The Romeo and Juliet project that we did for the past weeks was questioned by a parent in the community. The project wasn’t explained enough for anyone out of the class room to understand what we were doing. The project has made Romeo and Juliet the easiest story to remember that I have been introduced to in school by the way that we approached it. The project was also more enjoyable because it has the fun in us having to film and do the work. This also came with a sense of responsibility so to the project having a deadline that we had to make or not finish. The tools that we used gave us some practice with programs that we usually don’t use. There are many ways of teaching Romeo and Juliet but, the film is the best way to teach it.
Romeo and Juliet was a story that we all read in our English class but not for a grade; but to let us know more for our film we were making. The lesson being left in our hands and shown by the quality of our work, this makes us more responsible for the planning of our work and time management. My job was to make posters about the film and information about it. This wasn’t as big as a role in the film but it came with a hefty amount of points and requirements. The main roles such as actors and camera man are more responsible for meeting the deadline. This project adds responsibility you couldn’t get from a normal lesson in an English class. Responsibility was an important part of our project but, the hands on interaction has greater importance.
The normal interaction in a classroom is answering a question or writing something on the board. This is why the project was so great because it involved a lot of interaction for everybody in the project. This gives us an easier learning environment and a break from the typical learning environment. The new and fun way that we did this project made it easy to focus and get our work done during class. The planning that came with this hands on interaction made it fun but we had to think about how we were going to manage the time we would take to film. This made us interact with classmates outside of school to just take the effort and commitment to a new level. This made the projects multiple weeks easier and enjoyable. The hands on experience was enjoyable but, the tech tools gave us new knowledge of our school resources.
The school provides a wide variety of programs to create and modify projects or papers. The school doesn’t always use all of them and this limits our knowledge of these tools. The project gave new uses for old tools such as the Microsoft photo manager and other programs that are used to run video or photographs. The new tools prepare us for the need to use them in future school assignments and practice for courses that require knowledge of these tools. Normal teaching of Romeo and Juliet wouldn’t provide these tools and would just be another lesson in English class. The print advertising has introduced me to the effectiveness of glogster and now I am comfortable to using it for school work outside of the classroom. These are all proving how the tools used can be carried beyond one project in English class to a whole new way of learning. Tech tools are important for this project but, how memorable the project is was the most important factor in the Romeo and Juliet project.
The whole point in teaching a lesson is so the student can remember and use it later in his or her life. This project has done that and more through the interactive work that has been done. The huge project has given us many hard working hours and last moment changes that have made the memories last. Every class lesson has little to no memorable moments but, a film that took you a month to make that you were in is a moment that will last for years to come. This is why the project is successful and has no reason to be questioned. If you asked anyone of the students fifteen years from now about freshman English they would tell you about our Romeo and Juliet project.
The project has been many different things but mostly it’s been something to remember in freshman year. The responsibility that it took to do this project gave us a challenge that made us work for our work. The time we had to work with cameras and actually be there in person to make the film was something we couldn’t get from reading the book in class. The project gave us a chance to work with technology tools like cameras and new computer programs. The project had the most memorable moments of my freshman English class out of the year. There are many ways of teaching Romeo and Juliet but, the film is the best way to teach it.
