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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Act 3 Video; AWAA, Reading and Writing

  • Viewed the video for Act 3. Didn't quite finish, will do so tomorrow before the quiz.
  • Also, period 5 was told to go over Antony's speech and double check what's been underlined. You are looking for everything Antony's said where he means the exact opposite.. This will be collected for a grade. Period 4 will be told tomorrow. (Hint: There are are approximately 30 lines that contain irony.)
  • Quiz tomorrow.
  • Reminder to complete extra credit crossword, word search and vocab for Act 4.

11R AWAA

  • Continue reading and writing reading logs

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Marc Antony Lights the Fuse; AWAA, Reading and Writing

  • Review yesterday's reading, check homework.
  • Add two vocab words:
    Honor: A sense of what is right, just, and true; having a good, respected name.
    Honorable: deserving honor and respect
  • Finish reading Act III with emphasis on the details of Antony's famous funderal oration.
  • HW: summarize the today's reading
  • HW: Underline or highlight every line in Antony's speech that demonstrates an example of irony (in the following exerpt:)

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest -
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men -
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.

11R AWAA

  • Continue reading and writing reading logs
  • Reminder: deadline is Friday

Monday, April 27, 2009

Caesar Act 2; AWAA Reading and Writing

11R AWAA

  • Continue reading and writing reading logs after brief discussion of Peter's goal

Friday, April 24, 2009

Quiz andEssay Review, AWAA- Reading and Writing

  • Went over the Act 1 quiz.
  • Reviewed and discussed the Regents Task 3 essay. Went over a model response.
  • HW: Act 3 starts Monday, so get the extra credit work done!
  • Also, to help a new student get caught up, five extra credit points will be added to the quizzes of anyone who composes a well written summary of either or both acts.

11R AWAA

  • Book deadline has been assigned. All reading logs must be finished by next Friday (5/1). Class time will be spent reading and writing.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Act 2: The Video, AWAA- Are You Caught Up?

  • Watched Act 2 today.
  • Quiz tomorrow, Vocab included!
  • Get a leg up: finish the worksheets for Act 3!

11R AWAA

  • Finish yesterday's quiz.
  • Too many students are too far behind: Finish up through chapter 22 for tomorrow.
  • Get your reading logs done.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Caesar Act 2: Portia Gets Agitated, AWAA Quiz 5

  • Vocabulary:
  • Soliloquy: the act of talking while or as if alone
    Monologue: is an extended uninterrupted speech by a character in a drama.
    Aside: dialogue intended for the audience and supposedly not heard by the other actors on stage.
  • Reviewed yesterday's reading.
  • Finished Act 2
  • HW: brief summary
  • Act 2 video tomorrow, quiz on Thursday.

11R

  • Quiz on chapters 15-20
  • Log check chapters 13-20
  • HW: Chapter 21

Monday, April 20, 2009

Lulius Caesar, Act 2: Brutus Buys In and Regents Practice Revisited

Note to all students: Any Regents practice exams not yet handed in are losing 10 points per day.

10R
  • Note: any student who misses a reading in class, can find the text of the play HERE.
  • Checked Act 2 worksheets.
  • Scanned Act 2 summary.
  • Read Act 2, scene 1 through line 232. (Ends with the line: "Therefore thou sleep'st so sound." just before Portia enters.)
  • HW: 3 to 4 sentences summarizing this part of act 2.

11R

  • Pd 1: Go over Regents practice exam. Read model essay. Then continue with AWAA.
  • Pd 7: Catch up, students will either work on essays or continue reading AWAA.
  • HW: Reading logs will be checked through chapter 20 and a quiz will be given.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Julius Caesar Quiz 1, AWAA Discussion

10R
  • Took quiz
  • Worksheets and vocab for act 2 may still be done for credit

11R

  • Went over and discussed Quiz 4.
  • Students should be finished with Chapter 20 by the time we return from break. Expect a quiz and log check

Have a fine and safe vacation!

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Julius Caesar Act 1 Video, AWAA Quiz 4

10R
  • Plans for today were modified to include the video.
  • Viewed video for Act 1 with special attention to director interpretation. The combination of a) reading act summaries, b) listening to and reading along with each act and c) viewing the play itself ensures understanding of the story.
  • Act 1 quiz, originally scheduled for today, is tomorrow. Worksheets for Act 2 will be checked at that time.

11R

  • Quiz 4, chapters 10-14
  • Tomorrow we will discuss the book and go over the quiz.
  • Students were told to finish up though chapter 20 over the break.

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Julius Caesar Scene 3: Cassius Continues to Weave His Web, AWAA continued

10R
  • Finished Act 1
  • There will be a quiz tomorow
  • Students received two handouts today: act summaries + character descriptions and worksheets for Acts 2 through 4.
  • HW: Read Act 2 Summary
  • Since we start Act 2 tomorrow, worksheets and vocab should be done for bonus points.

11R

  • Quiz 4 today for prepared students
  • Others can play catch up

Monday, April 06, 2009

Julius Caesar Act 1, AWAA continued

10R
  • Took a look at character list on page 345 and read Act 1 summary while worksheets were checked for credit.
  • Gave a short background on the plays context: "The date by history is 44 BC. Again by historical record we know that Caesar has just returned from his victory in the land we now call Spain against the sons of Pompey the Great, an enemy Caesar has already killed." LINK
  • Read Act 1, scene one and two.
  • HW: Summarize today's reading in notebook.
  • HW: Any essays from Friday that have not been turned in will not be accepted without penalty after Thursday.

11R

  • Worked independently either on book work or make-up work
  • quiz on chapters 10-14 tomorrow
  • HW: Any essays from Friday that have not been turned in will not be accepted without penalty after Thursday

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Regents Exam task III

  • All classes reviewed what a "controlling idea" is, and were reminded that the last sentence of the introductory paragraph should clearly state the contolling idea.
  • Bear in mind that this is not summarizing. When summarizing, events or ideas in the passage are prioritized and briefly described or explained. For a task of this nature, details associated with the controlling idea are selected, prioritized and explained in terms that connect the two passages.

  • 10R classes are reminded to work on their Julius Caesar handouts (see yesterday's post).
  • 11R classes should continue reading and complete through chapter 17 by Monday morning.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

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.