Does this assignment sound reasonable to you for a 9th grade English class?

[LibDemAlways]

My daughter is expected to form a group with at least two other students and rewrite an entire act of Romeo and Juliet setting it in a different time and place. Then they have to videotape themselves acting out the script using appropriate sets, props, and costumes. They will be given a group grade based on the quality of the script, their acting ability, and the quality of their film including sound, picture, and editing. This is not a Drama or Film Production class. It's an English class. Am I wrong to think that this assignment is a bit much?

(I don't even own a videocamera and am not in a position right now to spend any money on costumes, sets, props, etc.) I think the teacher is making some pretty big assumptions here, or am I wrong? Just want to get a consensus.

[Pale Blue Dot]

1. 7th grade english teacher here.

Do you have a copy of the exact assignment from the teacher?

[LibDemAlways]

8. Yep

This assignment is to adapt the story of Romeo and Juliet and create a different version of the play.
Each group's final product will consist of a typed script and a film depicting one full act.

After each group has chosen an act from the play, group members will select a setting (both time and place) for their film adaptation. Group members will write a script based on their chosen setting. The script must include all key elements from Shakespeare's original script for their particular act. In addition, group members will determine the costumes, props, and set designs that are necessary for their chosen act and setting.

Then group members will get together to film the scenes for their act. Each group member must participate as an actor. You may use other people from outside class to participate and take some of the roles as well. On the day of the final, you must be prepared to show your film without any technical difficulties.

This project is worth 150 points and will be graded accordingly:

Accuracy and completeness of the typed script - 50 points
Content of the film including costumes, props, sets - 50 points
Acting and participation of each group member - 25 points
Technical aspects of the film such as sound, editing, and picture quality - 25 points

[Pale Blue Dot]

14. Ok, I wanted to give the teacher the benefit of the doubt before I passed judgement.

It's a horrible assignment. The teacher has taken the germ of a good idea and gone WAY overboard. First, one act is too much; if it had been one scene, it would have been a good start. Second, the "technical aspects" is complete bullshit unless that teacher has taught lessons in the technical aspects of film production (and if he/she has, she's teaching the wrong course).

I don't have a problem with the "costumes, props, and sets" requirement, because it demonstrates an understanding of character, setting, and symbolism. However, I have a caveat - how would it be graded? A student can demonstrate an understanding of those principles with some cardboard and imagination. If she's grading based on how "good" the costumes, props and sets are, then she should be teaching an art class, not an English class.

I would raise your objections with the teacher (politely, please, if possible - we teachers get yelled at a lot), and if he/she does not seem to hear your concerns, go to the principal.

[Deep13]

50. I guess it's easier than grading essays.

:eyes:

How much of the semester is this going to burn up anyway?

[GOPisEvil]

2. Holy shit! 9th grade?

That seems excessive.

[NMDemDist2]

3. a scene maybe, but a whole act?? that's ridiculous! n/t

[KitchenWitch]

4. Seems awfully ambitious to me.

[ThomCat]

5. If the school provides a theater department, Maybe.

But if the school isn't providing resources then that's just one more way of padding the grades of wealthy students and failing poor ones.
x(

[LibDemAlways]

9. This is an area in which many parents are involved in

the tv and motion picture biz. I'm not, and neither are the parents of either of the students my daughter is working with. These kids are at a huge disadvantage. This just sucks bigtime.

[ThomCat]

10. So basically,

that teacher is mandating that the kids from those families will be popular, and everyone else must suck up to those kids in order to pass the class.

Nice. x(

[Chan790]

12. In light of that:

I think ThomCat hit the nail on the head.

1.)This is just another way to promote the haves over the have-nots.

2.)This stinks of trying to game the system to insure that the deservingly-failing child of someone big and important doesn't fail so mommy and daddy don't get upset. I went to a fairly-big-name New England prep. school for HS, this shit went on all the time. Schemes like that don't like attention.

[bicentennial_baby]

22. Which N.E. Prep?

NMH here :hi:

[Pale Blue Dot]

15. Then it's even worse. nt

[latebloomer]

17. I remember when my kids were in 2nd-4th grade

and had to do book projects which involved artistic creations, it was ridiculous to see how professional some of the projects were. I live in a town with a lot of artists, and it was like "the battle of the art directors."

