Thursday, January 30, 2014

3 SNOW DAYS 2014

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 30

 

WARMUP:

·         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.)

·         Next, 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.

 

ACT 3 QUESTIONS:

 

1. In scene 2, what does Juliet mean when she says, "I have bought the mansion of a love, But not possessed it?" (lines 26-27)

2. When the Nurse first enters, who does Juliet believe is dead?

3. When Juliet realizes that Romeo has killed Tybalt, she compares Romeo to four things. List them here.

4. What promise does the Nurse make to Juliet at the end of Scene 2?

5. In Scene 3, when Romeo finds out he has been banished, he says, "Be merciful and say 'death.' For exile hath more terror in his look, much more than death." What does this mean? (lines 12-14)

6. Who comes and knocks on the door when Romeo is speaking with the Friar?

7. What plan does the Friar have for Romeo?

8. What does the Nurse give to Romeo as a gift from Juliet?

9. At the beginning of Scene 4, Capulet makes arrangements for something to happen that Thursday. What is it?

10. Where do we find Romeo and Juliet at the beginning of Scene 5? What time is it?

11. What are Romeo and Juliet arguing about at the beginning of Scene 5?

12. What does Romeo mean when he says, "I have more care to stay than will to go. Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so." (lines 23-24)

13. What frightening vision does Juliet have before Romeo leaves? What do you think this foreshadows?

14. When Lady Capulet enters, why does she think Juliet is crying? Why is Juliet really crying?

15. What does Juliet say when she finds out what is planned for her on Thursday?

16. How does Capulet react when Juliet says she won't marry Paris?

17. Name several things that Capulet calls his daughter?

18. What does Capulet threaten to do if Juliet does not marry Paris?

19. How does Lady Capulet react to Juliet when Juliet tries to get her to delay the wedding? Why do you think she reacts this way?

20. What is the Nurse's advice to Juliet about what she should do?

21. At the end of Scene 5, Juliet tells the Nurse she is going to Friar Lawrence's cell to make confession. Why is she really going?

22. In Act III, Romeo and Juliet both face problems caused by their secret love.  In a Venn diagram, list Romeo’s and Juliet’s particular problems as well as the one(s) they share.

ENGLISH homework:

 

Finish questions 1-22 and then…

Complete the following:

·         Write out 5 key quotes for 5 different characters from Act 3.

• For each quote above, write the subtext.

 

ANNOUNCEMENT: On Tuesday, 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…

 

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PLAYWRITING – Day 30

 

Collect any missing scenarios that persuades another person to buy an animal from the pound. (approx. a paragraph)

 

Answered 43 sample test questions over your playwriting notes handout

 

Wrote for 15 minutes on “Climb Inside a Head” photo of young soldier. Writing in first person, we wrote what we imagined he was thinking as the photo was being taken.

 

Underlined the most interesting things we wrote. Eventually we narrowed them down to the best sentence.

 

Choosing one of your interesting ideas, start again. Expand on that idea. (5 minutes)

 

PLAYWRITING homework:

 

none

Friday, January 24, 2014

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 29

Collect 15 lines (and talk show scripts) from the other day…

 

WARMUP: Answer the 6 questions on the center table

 

Act 3, Scene 1 – answer the following questions:

1.      Tybalt challenges Rome to a duel, but Romeo refuses to fight. Reread lines 65-71 and fully explain WHY Romeo will not draw his sword.

2.      Read lines 72-81. Explain WHY Mercutio (instead of Romeo) fights Tybalt.

3.      HOW is Mercutio partly responsible for his own death?

4.      WHY did Romeo, who “loves” Tybalt, kill him, AND how does this reveal a character flaw in Romeo?

5.      DESCRIBE the punishment the Prince decrees for Romeo at the end of Act III, Scene i.  Infer (or reason) and explain why the Prince chooses this punishment.

6.      In Act III, Scene I, lines 107-113 – Is this speech a soliloquy, an aside or a monologue.  Explain.

 

Read summaries of Act 3, scenes 3,4,5 from http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/romeo/SceneTextIndex.html

 

Listen to the rest of Act 3 on CD (scenes 3,4,5 – pgs. 888 – 905)…(30 minutes)

 

ENGLISH homework:

 

None

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PLAYWRITING – Day 29

 

Collect homework:

1. Collect: 20 question test and answer key
2. Check: ½ phone conversation

 

TO BE COLLECTED:

• Using someone else’s phone conversation from yesterday’s homework, write out the other ½ for them. (20 responses, as persuade)
• At your table groups, perform ALL your phone conversations…read them ALOUD to each other.
• Staple both parts of the conversation together…COLLECTED

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

 

Using your notes on 6 scientifically proven ways of persuasion…in a group of 6, each of you choose a different method of persuasion and write down a scenario that persuades another person to buy an animal from the pound. (approx. a paragraph)

 

PLAYWRITING homework:

 

none

Thursday, January 23, 2014

 

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 28

 

Open book to Act 3, Scene 1, lines 88-100 and re-read that speech

 

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?

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

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

4.      Listen to Act 3 on CD (scenes 1 and 2 – pgs. 873 - 887)…(30 minutes)

 

Finish classwork (see below) from yesterday…COLLECT (or turn in tomorrow)

 

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.

