Drafting Your Sonnet Essay: October 31, 2018

Focus: How can improve our poetry analysis skills through the process of drafting the sonnet essay?

1. Warming up by drafting your sonnet essay

2. Learning to analyze sonnets by drafting your sonnet essay

3. Wrapping up by drafting your sonnet essay

Remember: You can compose an entire timed essay in 40 minutes on a poem you've never seen before. How much of this draft can you get done during today's class?

HW:
1. For TONIGHT: Look both ways when crossing the street, and don't eat any unwrapped candy.

2. For FRIDAY: Finish drafting your sonnet essay. If you want your peer editor to handwrite comments, then print it out.

The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth: October 30, 2018

Focus: What causes the women to turn on each other?

1. Warming up by hurling Shakespearean insults at each other

• What patterns do you notice among the insults?
• Consider sound, images, diction, syntax, and subject matter.

2. Reading the rest of Act 3 with a focus on dichotomies and motifs

• Following up by considering the authorial intent behind your dichotomy or motif:

• Shakespeare uses .... to suggest / reveal / criticize / celebrate...

3. Viewing the film version of Acts 2 and 3 with a focus on directorial choices:

• What happens to their clothes / appearance, and why? What does it suggest?

HW:
1. For YESTERDAY: Please e-mail me your sonnet essay thesis along with any brainstorming you may have done (and check your e-mail for my feedback).

2. For WEDNESDAY: You will have the entire class to work on your sonnet essays. Bring your laptop and all sonnet materials to class.

3. For FRIDAY: Complete your sonnet essay rough draft for our peer workshop day.

4. For NEXT WEDNESDAY, NOV 7: Final draft is due. It must be printed with the Night-Before Checklist stapled to the top.

Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be: October 29, 2018

Focus: What conflicts and motifs start to shift as the action rises in Midsummer?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Celebrating successes from your East of Eden timed writings and offering you individual feedback for moving forward (remember our motto: I am a genius with much to learn)

3. Offering you a discovery about the moon


4. Finishing our Act 3 performances, reading the rest of Act 3 and viewing the film version of Acts 2 and 3 with a focus on dichotomies


HW:
1. For TODAY: Please e-mail me your sonnet essay thesis along with any brainstorming you may have done.

2. For WEDNESDAY: We will have our next timed writing; it will be a Question #1 (Poetry) Prompt

3. For FRIDAY: Complete your sonnet essay rough draft for our peer workshop day.

4. For NEXT WEDNESDAY, NOV 7: Final draft is due. It must be printed with the Night-Before Checklist stapled to the top.

Sonnet Recitals: October 26, 2018

Focus: How does memorizing (and listening to) a sonnet change your understanding of it?

PLEASE PUT AWAY CELL PHONES AND KEEP THEM OUT OF SIGHT IN CLASS.

1. Warming up with your small group sonnet recitals and self-reflections

2. Offering you a quick recap of the sonnet essay's structure and a sample essay from last year

3. Finishing our Acting Company performances of Acts 2 and 3

HW:
1. For MONDAY: E-mail me your sonnet essay thesis and any outlining you have completed.

• Click HERE for the overview of the sonnet essay.
• Click HERE for the sample sonnet essay.

2. For FRIDAY: Complete rough draft of sonnet essay due by class.

Acts 2 and 3 in Performance: October 25, 2018

Focus: What can understand better or differently about MSND through performance?

1. Warming up with walk, stop, clap, name

2. Rehearing with our Acting Companies (15 minutes)

3. Performing Acts 2 and 3 with focus questions and close readings

Acting Company #1: 2.1.195-276

Acting Company #2: 2.2.1-89

Acting Company #3: 2.2.90-163

Acting Company #4: 3.1.1-100

Acting Company #5: 3.1.101-208

Acting Company #6: 3.2.1-111

Acting Company #7: 3.2.112-180

HW:
1. For FRIDAY: Memorize your entire sonnet to recite to your group.

2. For MONDAY: E-mail me your sonnet essay thesis and any outlining you have completed.

• Click HERE for the overview of the sonnet essay.
• Click HERE for the sample sonnet essay.

3. For FRIDAY, NOV 2: Rough draft of sonnet essay due by class

Calling All Acting Companies: October 24, 2018

Focus: How does performance contribute to our understanding of Shakespeare?

