it teaches the students what it takes to make a play.  They learned that everyone has to be working together for the play to work.  Another thing that they learned by having hands on experience it teaches the students of Mr. Provenzano’s to make sure that they complete their job so the play can run.  Also by having hands on experience it teaches the students how to interact with each other.
One of the most important skills the students learned from doing this play is communication skills.  Communication skills are one of the most important traits to have for later on in the life.  We learned Communication skills because everyone had to talk to everyone at one point or another.  For example the students couldn’t talk to the teacher and ask the teacher everything, if they wanted to ask a question about what is going on they would have to ask another student.  Also another reason is because all the students are forced to communicate with each other because they were all on their own.   Having communication skills will help the students in the future because without this the students would not be able to get a good quality job, and it is valuable in the classroom.  It is valuable in the classroom because in the future when the students have to do a project with somebody they don’t know they will be able to communicate with them and hopefully receive a good grade.
Although there is many parents that disagree with the idea of performing a play it still creates a better learning experience for the students of Mr. Provenzano’s class.  One example of how it creates a better learning experience is because it teaches the students responsibility.  Also it creates memories unlike reading it out of a book.  Other examples of how the students learn more is because it gives the students technical skills, hands on experience, and communication skills.  Reading Romeo and Juliet out of the book is what a normal school will do, however acting out the play will give the students a better learning experience.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Final Post

I am wrapping up this blog with a final post.  What i did for this project is find music for the play especially act 1.  I enjoyed doing this and i think that i have learned a lot of different things from doing the  play instead of just reading it out of the book.  Also this play was very fun to do.  Now i have a better understanding for the play Romeo and Juliet because we actually did the play instead of just reading it and then taking a test on it. 

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Soundtrack for scene 4 and 5,and a ipod for Mercrutio

http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/431413- This song is called
onclassical tamponi rossini andante e tema con variazioni part-2 by Carlo Tamponi.  This would make a good song in scene 4 for background music when Mercrutio is giving a important speach to Romeo. This song is slow.
http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/178482- This song is called Surprise by Rudy Seb.  This song would be placed in scene 5 because scene 5 is the dance and this song would be good background music for a modern dance.
http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/457515- This song is called 4 Pat by Nationale 2 and it would be a perfect song for the dance in scene 5.  This would make a good song for the dance because it is very upbeat and it is a good song to dance to.
http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/359658- This song is called Cantable in B flat major by Roberto Poli.  This would be a good song for scene 4 when Mercrutio is giving the famous speach to Romeo.  This would be good for that scene because it is a slow song that would sound very good in the background.
Mercrutio's Ipod-



Break the Chain by Lupe Fiasco- This is a good song for Mercruito because it is very fast and the title "Break the Chain" stands for Mercrutio because he is a leader and not a follower and he doesnt care what people think.

Superstar by Lupe Fiasco-  This would be on Mercrutios ipod because Mercrutio thinks that he is a superstar and that he is unstoppable.


Top of the World by the Cataracts- This song is a perfect description for when Mercrutio is at the party because he just goes crazy and is on top of the world.

All of the Lights by Kanye West- This is a good song for Mercrutio because he has all of the lights on him in two spots. One of them is when he is fighting Tybalt and ends up dying. Another example is when he is at the party and is going crazy