 

ENGLISH homework:

 

Finish all work noted above.

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PLAYWRITING – Day 28

 

Pick up copy of notes on center table - review - announce homework.

THEME OF THE DAY: Persuasion

 

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

 

(Write 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 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

 

PLAYWRITING homework:

 

1.        Create test and answer key based on the playwriting notes/handout…(5 questions per page of notes, 20 questions total)

2.        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.

3.        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).

a.        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.

Include at least 20 different responses for the persuadee.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

 

Collect yesterday’s classwork: 18 quotations…

 

(TO BE COLLECTED when finished):

1.      Similar to yesterday, use your textbook to create 15 “dominoes” that show the events that you 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.

 

Next, having read Act III, Scene 1, in a small group, 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.

                                                              i.      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:

 

We will finish all of today’s classwork tomorrow, in class, and turn it in then.

 

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PLAYWRITING – Day 27

 

Take out your scripts from yesterday…

 

Continue listening to scripts – HOW TO BE SUBTLE

 

REWRITE your subtle script

 

No character gets to say what he/she means…

1. Instead of saying “Will you do out with me?” what could a character say instead?
2. Instead of a parent telling their child that the dog died, write what they would say instead.

 

PLAYWRITING homework:

 

none

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

 

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 26

 

·         Have students take out yesterday’s classwork:

• REMIND THEM: “YESTEDAY, you wrote about a time when you (or someone you knew) were so angry that you acted without thinking. – 2 paragraphs”

·         TODAY, we’re going to use that same angry incident from yesterday and break it down into 15 chunks.

1. On the same paper as yesterday, number it 1-15.
2. Write a 15-piece sequence of events (like dominoes) that are believable, if not true, that shows how one event lead to the next event, etc.

                                                              i.      In other words, retell your story from yesterday as a series of dominoes. Be sure to include the anger.

1.      NOTE: If you don’t remember 15 moments, you may make them up as long as they are believable.

3. Finally, choose one piece of the sequence (from the middle) and change it so that your story would have had a happier outcome.
4. Explain in a paragraph, how changing just that one piece would have changed the entire outcome.

·         YESTERDAY we read Act 3, Scene 1…(pgs. 873 – 882)

·         The goal of this assignment is to retell this single scene using THE MOST IMPORTANT LINES of the characters.

o   Below you will find the scene broken down into sections – following each section is the number of characters in each section. Using your book, you are to write down 1 word-for-word quote (the most important one) for each character (within the lines given).

§  THESE ARE DIRECT QUOTATIONS from the play. When finished, you will have 18 word-for-word quotes that retell the main points of this scene.

o   lines 1-35; 2 characters (Benvolio/Mercutio)

o   lines 36-86; 4 characters (Tybalt/Merc/Benv/Romeo)

o   lines 87-126; 3 characters (Merc/Benv/Romeo)

o   lines 127-142; 5 characters

o   lines 143-195; 4 characters

·         For the last 25 minutes of class, watch approx. 25 minutes of Romeo+Juliet beginning with scene 14 (which is at the 35:00 minute mark)…and end at 57:30 (the end of the wedding scene).

·         ALL CLASSWORK WILL BE COLLECTED TOMORROW.

 

ENGLISH homework:

 

·         Finish ALL CLASSWORK (above) -  TO BE COLLECTED TOMORROW

 

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PLAYWRITING – Day 26

 

With an assigned partner, we wrote 2 short scripts (1-sided).

One that lacked subtlety using: http://www.thestorystarter.com/jr.htm

Then re-wrote same script with subtlety…

 

PLAYWRITING homework:

 

none

Monday, January 20, 2014

 

ENGLISH – 2nd trimester – Day 25

 

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

 

Comma test - Number a paper 1-40 (and clear desk)

 

Graded tests

 

Tell students that #1,2 will be COLLECTED TOMORROW (after we finish 3,4):

1.      In the SAME reading group as the other day, read Romeo and Juliet Act III, Scene 1 and scene 2 (pgs. 872-887) and complete these 4 questions for both scenes…just like you did the other day…

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? Why?
4. What techniques did the author use in this scene to hold the readers’ interest?

 

2.      Write about a time when you (or someone you know) were so angry that you acted without thinking. – 2 paragraphs

 

ENGLISH homework:

 

None

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PLAYWRITING – Day 25

 

Collect homework: 2 conversations, edited by sidestepping the obvious

 

Defined “subtle” and its antonym.

 

Wrote short scripts that lacked subtlety (2 ex’s meet at a barn)

 

Re-wrote same script with subtlety…

 

Student example (after we edited it as a class):

 

Ex. 1: Hi.

Ex. 1: So….how’s everything with…

Ex. 2: They’re fine.

Ex. 1: Have you told them?

Ex. 1: What did they say?

Ex. 2: They’d rather live in the circus.

Next we brainstormed who or what these two characters are talking about…dogs, kids, etc.

 

After choosing “kids”, we then each wrote the next moments of this script without letting either character leave.

 

Shared

PLAYWRITING homework:

 

none