20 March 2020
“O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou, Romeo?”
For now at least, Romeo can be found participating in online learning from the kitchen table or the recliner in the living room.
And through the exemplary efforts of three members of De La Salle’s Language Arts faculty, our students will continue learning about the historic Shakespearean play “Romeo and Juliet” and its accompanying characters.
A few days ago, English teachers Vince Correa, Laura Machado and Ania Ray met as they typically do during the week.
However, this time, it was online through video conferencing.
So, how did everything go?
“The session went really well,” Machado said. “We used Zoom to share documents, look at different websites for teaching Romeo and Juliet, and we were able to much more efficiently communicate by talking in person as opposed to talking via email or text.
“It felt as productive as any other meeting we’d have, and though we weren’t really in person, it felt like we were.
“It was also fun to see each other’s homes and family life happening during our meeting,” Machado added. “It was a nice reminder that we’re professionals and also members of a family, kind of like at ‘D.’”
Ray was in agreement with her fellow Meteor mentor.
“Meeting with Laura and Vince was such a great way to feel like life hasn’t changed that much,” Ray said. “We typically have Thursday morning meetings, but this one got to happen a couple hours into the workday.
“We checked in on how each was doing and feeling (like we would any other day) and then jumped into how we could best deliver Romeo and Juliet online instead of in person.”
The consensus reached then was characters like Prince Escalus, Capulet, Tybalt, Montague and Friar Laurence would still be brought to life by our Meteors but in a unique way.
“Part of teaching Romeo and Juliet is acting out in person,” Ray said. “So why can’t we have kids dress up over Zoom and act out their parts when it’s time?
“We’re looking forward to using resources like myshakespeare.com that’ll help support students as they read, as well as CommonLit that’ll help us connect non-fiction text to a classic tragedy.”
Ray said she’s indeed confident that the Meteors – students and teachers combined – will properly honor the Bard by performing his work from 1597 in a memorable manner.
“We miss each other and our students already,” Ray said. “But De La Salle teachers are really good at thinking on their feet, adapting, and making sure everything they do is so that our students know they’re valued, heard, loved and cared for – even if it’s from our homes for now.”
#WeAreD
