Tuesday, April 30, 2013

ENGLISH – 3rd trimester – Day 34 

REMIND CLASS: 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… 

• Like yesterday: Using any of the scenes from ACT 3 (pgs. 873 – 905) find an important quote from any character and write it on one of the whiteboards…no repeats. Do NOT add the character’s name to your quote when you write it down.
• After everyone has added their quotes, number their quotes on the whiteboards…then have each student number a paper (1-28?) and, without using their books, they are to write down which character said each quote.
• (This exercise serves as a pretest to Thursday’s actual test.)

Next, by yourself or with a partner…(answers to numbers 2, 3, 4 below to be COLLECTED THIS HOUR):

1.      Read Romeo & Juliet Act 4, Scenes 1 and 2.

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.

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

ENGLISH homework:

Study for Act 3 quotations test for Thursday

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PLAYWRITING – Day 34

·        REPEAT the warm-up from yesterday, but for a DIFFERENT CHARACTER:

o   PROMPT: “What might one of your character’s think but never say”

§  Write for 5 minutes, writing the entire time.

o   After 5 minutes, read what you have written and underline what you believe to be the most interesting thing.

o   Using this as your new starting point, write for 3 more minutes.

·         The rest of the hour, work on new scripts (from yesterday and Friday), using either what you came to class with or what you just created in the warm-up.

·         ANNOUNCEMENT: We will begin working in a computer lab on Wednesday. Your 5-page, hand-written rough draft needs to be completed before Wednesday’s class so you can concentrate on typing it in and revision. 

PLAYWRITING homework: 

·         5 pages, handwritten, due Wednesday

·         10 pages, typed, due Friday

Monday, April 29, 2013

ENGLISH – 3rd trimester – Day 33 

·         Collect homework: Act 3 packet/test… 

·         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.)

·         List 6 reasons we don’t tell everybody, everything. 

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? 

Looked at Benvolio and Mercutio’s dialogue from Act 3.1 and discussed what they actually said and the likely subtext of what they said. 

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

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

Complete the following (COLLECTED):

·         Write out 5 key quotes for 5 different characters from Act 3 (without an answer key: character names).

·         For each quote above, write the subtext. 

ANNOUNCEMENT: 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… 

ENGLISH homework: 

Study for Act 3 quotations test for Thursday

 

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PLAYWRITING – Day 33

·         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.

·         Next, we wrote:

o   PROMPT: “What might one of your character’s think but never say”

§  Write for 5 minutes, writing the entire time.

o   After 5 minutes, read what you have written and underline what you believe to be the most interesting thing.

o   Using this as your new starting point, write for 3 more minutes.

·         The rest of the hour, we worked on our new scripts (from Friday), using either what they came to class with or what they just created in the warm-up.

·        ANNOUNCEMENT: We will begin working in a computer lab on Wednesday. Your 5-page rough draft needs to be completed before Wednesday’s class so you can concentrate on typing it in and revision. 

PLAYWRITING homework: 

·         5 pages, handwritten, due Wednesday

·         10 pages, typed, due Friday

Friday, April 26, 2013

ENGLISH – 3rd trimester – Day 32 

Watched old (1968) and new (1997) versions of Romeo & Juliet Act 3. 

ENGLISH homework: 

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

 

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PLAYWRITING – Day 32

o   As a warm-up, “Write what you are thinking” for 5 minutes, writing the entire time.

§  After 5 minutes, re-read what you have written and underline what you believe to be the most interesting thing.

o   Using this as a new starting point, write for 3 more minutes.

o   The rest of the hour, work on a new, 5-page minimum scripts, using either what you came to class with or what you just created in the warm-up.

 

Thursday, April 25, 2013

ENGLISH – 3rd trimester – Day 31 

P/T conferences: 6:00 – 8:00 PM 

Collect homework: 3 scenes, 4 questions each, 12 questions total 

Using your book…make 3 lists….

a.       list 5 main plot points from Act 3, Scene 3

b.      list 2 main points from Scene 4

c.       list 5 main points from scene 5 

Discuss yesterday’s readings…scenes 3, 4, 5 

Start homework 

ENGLISH homework: 

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

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

ENGLISH – 3rd trimester – Day 30 

P/T conferences: 3:30 – 5:30 PM 

WARMUP (to be collected with homework):

1.      Review Mercutio’s Act 3, Scene 1, lines 88 – 100 (pg. 876 – 877)…beginning with “I am hurt…” and ending with “I was hurt under your arm.”

2.      What does it remind you of?

4.      In Act 3, Scene 2, lines 1 – 31 (pg. 883) – List when and where Juliet breaks the chain of order (says something taboo).

5.      Read the next 3 scenes of Act 3(scenes 3, 4, 5 – pgs. 888 – 905) - for EACH scene, STOP, and answer the 4 following questions. Answer the 4 questions for each of the 3 scenes separately. 

1. Choose a character. What lesson(s) have I learned from that specific character in this scene?
2. This scene does not have a title. Give it a title and explain why.
3. What is the single most important word in this scene? Explain why?
4. What techniques did the author use in this scene to hold the readers’ interest?

