Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

I collected your journals 1-10.  These will be marked as late starting Friday.  Please see me if you did not pass it in.

We went to the computer lab to type your Animal Farm paper.  These are due Friday.

Shakespeare

Today:

Journal Prompt #10:

Sounds.  I played 10 sounds and asked you to use them creating a story, using any of the main character's that we have met in act 1.  We shared a few.

We went over the 5 stages of grief.  For each stage, please record lines from the play as we go.  This will be the research for our first major paper.

We briefly touched on the plot line of a Shakespearian tragedy.  More next week as we get further into the play.

We acted out almost all of sc 4+5.

Quiz on act 1 very, very soon.......

Comp. Lit II:

Today:

We took the exam for Animal Farm.

I collected your books.

Shakespeare:

Today:

Journal #9:  Fear.  Please describe your greatest fear(s).  Why do you think that you have this fear?  Imagine and write about how you could overcome this fear.     1 page.

I broke you into small groups and asked you to find 4 of the 5 language tricks in Act 1.  Each group passed this in.

I passed back your recent quizzes.

We wrapped up the Hamlet lines.  If you did not go, please arrange a time to make this up.  It is a test grade.

Comp. Lit. II

Today:

Journal prompt #10:  If you could have one super power, what would you choose?  How would you use your power?    1 page

I broke you up in 2's and had you write 10 multiple choice questions for the book.  I will use a few of these on the test.

We played who wants to Win a Pizza Party.

HW:  Study for the test on Wed.

Shakespeare:

Today:

We went over the rules of blocking and explained stage direction.

I broke you into small groups and asked you to block a page of the script.

We went down to the Aud and tried these out on the stage.

We ended with 2 closing acting games.  I will throw up some pictures.

I collected you S. Alive! books.

Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

Journal prompt #9:  Please pick 3 people that you would select to have a dinner conversation with.  They can be alive, dead, fictional, or from your life.  What would they talk about?  What questions would you ask?         1 page

We finished Animal Farm the movie.

We began reviewing for the test (Wed.)

HW:  Study notes on propaganda, Orwell, and review the book.

Shakespeare:

Today:

We spent 1/2 the class finishing the Hamlet lines.  If you were not ready, I will give you the opportunity to do these Tuesday.

I went over some of the difficulties in reading words that are over 400 years old:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPlpphT7n9s&app=desktop

W finished act 1, sc 2 and played freeze pop.  The class shared the ability to freeze the play and either make a cameo or add a prop to the scene.

Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

We took vocab quiz #1

We reviewed the end of the book.  What did you think?

I assigned your first paper- due Fri Sept 19th.

We watched the first part of the Animal Farm Movie.

Shakespeare

Today:

We recited your Hamlet lines.  We looked at three different ways that they can be read:

Kenneth Branagh  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7TgTb_0wsg

Olivier's Hamlet (classic)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ks-NbCHUns

Mel Gibson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdp6dpiK8Ko

And for an added blog bonus, Patrick Stewart on Sesame ST :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA7lv1SDzno

We will finish the 2nd 1/2 on Monday

Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

I checked your vocab HW
I gave you my def for each word.  You will have a matching quiz on these words with my def. Friday.

Journal #8:  Please use all of your vocab words in a creative journal prompt.  You can tell a story, write a poem, or draw.  Anything that uses the words.  Imagination is more important than knowledge.

We shared your anthems and answered questions on the ones that we had a chance to share.

HW:  Please finish the book, study vocab

Shakespeare:

Today:
We defined how Shakespeare would often use language tricks as his cgi, or special effects.

 We defined and went over examples of:
Personification
Metaphor
Simile
Classical
 Allusions
Reversed Word
Reversed Thought
Reversed Sentence construction

Journal Prompt #8: Use and underline each of the language tricks in a creative journal prompt. You can tell a story, draw a picture, make a song or rap, or just share how you are feeling. Daydream and open your imagination......


I played a clip of Yoda using the language tricks. You can watch this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p44pcTXpPOs We acted out Act 1.

