The Controlling Idea and an Intro to Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar"

All classes will be taking a Regents practice exam (task III) tomorrow and Friday. Today we reviewed the "controlling idea" focus of this part of the exam. Essentially, a controlling idea will establish a connection between two reading passages and the essay will be written around the connecting idea.

This is not summarizing!

The instructions for the essay will be the following:

After you have read the passages and answered the multiple-choice questions, write a unified essay about the discovery of beauty. In your essay, use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about the discovery of beauty. Using evidence from each passage, develop your controlling idea and show how the author uses s pecific literary elements or techniques to convey that idea.

Note that the focus of the controlling idea is already given: the discovery of beauty. All that needs to be done now is to write an introduction which ends with a statement that defines the controlling idea as applied to the two passages, then discuss that idea using details from the passages.

10R

• We also introduced "Julius Caesar" today. Of note is the following:
• Students will be given a word search and a crossword for the vocabulary for each act.
  
• Completed sheets will be worth five extra credit points on the subsequent quiz.
  
• Also, all vocabulary written neatly into the notebook, for each act, will be worth an additional ten points on the exam. These points will only be awarded if all work is done before the start of each act.
  
• In other words, to earn points for the act 1 quiz, both sheets must be done and checked before we start the play.
  
• In order to earn all vocabulary points towards the exam, the definitions of all words must be written into the notebook before the beginning of each act.
• None of this is mandatory, but highly recommended.

11R

• Reading logs for chapters 8 through 12 will be checked during the Regents practice exam.