Monday, February 6, 2012

ENGLISH - 1^st trimester – Day 38

1. Identified 18 errors in paragraph B from The Scarlet Ibis
2. WARMUP: Write a paragraph about what you think makes some siblings treat each other cruelly; unkindly.
3. Return “Scarlet Ibis” typed defense papers
4. Discussed the following:
1. Your feelings sit in the backseat of your car. You are the driver of your car. Your feelings are backseat drivers always yelling out directions to you, telling you what to do and how to drive. You can listen to them, acknowledge them, but you don’t have to do what they say. You get to drive wherever and however you choose. You’re in the driver’s seat.
2. In “The Scarlet Ibis” James Hurst wrote, “There is within me (and it is with sadness I have watched it in others) a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love, much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of our destruction, and at times I was mean to Doodle.” (pg. 336)
3. TO BE COLLECTED in 15 minutes, explain what you think is the author’s purpose of this “knot of cruelty” (pg. 336) or “childish spite” (pg. 343) or “streak of cruelty within me” (pg. 343)

o   Answer one (or all) of the following questions:

1.      When (and with whom) does your knot of cruelty show up?

2.      What could you personally do differently with your knot of cruelty? What could you do differently with your spite?

3.      What could you learn from this older brother’s tragedy?

·         In 8 minutes: Pretend someone is unfamiliar with the concept of the “knot of cruelty” that we discussed in “The Scarlet Ibis.” Give them a taste of what it is (explain it to them in your own words) and how it is present in one of the other short stories that we have read in this class (“The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Interlopers,” “The Most Dangerous Game”).

Underlined the “core” of each sentence of our warmup and drew arrows connecting the various “chunks” to the core. Discussed how “I think” or “I believe” makes the writer the actor (which is NOT what we want).

·         Pick up this week’s vocabulary word list (Lesson 5) on center table

ENGLISH homework:

Study for Friday’s vocabulary test (Lesson 5: jaded, gist, advocate…)

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PLAYWRITING – Day 38

Finished watching Hitchcock’s Dial M For Murder film:

1. Summarize the script (one paragraph) – action by action? Dominos?
2. Write a character description for each of the 5 lead characters in Dial M for Murder

1.  Mark, Margot, Tony, Captain Lesgate, Chief Inspector Hubbard

                                                              i.      Cross off: adjectives, titles – job descriptions, physical looks

3. Discussed compelling characters as those with the greatests needs and wants, the biggest problems, and the greatest potential for action.

PLAYWRITING homework:

None.