The poor tykes who did their own projects were at a distinct disadvantage.

[LibDemAlways]

59. Kids who do their own projects are always at a disadvantage.

And way too many parents are all too eager to take over and turn out a professional product, leaving those kids without the help looking very bad. It's a huge problem in the schools around here.

[DarkTirade]

23. Couldn't have said it better myself.

I grew up lower middle class/top edge of lower class in an area full of middle and upper middle class kids... I've been there. But I can't think of anything as bad as this assignment.

In spite of making it easier for the rich students, the teachers usually at least left an OPTION for something else to do that didn't require a videocamera or something like that.

[havocmom]

41. BINGO!

grades based on resources rather than resourcefulness.

[bigwillq]

6. Yuck.

That sounds rough.

[Chan790]

7. No.

Actually it seems very off-topic and inappropriate as an assignment. I don't have an issue with the rewrite; possibly performance in class as an extra-credit, but everything beyond that is questionable at best. I'd call the school and complain. I'd also call the superintendent if calling the principal gets you nowhere.

[MorningGlow]

11. A bit much

As a former high school English teacher, I would say one scene or a few pages would suffice. An entire act is waaayyy too much to ask, videotaped or acted in front of the class or what have you.

[seemunkee]

13. My son had to do a scene from Romeo and Juliet

But they didn't have to act, he and a friend did puppets.
Sounds like a big project for so close to the end of the school year.

[Orrex]

16. Tell the kids to act out West Side Story

The teacher has given a stupid assignment.

[femmocrat]

18. A agree. Too much for this time of year, and ...

unless the teacher has actually taught all these requirements, too much to expect from 9th graders. (Unless this is some kind of gifted class, perhaps.)

Call the teacher and tell him/her what we all said! If he/she doesn't modify the assignment, call the principal. Complaining parents get lots of attention in our district.

I'm not usually in favor of interfering with assignments (and think the students should be challenged), but this time I think it is warranted.

[sarge43]

19. That isn't a high school English assignment

It's a college level theater course final exam. It's way too much and too expensive.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

20. Theater class AND video class too. n/t

Way overboard.

[sarge43]

43. Putting aside the amount of work for the students,

does this teacher have any idea the work load she's taken on in grading this project? I submit in the time left she can't possibly give fair and accurate grades.

1. I note she said nothing about the language in the scripts. Does she want high Early Modern English rhetoric ala Bill or language appropriate to the selected time period? Is she knowledgeable of historical linguistics? For example, Ms Austen used the word 'nice' much differently than we do today.

2. Costumes and sets: Again what's her standard and how knowledgeable is she? Is she going to take off points if a 19th century period dress has a zipper?

3. Film editing: Jebus, that's a skill people take years to learn and why they make big bucks at it. David Lean and John Boorman made their bones as editors and they still turned over the actual editing of their films to experts. Will she settle for a static photograph the play camera or does she expect pans, zooms, fades, etc? We are talking a entire act here.

4. Finally, did she teach these kids anything about directing a play let alone a film and again does she have any idea of the process?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

52. exactly what i thought

[dysfunctional press]

21. how long do they have to complete it?

it seems like an insanely difficult assignment- is this a young/new teacher? or is it someone who's given this type of assignment before?

[LibDemAlways]

28. A month. And my daughter found out today that

one of the two girls she's been tapped to work with is going to be gone every weekend between now and the end of the school year. That's another thing the teacher didn't take into consideration - that people have lives outside of school and not only don't have the $$ to devote to this, some don't have the time.

[kath]

24. In addition to all the comments about this assignment being WAY too much, I have this question--

They're supposed to "adapt the story of Romeo and Juliet and create a different version of the play" in a different setting, BUT they *also* "must include all key elements from Shakespeare's original script for their particular act". HUH??? Who decides what "all the key elements" are? How are the scripts to be much different from the original?

What are these kids expected to know about acting, set design, film production, etc.?? and how does that fit into an ENGLISH class?

And, WHAT are they supposed to learn from this?