HW: Hamlet lines are due Friday.

Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

Journal #7:  What is the greatest lie that you have ever told?  What was the result of the lie?  Would you lie again if given the same situation?   1 page.

I broke you into groups and asked you to look specifically at the propaganda that Squealer uses in CH 7-8.  You needed to list three examples and explain the truth behind the lies.

We reviewed your reading (CH 8)

We took a quiz on CH 8.

We finished the last speeches.

HW:  Please read CH 9.  Define vocab words and study for your quiz on Friday.

Long term:  We will be working to finish the novel for Friday.

Shakespeare:

Today:
Journal #7:  Please describe a time when your actions and thoughts were driven by pure hate.  What was the result?  Do you have any regrets?

We talked about how acting from hate can have power, but can be filled with regrets.

We took a closer look at the Hamlet lines.  I broke you into 5 groups and asked you to convert the lines to a different scenario.

HW:  Learn your lines!  3 a day keeps the evil doctor away!

Comp. Lit 2:

Today:

Journal #6:  Please re-read the last pg that you have read in Animal Farm.  In your journal, please write the next page of the book, according to you.    1 page

1/2 of you were selected to give your speech today, 1/2 will go Wed.

We defined Anthems.

I gave you your vocab words.  Def. will be checked Thursday, matching quiz on Friday.

HW:  Please read ch 8 and bring in an anthem to share with class.  Study vocab for Friday.

Shakespeare:

Today:

Journal Prompt #6:  Please describe a moment when revenge was sweet.  This can be about someone besides yourself.     1 page

I broke you into 4 groups and we used the costumes to act out 4 skits based on future events in Hamlet.  We performed these for the class.

We did Hamlet act 1

HW:  Please continue to work on your lines.  These are due Friday and count as a test grade.

Comp. Lit II:

today:

Journal #5:  "If you tell a big enough lie, and tell it frequently enough, it be believed."  Hitler  Please think about the quote a write about a lie that was told so much, that it was believed.  Why does this happen?  What is the truth?

We did a peer-edit of the speeches that are due Tuesday.  You offered feedback, and had a chance to read your speech.

We discussed ways to improve your public speaking.

We watched a doc on Orwell and answered questions.

I passed back your Animal Farm quizzes.

HW:  Please read ch 7.  Please have final draft.  Please find an anthem and bring it in for wed.  If you don't have a real copy of it, print out the lyrics of the song, or write them down.

Shakespeare:

Today:
Journal #5:  Please describe a moment when you knew the truth, but pretended that you did not.  1 pg.

We took a pre-reading survey on topics in Hamlet.

We talked about these.

I assigned 14 lines from Hamlet.  These are to ne memorized by this Friday.

Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

We reviewed your reading from last night

We took a quiz on CH 6.

We went over a what each animal represents in history

I checked off that you did the 1st draft of your speech.

We looked at different forms of propaganda.

Shakespeare:

Today:

We started class with 3 strikes or you quiz.  You lost and took Quiz #2 on Queen Elizabeth

We went down to the aud an did:

Fractured Fairy Tales
Murder!
The Machine!

I posted a video of your machine.

No weekend HW- have a great one!

Comp. Lit. II:

Journal #4:  Write a letter to yourself in the past giving yourself advice on 3 problems that you had then.  1 page.

We played 3 strikes and you Quiz.  B block won an avoided the quiz, C block lost and took quiz #2 on your reading/notes.

I passed back your quizzes.

We went over the following propaganda terms:

Euphemism, oversimplification, bandwagon, internal contradiction, faulty cause and effect reasoning, begging the question.

I explained how these can be used to take over a small country, or at least get out of taking the garbage out :-)

HW:  1st draft of your school take over speech.  Final draft/speech due 9/9.  Read CH 6 in Animal Farm.

Shakespeare:

Today:

Journal #4:  Do you believe in ghosts?  Do you have any good ghost stories?  What are your thoughts on the afterlife?  Where do you think we go when we die?  Do we go anywhere?  Can you come back after death?   1 page

We finished our notes on WS

We started Hamlet, Act 1, sc 1

HW:  Please read up to pg 84 in Shakespeare Alive!

