The play’s the thing
Interactive online games spark lively discussions and literary insights When students returned to 500 Bellefontaine this spring, Julie Sanchez Brehove’s freshman English class met in our beloved Strub Hall Living Room, where they had ample room to spread out.
J
ulie Sanchez Brehove ’11’s freshman English class had just finished their reading of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” and the subject of today’s class discussion was “Who’s to blame?” in this tragedy. The Montague or Capulet parents? Friar Lawrence or the Nurse? The lovers themselves? Mrs. Brehove will soon be giving every student an opportunity to present their best arguments for who was most guilty, and why. She encourages all aspects of the debate, asking everyone to defend and blame at will, and to change allegiances at any point. But before the incrimination-fest begins, Mrs. Brehove primes the day with a game, of sorts. “Prepare yourselves,” she teases the class, “We are in Kahoot! Mode.” For those uninitiated to Kahoot!...it is like a quiz. But also a competition. A quiz-petition? Basically it has all of the appeal of a trivia night with the added bonus of reinforcing the course material. Every student logs in on Kahoot! and question after question is asked about the play. The multiple choice questions 28
are livened up with screenshots from the “Shrek” movies, and points are given for both the most accurate and fastest answers. Striving to win the digital trophy brings out a truly energetic match. “I really enjoy when we play games as a class,” says Kaitlyn Espinoza ’24. “It really engages everyone, and when I have fun while learning, I tend to retain more material.” Mrs. Brehove has an effervescent personality, in addition to being a vibrant listener. She has the talent of being able to echo student opinions back to them, and as she amplifies these comments, they are also reliably infused with another level of literary insight. This creates a dynamic class environment, with a lot of keen contributors. The “forbidden romance” of “Romeo and Juliet,” which tends to be a major theme people bring up when discussing this play writ large, is something Mrs. Brehove’s class hardly mentions at all. They are engaging with this material on their own terms, focusing more on the realistic (and more
psychologically healthy!) criticism of the love affair. Lucia Derriman ’24 says that Romeo shares a lot of the blame of the tragedy, explaining that he “was blinded by his infatuation towards Juliet and that kind of caused him to make some risky decisions.” And Emma Mendoza Munoz ’24 agrees. She says Romeo is “impulsive, which makes him high-risk and dangerous.” She continues, “the balcony revealed a lot about his character because he didn’t have any concerns about Juliet’s safety…if they got found out.” Emma explains she “feels bad for Juliet” because she seemed more of a “rebound,” and that Romeo “moved on from that nun lady really fast.” Mrs. Brehove is visibly tickled that Emma refers to Romeo’s past object of affection, Rosaline, as “that nun lady.” Mrs. Brehove tells the class that in a different version of this text, she has seen Rosaline referred to as “what’sher-face.” At the beginning of the play, Rosaline has joined a convent, leaving Romeo heartbroken—although he transfers his affections over to Juliet at
POSTSCRIPTS 2021
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2021-08-01 11:52 AM