There must be only a few weeks left in the school year. How in the heck can 14-15 year olds be expected to do all this in such a short time? (along with all the work from their *other* classes?

The $$$$ and time involved in this project is mind-boggling.


I always HATED group projects - for way too many reasons to go into here.

[LibDemAlways]

32. My daughter's school is always coming up with

ridiculous time-wasting art projects in just about every subject. You should have seen what they had to put together for their group geography class project. It necessitated a trip to LA's Chinatown to buy all kinds of crap. Let's just say that I am now the proud owner of a bunch of small reproductions of the famous Terracotta warriors of Xian - and that's just for starters.

You are right. Time is short. Resources are few. My daughter is working with one girl who won't be home any weekend between now and the end of the school year. The other girl in the group wants to do Romeo and Juliet with a "Survivor" theme. WTF? This has all the makings of a disaster. And, my daughter, who is an excellent student when allowed to work independently, is caught in the middle.

The best I can hope for is that all of the projects will end up looking amateurish, but unfortunately the show biz parents will pull out all the stops.

As for what the kids will learn....They'll learn that if you have parents with show business connections, you can put together a visually awesome Romeo and Juliet adaptation. If you don't, you can't.

[JoDog]

58. When I was in 9th grade

My English class got an assignment to take parts of the story of King Arthur and update it. However, we were given some instructions as to what genre we were supposed to use. For instance, my 4-person group was told to adapt the story to a talk show, ala Ricky Lake or early Oprah. We did have to act out a 5-10 min. skit that we wrote. Costumes, film editing, props, etc. were not required.

Compared to that, this assignment seems excessive.

As to the mini terracotta warriors--if you don't want them, try to sell them on eBay as garden decorations or dollhouse minis based on their size. I have some in my dollhouse garden, and they're neat.

[Mutley]

67. The play can be adapted in that way easily enough.

For example, the 199something version with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes was set in present-day Malibu, California. And the key elements are pretty well established for Romeo and Juliet, and as long as the teacher taught them well, the kids should have no problem figuring that part out.

That being said, this assignment is way too much. It's a college level assignment at best, and even then a month is not long enough.

[Connonym]

25. wow

I was pissed when my daughter had to dress up as a literary character and perform a scene in front of the whole class. The teacher had told one kid to "just buy a suit" I couldn't believe, especially since the school serves a rather poor portion of the district, that the teacher would think it acceptable to say "just buy a suit" I don't mean to berate teachers, I know most of them really give a lot of themselves for their job but my sister is a teacher and even she agreed that asking a kid to spend that kind of money for an assignment was way out of line. Your story is even more extreme! If they're not offering the kids a budget for costumes and a videocamera to record this, it's an undue financial burden in addition to being overly ambitious in other regards. I would definitely talk to someone at school about it.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

26. It's ridiculous to expect them to make a film

unless the school is providing equipment.

I can remember a similar group project assignment when I was in 10th grade...back in the Jurassic period. We were supposed to dramatize a character's story from Greek Mythology. I got stuck working with two girls who did nothing and didn't give a shit, and we were assigned Agamemnon, whom I'd never heard of, and had great difficulty collecting information about. Fortunately, the project did not count as a large percentage of our final grade. :(

[LibDemAlways]

29. I, too, hate group projects. One of two things inevitably

happens. Either one kid (my daughter) has to carry the weight for a bunch of flakes who do nothing, or a bossy kid who is basically clueless takes over and orders everyone else around. Neither scenario is good.

Earlier this year my daughter had a huge "group" project in geography class that she ended up doing alone because the other kids showed no interest. They all, however, shared in the "A." Totally and completely unfair.

[begin_within]

27. Sounds like some porn I have seen.

[The_Casual_Observer]

30. The parents were up in arms when the english teacher suggested

that the students go & see "Les Miserables" for extra credit. Too much time & money.

(The play turned out to be pretty good!)

[LibDemAlways]

31. Isn't this just ridiculous? Make a movie....Sheesh.

I remember when I was in drama class back in high school and the film version of R and J came out. My class went on a field trip to a theatre in Hollywood to see the movie. It would never have dawned on anybody to make the kids rewrite it and make their own film. This is just nuts.

