Go Fly and do great things!

Bad hair day for the Dark Sith...

Bad hair day for this English Teacher...

Word O' the Week:

Mouche [moosh]: A small patch of beard grown under the lower lip. From Latin musca, meaning fly. Try to use it this week.

New member of class....

WOS

HW: Please study for your final exam this Friday.

Today in class we finished Hamlet and discussed the ending. Most of you seem to like the play, and were surprised by the ending. I mean, we all expected Hamlet to "fall" but the multiple deaths at the end was unexpected by most. It almost works like the end of a fireworks show- everything all at once...

After, I challenged you to take a specific scene, and attempt to make a comedy sketch out of it. As always, so impressive work.

Mystery Science 3000 makes fun of a real bad German version of the play on Friday after your final.

The last 15 minutes, we discussed the complexity of the character of Hamlet. You worked on small bits of dialogue and discovered what is revealed about Hamlet in each.

Soph Lit

HW: You have been given a magic potion that will make a person fall in love with first person or thing that they see. In a one page story, explain what happens and how it goes horribly wrong....

Today in class we looked at Stress, infection, and non-verbal communication. I gave you different scenes and asked you to use all three to tell it.

We came close to finishing Act 3 in the play.

Soph Lit:

We began class watching a parody of the play. We discussed how education allows you to understand even a Zack and Cody episode on a much deeper level.

We took you lines form the play, and I asked you to "remix" them into a new "modern" scene.

We read along to Act 3.

WOS:

Today we reviewed for the Final exam this Friday.

We watched the Mel Gibson version of Hamlet.

We completed an in class writing assignment on how you think the play will end (act 5)

I collected your real Hamlet papers- They are on time as long as a get them before I leave. Tonight is my late night, so feel free top stop in and get it done. -10 points each day late...

Brit Lit:

Today we reviewed for the final.

If you wonder 10 years from now what you were feeling 3 days before graduating HS.....We wrote letters to ourselves 10 years in the future. I promise to mail them.

Frankenstein Scientific Journals #1-6 due Tuesday.

Final Exam Friday! End in greatness.

WOS:

Please read for HW:

http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/eng366/lectures/hamlet.htm

Soph Lit:

No class today due to MCAS testing.

WOS:

Paper assigned yesterday. Today in class we worked on your Dr. notes on Hamlet's mental state. We also had a quiz on Act II.

Brit Lit:

Continued trial work Wed. All Writing assignments are due (typed) this Friday.
Reminder:

Lawyers: Opening statement
Characters: One pg of personal statement
Jury: Answer 2 of the 6 question: one page typed each

Art

The computer is a netbook- so my head looks even bigger than normal.

Quote of the week

"This is advanced reading, isn't it?"

Steve C., Brit Lit

One word at a Time...

The Power of Anger.

Hamlet Rap (Socks)

Soph Lit:

We almost finished all the Puck lines. Last 2 on Wed.

I gave notes on the Globe, and we took a quiz on all of the intro info. During our study of Shakespeare, all of the quizzes are open notebook- so please try to keep your notebook up to date.

Due to MCAS, I will not see you until Wednesday. No HW tonight- so get some rest for your testing in the morning. Best of luck!

WOS:

Today we looked at the "To be, or not to be" speech. I broke you into small groups and had you examine the 5 stages of grief. Good grief...I also assigned your next paper on the topic of grief from the standpoint of his Dr.

Due May 26th. I will happily accept these early.

Brit Lit:

Today in class I explained the details of the trial of Dr. Frankenstein. We assigned parts, and will begin preparation in class this Tuesday and Wed.

Word O' the Week:

Dulosis: [d(y)00-loh-sis] The technical term for the enslavement of ants, by ants. The adj. is dulotic.

Cusickfunkenstein.....

Ummmm.....yikes.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

Brit Lit:

This morning we started class with Oingo Boingo doing Weird Science to set the tone. We continued or "Frankenstein" creature debate. Being Friday, I asked you to make a a creature. You had the option to draw, or write a detailed description.
The receipt: 2 parts animal, 2 part technology, 2 part famous. I put them up in the back corner above the "Godfather."
Next, we passed around a candle and read aloud the debate between the creature and creator on making another creation. "You are my creator, but I am your master..."

