Romeo and Juliet on Spruz

Left: Mr. Ogle's freshmen literature class reads a scene from Romeo and Juliet.

by Rachel Kenderdine

Romeo and Juliet: it’s not just a love story anymore. For freshmen enrolled in English 9L this semester, the characters have been brought to the future, and into the modern world of computers and social networking sites.

While students cover the unit on Romeo and Juliet, they will be using technology to enhance their understanding of the characters, said Mr. Nathan Ogle, English 9L teacher. “The Romeo and Juliet project is an interactive project that we have set up on a private social network called Spruz,” he said. “All the students in English 9L have been assigned a group and a character in that group, and over the course of the play, they will interact with each other.”

“It’s like Facebook and MySpace,” said Alexis York, a freshman who says that she likes the project. “It relates to our life outside school.”

The project, Mr. Ogle added, has two major parts, the first being the design and use of the profile page (background, layout, “about me,” and song) as their characters, and the second being their daily homework and discussion. “Instead of having them read and answer questions out of the back of the book every night, they are able to use the social networking page. It’s not a worksheet, it’s something that they would do on their computer at home,” he said.

Additionally, becoming one character from the play helps students to focus and allows them to really get into the play. “It causes them to think very deeply about their character,” Mr. Ogle said. “For the requirement to have a song, they have to think and infer about what profile song their character would have on their page.”

“My favorite part is when I’m going through and checking the comments, and checking the forum posts, and I see students really looking into character motive and getting deeper into the play,” said Mr. Ogle. “Their favorite part, I think, is pimping their profile.”