Bonus question for the Quiz Wed....

What walks on 4 feet in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the twilight?

Lit. Comp. II:

Today:

Journal #3:  Please write a fable based on the characteristics that we discussed: Animals as characters, short, moral at the end.    Cpa/CP= 1/2 pg   H= 1 page

We reviewed your reading

We took a quiz on reading ch 1-3 and notes on Orwell

We went over the Russian Revolution. 

HW:  Please read Ch 4 +5 in Animal Farm.

Shakespeare:

Today:

Journal #3: What has been your experience with Shakespeare thus far? What plays have your read? What do you find difficult?    1/2 page

I passed out Hamlet.

We took a quiz on your reading from Shakespeare Alive!

We took notes on the very little factual information that we know about WS

We went to the aud and we did a series of acting games.  I shattered your expectations with lowering your arms into the floor.

HW: Night off- enjoy!

Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

Journal Prompt #2:  What are the top 3 reasons that people have revolutions?  What would happen in the US if there was a wide scale revolution?  CP/CPA 1/2 pg H= 1 page

I broke you into groups and asked you to come up with a name for your new society.  I asked for 10 rules.

We finished our notes on Orwell.

HW:  Please read ch 1-3.  Quiz on reading/notes Wed.

Shakespeare:

Today: Journal Prompt #2: Please pick one character from your reading and write a one pg, first person account of a day in their life. Please underline at least 5 details included from your reading in Shakespeare Alive!!

We each were given a line from a play and I introduced inflection, stress and power.

We went over the most popular Shakespeare insults. Each of you were paired with a person and insulted each other. Good times.

We learned how to clap. HW: Please read to pg 67.

Comp. Lit. II:

Journal Prompt #1: "Madness in great ones must not unwatched go." What is the danger of having too much power? Describe a moment when you were given power and how you handled it. 1 page I passed out Animal Farm.

Shakespeare

Today: Journal Prompt #1: "Madness in great ones must not unwatched go." What is the danger of having too much power? Describe a moment when you were given power and how you handled it. 1 page HW: Please read to pg 47. in Shakespeare Alive!

Welcome

Welcome to my class! Get ready to work hard and have fun while doing it. I look forward to teaching you this semester.

Brit. Lit

Today
We finished Jane Eyre.

Quiz (X3) on Monday.

I passed back your 1984 test and your room 101 paper.

Comp. Lit. II

Today

Day 2 of 2 in the computer lab.  Today you completed parts III an IV of your portfolio.  These are due this Tuesday.

Brit Lit:

Today:

We went around the room and wrote responses to the following questions:

Find textual evidence of sarcasm in the novel
How is Mr. Rochester a character that we are made to feel sympathy for?
Find the best example of Gothic Lit. in the novel

Nick suggested a Star Trek Voyager episode that deals with the Victorian novel.  We watch some of this episode and talked about how this fit.

HW: Please finish the novel :-)

Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

We had computer lab time day 1 of 2.

We used this time to complete Parts I + II of the final portfolio.

We will finish these on Friday.

Brit Lit:

Today:

We all went outside and found a tree to read ch 27.  I gave you 30 min. to read.

We came back in and I asked you each to summarize the chapter.

We ended class with a great clip from Seinfeld as a defeated history teacher.  This time of year, I often think of this clip.

http://www.schooltube.com/video/30747e2e060f4e4efc5b/

HW:  Please read to pg 371

Comp. Lit. II:

Today
We began work on your final portfolio.  Today, you selected 3 of your 30 journal prompts and wrote 3-5 sent. as to why these were your favorite. 

I broke you into small groups and asked you to:
define 10-15 of the main plot points.
perform them with no words or props
do the in reverse order
Perform in exactly 32 sec.

We ended class looking at the Beatles doing the play within a play scene from Midsummer.

Please have everything needed to complete part 1 +2 of your portfolio for Thursday.

