March 7-11

 these plans will carry over to this week since last week was a bit difficult to coordinate...
English 11   test alert...Thursday the 10th of March
1st period -Anthem
2nd period - In Cold Blood
This week we will be reading 2 books in class Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and Ayn Rand's Anthem. I will give you reading test over of these books on Monday March 7th. Here is a link to vocabulary for In Cold Blood  http://quizlet.com/4454789/in-cold-blood-chapter-3-flash-cards/
Many of you will be taking graduation exams this week. I certainly hope that you will get a good night's sleep and eat a hearty breakfast. These actions should empower you to Pass those grad exams!

Shakespeare
Full text of play: http://shakespeare.mit.edu/much_ado/full.html
TEST ALERT: You need to read the play on line. The passage identification test will be taken upon completion of the film. this is a link to a test review of the play. http://quizlet.com/4051495/much-ado-about-nothing-test-review-flash-cards/

French I/II
We will continue with The Count of Monte Cristo
At this link you can explore The Emperor Napoleon: http://www.pbs.org/empires/napoleon/n_myth/youth/page_1.html
TEST ALERT: THIS IS A LINK TO FRENCH VOCABULARY FOR THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO there are 90 terms so you must study every night: http://quizlet.com/3313238/count-of-monte-cristo-vocabulary-flash-cards/

Senior English
We will continue  our examination of Shakespearean comedy with A Midsummer's Night's Dream
Shakespeare has a lot to say about the nature of love in this play, as well as in Much Ado About Nothing
I am so thrilled that you are enjoying Shakespeare.
PRESENTATION ALERT: I would like for you to go this website and pick a topic to research and present to the class on Friday: http://www.elizabethan.org/compendium/home.html

***Speech delivered by Elizabeth I to the land forces assembled at Tilbury in anticipation of an invasion by the Spanish Armada in 1588. I will show you Helen Mirren's representation of the speech. It is a most remarkable reenactment. Elizabeth I was remarkable indeed and I think it was her singularity that endowed the period with such vitality. Her rhetoric in the speech is stirring and she attempts to establish a clear claim to her subjects loyalty and her right to rule England.

My loving people,
We have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit our selves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear, I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects; and therefore I am come amongst you, as you see, at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live and die amongst you all; to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom, and my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust. I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. I know already, for your forwardness you have deserved rewards and crowns; and We do assure you in the word of a prince, they shall be duly paid you. In the mean time, my lieutenant general2 shall be in my stead, than whom never prince commanded a more noble or worthy subject; not doubting but by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and your valour in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over those enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people.

We will complete a rhetorical analysis of the Queen's Speech at Tilbury using the SOAPS method. I will pass out a handout on rhetorical devices and you will look for the use of these in the speech. Questions we will address are: how does the author try to convince the audience?  who is the audience? what is the author's goal? how is the speech organized? How is the author's major claim supported? *Note: if we do not have time for this on Friday we will do this on Tuesday next.
AP Language and Composition
As per our discussion on our last class meeting, you will bring your resources to class and write your first timed synthesis paper. Tuesday the 8th - multiple choice test practice/Weds. review test and write 2nd synthesis essay/Thursday-3rd synthesis essay
Friday: We will complete a rhetorical analysis of the Queen's Speech at Tilbury using the SOAPS method. I will pass out a handout on rhetorical devices and you will look for the use of these in the speech. Questions we will address are: how does the author try to convince the audience? who is the audience? what is the author's goal? how is the speech organized? How is the author's major claim supported?

feb 21 -25

AP English
Turn in essay/view Much Ado About Nothing-this is your selection of Shakespeare for the term/
Examining the synthesis essay/writing the synthesis essay

English 11
read p. 844 answer 1-11; read p. 848 Carl Sandburg; read p. 849 "Chicago"; p. 850 answer questions 1-5
read p. 855 Arna Bontemp; read p. 856 "A Black man talks of reaping"; answer questions 1-5;
Introduction to In Cold Blood the nonfiction novel; read assigned pages of In Cold Blood; prepare for quiz over chapter selections.
English 12
Study your handout on the novel-know this sheet

