Romeo and Juliet, Asia Samson, Plus 2016 Love 1 #IgniteLearningBCPS

My English I students have been reading Romeo and Juliet, and we have been discussing their thoughts about the following statements:

My parents know more about love and relationships than I do.
You should never disobey your parents.

The students have both agreed and disagreed with these statements and devised some interesting arguments for and against.

We also looked to the text and discussed these lines:

Juliet about the Nurse, in Act II, Scene v: 

"Had she affections and warm youthful blood,

She would be as swift in motion as a ball;

My words would bandy her to my sweet love,

And his to me:

But old folks, many feign as they were dead;

Unwieldy, slow, heavy and pale as lead."

Romeo to Friar Laurence, in Act III, Scene iii:

"Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel:

Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love,

An hour but married, Tybalt murdered,

Doting like me and like me banished,

Then mightst thou speak, then mightst thou tear thy hair,

And fall upon the ground, as I do now,

Taking the measure of an unmade grave."

Many of the students stated that it is difficult for people their parents' ages to understand what today's teens experience because, according to them, the world is much different compared to the world during their parents teens.

Since most of their parents are in their forties, I decided we should look at teenage love from the perspective of the 1990s.  We viewed the following poem, "90s Love" by Asia Samson:

Students were then asked to write about love in 2016.  They were encouraged to use allusion, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, etc..

The following is the poem submitted by A.L. and G.B.:

2016 Love

Just remember I'll always love you like 2016.

I want to love you like Joel and Moriah.  

Snapping while sitting right beside each other.

Thinking maybe I should text you I love you.

Instagram becomes our love life.

Pinterest becomes my heart felt ideas.

I want you to be the Jay Z to my Beyonce.

I want you to be the John to my Chrissy.

I want to love you like 2016.

You need to be the William to my Kate.

Watch Netflix till 2 a.m.

Wondering when you’ll call.

Thinking you need to be more sensitive to my feelings.

Buy me pretzels and ice cream.

You are the peanut butter to my jelly.

The ketchup to my mustard.

I wanna love you like 2016.

You can be the Luke to my Courtney.

I want you to be the Alex to my Sierra.

We’ll listen to songs that we both like.