Brit Lit.:

Today:

I passed back journals 21-30.

We defined Gothic Lit.

I broke you into small groups and asked you to find textual evidence for 8 of the 10 terms.

We watched a 20 minute Scooby Doo Episode and identified the gothic terminology that is also used there.

Comparing Gothic Lit in a Victorian classic and Scooby Doo- not bad for the last days of school....

HW:  Please read to pg 282.

Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

We looked at twitter and the nature of tweets.  I asked you to pick two character's in the play a write 6 tweets for each of them.  We shared these.

We looked at Facebook and imagined if these character's were alive today, what would their Facebook page look like.  Each row was given a different character and tasked with making a facebook page for them.

I assigned your final project:  Portfolio's:

Portfolio Assessment

For your final assignment, I will ask you to reflect back on the work that we did together.  A portfolio allows you the opportunity to think about what you have done, what you have learned, and how you may have changed through the process.  A completed portfolio consists of the following four parts:

Part I:  Journal Prompts  Please select 3 out of the 30 journal prompts that you are most proud of.  For each one, please type out and write a 3-5 sentence reflection piece as to why the prompts that you selected were meaningful.

Part II:  Selected Assignment  Please select one assignment that you are the most proud of from  your writing folder and include it in your portfolio.  Please include a 3-5 sentence reflective piece commenting on:

1.        What did you learn from this assignment?

2.       What did you find most challenging in this assignment?

3.       If you could do this again, what specifically could you improve on?

Part III:  Letter to Students  Please write a one page letter to future students taking this class.  Please give advice on what to expect from me as a teacher, as well as your comments on the activities and assignments that we did in class.  Please make reference to specific assignments and novels in your discussion.

Part IV:  Letter to Yourself  Please write a letter to yourself.  In this letter, please comment on specific areas that you have improved upon while taking this course.  Think about thoughts and feeling that you have had while reading and writing in this class.  Please try and give specific evidence to back up your statements.  You should aim to cover at least three areas of improvement, with three specific examples.  Please also feel free to comment on how you have changed as a person through assignments and class discussions.

 Please include all parts along with this assignment sheet in a manila folder, with your name, date and class clearly marked on the front.  If you do not have one easily available, please see me.

Due Date:____________________

My Comments:

 

Grade:___________________

 

 

Finally, we played freeze pop.  Each of you were given the opportunity to use the TiVo remote, freeze the action of act 2, and insert something comical into the play.

Brit Lit:

Today:

We broke into small groups and designed a modern movie poster for a re-make of Jane Eyre.
You cast the top ten on the back.
We passed these around and wrote fictitious movie quotes.

We looked at a feminist article on what a modern woman (and man) could learn from Jane Eyre.

I passed out my notes on Gothic Lit.

HW:  Please read to pg 272.

Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

We reviewed the play and notes on Shakespeare.

You took a quiz (A Block only)  on Act-1-2

Remaining people recited their Puck Lines.  -10 for each day not ready.

We went to support the Art department by attending All Arts Day.

Brit Lit:

Today:

We reviewed your reading from last night.

We played Three Strikes and You Get a Quiz.  You avoid a quiz by only having one strike.

We looked at the role of women during the Victorian Age.

We played a game on this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/games/victorian_women/index_embed.shtml

I asked you to do a free write:
Imagine that you are Jane and have wandered up to investigate the noises.  Open the door to the room in the attic and describe in first person what you see.  2/3 of a page

HW:  please read to pg 151 (ch 17)

Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

We defined the language tricks that Shakespeare uses.

We looked at reverse thought, and I played a short clip from Yoda demonstrating this effect.

I asked you to give your own examples for each of the terms.

I broke you into small groups and had you find specific examples from act 1-2.

We reviewed the Puck lines.  These remain due Friday.

Brit Lit:

Today:

We reviewed your reading

We looked at the used of weather in the novel to set mood

We looked at hope and compassion in the school.

We defined classical allusions and looked at 20 allusions in this novel.  We looked at how allusions are used in many movies and popular lit. today

We took a quiz on your notes from yesterday + reading.