Here is my Cusickfunkenstein.....

To be, socks...

In the World of Shakespeare today, we watched 10 minutes of the Gibson version of Hamlet. We discussed the different portrayal of Kline/Gibson. While Kline is crazy, Gibson has anger. Dig the alliteration there?

I gave you the below speech and your sock version of yourself and asked you to break into small groups and debate the meaning. You had two choices:
Act it out, with 3 changes of emotion.
or
Act it out as a famous celebrity. Video to follow....

To be or not to be, that is the question;
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing, end them.
To die, to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to — 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd.
To die, to sleep;To sleep, perchance to dream.
Ay, there's the rub,For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause.
There's the respectThat makes calamity of so long life,
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th'oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th'unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.

2 parts animal, 2 parts tech, 2 part person....

Sonnet 153

Turn your head to the left to watch....

Sonnet 18

Soph Lit:

HW: Learn 14 lines by Puck at the end of the play.

Brit Lit:

Today in class I gave my history of horror lecture in 20 minutes. I could spend an entire class on some of that information. We looked at Dracula, the wolf man, and the original silent Phantom of the Opera. You seemed so disappointed in his horrific face. People really did run from the theatre when they first saw his face.

WOS:

Today in class you presented you sonnets. I loved them! I will post a few of them in the next few days. Great job guys!

Friday, the socks come off....

Soph Lit:

Today in class, you presented your "powerpoint poem." So good stuff indeed. I hope that the assignment allowed you to connect to the imagery in poetry. Much like music, poems can be used to compliment feeling. The next time that you are feeling blue, try reading a poem. As human beings we are deeply connected. Poetry allows us to see that we are not alone in our feelings. Emily Dickerson never imagined that her poems might help another person when she scribbled them downs in a small room, afraid of the world. Poetry is not just "school stuff"- it is a deep connection to human emotion, which we all share.

WOS:

Today in class I gave you notes on the 5 stages of grief. We began to look at Hamlet, and how he follows these stages.

We broke into groups of 3 and examined the grief process, and how Hamlet deals with his "father issues."

HW: Sonnet assignment is due Wed. I will continue to stay late to help any of you that may be "technically challenged."

Brit Lit:

Today in class we updated out "scientific discovery" journals. Please remember that you will need ten entries. Today in class we did the first 2: 1-7, and 7-23.

To set the mood, we broke into "book clubs" and read pgs 97-108 in the dark under stormy sound effects. Did it hold up to your horror expectations?

The last part of the block, we talked about the status of human cloning. What are the implications if we can duplicate life? Why do we have real life "Dr. Frankensteins' ?"

HW please read pgs 108- 120. Please work on a journal entry for these pages, as well as #3 from the reading that you did in small groups.

Powerpoint Poems

Soph Lit Due Friday....

If we shadows have offended,

Think but this, and all is mended,

That you have but slumber'd here

While these visions did appear.

And this weak and idle theme,

No more yielding but a dream,

Gentles, do not reprehend:

if you pardon, we will mend:

And, as I am an honest Puck,

If we have unearned luck

Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,

We will make amends ere long;

Else the Puck a liar call;

So, good night unto you all.

Give me your hands, if we be friends,

And Robin shall restore amends.

http://comicbookdb.com/title.php?ID=8463

WOS:

Today in class we followed along with the Kline version of Hamlet. Like all Shakespeare tragedies, Hamlet uses Act 2 as the fuel to propel the action. The fuel in Hamlet is his emotion.

The second part of the block, I broke you into small groups and asked you to "translate" 5-10 lines and present the "emotion." I suggested to you as a class that power acting, is well... powerful. Anger can also be soft. Listen to Tchaikovsky: Symphonies no 4, 5, & 6. Quiet anger.

Sonnet projects due May 14th. 14 lines in a sonnet.... hmmmmmmm...

Brit Lit:

Today in class we discussed comic books, sequels, and how to write a novel at the tender age of 18. I suggested a pilgrimage th That's Entertainment in Worcester ASAP. Trust me.. it is a wicked cool place.

In class we spent the first 30 min writing a sequel to Frankenstein using the pictures presented to you. Not one of my finer assignments- To be honest, it was a dud.

