Teaching Romeo and Juliet with the Folger Guide

Join Debbie Gascon, Folger Mentor Teacher, for a two-hour virtual session devoted to the Folger Guide to Teaching Romeo and Juliet. Working through the guide in practice, we will explore hands-on approaches to introducing the language, strategies for close reading and scene work, and a unit sequence that takes students from first encounter to culminating activity.

You will leave with ready-to-use lessons, a flexible framework for pacing Romeo and Juliet in your classroom, and a discount in the Folger Shop for the Folger Guide to Teaching Romeo and Juliet.

About Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s most well-known plays, and certainly the one most commonly taught in schools. It’s the story of star-crossed young lovers who live in a society governed by blood feuds, violent duels, and acts of retribution. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet also gives us some of the most familiar and memorable passages in the English language. 

You will leave with: 

• Hands-on approaches to the prologue and early scenes that give students immediate access to the language and the play’s dramatic stakes 

• Strategies for sustaining student engagement across a full unit, using the play’s pace and structure as a teaching tool 

• Techniques for scaffolding the balcony scene and the final acts, including activities that open up the language without deflating the drama