As 8th-grade students are being introduced to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, we are looking at the continued relevance of many of his motifs and themes. In order to increase their comfort with his language and literary techniques, students were interpreting and translating the Masquerade Ball from  Act 1, which will be followed by in-class performances. Students will also have opportunities to modernize scenes from the play to discover text-to-self connections and the Bard's influence on modern literature and performance.