For HW: Please read pgs 7-28 in Frankenstein.
Please continue working on your Scientific discovery journal. Write 5 sentences summarizing the discoveries from the reading that night. I will collect this at the end- so please keep up.

Soph Lit:

Today we finished our PowerPoint poetry. Please finish for HW if you were not able to finish this in class.

Wednesday, we will be taking notes on Shakespeare. Please make sure that you have you notebooks.

SONNET 55

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone besmear'd with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lover's eyes.

Soph Lit:

Today in class we went to the computer lab to work on your "PowerPoint poetry" projects. I have the lab scheduled for us Tuesday if needed.

Here again is the assignment:

Please take a poem or song lyrics that are meaningful to you. Using PowerPoint, digital images and music, create a slide show that compliments the images in the poem. DO NOT include random images of the artist if using song lyrics. The point of this assignment is to use multimedia to tell the story of the words. We will be presenting these in class on Wednesday.

I hope to post some of them here...so stay tuned....

WOS:

HW: Please continue to work on your multimedia sonnet interpretation. These are Due May 14th.

Today in class we began Hamlet. Please make sure you get the notes if you were absent.

Poetry Powerpoint....

Brit Lit:

HW: Please read Letter 1 & 2.

urghhhhgg.....

Question: If you could clone a person would you? Would you preserve your DNA with the intention of being recreated in the future?

Question: Could you write a novel at 18?

Question: What is the name of the actor that is listed as "?" in the 1930 film version?

Prom

Please have a safe prom weekend. I would love to see any pictures on Monday. Have fun!

Soph Lit:

HW: Please have any music, images, ideas ready for this Monday and Tuesday. We will be working on PowerPoint presentations of a poem that you select.

And the award for best Macbeth video goes to...

This one blew us all away, and I missed my former AV life at Shepherd Hill for the first time this year.  I wish you guys could have had me for some of those classes- I could has shown you some real neat effects.  When I taught the class we did a whole unit on the special effects of Star Wars.  

The fact that you did this on your own is as Lord Vader might say: Impressive, MOST impressive....

Dancing in the Dark.

Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come:

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

STOMP and drag...STOMP and drag....

Iambic beat-stomp

 Here my Shakespeare class moves to the iambic beat.  Listen to the world around you....

Brit Lit:

HW: Poetry Project due Friday!

Soph Lit:

Today we watched a few segments from America's Favorite Poem project. The 2nd half- I introduced Shakespeare by using Shakespearean insults.

HW:

Poetry Projects due Friday. -10 points for each day passed in late not due to an illness.

WOS:

Today we stomped out the iambic pentameter all over the room. I also gave you notes on Shakespeare's sonnets.
Finally, we watched a 30 sec clip from the Steve Martin flick, The Jerk, and attempted to write, not dance, to the beat.

HW: Bring in a pop reference to iambic pentameter, sonnets, or the end rhyme that we discussed this week. Friday, being a 1/2 day, will be spent looking at the connections that you made to the modern world all around you.

Embarrassing, but fun stomp videos to follow.... Stay tuned.

My Favorite Sonnet:

They that have power to hurt, and will do none,
That do not do the thing, they most do show,
Who moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow:
They rightly do inherit heaven's graces,
And husband nature's riches from expense,
Tibey are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others, but stewards of their excellence:
The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to it self, it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds,
Lilies that fester, smell far worse than weeds.

3 pounds of defective pens...

Soph Lit:

Today in class:

We defined Alliteration, Consonance and Assonance and you then had to complete 2 parts:

1. Find two examples of each in The Waste Land.

2. Write a short poem or story that used each one twice successfully.

I gave you 20 minutes to work on your poetry projects and tried to answer any lingering questions and help those struggling with this assignment.

Introduced our next in class assignment for next Monday and Tuesday:

Please pick a poem that has meaning to you and create a PowerPoint presentation that uses words, images and music to assist in telling the poem. I presented an example online to model after.

WOS

Today we began our study of his sonnets. We read some of the ones that you brought in, discussed the lack of titles, and I suggested that much of what we know about Shakespeare's heart can be found in these poems.