ENGLISH homework: 

Finish reading Romeo & Juliet Act 3 (pgs. 888 – 905) and answer the 4 questions listed above for EACH of the 3 scene (12 total).

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PLAYWRITING – Day 30 

Collect homework: 4-sided, “bell-ringing” script 

·         Re-write opening/setup to yesterday’s content less scene. COLLECTED

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

PLAYWRITING homework: 

None

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

ENGLISH – 3rd trimester – Day 29 

• Find your copy of “Bitten by a Vampire.”
• On the back of it, make a chart and number it 1,2,3…
• What are the facts?                   Why might it matter?
• On your chart, choose and list 3 facts from the article.
• Fill in the other side of your chart.
• Choose one item from column B (Why might it matter)
• Rewrite it starting with the word “Imagine…”
• (and include your audience)
• Your next sentences will begin with the words, "According to the article “Bitten by a Vampire” (The Week, Sept. 11, 2009)…(add your quote here)…
• Finish your paragraph by explaining
• what your audience should do about it or
• what they might expect to happen in the future

Review R&J Act 3, scenes 1 and 2

ENGLISH homework: 

None

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PLAYWRITING – Day 29 

·         Looked at content-less scenes and added the 4 steps of dramatization to them (see yesterday’s notes)…

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… 

PLAYWRITING homework: 

Continue working on your “bell-ringing” scripts from Friday – due tomorrow, must be 4 sides minimum.

Monday, April 22, 2013

ENGLISH – 3rd trimester – Day 28 

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.

a.       How was Mercutio killed

b.      Why Mercutio was killed….etc…(see handout)

c.        

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:

None

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PLAYWRITING – Day 28 

Discuss “The Sure Thing” by David Ives (1988) and our attempts to mimic its bell-ringing theatricality.  

Take out your “bell-ringing” scripts from Friday…continue working on them. 

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

4 Steps of Dramatization

1. Situation – A young man is killed in a hold-up.
2. Conflict – (real or imagined) – gets sued – young man kills brother - suspect gets away – no evidence – suspect threatens young man’s family – suspect kidnaps family member of young man – young man’s identity is stolen –
3. Character’s journey – the killer decides to turn himself in –
4. Add theatricality – The murder is remembered and re-enacted onstage from various witnesses. 

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

PLAYWRITING homework: 

Continue working on your “bell-ringing” scripts from Friday.

Friday, April 19, 2013

ENGLISH – 3rd trimester – Day 27 

(TO BE COLLECTED when finished):

1.      Similar to the other day, 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).

1. In other words, show how one thing led to the next thing all the way through the entire scene.

2.      Next, choose one “domino” from your sequence. Choose one that started all the problems. Change it.

1. Change it to something positive. SO that if the character would have done it, all the other problems in the scene would NOT have happened.

3.      With your change in mind, create 7 NEW dominoes that start with your change. Your new dominoes should show what could have happened in the scene, but didn’t.

4.      Turn in. COLLECT

Next, having read Act III, Scene 1, in a group the other day, you will write a script for a talk show (the rest of the hour) by following these steps: 

1.      Read handout carefully (as a class)

2.      There are 5 questions on the handout that your characters must address.

a.       How was Mercutio killed

b.      Why Mercutio was killed….etc…(see handout)

c.       …

3.      Required length of script = 3 sides (of 2 sheets of paper)

1. Write on every line.
2. 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 TODAY’S CLASS 

ENGLISH homework: 

None.

 

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PLAYWRITING – Day 27

·         Collect homework: (students were to identify 4 parts of 2 of their news articles)

·         If they do NOT have their homework, they must turn in a PINK sheet from the center table.

·         Before reading the following scene from a play, please note that there is a lot of literal bell ringing in the script and it is important for someone in the class to either ring an actual bell (from their phone or ipods) or, in the least, say “RING RING” each time the bell rings in the script.

·         As a class, read ALOUD (abridged version) “The Sure Thing” by David Ives (1988) – from a collection called All in the Timing – then discuss it and identify the purpose of the bell-ringing (aka: the “theatricality” that Ives added)…

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

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

o   1. How many times does the bell ring, total? 

o   2. For each time the bells rings, list how many lines backwards the characters have to go to start the moment over?

o   3. How many times the bell rings after Bill speaks?

o   4. How many times the bell rings after Betty speaks?

o   5. For each time the bells rings , explain what happens in the scene that makes the bell ring and what the author technically did each time the bell

o   6. BONUS: After many of the rings, the characters back up their conversation, and start again, repeating word for word what they said the first time and changing only what they said wrong. HOWEVER, find examples of when this is NOT the case…and the characters change or omit lines of their dialogue.

o   Write down what he did, specifically, each time the bell rang

§  In other words, students are to note 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   For the rest of the hour, write a script your own script whereby the characters back up and try again…always pursuing the same “want”

o   Students will work on these again, on Monday. 

PLAYWRITING homework:                                                                                      

None

Thursday, April 18, 2013

ENGLISH – 3rd trimester – Day 26 

Punctuated “Dear John” letter 

Review yesterday’s classwork.

