Here’s a collection of journal prompts for the Shakespeare plays that are most commonly taught in high/middle school: King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, and Twelfth Night. Below is a sample of the prompts I created for Romeo and Juliet.
Also check out my Busy Teacher’s Guides and other support material for teachers HERE.
I’ve also had some fun creating coloring pages to go with the journal prompts. (Hint: My mailing list members have had access to these for a while now. 🙂 )
Here are the links to the colouring pages for King Lear, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth.
Here are links to PDFs of journal prompts for all 5 plays:
Love to hear your feedback and suggestions for any other plays that you think I should cover. Please drop me a note in the comments below to let me know your thoughts and ideas.
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ROMEO AND JULIET
1. What is your opinion of “love at first sight”?
2. Have you ever found yourself between two friends who are angry at each other? What happened?
3. How hard is it to keep a secret? Are there circumstances when you think you should break a promise about keeping a secret?
4. Who in the play shows the most courage? Give reasons for your choice?
5. Why or why not should parents have any control over the personal lives of their children?
6. Is suicide ever a justified option? Explain your answer.
7. Who is the truest friend in the play? Explain your answer.
8. Is lying ever justified? Explain your answer.
9. Write Juliet’s or Romeo’s diary entry after the balcony scene.
10. Write a letter that Juliet might have written to her parents to be read if she died from the potion that Friar Lawrence gave her.
11. Write a letter that Juliet might have written to Romeo to be read if she died from the potion that Friar Lawrence gave her.
I’ve always thought that a few soliloquies were missing from Shakespeare’s plays. Perhaps these suggestions will encourage your students to fill in the blanks:
