Post 4: Navigating Complex Texts and Youth-Created Works

Nov. 17th, 2024

Prompt: Reflect on how you can integrate social justice goals and other challenging texts into your teaching practice.

In an age of so many intersectionalities to consider when approaching literature, it seems like an incredibly steep hill. However, in one particular example, my plan to pair Romeo & Juliet with West Side Story for my extended practicum with my IB Literature 11 will be an attempt to look at how narratives are translated over centuries and evolve with added intersectionalities and complexities that add depth and nuance to well-established tropes.

Looking at things like race, gender, social class, and more adds to the already complex storyline of Romeo & Juliet and asks students to engage in deeper meaning within canonical texts and narratives. By having them compare and contrast characters from the canonical text and the rewrite, they can review how, with the evolution of time, intersectional challenges have evolved throughout the narratives. By creating links between canonical texts and modern rewrites, I hope students can more easily relate these canonical narratives to the challenges they face within their own narratives.