HW:  Please read to pg. 119 (ch 14)

Comp. Lit. II

Today:

I gave you notes on the very little facts that are known about Shakespeare.

I gave you notes on:
The Globe
Groundlings
Plays vs. religion
Other forms of entertainment
Throwing food at the end of act 1.

We finished act 2

Reminder:  Puck lines need to be memorized for this Friday.  This is a test grade- so end in greatness!

Brit. Lit.

Today
We looked at the 1st person narration and some of the amateurish style of the writing in Jane Eyre.  I asked to write a 1st person account of the red room from Jane's perspective.  1 page.

We went outside and I encouraged you to find a tree and read for 30 minutes. 

We had a group discussion about:

Jane's rebellious spirit
Boarding school in 1860.
The style of the novel.
questions that you have from the exposition.

HW:  Please read to pg.  85

Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

I assigned the last lines by Puck to be memorized for this Friday.

We broke into small groups and converted the lines to modern dialogue.  We performed these in front of the class.

We began acting out act 1.

Due to MCAS using all the computer labs, our letter to Ellie has been moved to another day.

Brit Lit.:

We finished 1984 and Dystopian fiction.

We looked at the letter Orwell wrote explaining why he was about to write this book.  Have you ever felt passion that would inspire you to do something like this?

We talked about the Snowden interview from this week.

We learned about the Bronte sister's.  We began to define the Victorian novel.

HW:  Please read pgs 1-33 (ch 5) of Jane Eyre  for Monday.

Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

A Block:

Ms. Nijssen past back your test and offered you a bonus set of questions to raise the class avg.
We went to the lab and wrote your letter to Ellie.

B Block:

We began Shakespeare.
We paired up and insulted each other with Shakespearian insults.
We practiced adding emotion to lines to convey meaning.
We watched the 15 min. Doc: Why Shakespeare?

Brit Lit:

Due to the senior award ceremony, we did not have class.  For those in class, I passed out Jane Eyre.

Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

We took the test for Night.

George Orwell Explains in a Revealing 1944 Letter Why He’d Write 1984

Most of the twentieth century’s notable men of letters — i.e., writers of books, of essays, of reportage — seem also to have, literally, written a great deal of letters. Sometimes their correspondence reflects and shapes their “real” written work; sometimes it appears collected in book form itself. Both hold true in the case of George Orwell, a volume of whose letters, edited by Peter Davison, came out last year. In it we find this missive, also published in full at The Daily Beast, sent in 1944 to one Noel Willmett, who had asked “whether totalitarianism, leader-worship etc. are really on the up-grade” given “that they are not apparently growing in [England] and the USA”:

I must say I believe, or fear, that taking the world as a whole these things are on the increase. Hitler, no doubt, will soon disappear, but only at the expense of strengthening (a) Stalin, (b) the Anglo-American millionaires and (c) all sorts of petty fuhrers of the type of de Gaulle. All the national movements everywhere, even those that originate in resistance to German domination, seem to take non-democratic forms, to group themselves round some superhuman fuhrer (Hitler, Stalin, Salazar, Franco, Gandhi, De Valera are all varying examples) and to adopt the theory that the end justifies the means. Everywhere the world movement seems to be in the direction of centralised economies which can be made to ‘work’ in an economic sense but which are not democratically organised and which tend to establish a caste system. With this go the horrors of emotional nationalism and a tendency to disbelieve in the existence of objective truth because all the facts have to fit in with the words and prophecies of some infallible fuhrer. Already history has in a sense ceased to exist, ie. there is no such thing as a history of our own times which could be universally accepted, and the exact sciences are endangered as soon as military necessity ceases to keep people up to the mark. Hitler can say that the Jews started the war, and if he survives that will become official history. He can’t say that two and two are five, because for the purposes of, say, ballistics they have to make four. But if the sort of world that I am afraid of arrives, a world of two or three great superstates which are unable to conquer one another, two and two could become five if the fuhrer wished it. That, so far as I can see, is the direction in which we are actually moving, though, of course, the process is reversible.