1. Warming up with a quick revisitation of inversion/anastrophe

2. Getting into Acting Companies and reading through Act 2 and 3 scenes

Acting Company #1: 2.1.195-276

Acting Company #2: 2.2.1-89

Acting Company #3: 2.2.90-163

Acting Company #4: 3.1.1-100

Acting Company #5: 3.1.101-208

Acting Company #6: 3.2.1-111

Acting Company #7: 3.2.112-180

HW:
1. For THURSDAY: 

• Memorize the final two lines of your sonnet.

• Bring any props/costumes you will need for your performance. We will use the first half of class to rehearse and the second half of class to start performing your scenes.

2. For FRIDAY: Memorize your entire sonnet to recite to your group.

3. For MONDAY: E-mail me your sonnet essay thesis and any outlining you have completed.

• Click HERE for the overview of the sonnet essay.
• Click HERE for the sample sonnet essay.

Ill Met By Moonlight: October 23, 2018

Focus: How do Shakespeare's motifs contribute to the play's characterization and conflicts?

1. Warming up with a mini lesson on inversion

2. Reading the first part of 2.1 together with a focus on yesterday's motifs and dichotomies

3. Getting into Acting Companies and reading through Act 2 and 3 scenes

Acting Company #1: 2.1.195-276

Acting Company #2: 2.2.1-89

Acting Company #3: 2.2.90-163

Acting Company #4: 3.1.1-100

Acting Company #5: 3.1.101-208

Acting Company #6: 3.2.1-111

Acting Company #7: 3.2.112-180

HW:
1. For WEDNESDAY: Memorize the NEXT 4 lines of your sonnet.

2. For FRIDAY: Memorize your entire sonnet to recite to your group.

3. For MONDAY: E-mail me your sonnet essay thesis and any outlining you have completed.

• Click HERE for the overview of the sonnet essay.
• Click HERE for the sample sonnet essay.

The Moon, Like to a Silver Bow / New-bent in Heaven: October 22, 2018

Focus: How do Shakespeare's motifs contribute to the play's characterization and conflicts?

1. Warming up with three good things and a refresher on the sonnet essay

• Memorize your sonnet (as best you can) by this Friday, Oct 26.

• E-mail me your thesis and any outlining you've completed by Monday, Oct 29.

• Complete your rough draft by class next Friday, Nov 2.

• Final draft is due Wednesday, Nov 7.

2. Revisiting Act 1 with a focus on the moon

https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/plays.php

• How does each person characterize the moon? 
• What does this character's language regarding the moon reveal about the character?

3. Viewing the film version of Act 1 with a focus on dichotomies and motifs

HW:
1. For TUESDAY: Memorize the first 4 lines of your sonnet.

2. For FRIDAY: Memorize your entire sonnet to recite to your group.

3. For MONDAY: E-mail me your sonnet essay thesis and any outlining you have completed.

• Click HERE for the overview of the sonnet essay.
• Click HERE for the sample sonnet essay.

From Tragedy to Comedy: October 17, 2018

Focus: How does Shakespeare turn tragedy into comedy?

1. Warming up with a living picture of 1.1

2. Getting acquainted with the tragic tale of Pyramus and Thisbe

• Why the play within a play? In other words, what parallels can you find between this myth and A Midsummer Night's Dream?

3. Reading 1.2 with human subtitles

• What do you notice about these characters as a group?
• What do you notice about Bottom in particular?
• How do the mechanicals' linguistic patterns differ from those of the lovers?

4. Deciphering vocabulary in context (if time allows)

HW:
1. If you are absent today, please read Act 1, Scene 2 carefully on your own.

2. Keep reading your sonnet aloud and work on memorizing it by October 24. Click HERE for some tips on memorizing sonnets.

3. Please turn in your school copies of East of Eden.

Setting the Stage: October 16, 2018

Focus: How does Shakespeare set the stage in the first scene of A Midsummer Night's Dream?

1. Warming up Shakespearean note passing and verb conjugation

2. Mapping out the play's people, places, and problems:

• Who are the three main groups of characters? What can you infer about each?
• Where are the two main settings? What can you infer about each?
• What central conflicts might be driving this play? 
• Can you find any other patterns?

