we are reading romeo & juliet in 9th grade english. we are reading is because it is in the core, read: must be done or we will kill you, curriculum. some of these kids have no business reading shakespeare. but i am trying and some days they are trying and all that trying feels like its propelling us somewhere.

and then you have a moment of such complete idiocy that you remember why child labor laws havent always been in place.

we are reading in act II. juliet has sent her nurse to find romeo. they talk. make plans for a covert wedding. (where's the premarital counseling?) and as they are parting romeo tells her to find this guy to get a rope ladder to put in juliets window. the guys get it. romeo wants a wedding night. a few snicker but im okay with that. at least they get it.

then she raises her hand. i wish i could somehow relate her blank stare and the absolute sincerity in her voice. she says "umm... miss stine? is this that story where the girl ummm... lets down her hair, you know, from her window. and he climbs up?"

i had no words.

we're in act II. we've read EVERY WORD in class. we've listened to others act it out. we've discussed words with three or more syllables. we've re-written sections in modern english. we have ripped up the text and reconstructed it.

and three weeks into it she thinks we're reading rapunzel.

*update: she just walked into class. late. sat down and read the assignmen which looks like this:

1. Read Act III scene I

2. Answer the following questions....

She says "where do we find the answers?" "Did you read the board?" "yeah, miss stine." "act III" "oh i didnt see that before." "so you read # 2 before #1?" "yeah i guess so"

**second update: she just asked if "w" comes before "v." this is a surprise. normally when i make her look up a word she just sings the alphabet song.