agenda Mon May 12: Tempest

CHOICES (consensus combination?):

1) Download and, individually or with partner(s), color code a copy of each student model*, in order to highlight sentences that contribute to success in each of the content writing rubric’s five criteria.  Are these model writings perfect?  No, but they represent many strengths possible in student writing.

2) Watch more of the film’s interpretation of The Tempest.

3) Journal work.

 

*The google doc containing a model introductory paragraph and a model essay can be found here.

agenda Mon Apr 28: TEMPEST film

Tags

create pictures, shape meaningful schema

What he said.

agenda Fri Apr 25: complete post-Tempest essay

Tags

express questions, provide examples, shape meaningful schema

Take the time you need in today’s class to complete your essay.  If that includes receiving feedback from a classmate, feel free.   Remember the deadline for submission to TURNITIN is 3:30 today.

If you finish before class ends and want to start reading our last book, a novel called The Samurai’s Garden, bring the book with you.  Though we have no assigned reading in the novel this weekend, it’s a good idea to locate your copy.

agenda Wed/Thurs Apr 23/4: start Tempest essay

Today’s goal: start composing essay on The Tempest

essay deadline: by Friday, Apr 25, submit to TURNITIN

caution: submit on template with pledge-header & acknowledgment-footer

conditions: those who want Friday class to seek feedback from classmate may do so; others may start our next-and-last book–a novel called The Samurai’s Garden

OBSERVATIONS & SUGGESTIONS

Review my feedback on your sentence-outline.  Ask questions, if you have trouble understanding any part of that feedback.

Before starting to compose, make sure that your outline contains a clear main idea and a sentence for each body paragraph that expresses the idea that paragraph will develop.  See my sample outline for examples of such sentences.

As you compose, if you need help with weaving quotes into your essay, check my sample paragraph about Prospero’s magic.

When done composing, proofread by yourself, or seek feedback from a classmate.  If you receive help from a partner, be sure to name that person in your acknowledgment-footer, along with the description of that person’s specific help.

Given the challenging nature of Shakespeare’s language, some people feel the need to consult secondary sources, like Sparknotes or Shmoop.  If ideas or details in your essay owe their appearance to such a secondary source, use the acknowledgment-footer to name the source and the specific help it provided.

 

photo credit: http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/0/1476/239832-w7.jpg

 

 

agenda Tues Apr 22: TEMPEST film

agenda Wed/Thurs Apr 16/17: essay prep & film

1st half: individual essay prep; end product–sentence outline submitted to TURNITIN (see sample below)

2nd half: more film of The Tempest

 

Sample Sentence Outline for Prospero’s-Magic Essay

 

Main idea

Prospero’s magic presents a challenge not only for the characters on the island, but also for readers of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Prospero’s concentration on the magical arts causes his temporary loss of the dukedom and our occasional confusion about the play’s meaning.

 

Body para

With his mysterious power, P can cause large-scale events—like shipwrecks

(1.2.1-2) brief explanation (BE)

 

(1.2.3-5) BE

 

. . .

 

 

Body para

Does he only wear it to perform these magic tricks?

(1.2.24-5) BE

. . .

 

 

 

Body para

How much should we treat him as one of the real people, or how much should we see him as more similar to Ariel and Caliban?

(1.2.320) BE

. . .

 

agenda Tues Apr 15

Tags

draw distinctions, make inferences, make predictions, provide examples

membean quiz  at start of class

Starting from Act Three Scene Three (3.3), in your teams, on the printed director’s notes from HI production, record line numbers that show your character contributed to a repaired ship of state.

By the end of class, teams hand Mr. Brown a printed list of citations with brief explanations of how each set of lines indicates promotion (or, if necessary, obstruction) of a repaired ship of state.  Please put team members’ names on this sheet.  Thank you.

Yesterday, you signed up for one of these teams: Ariel, Prospero, Caliban, Miranda, Antonio, Gonzalo (limit 3 per team).  In your teams, start marking lines that show, or suggest, that your team’s character promotes repaired ship of state.  If you find none, mark lines where your character obstructs movement towards a repaired ship.  In this case, a “repaired ship of state” means one that has changed/transformed from one of strife and grief to one of forgiveness.  Notice that the physical ship in the play, which the Boatswain has announced as repaired, is a fine example of a symbol.

 

agenda Mon Apr 14: request feedback, revise, submit, publish

“Request Feedback” from Blogging Buddy

Revise accordingly

Publish post, with distinctively effective title and carefully cited symbolic image (p.s. aim for image that originally symbolizes your post’s focus–without resorting to stock images of the play itself)

Submit text of post to TURNITIN, using the prescribed template and acknowledging the specific nature of your Blogging Buddy’s feedback.

After publication and submission, sign up for one of these teams: Ariel, Prospero, Caliban, Miranda, Antonio, Gonzalo (limit 3 per team).  In your teams, start marking lines that show, or suggest, that your team’s character promotes or obstructs a repaired ship of state.  In this case, a “repaired ship of state” means one that has changed/transformed from one of strife and grief to one of forgiveness.  Notice that the physical ship in the play, which the Boatswain has announced as repaired, is a fine example of a symbol.

due Mon Apr 11: last Tempest blog post

As in previous weeks, DRAFT your blog post before Monday’s class.  As grist for your reflective mill, consider the transformation(s) that occur(s) in the latter half of the play.  How does all of the early strife and grief transform into this pleasing resolution?  Continue to consider the two essential questions, while feeling free to combine them in this last post, if you like.  Does any one character rise to the surface of your mind, as you look back on the whole play?  Where do you see the forces for good?  I recommend that you re-read your first three posts, in order to see what has happened to those characters and your early impressions.

due Fri Apr 11

Finish reading the lines from Act 5 that we did not reach during Thursday’s class.

Also, be sure to bring any poems, draft poems or parts of poems you are considering as your Poetry Contest entries.  I will bring envelopes and instructions.  All of Friday’s class is hereby devoted to creating, fixing, polishing and printing 1-3 original poems.  Have fun.  Be ready.