Thursday, January 31, 2013

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 38 

Take Romeo & Juliet quotations TEST on Act 3 

In your own words (and using your book), summarize what has happened so far in the first 2 scenes of Act 4.

Read Act 4 and some of Act 5.

ENGLISH homework:

none

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PLAYWRITING – Day 38 

Announced 4 winners. Assigned groups. 

Explained roles:

1. Summarizer: writes up a summary of the play
2. Illustrator: draws, diagrams, sketches some sort of visual representation related to the play
3. Choreographer: designs the sequences of movements for the actors throughout the play – a map of who moves where and when
4. Theatricality coordinator: writes down what the production will include that isn’t written in the text
1. To be collected today.

Begin working on your assigned script…be ready to perform it tomorrow in mime (no props) 

PLAYWRITING homework: 

Be ready to perform your blocking tomorrow in mime (no props).

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 37 

In a paragraph or two, write down what is it you are thinking about today but not actually saying to anyone? (You will NOT be asked to share this with anyone.) 

Discussed why we don’t speak the truth each time we are asked. Why don’t we tell everyone who asks what is really on our minds? 

Discussed subtext and body language… Discuss the subtext of lines…

o   Subtext definition: What we imagine characters are thinking while they say something else. 

With a partner, read Romeo & Juliet Act 4, Scenes 1 and 2, and complete the following:

1. Add a quote from Act 3 to the boards…no repeats.
2. Answer all the questions from Act 4, scene 1 and 2 - The questions are in the margins of the textbook – Look for the “?” – There are 14 total. COLLECTED
3. Read Act 4, Scene 1 and 2 with a partner and write a 7-sentence paragraph of subtext for one character from Act 4, Scene 1 (choose either Paris, Friar, or Juliet)
4. Write another 7-sentence paragraph of subtext for either Juliet or Capulet from Act 4, Scene 2  – 14 sentences total

Take practice test

 

ENGLISH homework: 

Study for Act 3 quotations test for Thursday

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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 36

On Thursday, you will have a test on Act 3 that lists a bunch of quotes from Act 3 and you will be asked to identify the character who said it…

While I collect your homework (Act 3 take home open book packet/test) – you complete the following:

• Write out 5 key quotes from Act 3 (without an answer key: character names) and hand it to someone else at your table.
• Exchange papers several times. See if you can name the character of each quote.
• Hand out Act 3 take-home tests (not to the original owner) – then grade them in class (see answer key on my desk)
• RECOLLECT

ENGLISH homework:

Study for Act 3 quotations test for Thursday

 

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PLAYWRITING – Day 36

In small groups, continued reading each other’s 5-minute scripts

Be prepared to vote for your top 5 favorite scripts

PLAYWRITING homework:

None

Monday, January 28, 2013

SNOW DAY - 2013

Friday, January 25, 2013

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 35 

Watched Romeo & Juliet Act 3. 

ENGLISH homework: 

FINISH Act 3 take home open book packet/test (due Monday)

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PLAYWRITING – Day 35 

Turn in just ONE COPY of your script on the CENTER TABLE…hold onto the others for now. 

Monty Python video clip – “Argument Clinic” (for dialogue inspiration): Argument Clinic 

Read another Christopher Durang short: “Canker Sores and Other Distractions” 

In small groups, began reading each other’s 5-minute scripts. Be prepared to vote for your top 5 favorite scripts  

PLAYWRITING homework: 

None

Thursday, January 24, 2013

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 34 

P/T conferences tonight: 6:00 – 8:00 PM 

While I check your homework: Completion of 1 – 20 in Act 3 take-home test packet… 

Read summary of Romeo & Juliet Act 3, Scenes 4, 5 from http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/romeo/SceneTextIndex.html 

Listened to Romeo & Juliet Act 3.3 – 5 and continued answering questions from Act 3 take home open book packet/test (due Monday – not tomorrow)

ENGLISH homework:

FINISH Act 3 take home open book packet/test (due Monday)

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PLAYWRITING – Day 34

In computer lab 100 we continued scripting our 5 minute scene (approx. 5 pages) and looked for ways to put our characters in extremes. Under pressure. In trouble. Within conflict.

1.      In paragraph form, right on your script, explain what has taken place before your written scene takes place – something that makes the dialogue full of subtext (instead of being literal, or “on the line”)

2.      Add one metaphoric speech to your script. Write the word “metaphor” next to it.

REMEMBER: "We're trying to write cricket bats.”

