John Green Video Series: Love or Lust in Romeo and Juliet

John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska, publishes a series of funny “crash courses” on Youtube that discuss/analyze pieces of literature including Catcher in the Rye, Romeo and Juliet, and The Great Gatsby.

Carrie Eniex showed Love or Lust: Romeo and Juliet Part II as an attention grabber before introducing the Socratic Seminar over Romeo and Juliet using the resources gathered in this post (called Romeo and Juliet Socratic Seminar Part I: Teens and Decision Making).  The topic of the video relates to the aspect of the Socratic Seminar students seem to connect to most: teenage love and relationships.  It was interesting (and highly entertaining) in Dave Watros’ classes to hear teenage boys and girls discuss the topic of romantic interests.  Repeatedly, the question “What is love?” was raised (and avoided) but in the middle of the second day, the discussion finally gained footing, and by the end of the conversation, teenage boys were giving their definition of love in earnest.