Complete homework read pp. 563-594; answer questions p. 594 1-15; Complete Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing - remember the movement of comedy is from chaos to order and the play ends in marriage. This is the reverse of the tragedy as you saw in Macbeth. Next we will look at Parody in Cervantes Don Quixote; Tone in Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women; and finally address the question: How does eighteenth century literature demonstrate the significant role played by reason and common sense in dealing with society's problems and the universal truths of the human experience? Interspersed within this we will work on your research paper-MLA format, parenthetical citations, works cited page, sources etc.
French 1/2
Prepare-toi pour un examen exercises
test over unit 5
Begin the French Film of Pere Dumas' novel The Count of Monte Cristo. The Count of Monte Cristo (Paris, 1844–45), by French novelist and playwright Alexandre Dumas, is one of the most popular novels ever written.The Count of Monte Cristo is a very powerful book. So powerful in fact, that was controversial when it was first released. The Catholic church in France condemned it because of its powerful message it presented the reader. This theme was one of revenge and vengeance. Edumund Dantes is a new type of hero- the Byronic Hero.  The book begins in 1815 and this was a time of great disruption. There was confusion all over the land in regards to who led France, King Louis or Napoleon. The citizens of France became divided by the two ruling parties. Royalists and the Bonapartist cut at each others throats in order to declare that their ruler was supreme.
Dumas got the idea for The Count of Monte Cristo from a true story, which he found in a memoir written by a man named Jacques Peuchet. Peuchet related the story of a shoemaker named Francois Picaud, who was living in Paris in 1807. Picaud was engaged to marry a rich woman, but four jealous friends falsely accused him of being a spy for England. He was imprisoned for seven years. During his imprisonment a dying fellow prisoner bequeathed him a treasure hidden in Milan. When Picaud was released in 1814, he took possession of the treasure, returned under another name to Paris and spent ten years plotting his successful revenge against his former friends.

Intro to Shakespeare
Performances, Playhouses, and Players from The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare. read and discuss the terms authentic to the plays and playhouses, noble support for the players, Puritan aversion to the playhouses and players, gender in the theater. Answer questions on Midsummer Night's Dream. Begin Much Ado About Nothing. Both plays address gender roles, marriage, the meaning of true love, and the foundations of a happy marriage. One of the points Shakespeare makes is that the choice of a marriage partner should be made by those entering into the marriage, not by their parents. I know this seems strange to 21st century lovers, however this was a social convention even into the 20th century.

February 14-18

Intro to Shakespeare
Introductory notes to A Midsummer Night's Dream
Literary terms / vocab
Cinematic Representation of the Play


French I/II
Tuesday Vocab Test chapter 5
http://quizlet.com/2398404/bien-dit-level-2-chapter-5-flash-cards/
Friday: oral production of your daily routine

Senior English
Tuesday: go to general use lab and research a topic for your research paper+
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/587/01/

AP Lang and comp
complete discussion of In Cold Blood
test over e-h vocabulary Tuesday
http://quizlet.com/4262597/ap-lang-and-comp-e-h-flash-cards/
Essay reading and discussion/questions
Examining essay construction
English 11 2A
Test over sonnet handouts
English 11 1A
Harlem Renaissance Read: p. 823-835
answer questions: Weary Blues p. 832 questions 1-6; Harlem p. 832 questions 1-5; p. 835 questions 1-7
HOMEWORK FOR THURSDAY NIGHT (DUE MONDAY) Read page 836-844 Zora Neale Hurston bio and her short story "Dust on the Tracks"  Reading check on Monday

February 7-11

"Lord, what fools
  these mortals be!"

    A Midsummer Night's Dream
     Act 3 Scene 2 line 115

oh well, it snowed again...reshuffle!


Senior English
Tuesday February 8th: BRING YOUR COSTUMES AND PROPS 
Presentations of your group's scene
COMPLETE THE READING OF MACBETH
Wednesday-Test over Macbeth/complete Polanski's Macbeth
Friday- group presentations of your scenes    BRING YOUR COSTUMES AND PROPS



ENGLISH 11 1A  
Unit 4 grammar workbook CLAUSES, PHRASES, SENTENCES, RUN ONS, FRAGMENTS
complete pages that your group was unable to complete in class for homework.
Thursday: HOMEWORK PASS SUPER BOWL will take place between your assigned groups to review these grammar structures. SNOW UPDATE SNOW UPDATE SNOW UPDATE...we will do this on Monday 2/14/11 !!!!!

 homework: COMPLETE UNIT 4 PREPARE FOR TEST ON WEDNESDAY FEB. 16
ENGLISH 11 2A
Monday: continue study of Harlem Renaissance literature. Explore the two types of Sonnets,  rhyme scheme  meter, structure, and form.
Complete the handout on the Sonnet for homework and be prepared for an in class quiz over the worksheet on Thursday.
Additionally, we will discuss all of these elements and more literary devices employed in Countee Cullen's "Yet Do I Marvel"
Here is a bonus question: During the Harlem Renaissance what was "the Dark Tower"?