     Add and mark lines in your script that say one thing, but mean another. 

When finished, read about PROPER script format and make appropriate changes (time-permitting) using the following website: http://www.playwriting101.com/ - focus on items #5 - 11.

REMINDER: the script’s deadline has been changed to Monday, January 23. 

PLAYWRITING homework: 

DEADLINE EXTENTION: 5 PAGES MINIMUM – due Friday

1.      In paragraph form, right on your script, explain what has taken place before your written scene takes place – something that makes the dialogue full of subtext (instead of being literal, or “on the line”)

2.      Add one metaphoric speech to your script. Write the word “metaphor” next to it.

3.      Add and mark lines in your script that say one thing, but mean another.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 33 

P/T conferences: 3:30 – 5:30 PM 

1.      PMR (collected for a grade): Preview, Mark, Respond…Quietly read the New York Times review of Romeo & Juliet (performed in 2011) titled, “Crazy Love – Raising the bar on Shakespearean tragedy” 

2.      RESPOND on a separate paper (also to be collected), write down 2 specific things that are said in the review…then tell why each one might matter (in the future). 

3.      Watched 2 trailers (and the balcony scene) for the same Royal Shakespeare Company's Romeo & Juliet noting the fire metaphor and the mix of contemporary and Elizabethan costume 

4.      LAZY SONNET:

a.       Using your book, look at Act 3:1 (pgs. 873-882)

                                                  i.      Identify the 14 most important lines (do not write them out)

                                                ii.      Then choose 1 word from each line and write them out in order on the front page, right-hand margin of your Act 3 take-home test

1.      14 words total 

5.      Began completion of Act 3 packet questions 1 – 20 for scenes 1, 2, and 3 

ENGLISH homework: 

Complete questions 1 – 20 in Act 3 take-home test packet

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PLAYWRITING – Day 33 

TODAY’S MANTRA: “Subtext: what we imagine characters are thinking while they say something else”

Read pgs. 138-144 on SUBTEXT from The Art & Craft of Playwriting 

·         Discuss the subtext of lines…

o   Subtext: what we imagine characters are thinking while they say something else.

·         TO BE COLLECTED TOMORROW: Write out the SUBTEXT for each line of your script.

In computer lab 140 we continued scripting our 5 minute scene (approx. 5 pages) and looked for ways to put our characters in extremes. Under pressure. In trouble. Within conflict. 

5 PAGES MINIMUM – due Wednesday after class or Thursday in class 

PLAYWRITING homework: 

Subtext due tomorrow. 

Continue working on scripts.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 32 

(Haiku, scene deconstruction)

1. Get a copy of Juliet’s speech from Act 3.2.1-34…then
1. Place an “x” before each line with the word “night” in it, then…
2. Circle all words that you would like further defined
2. Summarize Juliet’s speech in your own words.
3. Review Act 3, Scene 2 – first, just Juliet’s speech using NO FEAR SHAKESPEARE,
1. then the entire scene (original recipe)
4. “NIGHT” – brainstorm 20 words you associate with "night"
5. Create 2 haiku using some of the ideas from your brainstorm
1. Where shall we go now?
2. Only blackness shows the way…
3. Why not break the rules?
6. Choose any 7 words from Act 3.2.1-34 – write the best haiku using all 7 chosen words
1. Love wilt come apace
2. Impatient night is here
3. Sold is love’s long path
4. Love’s mansion lodging
5. In Heaven’s great festival
6. Her gentle news lies
7. Gentle love lodging
8. Brings news of a festival
9. In heaven’s mansion
   
7. Summarize each of our 3 haikus in one word each (you may not choose a word in your haiku).
1. Note how these words are thematic…similar to how Shakespeare wrote on the differing themes of night? i.e. gentle night, civil night, wings of night, agrees with night…

Return 20 point paragraphs on vampires – review rubric – re-collect 

ENGLISH homework: 

None

 

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PLAYWRITING – Day 32 

In computer lab 140 we continued scripting our 5 minute scene (approx. 5 pages) and looked for ways to put our characters in extremes. Under pressure. In trouble. Within conflict. 

5 PAGES MINIMUM – due Wednesday 

PLAYWRITING homework: 

Continue working on script.

