LESSON PLAN 2: EXPLAINING THE STORY
THE STUMBLE SYNOPSIS
DURATION: 20 - 40 MINUTES
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
STRAND
SUB STRAND
CURRICULUM
CONTENT
Language
RATIONALE
Having watched the full version of the video Once in Verona, or having viewed any video or live production of Shakespeare's original text, students may find the opportunity to 'explain' the story a productive means of familiarising themselves with the sequence of events that make up the plot.
The Stumbling Synopsis is a playful approach to explanation and the cognitive personalization to be achieved from that process.
By working in pairs, small groups or as a full cohort in a call-and-response interaction to having the Stumble Synopsis read out loud, this exercise seeks to foster a sense of play, of irreverence, and to disrupt the student's expectations and assumptions, causing them to have to constantly realign their thinking in progressing through a rudimentary telling of the story of Romeo and Juliet.
EXERCISE
Download the Stumble Synopsis text from this page.
Students can work in pairs and small groups in working their way through the Stumble Synopsis text themselves, or the teacher may choose to read the text out to a larger cohort and have them call out their responses to the prompts in the text. This exercise can be integrated with the Picture Postcards embodiment exercise in Lesson Plan 3 and negotiated in concurrent stages or sections.
Students should be encouraged to think of the story in a quasi modern context in order for them to begin the process of blending the story with their own cultural perspectives.
MAKING UP YOUR OWN STUMBLE SYNOPSIS
An playful adaptation of the exercise above involves students working in pairs or small groups to make up their own stumble synopsis of scenes or sequences of action from the play for fellow students to decipher. The irreverent creativity involved in inserting contemporary references and twists to the original plot encourages deeper levels of engagement and personalization. And in order to create your own stumble plot, you must first develop an understanding of the original.