I then asked you to duplicate the theme of what you brought in: LOVE, DEATH, NATURE, POLITICS. Today we focused in on the end patter: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. I suggested to you that the GG is the power line, or as Jimmie said, "the power chord". You had to write a poem following this end pattern. The ones that shared were truly excellent. I suggested to you that the forced rhyming is an outside creative force that can pull deepness from our subconscious.

I assigned your next project, due May 14th. Pick a sonnet by the Bard and create a multimedia presentation that captures the mood and feeling of the poem. I played 2 random ones off of You Tube. These may be submitted as a file, a CD/DVD, or hosted online. Please see me well in advance if you need help with the technical portion of this assignment. I can stay after most days and help you. I am just excited that I came up with an assignment that made Sam happy. No sarcasm- it made me happy to hear her say that "this is going to be so much fun." After all, that is what I always strive for: to make learning fun.... :-)

Today in class we compared the lyrics from Iron Maiden to the poem. Often life imitates art- here art copied art...

Hear the rime of the ancient mariner

See his eye as he stops one of three

Mesmerises one of the wedding guests

Stay here and listen to the nightmares of the sea.

And the music plays on, as the bride passes by

Caught by his spell and the mariner tells his tale.

Driven south to the land of the snow and ice

To a place where nobody's been

Through the snow fog flies on the albatross

Hailed in God's name, hoping good luck it brings.

And the ship sails on, back to the North

Through the fog and ice and the albatross follows on.

The mariner kills the bird of good omen

His shipmates cry against what he's done

But when the fog clears, they justify him

And make themselves a part of the crime.

Sailing on and on and north across the sea

Sailing on and on and north 'til all is calm.

The albatross begins with its vengeance

HW: Poetry projects due Friday.

Soph Lit:

Today in class we finished our epic discussion of T. S. Elliot's The Waste Land. This is a very difficult poem indeed. Many scholars spend sizable chunks of their life try to learn the meaning of the poem and decipher the complex images scattered throughout. I was very proud of all of you. You once again proved to me that students will rise to high expectations.

Please use the next 3 nights to work on your poetry projects at home. These are due this Friday.

WOS:

SONNET 5
Those hours, that with gentle work did frame
The lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell,
Will play the tyrants to the very same
And that unfair which fairly doth excel:
For never-resting time leads summer on
To hideous winter and confounds him there;
Sap cheque'd with frost and lusty leaves quite gone,
Beauty o'ersnow'd and bareness every where:
Then, were not summer's distillation left,
A liquid prisoner pent in walls of glass,
Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft,
Nor it nor no remembrance what it was:
But flowers distill'd though they with winter meet,
Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet.

Brit Lit:

Today I made good on a promise to treat you to breakfast if we could reach our fundraising goal for the Three Cups O' Tea collection. Together as a class, we raised $82! I realize that times are hard right now and I appreciate your teenage generosity. It says an awful lot about your character.

With a bit of joe on our bellies, we read The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Coleridge. Before reading we listened to Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven. I suggested that some of the same imagery can be found in the poem. If this was something that you found interesting, try listening to Iron Maiden's song, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. It has a bit of a more obvious connection. Robert Plant, like Coleridge conceived the story for the song in a series of dreams. Both the song and the poem share the magical combination of thought and imagination.

At the end of class, we looked very briefly at messages in songs that are hidden, but revealed by spinning the records backwards. Ah....good ol' fashion records. How do you think you could hide a message in a poem? Did this ever happen in classical poetry?

Word O' the Week:

Verecund: [vare-i-kund] an adj. meaning shy, coy, bashful.

Found art

Soph Lit:

Today we continued exploring the poem, The Waste Land. We will finish our class discussion on Tuesday. Please be ready for a brief quiz.

HW: Please explain the title of the poem in 3-5 sentences.

Poetry Project

• Creative cover 10 %
• Table of Contents 5%
• Typed copy of your favorite poem, with a paragraph as to why. 5%
• Typed favorite song lyrics, with a paragraph as to why/impact on you 5%
• Original Poem by you. 30%
• Poem Analysis: Pick a poem that has been published and explain what it about in around 250 words. 30%
• Brief biography of favorite poet, in 3-5 sentences. 10%
• Evaluation of poetry unit 5%

We discussed this is far greater detail in class. Please use this as a reminder of the actual assignment. Please see me if you were no in class, or need clarification.