Monday, January 21, 2013

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 31 

Grade R&J Act 2 test/packet 

Finish talk show script from Friday…

1. There are 6 questions on the handout that your characters must address.
1. How was Mercutio killed
2. Why Mercutio was killed….etc…(see handout)
3.  
2. Length = 3 sides of 2 sheets of paper (do not skip lines).
3. No physical violence in your scripts. Characters may argue, but no violence.
4. TO BE COLLECTED AT THE END OF MONDAY’s CLASS (see handout for details)

ENGLISH homework: 

Read Romeo & Juliet – Act 3 scenes 2 and 3

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PLAYWRITING – Day 31 

In computer lab, we continued scripting our 5 minute scene (approx. 5 pages) and looked for ways to put our characters in extremes. Under pressure. In trouble. Within conflict. 

5 PAGES MINIMUM – due Wednesday 

PLAYWRITING homework:

None

Friday, January 18, 2013

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 30

 

(TO BE COLLECTED when finished):

1. Similar to yesterday’s journal, use your textbook to create 15 “dominoes” that show the events that we read about in Romeo & Juliet Act 3, Scene 1 (pgs. 872-883).
2. Next, choose one “domino” from your sequence and change it.
3. Then, write a new 3-domino sequence that shows how this change alters the outcome.
4. Turn in for a GRADE.

Having read Act III, Scene 1, in a group of 3, we will write a script for a talk show (the rest of the hour)

1. Read handout carefully (as a class)
2. There are 5 questions on the handout that your characters must address.
1. How was Mercutio killed
2. Why Mercutio was killed….etc…(see handout)
3.  
3. Length = 3 sides of 2 sheets of paper (do not skip lines).
4. No physical violence in your scripts. Characters may argue, but no violence.
5. TO BE COLLECTED AT THE END OF MONDAY’s CLASS (see handout for details)

ENGLISH homework: 

None.

 

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PLAYWRITING – Day 30

In the computer lab we began scripting our 5 minute scene (approx. 5 pages) and looked for ways to put our characters in extremes. Under pressure. In trouble. Within conflict.

5 PAGES MINIMUM – due next Wednesday

PLAYWRITING homework:

None

Thursday, January 17, 2013

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 29 

Collected homework: Act 2 open-book, take-home test packet 

1. Punctuated “Dear John” letter – checked meaning of newly punctuated letter and revised to make certain the letter was in fact a “Dear John” letter and not complementary by error! (Ah, the importance of commas!)
2. Wrote about a time when we (or someone we knew) were so angry that we acted without thinking.
3. Next we created a 15-piece sequence of events (like dominoes) that were believable, if not true, that included the anger from above. 
4. Finally, we chose one piece of the sequence and changed it and wrote a new 3-domino sequence that showed how this change altered the outcome.

Read Romeo and Juliet Act III, Scene 1 (pgs. 872-883). 

Watched spoof of Romeo & Juliet and Monty Python video clip of Black Knight 

ENGLISH homework:

 

None.

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PLAYWRITING – Day 29

·         Reviewed yesterday’s notes:

NOTES: (excerpts from The Art & Craft of Playwriting – (J. Hatcher)

·         Drama does not examine human beings in repose, at leisure. Drama examines human beings in extremes. Under pressure. In trouble. Within conflict.

·         If you want to find out what a person is made of, put that person under pressure.

·         Good playwrights remember: “Always keep your hero in trouble.”

·         Read 2 Christopher Durang shorts (as inspiration for our own scripting activity): “Funeral Parlor” and “DMV Tyrant”

·         Returned to our scripts and looked for ways to put our characters in extremes. Under pressure. In trouble. Within conflict.

o   Wrote dialogue for ½ hour. 

PLAYWRITING homework: 

None

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 28

·         Today, you’ll need each of the following:

o   Rubric and paper (on center table)

o   “Bitten by a vampire” article (already marked up)

·         Look at rubric…decide how you can get 5 points for each category…

o   How can you make “simplistic” become “clear, consistent”?

·         Write 20-point paragraph on “Bitten by a vampire” using the rubric and the following steps.

·         Remember:

o   As you read and write today…

§  Choose an interesting point (or fact) made in the article

§  Figure out what specific group of people might care about that interesting point

§  Explain why that point might matter to that group of people in the future

§  Use a quote from the text and explain why that quote might matter to that same group of people

§  Do not summarize what the article is about!! Instead, make a prediction about why something in the article might matter.

