Does Romeo really love Juliet? Can Juliet trust her emotions about Romeo?

The first group just dives in. They’ve got proof from the text — they’re ready to go. Never mind that during the preparation period with their partners, they didn’t know whether they would be arguing that it is love or that it isn’t. No matter: they’re prepared for both.

The second group takes a bit more to get going. They’re quieter, both as a simple group of kids and as a class. But once they get going, they’re backing everything — I mean everything — with direct quotes from the play. “In act one, scene five, lines x through y, we read…”

This is why my job is so fun — getting kids to the point that they can have discussions like this.

(Originally published on my school web site.)