Juliet and Romeo

Juliet and Romeo

Though Romeo and Juliet is a story based on a variety of characters, the Romeo and Juliet project involved positions like writers, directors and actors, which were filled by regular ninth grade students. This project taught many different values that a simple essay just can’t. In an average classroom, a student takes tests, write notes, and listens to the teacher all day. This project let the students experience things that they wouldn’t get a chance to in an everyday classroom. The project introduces important things like organizations, respect, and leadership skills. It also lets the students use new technology that will be used for the rest of their lives. Also, the project helped develop friendships and memories. Most importantly though, it taught collaboration, which is something all of the students will need in the future. A project, that has never been tried before, has many things to teach that a simple classroom can’t.

As mentioned, the students learned respect, organization, and leadership. The students had to stay organized in order to stay on schedule. If they hadn’t had everything laid out and well planned, the project would have been a disaster. This entire project was student run, and their responsibility. For example, if a writer didn’t do their job and meet the dead lines of the project, everyone else would be behind. When each student did their job, to the best of their ability, the students began to respect each other. The respect each student gained for each other is something that a normal classroom environment cannot replicate. Also, this project brought out the leaders in each class. The students who took control and began making the decisions on the production wouldn’t have been able to show their leadership if it hadn’t been for this project. Leadership, organization, and respect are tools that the students will use for the rest of their lives. These three tools are great things for the students to learn, but so is technology.

A tool that the students used during this project was the use of technology. Throughout the project, technology had to be used to keep in contact with the Iowa students, edit the film, and finish some of the requirements like blogging and discussion questions. The students used Skype to communicate with the students from Iowa, make decisions about the film, and how it would be done. Also, a computer was used to do the editing of the film. Most importantly, the students used blogger.com and turnitin.com to keep a “journal” of what each of them did during the production. All of these techniques taught the students necessary skills to be successful in the job market. These tools can’t be learned without this type of hands-on experience that this project provided. Though technology was a good tool used in this project, the memorable moments were important too.

Other things that the students got out of this project were the memories made. A project this big is something that students soon won’t forget. Since the students put so much effort into this, they won’t forget how special it is. Not only did the students make memories, but they made friendships that could last a lifetime. Not only were local school friendships made, but friendships with the students from Iowa were also created. Those kinds of friendships can’t be made while sitting in class learning the traditional way. This project did more than just teach, but it brought the students together. It also shows that school isn’t just sitting around doing book work and taking tests, it’s about interacting and making memories. Memories and friendships were important things taken from this project, but so is the collaboration aspect of it.

One thing that this project taught was the tool of collaboration. This learning tool was used throughout the project because the students had to communicate not only with their own classmates, but with students in a different state. The writers had to collaborate with the writers from Iowa to make sure that they were writing the same type of story. If the writers wouldn’t have communicated with each other, they could have maybe written two different story lines, which would make the movie very confusing. Also, communication between actors of same rolls is important because they need to decide how they want to present themselves during filming, so they are as alike as possible in the film. All of the student’s collaboration between their own classmates and those in Iowa, teaches the students communication skills that can be used later in life. This type of communication is something that a traditional classroom environment can’t teach as well as this project can.

This project taught these students many things. It taught leadership, respecting each other, and organization. It introduced the students to new technology and created memories that they would never forget. Also, it taught the students about collaboration. All of these things were used and learned throughout the project. This project, that had never been tried before, taught many things that a simple classroom environment couldn’t teach.