AP LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION
On Tuesday we will be completing the multiple choice questions over "In Cold Blood." We will analyze the questions and answers together after everyone completes the tests. Wednesday and Friday we will write a timed essay on prompts from the novel. I am very glad that I have the privilege of seeing you 3 times this week, 2 classes a week seems very insufficient for AP work.

INTRODUCTION TO SHAKESPEARE
Go to this website and read the play A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM  http://quarles.unbc.ca/midsummer/midsummer1.html
vocab words for this play: http://quizlet.com/2334038/english-final-exam-a-midsummer-nights-dream-flash-cards/

We will begin our study of this most beloved comedy by examining plot structure, themes, types of characters, doubling within the structure of the play, appearance versus reality
Shakespeare borrowed the characters of Theseus and Hippolyta from Greek mythology. Theseus was the
national hero of Athens. He was a friend of Heracles (Hercules) and the survivor of many adventures,
including his slaying of the Minotaur, a creature half man and half bull. Hippolyta was Queen of the
Amazons, a group of female warriors. Theseus took her prisoner and then married her.

Definition: a dramatic foil is a minor character who resembles or is in parallel circumstances to a central figure in the play. Foils are similar enough to the main character(s) to provide a useful basis of comparison, but different enough that the comparison is meaningful: they enhance our understanding of the main character's personality traits or actions.

Metaphor Analysis
There are four distinct groups of characters in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and they all use language in a distinctive way. Theseus and Hippolyta speak in a dignified blank verse, which is unrhymed verse based on the iambic pentameter line. An iambic pentameter is a line of five feet (a foot is two syllables), in which the emphasis falls on the first syllable of the foot.
For example, see the opening lines of the play:

Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
Draws on apace; four happy days bring in
Another moon: but O, methinks, how slow
This old moon wanes! She lingers my desires,
Like to a step-dame or a dowager
Long withering-out a young man's revenue.

Note how the heavy punctuation in line 3 slows the line down, in keeping with the sense. Shakespeare often makes changes in the basic iambic rhythm of the line too, to gain a variety in effect and to match the sense. For example, the second foot of line 4 ("moon wanes") is a spondee, in which both syllables are stressed, rather than an iamb.
Unlike Theseus and Hippolyta, The four lovers often, although not always, speak in rhyming couplets, as when Hermia speaks in Act 1 scene 1, lines 202-07:
Take comfort: he no more shall see my face;
Lysander and myself will fly this place.
Before the time I did Lysander see,
Seem'd Athens as a paradise to me.
O then what graces in my love do dwell,
That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell!

In the wood, under pressure of the emotions generated by the confusing situation, the lovers drop their rhyming couplets and speak in blank verse.
The artisans, appropriately enough, speak in prose, except when they try their hand at the rhymed verse of "Pyramus and Thisbe."
Puck and the fairies, and occasionally Oberon too, often use shorter rhyming couplets. Typically these are trochaic tetrameters. The tetrameter is a shorter line than the pentameter, consisting of four feet rather than five. In a trochaic foot, unlike the iambic, the stress falls on the first syllable rather than on the second. For example, see Oberon's speech, Act 2, scene 2, lines 26-32, and Puck's speech later in the same scene (lines 65-82), from which these lines are taken:
Through the forest have I gone;
But Athenian found I none
On whose eyes I might approve
This flower's force in stirring love.
Like Theseus and Hippolyta, Oberon and Titania often, although not always, speak in blank verse, although their speech is more highly poetic than that of Theseus or Hippolyta. It is full of imagery. If one had to pick out the finest, most delicately expressive poetry in the play, for example, one might choose the speeches of the fairy couple on their first appearance, in Act 2 scene 1. Interestingly, when Titania is in love with Bottom, she speaks mainly, although not exclusively, in rhymed verse rather than blank verse.
SOURCE: http://www.novelguide.com/amidsummernightdream/metaphoranalysis.html

French I/II
This week we will continue to work with grammatical elements in Chapter 5
This is the link to 73 terms that will constitute your vocabulary for this chapter: http://quizlet.com/2398404/bien-dit-level-2-chapter-5-flash-cards/
Your test will be on Friday so you must practice these on quizlet every night.
We will also be constructing paragraphs in French that describe our daily routine.
I look forward to seeing you all this week.