·         Discuss Chain of Order (MEDIEVAL WORLD VIEW also early Renaissance) and re-examined the balcony scene through this lens

o   Discussed content of question 23 from Act 2 packet by discussing the macrocosm and microcosm levels of the Renaissance Worldview chart

·         Continued working on take-home, open-book test on Act 2 – due Thursday

ENGLISH homework: 

Finish take-home, open-book test on Act 2 for tomorrow

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PLAYWRITING – Day 28 

·         Finish staged readings from yesterday.

·         ASSIGNMENT:

o   Starting at the beginning and reading through to the end of your scene, write down every how many bells you had and how many lines backwards you made your characters jump.

§  Remember that in David Ives script, the jumps backwards were 1 – 22.

·         When our jumps backwards are short…the plot stops.

NOTES: (excerpts from The Art & Craft of Playwriting – (J. Hatcher)

·         Drama does not examine human beings in repose, at leisure. Drama examines human beings in extremes. Under pressure. In trouble. Within conflict.

·         If you want to find out what a person is made of, put that person under pressure.

·         Good playwrights remember: “Always keep your hero in trouble.” 

·         Returned to our scripts and looked for ways to put our characters in extremes. Under pressure. In trouble. Within conflict. 

PLAYWRITING homework:

None.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 27 

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1. Practice:

                        As you read a non-fiction article (for any class)…

1.      choose an interesting point (or fact) made in the article

2.      figure out what specific group of people might care about that interesting point

3.      explain why that point might matter to that group of people in the future

4.      use a quote from the text and explain why that quote might matter to that same group of people

5.      Do not summarize what the article is about!! Instead, make a prediction about why something in the article might matter. 

2. Discuss yesterday's reading of Act 2.5-6
3. Begin open notes, take-home test on Act 2 – due Thursday – will have more time tomorrow, in class

ENGLISH homework:

 

Work on open notes, take-home test on Act 2 – due Thursday – will have more time tomorrow, in class

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PLAYWRITING – Day 27 

·         Staged readings of our scripts from yesterday.

·         Discussed an excerpt from Roland Barthes essay “Baudelaire’s Theater” where he writes that theatricality is “theater-minus-text, it is a density of signs and sensations built up on stage starting from the written argument” (1972:26) and how it introduces the notion, promoted by the European avant-garde since the beginning of the twentieth century, that the “essence” of theatre was to be found not in the written text but in the nontextual elements of production. (re: Glen McGillivray – “The Discursive Formation of Theatricality as a Critical Concept”) 

PLAYWRITING homework:                                                                                      

None

Monday, January 14, 2013

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 26 

THE KEY TO TODAY’S CLASS: To whom might it matter and why. 

Check homework: 4 facts, 4 why it matters 

Write a paragraph about the article “Bitten by a vampire” (without the rubric) 

Show rubric – grade your paragraph 

Writing assignment explanation – rubric – goal 

After you read a non-fiction article (for any class)…

1. choose an interesting point (or fact) made in the article
2. figure out what specific group of people might care about that interesting point
3. explain why that point might matter to that group of people in the future

With a partner, write an improved draft using the rubric and…focusing on:

• Why might this matter and TO WHOM SPECIFICALLY (audience)
• Add a specific point (from the article) for your specific audience and tell why they might care

 

• Underline the sentence that proves who your audience is.
• Circle the sentence that tells what this audience should be concerned about.

Read: Romeo and Juliet: Act 2.5-6 (pgs. 864 – 869) 

ENGLISH homework: 

Read: Romeo and Juliet: Act 2.5-6 (pgs. 864 – 869)

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PLAYWRITING – Day 26 

·         Using the script “The Sure Thing” by David Ives (1988) on the center table…write down the answers to the following:

o   1.  For each time the bells rings, how many lines backwards do the characters have to go to start the moment over…

o   2. Count up how many times the bell rings

§  after Bill speaks

§  after Betty speaks

·         Deconstructed David Ives use of the bell (theatricality)

o   Noted what he did, specifically, each time the bell rang

o   Noted what made the bell ring and what the author technically did each time the bell rang…how many lines backwards, as well as where he chose to start over and what and when he not only backed up but deleted some conversation as well.