3. Performing an Actor's Circle reading of Act 1, Scene 1

• What does each character want?
• What obstacle is preventing each character from getting what he/she wants?

4. Developing a living picture of Act 1, Scene 1

• Choosing actors, costumes, props, background, music, and postures/staging

HW:
1. If you are absent tomorrow, please read Act 1, Scene 2 carefully on your own.

2. Keep reading your sonnet aloud and work on memorizing it by October 24.

3. Please turn in your school copies of East of Eden.

Poetry, Aloud: October 15, 2018

Focus: What can Mr. Jovan Mays teach us about poetry in performance?

PLEASE MEET IN THE THEATRE AND SIT TOGETHER.

HW:
Start reading your sonnet out loud a few times a day; aim to memorize it by October 24.

Tossing the ShakesBEAR: October 12, 2018

Focus: How can speaking poetry aloud unlock meaning?

1. Warming up by finding the beat in two nursery rhymes; trying the same game with a passage from A Midsummer Night's Dream

2. Passing the Shakesbear and tossing around a few lines from A Midsummer Night's Dream

Before:

• Who has a line with a word they don't know the meaning of?
• Who has a word they don't know how to pronounce?

After each round:

• How many lines can you remember?

After both rounds are done:

• Scan the meter of the lines.

• Which ones are iambic? What do they have in common, or how does the iambic rhythm fit what's being said in those lines?

• Which ones break from iambic meter? Which words stand out? What do those lines/words have in common, or why might Shakespeare break from iambic meter there?

3. Getting together in your sonnet groups, reading your sonnets aloud, and adding to your metacognitives (or just marking on your sonnets)

• Scan for rhythm and meter (iambic? trochaic? neither? how many feet in each line?), noting which sonnets adhere to traditional meter, which completely abandon it, and everything in between.

• Listen for euphony, cacophony, alliteration and assonance (think Eminem).

ABOVE ALL, CONSIDER HOW SOUND REFLECTS/CREATES MEANING IN YOUR SONNET.


HW:
1. For MONDAY: Meet in the theater and sit together.

2. Start reading your sonnet out loud a few times a day; aim to memorize it by October 24.

East of Eden Timed Writing: October 11, 2018

Focus: What can we discover about East of Eden through high-velocity writing?

1. Warming up with a glimpse of the actual essay section on the A.P. test and a celebration of a few awesome blogs

2. Discovering new meanings of East of Eden through a timed writing (Question 3)

HW:
1. For FRIDAY: If you haven't posted your East of Eden blog yet, please finish it tonight.

2. Start reading your sonnet out loud a few times a day; aim to memorize it by October 24.

3. For MONDAY: Meet in the theater and sit together as a class.

Sound and Sense: October 9, 2018

Focus: How can sound devices help us unlock poetry?

1. Warming up: Describing two different scenes using only your sense of sound

2. Offering you some of my favorite poetic sound devices

Euphony: Pleasing to the ear, harmonious

Cacophony: Harsh, discordant, unpleasant sounds

Alliteration: Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words (the snake slithered silently)

Assonance: Repetition of vowel sounds (or, as Eminem refers to it, "Word Bending")


3. Enjoying several poems together using only our ears

• What sounds are you noticing?

• How do the sounds contribute to/create the larger meanings of the poems?

4. Composing your big question blog responses to East of Eden

HW:
1. For THURSDAY: Finish your East of Eden blog response. We will have our Tuesday writing on the novel this Thursday.

2. For FRIDAY: If you have your own copy of A Midsummer Night's Dream, bring it to class.

3. Start reading your sonnet out loud a few times a day; aim to memorize it by October 24.

Descending into the Fire and Rising up from the Ashes: October 8, 2018

Focus: What does Steinbeck reveal to us in his final chapters?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Warming up a bit more with Steinbeck's fires (pun intended!):

Take a look at Lee's commentary on fire (598).  Put it into your own words and consider whether or not you agree with him.

Revisit the three scenes in recent reading in which a character sets something on fire:

• Sheriff Quinn's burning of explicit photos (558)
• Cal's burning of the money (565-6)
• Abra's burning of Aron's letters (578, 583)

In each scene, what does the fire release?  What does it destroy?

What do these objects have in common?

Why is destruction by fire (vs. a different method of destruction) appropriate to these particular objects?