As to the comparative immunity of Britain and the USA. Whatever the pacifists etc. may say, we have not gone totalitarian yet and this is a very hopeful symptom. I believe very deeply, as I explained in my book The Lion and the Unicorn, in the English people and in their capacity to centralise their economy without destroying freedom in doing so. But one must remember that Britain and the USA haven’t been really tried, they haven’t known defeat or severe suffering, and there are some bad symptoms to balance the good ones. To begin with there is the general indifference to the decay of democracy. Do you realise, for instance, that no one in England under 26 now has a vote and that so far as one can see the great mass of people of that age don’t give a damn for this? Secondly there is the fact that the intellectuals are more totalitarian in outlook than the common people. On the whole the English intelligentsia have opposed Hitler, but only at the price of accepting Stalin. Most of them are perfectly ready for dictatorial methods, secret police, systematic falsification of history etc. so long as they feel that it is on ‘our’ side. Indeed the statement that we haven’t a Fascist movement in England largely means that the young, at this moment, look for their fuhrer elsewhere. One can’t be sure that that won’t change, nor can one be sure that the common people won’t think ten years hence as the intellectuals do now. I hope they won’t, I even trust they won’t, but if so it will be at the cost of a struggle. If one simply proclaims that all is for the best and doesn’t point to the sinister symptoms, one is merely helping to bring totalitarianism nearer.

You also ask, if I think the world tendency is towards Fascism, why do I support the war. It is a choice of evils—I fancy nearly every war is that. I know enough of British imperialism not to like it, but I would support it against Nazism or Japanese imperialism, as the lesser evil. Similarly I would support the USSR against Germany because I think the USSR cannot altogether escape its past and retains enough of the original ideas of the Revolution to make it a more hopeful phenomenon than Nazi Germany. I think, and have thought ever since the war began, in 1936 or thereabouts, that our cause is the better, but we have to keep on making it the better, which involves constant criticism.

Yours sincerely,
Geo. Orwell

Three years later, Orwell would write 1984. Two years after that, it would see publication and go on to generations of attention as perhaps the most eloquent fictional statement against a world reduced to superstates, saturated with “emotional nationalism,” acquiescent to “dictatorial methods, secret police,” and the systematic falsification of history,” and shot through by the willingness to “disbelieve in the existence of objective truth because all the facts have to fit in with the words and prophecies of some infallible fuhrer.” Now that you feel like reading the novel again, or even for the first time, do browse our collection of 1984-related resources, which includes the eBook, the audio book, reviews, and even radio drama and comic book adaptations of Orwell’s work.

Brit Lit:

Today:

I collected your papers (room 101) and your reading questions from last night.

We reviewed the story and looked at how Dickens helped define the term ghost story. 

We read Shelly's intro to Frankenstein and we explored the role of women writers during this time.

HW:  None, as long as everything is in.  If missing work- please use tonight to catch up.

Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

We looked at genocide. 
We discussed the 8 stages of genocide and looked at places in the world where this is still happening.

A Block H recited their Invictus poem
B Block wrote letters to Ellie inviting him to Tantasqua and sharing your feelings from reading this book.

We identified the stages on genocide in Night in small groups.

HW:  Please have the book finished for Thursday.
Read article: Ethnic Cleansing in Croatia.
Study for Test.

Brit Lit:

Today

Due to Naviance training for Jr's, we moved the test to Tuesday, and made the due date for your Room 101 papers Next Wed.

We watched the movie for 1984 as a review.

Please look over your review sheet and be ready to rock the test on Tuesday.

Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

A Block: 

Took your vocab quiz for Night.

Read and discussed articles from your Night packet.

Began transcribing your Never Shall I forget poems.

C Block:

H Students recited Invictus
CP/CPA students took each stanza and found examples in the text that connects to the poem.

We reviewed your reading from last night.

We watched Ellie gives a speech at the Holocaust Museum:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_kuKXRLEnY

We started watching the Opera Special on the novel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEbLJv3uSPY

I passed back all of your quizzes for Night, your Animal Farm test and your journals.