·         Choose a setting and a “want” for 2 characters and mimic the theatricality of “The Sure Thing” by Davis Ives (1988)…

o   And wrote a script for 45 minutes in class whereby the characters back up and try again…always pursuing the same “want”

PLAYWRITING homework:                                                                                      

None

Friday, January 11, 2013

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 25

Collect homework: 19 exchanges in modern language – Act 2.3

Took comma test.

What does “PMR” stand for?

PREVIEW/MARK/RESPOND

How do we PREVIEW?  How do we MARK?  How do we RESPOND?

Preview “Bitten by a vampire” article for 60 seconds. Discussed why.

Copy down this chart into your notebooks:

Sample Text Markings

(“What were you thinking?”) 

I love this part

*Unfamiliar words/phrases

! That’s interesting

J I agree

X I disagree

? I don’t understand

Read and MARK “Bitten by a vampire” article with the symbols above…they may be used more than once. 

ENGLISH homework: 

Write down 4 facts from the article “Bitten by a vampire” -  For each fact, write down why you think it might matter…either to you, or your family, or your community, or the U.S., or the world.

 

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PLAYWRITING – Day 25 

·         Looked at content-less scenes and added theatricality to them…

o   in other words, where could these conversations take place that would put one of the characters in crisis?

o   What situation could we put these characters in that would make this “ordinary” conversation compelling?

·         Performed content-less scenes with our added “theatricality” to them…

·         Read (abridged version) “The Sure Thing” by Davis Ives (1988) – from a collection called All in the Timing – then discussed it and identified the “theatricality” that Ives added. 

http://www.pageout.net/user/www/m/j/mjknndy/sure%20thing%20david%20ives%20script%20101%20fall%202007.pdf

PLAYWRITING homework:                                                                                     

None

Thursday, January 10, 2013

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 24

WARMUP: Number a paper 1 – 21 – more comma practice (for tomorrow’s test) – re: “The Versatile Comma”

Shakespeare's Accent: How Did The Bard Really Sound? 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2012/03/24/149160526/shakespeares-accent-how-did-the-bard-really-sound 

Watched excerpts of Act 2 from Romeo & Juliet (1997 version)

19 exchanges assignment: Next, script Act 2 scene 3 (pg. 853) – for each character, write out a Modern English simple sentence for each of their responses – please note that the scene has 19 exchanges.

Last, for each of the 2 characters, on your newly written scripts, find 3 places for each character to DO SOMETHING (6 total) and write out (and underline) what that “something” is. For example, Romeo enters and waves to the Friar…or Juliet falls to her knees and begs the Nurse.

The above work WILL BE COLLECTED TOMORROW FOR A GRADE

ENGLISH homework: 

Finish 19 exchanges in modern language – Act 2.3  

Study for comma test this week Friday.

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PLAYWRITING - Day 24

Collect homework: With 2 of our stories (last night’s homework), we identified the situation, conflict (real or imagined), journey, and theatricality

Performed all phone conversations that we scripted the other day and added “theatricality” to them…in other words, where could these conversations take place that would put one of the characters in crisis? What situation could we put these characters in that would make this “ordinary” conversation compelling?

PLAYWRITING homework:

None.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 23

WARMUP: Using your books (pgs. 845 – 853), list all celestial images (words related to the sky, outer space, heaven) in balcony scene (Act 2.2)

Add a couple of comma notes. 

Number a paper 1 – 18 to add commas to 18 sentences from “Coming Along With Commas” – reviewed answers 

Announced comma test this week Friday

Listened to Act 2 - scenes 3, 4 (on CD) – approx. 16 minutes

Watched Act 2 “balcony scene” from Romeo & Juliet (1968 version) – approx. ? minutes

ENGLISH homework: 

Study for comma test this week Friday.

 

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PLAYWRITING - Day 23

Checked homework: 3 news stories

Performed all phone conversations…

20 responses ½ phone conversation as persuade

Switched papers – wrote the other half of the conversation, this time as the persuader. 

Took notes on the meaning of theatricality and what it looks like on stage.

With one of our stories (last night’s homework), we identified the situation, conflict (real or imagined), journey, and theatricality 

PLAYWRITING homework: 

With two of our stories (including the one we did in class), we identified the situation, conflict (real or imagined), journey, and theatricality