How/what do these fiery scenes contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole?

3. Enjoying our final Socratic seminar on East of Eden

4. Wrapping up: Lingering questions, big epiphanies, generous kudos

HW:
1. Enjoy a few days without a reading assignment. You've earned it. 

2. For TOMORROW: Bring your laptops an East of Eden; you will compose your big question blogs in class. 

3. For THURSDAY: You will have your Tuesday writing on East of Eden.

4. Start reading your sonnet out loud a few times a day; aim to memorize it by October 24.

Choices: October 5, 2018

Focus: What can we learn through Steinbeck's choices?

1. Warming up with a close reading the end of Chapter 49 together:

• Which authorial choices stand out to you?
• Why might Steinbeck have made these choices?

2. Giving you a spoiler alert for Chapter 50 and offering you the choice to skip it

3. Reading the ending of East of Eden OR freewriting on the following quotation about the human soul:

“But I have a new love for that glittering instrument,
the human soul.
It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe.
It is always attacked and never destroyed -
because 'Thou mayest.”

― John Steinbeck, East of Eden

HW:
1. For MONDAY: Finish East of Eden and your final reading ticket (if you can) for our final Socratic on Monday. Remember that you can skip Chapter 50 if it's too much for you right now. If you're in need of a little focus for the final reading ticket, try this:

• Select one motif (water, apples, the color gray, Cain & Abel, etc.).

• Describe where the motif has shown up previously, and address where/how it comes into play in the final chapters (include quotations/page numbers).

• What has this motif contributed to the meaning of the work as a whole. In other words, why do you think Steinbeck developed this particular motif?

2. For TUESDAY: Bring your computer to class to compose your Big Question Blog on East of Eden.

3. THURSDAY we will have our Tuesday writing on East of Eden.

Listening To Your Sonnet With a Stethoscope: October 2, 2018

Focus: How can a poem's rhythm contribute to its meaning?

Please make sure your metacognitive is turned in / shared with me.

1. Warming up with a five-minute terms (Weeks 1-6) review on www.quizlet.com

2. Listening to the heartbeats of three songs:

In each song, how does the rhythm reflect meaning?

Song #1: "Stressed Out" (twenty one pilots)
Song #2: "Critical Mistakes" (888)
Song #3: "Modern Man" (Arcade Fire)

3. Introducing you to scansion with Shakespeare's "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day" and "My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun"

• What different types of poetic rhythm should we be listening for when there's no music?
• How does the rhythm in each poem reflect the poem's larger meaning?

4. Listening for the rhythm in your sonnets (small groups)

HW:
1. For this week: Please finish your sonnet metacognitive if you have not yet done so. If it's handwritten, turn it in; if it's typed, Google share it with me.

2. For WEDNESDAY: Just make sure you're up through Chapter 43 (the reading for yesterday) in East of Eden; we will have today's Socratic on Wednesday.

3. FOR FRIDAY: Finish East of Eden! Complete your final reading ticket by doing the following:

• Select one motif (water, apples, the color gray, Cain & Abel, etc.).

• Describe where the motif has shown up previously, and address where/how it comes into play in the final chapters (include quotations/page numbers).

• What has this motif contributed to the meaning of the work as a whole. In other words, why do you think Steinbeck developed this particular motif?

Attacked and Never Destroyed: October 1, 2018

Focus: How do we take good care of each other this week?

1. Warming up with "The Happiness Advantage", three good things, an unloading of emotional baggage

2.Offering you suggestions on how to revise this week so that it works for you

3. Heading outside to read

HW:
1. For this week: Please finish your sonnet metacognitive if you have not yet done so. If it's handwritten, turn it in; if it's typed, Google share it with me.

2. For WEDNESDAY: Just make sure you're up through Chapter 43 (the reading for today) in East of Eden; we will have today's Socratic on Wednesday.

3. FOR FRIDAY: Finish East of Eden! Complete your final reading ticket by doing the following:

• Select one motif (water, apples, the color gray, Cain & Abel, etc.).

• Describe where the motif has shown up previously, and address where/how it comes into play in the final chapters (include quotations/page numbers).

• What has this motif contributed to the meaning of the work as a whole. In other words, why do you think Steinbeck developed this particular motif?