[The_Casual_Observer]

34. The High School plays were very elaborate & involved 100's

of hours of your time, but it was all voluntary, sort of a hobby.

[Jamastiene]

33. Maybe a whole class "for fun" type assignment, but

not that way. I'd go to the teacher and have "a word of prayer" with them, religious or not. They would have to be informed that is TOO much to expect. There must be a few other parents who feel it is too much too. Trust me. You are probably not the only one thinking it's overboard. That's where your power to fight this might be. If enough parents complain, the teacher will have to loosen up some on all that.

[Godhumor]

35. How new to teaching is the teacher?

Has he or she done this assignment in years past? Did he or she show examples of what qualifies as a minimum A? Has he or she presented the written rubric on how things are going to be graded?

I taught for 6 years, and I saw many people new to the profession get too caught up in creative thinking (including myself on occassion). If he or she is new, try to arrange a sit down meeting with the teacher and the department head and calmly voice your concerns. If this project has been done before and the school has supported it, you need to demand a rubric, an example of a minimum A level project, and get a list of free resources for the students to use at school.

Don't be passive on this one.

[LibDemAlways]

37. See post #8 for the grading rubric that was given

as part of the assignment.

The teacher isn't new, but had taken a couple of years off before returning this year.

The problem is very simple. This is a fairly well-to-do suburban district where many parents have money. Thus, the teachers think nothing of coming up with all kinds of ways to spend it on ridiculous projects like this. Last week the kids had to design and make a mask for the same play. They were told to go to the local crafts store to buy "sequins, glitter glue, feathers, etc." This happens all the time. Just last week my daughter had to put together a 12 x 12 poster on card stock for another class. She was told where to buy it. Turns out the store only sold what she needed in 12 packs for $6.99. Then she had to get the damn thing laminated for another $2.00. Never mind the cost of all the printer ink it took to print all the pictures that were required. It's truly a bottomless money pit.

I will be discussing this further with the teacher. Thanks for the input.

[Godhumor]

39. #8 is not a rubric, per se

I mean you should request how the points are divided up in each category with examples. As below:

Periodic Costume Design, 1 - 10 points

10 points: Shows research done on clothing styles of that particular time period and geography. Costumes look ultra realistic and made of cloth suitable to the time period. Clothes look "lived in" and fit all actors and actresses properly.

5 points: Some research is evident, but costumes are made of inappropriate material (cardboard, etc) and decorated with things like markers or stickers.

1 point: Minimal attempt at costuming with only the occassional prop (i.e. feathered hat, cradboard sword in belt, etc.)

0 points: Not in costume


Seriously, for a 150 point project in a district with lots of haves versus have nots, you can not let the grading be subjective. Make the teacher nail down, in writing, what is expected to get what points. That way, if there is favortism toward the show-biz folks you have exactly written out what was expected to earn maximum credit.

[LibDemAlways]

54. Thanks. I realized what she presented is

far from a complete rubric, and will try to nail her down.

Thanks for providing the standards in the PM as well. All much apreciated.

[stratomagi]

36. For your next assignment

cure cancer.

[LibDemAlways]

38. LOL....That's the health class assignment.

[sarge43]

42. Describe the universe and give two examples.

Extra points for creating an event horizon.

[Rabrrrrrr]

45. Second, create a singularity then make five copies, one for each of the department heads to review.

[sarge43]

46. Aides and fellow students may used

to demonstrate singularity effects.

[Godhumor]

40. Dupe *self-delete*

Self-Delete

[Rabrrrrrr]

44. 9th grade? Only one act? Allowing a videotape? No foley requirement?

Totally unreasonable for ninth grade. Sixth grade, maybe. But by 9th grade, they should be able to find a producer, raise a few million dollars, use real movie cameras, do whole plays, and generate sound in full 48 track digital THX surround and be able to compose and conduct a full orchestral soundtrack.

One scene with a videotape.

Insane.

:eyes:

Anyway, yes, that assignment is utterly without merit. I think rewriting an act is an okay, and asking it to be filmed and acted with costumes is a good idea - but to judge the final product on the film quality and sound editing? Goddamned ridiculous. It's an English class, not a film-making class nor an acting class. Does that teacher have any idea how long it would take to edit and make good sound? How long it would take to film if they had to make sure to avoid ever fucking up a line? Fucking hell.

