Not only do they give a synopsis of the plot, but also they explain why this particular production was performed, and tell about previous productions of Romeo and Juliet as a ballet. This information will broaden your students' understanding of performance. The Home page for this site provides links to a number of related Web sites. Its primary focus, however, is on the plays Macbeth and Hamlet and these areas can also be accessed from the Home page. The Macbeth page begins by looking at an event in Scottish history that is the basis for the play.
Students can use links to learn more about the historical figures as well as the play itself.
The Hamlet page discusses the origin of the story, the development of the revenge play, and points to several additional sites that will be helpful to students and teachers alike. There are two resources for students who need help managing the text as well as six resources for teachers to use with students when exploring, among other things, Hamlet's character or the meaning of his famous 'To be, or not to be ' soliloquy. The Julius Caesar project is designed to demonstrate how technology can be used in a high school English classroom. The class is divided into four groups each of which researches and reports on one area of the entire project. You may want to use this as a template to develop your own unit of instruction or have your students work through the project as written.