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.

Jan. 31-Feb 4th

Well students I think we are now back on track after the random weather events of the last few weeks!
 This week seems to be about  PRESENTATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
English 11
2A
Here is a excerpt from the Soledad Daily News:
 *************************************************************************************
George Milton Trial Set For January 31st POSTPONED UNTIL FEBRUARY 2ND BECAUSE OF JUDGE'S ILLNESS
No one expected George Milton to pull the trigger and kill his best friend, Lennie Small. But that is exactly what happened and now a team of detectives has swarmed onto the ranch in Soledad, Californina  to investigate the crime scene. George never expected his life to turn out this way, but now as he sits in his Soledad County jail cell awaiting his trial, he reflects on his friendship with Lennie and what his fate will be as his lawyer and the prosecution team prepare their cases. Since a criminal case like this has not occurred in this otherwise quiet, lonesome community, a media circus has flooded Soledad and made George Milton the center of controversy. What will happen to George Milton once his trial begins? Milton, arraigned in court last month, is charged with the capital murder of Small. In a press conference today the D.A. confirmed the State's intent to hold Milton accountable for the premeditated murder of Small  by seeking the harshest punishment available under California law. The trial is set to begin around 11 o'clock on Monday morning in Judge Elliott's courtroom.
**********************************************************************************
English 11/1A & 2A
Complete the assignment given in class on Thursday: read pp 216-222 in your textbook and complete the critical thinking questions for "Incident" and ""Tableau" by Countee Cullen. Be prepared to discuss these poems in class. Look up the critical analysis of both online. Those students who have not passed the reading or language portion of the Alabama High School Graduation Exam should discuss opportunities for test taking practice with me.
We will be working in your grammar workbook this week in class Additionally, I would like for you to complete Unit 3 partially in class and the pages you do not complete in class will be your homework. Some of you work faster than others and you may complete all of the work in class. We will check the work on Thursday in class. This will be graded work, so be attentive to the grammar rules that apply to your work.
Shakespeare:
We will continue our study of The tragedy:  Macbeth. Practice  and learn your lines for scene presentations. You did very well on the vocab test last week -Congrats! You will be writing an essay on the play. I will provide the prompt. Additionally, I will test on Acts I -IV after viewing. Make sure you know the characters and the themes of the play. Cliff notes can be very helpful in providing additional explanatory information. such as summaries of the acts and explanations of themes within the play. You can find these online. They will supply you with a deeper understanding of the works. This is a link to the powerpoint for your to watch:
http://www.worldofteaching.com/powerpoints/english/Unlocking%20Themes%20in%20Macbeth.ppt

Senior English
Complete Macbeth. Scene presentations on Friday in the Auditorium. Consider your topic for a research paper. Remember you must use scholarly sources, so consider topics that academics have researched and written about. I will give the unit test on Macbeth next week, because you have your scene presentations this week. We will also discuss the handout that I gave you last week on THE GLOBE THEATER AND THE BUBONIC PLAGUE.Additionally, I will test on Acts I -IV after viewing. Make sure you know the characters and the themes of the play. Cliff notes can be very helpful in providing additional explanatory information. such as summaries of the acts and explanations of themes within the play. You can find these online. They will supply you with a deeper understanding of the works.



French I/II
This week we will be working with reflexive verbs and talking about our daily routine. I will give you a vocab quiz over reflexive verbs on Tuesday...BE SURE TO STUDY FOR THIS. I will assign homework exercises in class.

AP Language and Comp.
This week we will complete the multiple choice test and analysis of In Cold Blood. Then we will write the timed essays. Since we have 60 more multiple choice questions and analysis to do, I think we will probably have to write the essays next week.  ( I only have you 2 days this week and the analysis and discussion seems to take a good bit of our time.)
ALERT: AP LANG AND COMP VOCABULARY E-H
http://quizlet.com/4262597/ap-lang-and-comp-e-h-flash-cards/
TEST NEXT WEDS. FEBRUARY 9TH, 2011

WELCOME BACK JAN 4-7 2011

AP LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION
We will begin Truman Capote's In Cold Blood
BRING YOUR BOOK TO CLASS
MULTIPLE CHOICE PRACTICE
practice multiple choice test
syntax: sentence structure(handout)
Stylistic Analysis (handout)

VOCAB WORDS FOR THIS WEEK: http://quizlet.com/3886406/c-d-words-flash-cards/

FRENCH 2
THIS WEEKS VOCAB WORDS CHAPTER 4:
http://quizlet.com/622772/bien-dit-level-2-ch-4-vocab-1-flash-cards/
HOMEWORK EXERCISES: # 5 P. 121, 12 & 14 P.124-125, 18 P. 127


ENGLISH 11
ALERT: The test over both sets of vocabulary for the novel OF MICE AND MEN will be on Thursday Jan 13 or Friday Jan 14th following the schedule for English A and B.
VOCAB WORDS FOR OF MICE AND MEN: http://quizlet.com/1099563/of-mice-and-men-vocabulary-colloquialisms-flash-cards/
CHARACTERS: http://quizlet.com/959239/of-mice-and-men-characters-flash-cards/
As per my instructions you were to read John Steinbeck's novel OF MICE AND MEN over the break. Actually you should only have to reread the text as this was your assigned summer reading.
John Steinbeck, American author and winner of the Nobel Prize in 1962, was a leading writer of novels about the working class and was a major spokesman for the victims of the Great Depression (a downturn in the American system of producing, distributing, and using goods and services in the 1930s, and during which time millions of people lost their jobs).
Of Mice and Men (1937), first conceived as a play, is a tightly constructed novella (short novel) about an unusual friendship between two migrant workers (laborers who travel to wherever there is available work, usually on farms). Although the book is powerfully written and often moving, some critics feel that it lacks a moral vision. http://www.notablebiographies.com/Sc-St/Steinbeck-John.html I personally disagree. I think George's concern and his self sacrifice to insure Lennie's well being speaks to man's ethical responsibility to those with disabilities.
Additionally, the theme of loneliness underscores  man's desire for community and the struggle to answer the age old question: How shall we live well together? The American Dream of property ownership is powerfully depicted within the text through the characters' desire for their own farm. George is not selfish with his dream like Gatsby, but rather his dream signifies a desire to establish an edenic setting for those marginalized by society.

Senior English:
We are moving into the Elizabethan period. We will begin our study of the Shakespearean tragedy, Macbeth.
BRING YOUR BOOKS TO CLASS.
TEST ALERT Begin to study these Macbeth quotes: http://quizlet.com/3281867/macbeth-quotes-flash-cards/

Shakespeare
Welcome to the class!
This a link to the introductory vocabulary list
http://quizlet.com/23945/shakespearean-english-vocabulary-flash-cards/    TEST ON MONDAY JAN 10
Introduction to Shakespeare
Elizabethan England