romeo and juliet play script for students

Our lessons took place in a disused portacabin, devoid of any displays or ‘feeling’ of an English classroom, whilst the set activities extended no more beyond reading the play and sitting the exam. Upon reflection, it was not a particularly enriching experience. From 1994, it became compulsory for Year 9 students to study Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar or A Midsummer Night’s Dream as part of the Year 9 KS3 SATs examinations. I was first ‘taught’ a Shakespeare play through in full as a Year 9 student and, ironically, that play was Romeo and Juliet. The widely-circulated Cambridge edition for school use Teaching Shakespeare Following this, I then move onto exploring how these objectives were delivered through the scheme of work that I used with my Year 9 pupils and how their engagement, learning and progress were developed through their study of the play. To begin with, I give an overview of the approach pioneered by Rex Gibson, who helped to identify the key reasons for teaching Shakespeare. Here, I want to reflect on my own teaching of Romeo and Juliet, discussing the experience and progress of my pupils in studying the play and the development of my own subject knowledge in teaching Shakespeare. As a trainee English teacher, I was able to bring my knowledge and experience of Shakespeare to the secondary classroom and experience first-hand these transformative developments in pupils’ learning.

Through working in these positions, I developed an interest in young people’s responses to Shakespeare and how the plays, when used and taught effectively, can be used to captivate, challenge and perhaps even change pupils, at least in their attitude towards Shakespeare and a particular play. In addition, I worked in various roles at Shakespeare’s Globe, prior to beginning teacher training. In 2009, 17 years after the premiere of The Animated Tales, I joined the pool of freelance Venue Managers who facilitated the smooth running of the day’s events and performances in allocated theatres across the country. The success of The Animated Tales led to the formation of Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSF) in 2000.

S4C’s successful 12 episode animated series

Romeo and juliet play script for students