21 Tuesday Oct 2014
learning goal: infer specific qualities of the dragon from passages of 1-5 lines
together, complete the dragon’s column of the “3 Demons” chart
for model entries, consult Mr. Brown’s table for Grendel and Grendel’s mother
16 Thursday Oct 2014
learning goal: name one or two significant differences between Grendel and Grendel’s mother
time to finish or polish the demon table, before submitting a printed copy during class
individual writing conferences, as people become available
26 Tuesday Aug 2014
Posted in agenda, direct instruction, exercise, poetry
learning goal: be able to recognize poems written in conventional Italian sonnet form
continue Q&A for Mr. Brown’s commentary on sound in “A Drink of Water”
introduce two Italian sonnets: Westminster Bridge and Nuns Fret Not
in pairs: basic ingredients found in both Wordsworth poems? consensus favorite from among the three sonnets–Wordsworth’s and Heaney’s?
heads-up: poems as prayers–e.g., “wow” and “thank you” (awe and gratitude)
19 Tuesday Aug 2014
Posted in agenda, discussion, listening, poetry
ideas behind this “Poetry Workbook” (5′)
Q & A re first attempts at couplets (5′)
individually (10′), then in pairs (10′), then as whole group (10-15′), compare effects of Ghalib and Heaney poems re loss: given similar content, how do particulars of form create different effects?
more composing time
HMWRK: continue composing
13 Wednesday Aug 2014
Posted in agenda, direct instruction, exercise, poetry
make template with pledge-header and acknowledgment-footer
register on TURNITIN (see class page for your class ID and password)
To TURNITIN, submit your current ideas for Friday’s writing. Please use complete sentences to explain these ideas.
_____
In small groups, identify basic elements of the this traditional form. As part of this process, place the couplets in the order of the original ghazal.
As a whole class, reach consensus on basic elements*. (This part needs facilitator and recorder.)
teacher supplies names for some of these elements, and shows animated mideast-empires map
In small groups, read aloud two ghazals by Hafez. Discuss answers to these questions: How much do these poems meet the traditional requirements? What theme(s), if any, do these two poems share? How would you compare the tone of these two ghazals?
Each group reports to whole class.
28 Friday Mar 2014
Posted in agenda, Hamlet, listening, presentation
Presentations from each group: Which Hamlet is most vicious and why?
Audience members, on the printed copy of their report, take notes on other groups’ explanations.
Three Questions to which you will apply the details in your notes: What does Hamlet mean, when he declares to Horatio, “Give me that man / That is not passion’s slave and I will wear him / In my heart’s core, ay in my heart of heart” (3.2.61-3)? Why does he say this? While confronting his mother in “the closet scene” (3.4.1-218), does Hamlet become passion’s slave?
19 Wednesday Mar 2014
Today we start the downhill fall through Hamlet, since the climactic revelation of Claudius’s guilt. Paraphrasing Prince Hamlet, the play’s the thing that has caught the conscience of the king.
improv–recorder scene
Hamlet Journal (HJ) entry #1: why is Hamlet so incensed at Guildenstern?
read 3.2.337-360 (Hamlet plays Polonius)
read 3.3 (Claudius tells R&G of plan to send Hamlet to England)
entry #2 in Hamlet Journal: On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being low, rate and explain your sympathy for Claudius.
in small groups, do exercise 1 on page 136–concerning Claudius’s soliloquy: prepare a reading for the class, using one of the first three bullet points and the last one (with a “sense unit”)
if time allows, HJ entry #3–reflect on sympathy for Claudius (unchanged feelings?)
27 Thursday Feb 2014
Posted in Hamlet, homework, submission
by start of Friday’s class, submit to TURNITIN revised (2nd) draft, making sure to acknowledge any help (human or otherwise) in the template’s acknowledgment-footer
As you revise, check Mr. Brown’s TURNITIN feedback on the FIRST DRAFT.
Very likely, we will have class time to revise further–for a third draft, which I will score according to the content rubric.
24 Monday Feb 2014
Posted in agenda, discussion, exercise, film viewing, Hamlet
HJ: three beautiful or amazing things about ________
Film 1: Derek Jacobi, R/G scene thru H’s monologue
HJ: smoke and mirrors?
Film 2: Kenneth Branagh
HJ: different interpretations?
30 Monday Sep 2013
finish your Essential-Questions notes, according to instructions distributed in Monday’s class
n.b. Although you read the rest of the poem aloud with a partner, I ask that you take these notes by yourself. The notes and follow-up paragraph have no right or wrong answers. Work through the note-taking on your own. Your ideas have value because they belong to you; respect them by exploring them yourself.
