Alien Pedagogy

The Honors class watched the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet this week. We consistently challenged the film’s plot and conflict. I invited students to make fun of the movie while watching it.

So after pushing play and establishing the gang colors, I told the class that we were “going to meet the Prince of Verona soon. Remember that authority is represented here by gigantic hats.” Everyone picked up who the Prince of Verona was and made the connection that he was about to lay down the law on future brawling.

Instead of a few students giggling during balcony scene, we as a class joked about the exaggeration of it. When Romeo cries out “fire-eyed frenzy be my conduct now!” we — who had all read the summary — shouted at the screen to tell Romeo to go home.

By the end of the film, I found students were doing a better job of recording key quotes and their response through interpretation and analysis also improved. By inviting them to challenge the film, their verbal participation and note-taking improved.

Finally, although we had a lot of fun at the film’s expense, there were still tears aplenty after the final scene.