Romeo and Juliet saved my day

I'm sitting in my last period class right now - of freshman. We finished reading Act I of Romeo and Juliet this week, and it's been painful so far. I'm going on something like my 18th reading of this play. It's not Shakespeare's best work, and I can recite parts of it word-for-word. But, today, we started working on choice assignments for Act I; here they are:

Anyway, I was nervous. I'd convinced myself that this would be as painful as reading the play again. But, they surprised me so pleasantly, I can't believe it. They worked in pairs SO well, and so many of them had actual FUN with the assignment. I haven't gotten to see them yet, so I don't know what the quality will be, but I do know that they laughed and translated and DID THEIR WORK! It's been such a tough year with this group, so when I get days like today when they're respectful, on task, productive, and LEARNING I feel the need to document it. I know in a week or two, I'll need the reminder that it isn't bad all of the time.