Brit Lit:

Today:

We played a review game for the test.

We went over the essay questions for the test:

1984 Essay Questions:

 

Directions:  CPA:  Please answer one of the following questions.

(H:)  Please answer two of the three questions.

 

ESSAY # 1
During Winston's stay in the Ministry of Love, O'brien asks Winston, "How does one man exert his power over another" to which Winston replies, "By making him suffer". Explain how The Party is able to maintain control and power over it's citizens (proles and party members alike) by making them suffer. Cite examples from the text to support your answer.

ESSAY # 2
Orwell wrote 1984 as a cautionary tale to warn future generations of the dangers that could be lurking in modern society. While Orwell's nightmarish vision of the future did not come true in in the year 1984, many still view the novel as vitally important to understanding the ways human being can be manipulated and brought under power by others. In your opinion, are Orwell's warnings still valid today? In which way/s and why or why not?

 

ESSAY #3

Discuss the idea of doublethink. How important is doublethink to the Party’s

control of Oceania? How important is it to Winston’s brainwashing?  Please make sure that you give solid examples to back up all of your points.

 

 

Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

A Block:  Ms. Nijssen checked your reading questions.  Many of you are not reading.  Please catch up tonight.
We went over your vocab, and were given the def. that will be on your quiz.

We read parts of the story as a class and had a discussion about some of the graphic-intense scenes.

C Block:  We took a quiz on your reading.

We went over the use of the word night.  I broke you into small groups and asked you find examples.  Each group needed 5 examples.  As you continue reading, think about how this word is used in the book.

We wrote out I will never forget poems based on 7 things.  Many of you shared some incredible poems.

HW:  read pgs 66-84
Poetry recitation for C block H students.

Brit. Lit.

Today:

We watched the second part of the Frontline doc that was aired last night.  This can be viewed here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/view/

HW:  Finish 1984.

Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

A Block: 
Journal:  Write an entry as if you were on the train with Elie.  Use all of your senses to write.   1pg

We moved class outside and Ms. Nijssen had you go around in a circle a share something you found interesting, as well as a question that you had from the reading.  She explored the importance to the number 7.  We looked at how this number is used in the bible and in different religions.  You wrote a 7 line poem, modeled after the one given to you.  The poem needed to start "Never shall I forget."

C Block:
We discussed your reading.
You wrote a poem based on the key concept of hope.  We shared these and continued our discussion of the power of hope and what can happen when people lose hope.
We took a quiz on your reading.

I shared a web collection of poems about the holocaust.  You can find these here:
http://www.datasync.com/~davidg59/holo_art.html


HW:  Please follow your reading schedule and read pg 47-65.

Comp. Lit. II:

Today:

We reviewed your reading from last night.

A Block:  Ms. Nijssen ran class and began with a discussion on racism and where it comes from. 

You shared experiences with hate. 

You broke into a circle and shared one thing that you found interesting from the novel, and one question that you had. 

Ms. Nijssen reminded H students of the poem that is due.

HW:  Please read 23-46 for tonight.

C Block:We started with the morning newspaper.  I asked you to find an article that deals with hate and share it with the class.

We shared our experiences with racism and prejudice. 

We took a quiz on your reading.

I asked you to write a poem from the perspective of a Jew being deported.  You were asked to use this poem as a voice of hope.

What is the power of hope?

HW:  Same as A block.

Brit Lit:

Today, the majority of you took the final exam. 

HW:  Please read up to pg.  287.  Finish novel for Wed.

Brit Lit.:

Today:

I broke you into small study groups and allowed you time to prep for the test. 

Comp. Lit II:

Today
A block finished their essays for the Animal Farm test.
B block watched the first half of a doc. on the holocaust.

We passed out Night, and collected Animal Farm.

Reading schedule:

5.19 pgs. 3-22
5.20 pgs. 23-46
5.21 pgs. 47-65
5.22 pgs. 66-84
5.23 pgs. 85-97