African Masks

Here are your African masks!

Enjoy some great music from Fela while you are looking (click here)

Things Fall Apart - character list

Here is a useful link to a list of characters from Things Fall Apart:

Character List

Things Fall Apart information

All of the calendars and a description of the journal assignment are now available under the "calendars" tab above.

Here is are some maps for your reference.

The God of Small Things - Journal Entries

During our reading of the novel, several in-class activities count as your journal entries.  Also, several times I had us end a discussion/ activity (such as when you made posters showing a scene from multiple perspectives) early and had you write a response that could count as the journal entry for that chapter.  Here is a list of what you need to submit as a complete set:

• Chapter 1 entry - written in class
• Chapter 2 - Quiz 1
• Chapter 3 journal entry
• Chapter 4 journal entry
• Chapter 5 journal entry (in class)
• Chapter 6 journal entry (in class - poster)
• Chapter 7 & 8 journal entry
• Chapter 9 & 10 - Quiz 2
• Chapter 11 & 12 journal entry
• Chapter 13 & 14 - Group work - Google Doc character study
• Chapter 15 - 18 journal entry
• Chapter 19 - 21 journal entry

The God of Small Things - Character Study

Greetings!
I will be out today - I'm in Boston for the National Council of Teachers of English conference.

You will be working with your group today.  I've asked the sub to assign one character to each group. Once you have that, you will turn your attention to chapters 11-14 then to go this sheet that explains the work you'll do today: The God of Small Things character study.

I think you'll be able to complete it during the period today.

Enjoy your reading over the weekend - we're just about at the end of the book!

See you Monday.

Some topics / themes / ideas for The God of Small Things

1.      The grotesque (fantastically ugly or absurd; unnatural; bizarre)

2.      Loss of innocence

3.      Silence / making noise

4.      Big issues lurking below the surface

5.      Subconscious connections between characters

6.      The Love Laws

7.      Big Things and Small Things

8.      How information we’ve learned previously about a character reappears and helps shape our understanding of that character

The God of Small Things - Resources

Please take the time to check out the "resources" tab for help with The God of Small Things.

I will be updating it as we go through this unit.

The God of Small Things - Chapter 1

Today in class we worked in small groups to explore these aspects of chapter 1:

• character
• Estha
• Rahel
• Baby Kochamma
• Sophie Mol
• a timeline of events
• settings
• issues
• family matters

You wrote your first journal entry for the book the work your group did.  For chapter 2, you may want to return to the same concerns for your journal entry.

The God of Small Things - Calendars

Links to calendars for our next unit are now available under the "calendars" tab

Also, here is a family tree that might be helpful:

Hamlet Radio Show

Because of the fire drill at the end of 2nd period today we did not get to listen to the last 8 minutes of the show.  I highly recommend listening to the end of it.  You can find the entire show by clicking here or on the link below.  Scan ahead to about the 50 minute mark.

I look forward to our conversation about it.  Have a great weekend!

This American Life - Act V - Hamlet

Hamlet - Food for thought

Now that we are at the end of our reading and watching of Hamlet it is time for you to gather your thoughts about the play.  To help with that I've gather these questions from a variety of internet sources.  Feel free to browse through them and make use of one, or part of one, for your essay, or to create and answer a question of your own.

Also, remember your essay will be in the form of one of the three remaining categories from the list of the four I gave to you at the start of the year.

If you want to conference about your essay, please email me to arrange that.

Hamlet study questions

Work for Monday, October 8th - Hamlet's soliloquies

Greetings!

Unfortunately I will not be with you today - the entire English department is participating in a workshop this morning.

I hope it was a wonderful weekend - I look forward to hearing about it.

For today's work in class please select a partner.

Work together to complete this activity about Hamlet's soliloquies.

See you tomorrow!

Hamlet - Act 3, scenes 3 & 4

We'll start today with a short writing about the developments in Act 3, scenes 3 and 4.
Please go to this document and follow the directions.

Also, just to try out a new format (for this class - I'm guessing many of you have used it already) I'll ask you to complete this as a new document in your Google Drive.  When you are finished, or as you create it, simply "share" it with me.  *Please be sure to give me the ability to comment.  That way, I'll be able to read and respond to it electronically.

Hamlet - Act 2

As we're working our way through Hamlet we'll be keeping track of the story, the different themes and ideas raised in the story, and the language used to tell it.

Today in class we worked in small groups to complete the handout below, specifically the chart on the back.  If you missed class today it would be helpful to complete it either by yourself or with the notes from a classmate.

Hamlet act 2 handout

Antigone - Putting It All Together

Greetings!

My apologies for not being there with you today but I'm under the weather, which seems like it will be rather warm.

Over the weekend you read the final section of Antigone.  Up to this point we've considered what happens when conflicting values / perspectives are present, as well as character motivation and reasoning.  Today you'll read a short excerpt from a literary critic.  She raises several powerful questions about the play and I'm hopeful you'll find it spurs your thinking.  You can read her essay by clicking on this link: Patricia Lines - "Antigone's Flaw"

When you are done you might find a journal response would be a good way for you to process her essay.

If not, you can browse through this series of questions about the play in preparation for our final discussion about it, as well as your upcoming essay.

Please come in to class tomorrow with a potential focus for your essay.  Remember you can write either a single-text analytic essay, a personal / hybrid essay, or a creative project.  I'll give you full details about the different options when I (hopefully) see you on Tuesday.

Antigone - Motivation, Reasoning, and Judgment

Today we worked in small groups to look at these sections of the play:
- lines 102-216
- lines 217-326
- lines 327-514
- lines 515-570 (and look back at the opening dialogue)
- lines 612-763
- lines 782-938

Our topic for today is to look at the Motivations and Reasoning related to each character's thoughts and actions.

• what is stated explicitly?
• what can we infer - what are the implicit reasons / motivations?

Also we will consider the role of Judgment

• how do characters in the play, including the chorus, judge each other?
• how are we judging them?  why?

We'll work in small groups to explore these questions, then take time to craft individual journal responses (that will count as one of the required entries for this play).

Let's get to know each other a little bit better

Please take some time to answer the questions in this brief survey.  Note - you need to be signed in to Google in order for the survey to accept your responses.  Thanks so much!

Oedipus - Final Discussion

Several of you will be missing class on Friday, August 30th for a field trip.  We will be having a final discussion about the play during class time.  To guide our work, we will be using the "Oedipus final discussion" handout you can find by clicking on the name or finding it under the "Handouts" tab.

Next, the assignment for the weekend is the Oedipus explication essay, which you can also find by clicking on the name or finding it under "Handouts."

Please let me know if you have any questions, but be aware I will be pretty busy this weekend and it may take a while to get back to you.  Don't wait until Monday night to first contact me.

Happy writing!