A sloppy, homemade, shitty-sound video is all that's required, to give the teacher a taste of how the kids would - if they knew what they were doing and had the money - produce that play and/or make it a film.

[sarge43]

47. For extra credit, the kids can do a cage match

with the MPAA film rating suits - hilarity ensues.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

48. it sounds excessive and overly ambitious to me. Also sounds more

like a theater assignment than an English assignment.

[BlueIris]

49. An *act*?? On video? Also—for an English class?

I had a project like that once...at the end of college. Which was only worth ten percent of my grade and didn't have to be filmed. Awareness of the text was what was important, not acting ability. I'm with you...WTF?

[ContraBass Black]

51. It sounds reasonable to me.

I had several projects like this in high school English and French, finishing with a full remake of MacBeth as a modern mafia movie in 12th grade. The costumes, sets, and props were always improvised, and nothing was purchased for the projects. The school provided cameras and editing facilities to those who needed them, but I rarely had to make use of those. With careful planning and little extra work, I could make all of the necessary cuts while copying from the camera to a vhs tape.

I think it unlikely that the teacher expects you to buy a camera and other items.

[LibDemAlways]

53. Yes she does. The school is not providing anything.

[Breeze54]

55. No, it sounds insane and over-the-top!

If I recall correctly, my youngest had similar assignments but the teacher filmed it in the class at
presentation and the kids were put in groups to share resources, idea's etc. But never a whole Act!!

I hope you've talked to the teacher or the principle about this!

[davsand]

56. Excessive as hell and totally not appropriate.

Now, as for how to deal with it, I'd call the teacher first. If you get nowhere with the teacher THEN you chew your way up the food chain.

For the sake of your kid suggest they start to work NOW on a re-write of a very SHORT couple of scenes and set them in current time in whatever economic setting you all live in. It is R and J in YOUR backyard. Takes care of costumes and sets.

As for the tech requirements, start tracking down a camcorder.

Frankly I think this teacher should be shot at dawn. The project has zero bearing on what I understand the class to be, and is just too high of an expectation for kids that age. It does measure how well kids understand setting and time frame of a play, and it does put Shakespeare in the context of the masses (which he really was writing for.) i can cut some slack for the attempt to make it fun, but it really just is a lousy call on the teacher's part to expect THAT MUCH from kids this age.

I also agree fully that I absolutely HATE these projects the kids get stuck with that really only measure how good Mom and Dad's resources or art skills are.

:grr:



Laura

[huskerlaw]

57. Tell the teacher that your kid is a member of SAG

and cannot be in a movie without a union-approved contract. Then tell her to contact your kid's agent at CAA to start contract negotiations.

Seriously though, that assignment is ridiculous. My sister is a HS English teacher (has taught 9th grade in the past). I'll run this by her later and see if she has any suggestions about how to approach the teacher or the administration.

[Westegg]

60. Not reasonable for an English class! My God...

...I completely agree with what some others have said (including the 7th-grade teacher). This is downright absurd! English class should be about developing an appreciation for language, writing, reading, etc.--especially at a freshman/high-school level. Sounds to me like the teacher is a frustrated director or movie critic, or something. Or maybe just a first-class asshole.

I say this as a former 9th grader who went on to major in English in college and from there to become a writer. What I remember from 9th grade English class is how the teacher inspired us to read deeply, understand and use vocabulary, appreciate literature, and write essays and short stories which we would discuss in class. Mr. Hogan is long gone, but I'll never forget how much he impacted my life, and helped me to appreciate the joys of reading and writing.

[LibDemAlways]

64. You were very fortunate to have a teacher who

inspired you. I wish I could say the same. I was never that lucky.

The teachers at my daughter's school are so caught up in assigning these "creative" projects that everything else is an afterthought. It's really a shame.

[hyphenate]

61. Okay

I'm reading this a little differently, so while I see the problems that people are discussing, I also see some other points.