REVIEW: 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 we preview 

We read and MARKED “Bitten by a vampire” article with symbols. 

Introduced “Circles of Reflection” (John Powers)

·         The innermost circle is labeled “self.”   

Wrote a paragraph that addressed a specific fact from the article and explained how a specific group of people would care about it. COLLECTED 

ENGLISH homework: 

None

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PLAYWRITING - Day 26 

1.      Checked homework: 3 articles of concern 

2.      Deconstructed “The Descendants” scene from the 6 elements from the Science of Persuasion video notes…for each of the 4 characters in the scene, decide what who he was trying to persuade, decide what he was trying to persuade them to do, and explain HOW he used one of the following tactics:

1. Reciprocity
2. Scarcity
3. Authority
4. Consistency
5. Liking
6. Consensus

3.      Began homework 

PLAYWRITING homework: 

With 2 of our stories (last night’s homework), identify:

1. the situation,
2. conflict (real or imagined),
3. journey, and
4. theatricality

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

ENGLISH – 3rd trimester – Day 24 

·       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

·         Continue working on Act 2 packet – due Wednesday 

ENGLISH homework: 

Finish Act 2 packet – due Wednesday

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PLAYWRITING – Day 23 

Check homework: ½ phone conversation 

Take notes:

• According to playwright Gram Slaton, there are 11 ingredients found in every great play:

1.       Goals, conflicts, obstacles, actions

2.       Tension and suspense

3.        Secrets

4.        Sex

5.        Love

6.        Money

7.        Power

8.       Crime

9.       Death

10.   Ideas

11.   Theatricality

There are 6 ways to establish (or depict) setting in a play.

1.       Realistically

2.        One or two scenic suggestive elements

3.        One scenic element

4.        A hand prop

5.        Costume only

6.       Dialogue only

The 6 elements of drama according to Aristotle.

1.       Character

2.       Language

3.       Action

4.       Ideas

5.       Music

6.       Spectacle/theatricality

Take notes on the video: The Science of Persuasion: http://youtu.be/cFdCzN7RYbw

PLAYWRITING homework:

 

none

Monday, April 15, 2013

ENGLISH – 3rd trimester – Day 23 

1.      Number a paper 1 – 40…for today’s comma test. 

2.      After turning in test and answers sheet, pick up a copy of Act 2 packet and begin working on it.

1. due Wednesday (not tomorrow) J

ENGLISH homework:

 

Continue working on Act 2 packet – due Wednesday

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PLAYWRITING – Day 23 

Collect homework (or pink sheet): 2 paragraphs 

THEME OF THE DAY: Persuasion 

ANNOUNCE: that # 1-5 (below) will be collected this hour… 

(Students are to write their answers the following prompts):

 

1.        Write down a list of 10 things that some people do to get others to do what they want.

2.        On a similar note, write down a list of what makes YOU agree, even reluctantly, to do something that someone else asks of you? (parents, teachers, enemies, friends, salespeople, popular kids, disabled people, celebrities, etc.)

a.        add a few of these to your list…

1.        Minimize the consequences; 2.        Threats; 3.        Money; 4.        Guilt; 5.        Pity – relieve my hurt; 6.        Verbalize the result;

7.        Promise of something better; 8.        Once in a lifetime; 9.        Repetition; 10.     Compliment – sweet talk; 11.     Reason – common sense

3.        Think of a SPECIFIC time when you were persuaded to do something you didn’t want to do but were FINALLY persuaded to do. Write down a short summary of that story.

a.        Include what did the other person did or said that helped to persuade you?

4.        Next, list 10 different things that you, personally, will never buy (for any number of reasons). Anything at all (as long as it’s appropriate for school).

5.        Next, exchange your list with a partner. Pick one thing off your partner’s list. Your job now is going to be to write an advertisement that will convince them to buy the very item that they said they would never buy.

a.        The key is going to be to think of things that can be done with the item that aren’t obvious. For example, if your partner said that they would never buy tuna fish in a can, you may want to sell them tuna fish in a can by suggesting they use it to pound in tent stakes, or freak out their brother by hiding it in his socks, or perhaps, build a vest out of multiple cans of tuna and start a new fashion trend.

                                       i.      So first, list some funny, creative things that could be done with their item (these will become your copy points in your advertisement).

b.        Next, write a radio/TV commercial that will persuade your partner to buy one of the items on his/her I’ll-Never-Buy list.

                                       i.      Should be a good, long paragraph in length.

6.        Collect #1-5

BEGIN HOMEWORK (a - c):

a.        Imagine a situation where you (or someone you know) was persuaded to do something that you initially didn’t want to do. Now imagine that the persuading was done over the phone.

b.        On a separate paper, you will write ½ of a phone conversation where we only hear what the persuadee’s (the person being persuaded) says as he speaks into the phone (as if he was on a phone and we could only hear his side of things).

                                       i.      The persuadee is the “buyer” (the persuader would be the “seller”). We’re focusing on the “buyer’s” side of the conversation only. Do not write down what the persuader is saying.

c.        Include at least 20 different responses for the persuadee.