The teacher is not trying to penalize anyone in the assignment, but she wants them to write a scene from Romeo and Juliet to see mainly if they understand Shakespeare. Period. I remember when we had to read Billy's stuff, there was no comparison between "reading" it and seeing it in a live format, which is how Shakespeare needs to be looked at. By having the kids take up a scene and re-write it into another time period, or to see the idea translated to another environment, they are showing that they understand the play itself, and that is what the teacher is looking for: comprehension. In this vein, I would suggest you head over to imdb.com and look for films on Romeo and Juliet, whether based on the Bard's writing exclusively, or what variations have been made over the years. I would suggest, personally, Shakespeare in Love, the Romeo and Juliet with Olivia Hussey, and the modern version with Claire Danes.

Second, costuming is not as difficult itself. Something taking place in contemporary times would require very little in way of actual costuming, but could include jeans and tee-shirts. Perhaps something from the 60s or more currently would not require much in the way of props, either.

As far as setting, what do we know? We know that the story is about the children of two families at war with each other, and how the children are caught up in the battles fought by their families and how that war ruins the entire family in the end. There are many ways it could be worked--a war of racism, privilege, blue-collar versus white-collar, etc. Regardless, there are many settings that could be considered, and even politics could be considered.

Writing the script itself is the easiest part. I'm sure there is a public domain copy of R&J online that could save a lot of typing, and the kids could go directly from that, translating the vocabulary to modern contemporary, and then using the original script to make sure that they capture all the necessary plots and parts without going completely nuts.

I would suggest one thing, though--that you meet and talk with the other kids' parents, so that you can plan logistics, from who actually owns a video camera to shoot the final project, to who can host the kids during the week for meeting and working, to making sure everyone has a ride, and amount per day or week the kids can work on the project.

I think once things get rolling, you will find they actually enjoy the project, and you might have some budding performers on your hands.


Good luck!

PS: I would suggest "Act" vs. "Scene" be discussed with the teacher. Obviously, a scene is much shorter than an act, and perhaps just act out a scene and not the whole act. That could help a lot right there.

[LibDemAlways]

62. You make some good points. However,

my daughter wants nothing to do with being in front of a camera, so getting her to even mumble some lines while looking incredibly uncomfortable is going to be the reality. None of the parents of any of the three kids involved is adept at the use of a video camera. One woman owns an old one but hasn't used it in about ten years, so she's hoping it still works. Keep in mind the kids are going to be graded on the quality of the video - including sound and editing - not good in our situation.

I was an English major in college. If the kids run into problems with the script, I can handle some revisions. That's the least of my concerns.

The biggest problem is that my daughter and her two classmates are operating at a huge disadvantage in terms of their access to the technology needed to do a good job. There are kids in that class whose parents work at Disney, Universal, etc, and can, and will, make use of those resources to put together something that will be professional. The playing field is incredibly uneven, and my daughter and her group will suffer the consequences. That's the reality of it.

The teacher isn't budging. She wants an entire act. This whole thing is just one big nightmare, but, (and I mean this sincerely) thanks for the good wishes!

[DS1]

63. It sounds like the teacher is expecting the parents to do the work for them

maybe it happens a lot :shrug:

but yes, it's a bit much. The most she should be acting is a scene, like Finnfan said, and if she insists on acting, have them perform it in front of the class and that's it.

[LibDemAlways]

65. True. Who else is going to shoot the thing and get it

edited? Certainly not these kids whose only experience making videos is for a few seconds using their cell phones.

If I told you honestly the number of projects I've had to get involved with (out of necessity) since my daughter was in kindergarten, you wouldn't believe it. I'll be there have been well over a hundred.

[LeftyMom]

66. Can you get the teacher a 72 hour mental health hold?

Because that's fucking insane. Especially this late in the year, when students tend to have a lot of big assignments to do and papers to write, so even if the resources were there, the time would not be.

In ninth grade I had to do a half hour video for a class, but the school checked a video camera out to us, and we weren't graded on the professionalism of the film work, and the grading on the script and our performances was very generous. I think we had two or three months to plan on it and get it ready, along with other assignments in that class. We had a really good time. And I'm not just saying that because I spent most of the weekend we filmed it making out with one of the guys in my group. :rofl: