Shakespeare Wish I to Understand

Shakespeare's language sounds a little weird at first. But really, once you try to read those "fancy" words and funky word order, the story isn't that difficult to get. Check out this awesome example by comedian John Branyan: A Triune Tale of Diminutive Swine (recorded live show video here).


Shakespeare's language sounds funny because it is Early Modern English, not our Modern English that we speak every day. You see, our language has morphed from Germanic roots of Old English to the Latin influence of Middle English and additions of French during the Renaissance to create Early Modern English. Now this all happened through a series of mini, simple changes to the everyday language (known as vernacular) that later became a significant shift in how the language was spoken and written. Etymology and linguistics is supremely interesting, so be sure to check out some resources if it intrigues you to know why we spell some words "ie" and others "ei" (or "ph" and "f").

Analyze the Rhetoric!

Now that you have taken the terms and identification portion of the test, you will now analyze the SOAPS of a recent persuasive speech: President Barack Obama's 2012 Inaugural Address. Feel free to listen to his speech tonight so you can hear and see the inflection and emphasis he puts on certain words. Tomorrow, you will just have an abbreviated transcript to work with in order to label and clarify the SOAPS of his rhetorical strategy. Short and sweet Inaugural Address--PERFECT for analysis!

Personal Hero Essay

For your first major writing assignment, you will be reflecting on a personal hero or on what makes a hero. Ordinarily, you would not use first person voice ("I," "me," my," etc.) in a formal essay; however, this essay is reflective. Use first person as appropriate! 

Choose one of the following topics:

HEROIC QUALITIES:

• You must choose THREE specific characteristics of a hero for this topic. You may choose three categories of hero qualities if you want to include a broader definition (i.e. “moral fiber” includes honesty, sacrifice, and commitment to personal beliefs).
• Include examples of each characteristic/category.
• Explain why each characteristic/category is significant and meaningful.

PERSONAL HERO:

• Use one paragraph to enumerate character traits of and your personal connection to the hero.
• The two following paragraphs should provide specific, demonstrative examples of this person as a hero. You can choose to group general behaviors as one paragraph, but you MUST have at least one SPECIFIC incident in which you can identify this person as a hero.
• Be sure to include explanations to the why these behaviors and actions constitute this person as a hero rather than just a good person.

Remember, you need to MLA format this paper and either type or write in pen. Check your work against the format and rubric I've given you on your assignment sheet. If your paper matches the format and is complete on Monday, I will give you 10 Bonus Points, as it was the original due date. We will go over a good 5-Paragraph Essay on Monday, so the true due date is Wednesday, August 27th.

Check out these resources for enhancing your paper!

• A (Hilarious and Detailed) Overview of the 5-Paragraph Essay
• Blog post (with video!) on how to write a killer hook and thesis!
• Blog post (with video!) on how to write an introduction and conclusion!
• MLA Formatting Resource
• Downloadable MLA Google Drive Document
• Video Instruction on LOADS of Writing Tips/Step

I Declare INDEPENDENCE!!!!

Today, we learned that the Declaration is now thought to have been performed to the people of Revolutionary America. After looking at the rhetorical SOAPS, the Declaration indeed seems to be an escalation of problems and wrongdoings by King George to convince the new nation to fight and secede from the Motherland, Great Britain. Below is the video reenacting the Declaration with many familiar faces from our modern Hollywood Era.

First Day Back! Welcome to High School!

Welcome to Mrs. Heck's class in Room 109! Now is the time for a fresh start, leaving behind any mistakes or mishaps from last term. It is time to step up to excitement, enrichment, and the many challenges of the coming year. I am delighted to be a part of your lives this year as we work toward personal victories in and outside the classroom.

Over the next two days, we will complete these tasks:

1. First Day on the Blog "WebQuest"
2. Join Google Drive
3. Find Your Multiple Intelligences Survey

For Homework (Due Friday):

1. Show your parents the syllabus.
2. Have your parents sign and return the Acknowledgement Sheet (!First HW grade!)
3. Sign into ClassDojo with your username and passwords.  You can even download the app on your Apple or Android products to keep track of your daily participation!

Also, check out this funny video from YouTube Vloggers Glove and Boots! A perfect recap of how to transition from summer break back to school! (NOTE: Start at 43 sec to avoid bleeped words!)

First Day--Welcome to THE BLOG!

Welcome to THE BLOG! This blog will serve to complement and support our daily class by providing duplicate materials from class, reminders and schedules, communication to parents, and links to valuable resources. Use the blog to your benefit as a "one-stop shop" of accessing my students' work.

A few key tricks to using the blog to your benefit:

1. Sign up to "Follow by Email" in the left tab. You can even have "emails" sent to your phone via text with some cell plans. Or, subscribe via an RSS feed to which you can additionally add news, entertainment, or other informational updates. If you need to create an email, use this article to choose one of the most popular, free, online mail clients.
2. Use "Labels" in the left margin to narrow the blog's content to only those posts that you need.
3. Click on hyperlinks embedded in the posts to access copies of worksheets, notes, or resources used in class.
4. There is a search bar at the top right of the page. Use that to type in key words when searching for class content.
5. Peruse the extra links for real-world content that connects our classroom learning to your extracurricular lives.
6. Leave comments or questions on individual blog posts or email me if you would like further help when you are not at school. I will answer all questions posted either place.

Finding Treasures in The Great Gatsby

Complete the following WebQuest to learn more about the background of The Great Gatsby. This web-based search will introduce you to the world of Gatsby and his fellows so you may better understand the development and significance of action in the novel.

2. After the War Link: after the jump below
7. Arnold Rothstein Link: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Rothstein.html
8. Flapper Jane Link: http://www.colorado.edu/AmStudies/lewis/1025/flapperjane.pdf

Here's a video giving you a headstart on analysis of The Great Gatsby:

An online text of The Great Gatsby is free to read and download at: http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/f/fitzgerald/f_scott/gatsby/

Listen to any section of the novel at this hyperlink audiobook.

No Heavy Books!--Macbeth Text Online

Here are some great resources for making Macbeth more accessible to read and to carry!

• In class, we will be listening to the dramatized audio version of Macbeth.
• SparkNotes has the entire text of Macbeth in both Shakespearean English and Modern English. 
• The entire text on a searchable website can be found from MIT. 
• The Google Play store has an android app to play Macbeth as an audio book.

Take any one of these to complete your Act dramatization

Fellow teachers and parents, read this well-crafted article that demonstrates how fun (and wild) reading Shakespeare in school can get!

Seniors: Editing to Create a Final Draft

Seniors,
Even though I'm a few states away, take today as a golden opportunity to finish up your research paper! They are each graded and it is now time for you to fix the problems I have identified. Follow the instructions below.

1. Log in to your CCS account and access your Drive. (CCS Email link above)
2. Open up your first draft. You will be fixing everything in this document.
3. PLEASE LEAVE THE HIGHLIGHTING AND COMMENTS. I will remove each when the corrections have been made.
4. To get help correcting various errors, check out these stick-figure videos. They are thorough AND entertaining!
1. For more grammar help (lots of pink highlights), check this out.
2. For more paper style help (lots of green highlights), check this out.
3. For more word choice and phrasing (lots of blue highlights), check this out.
4. For lots of comments about run ons and fragments or other more complicated punctuation matters, check this out.
5. For lots of comments on analysis or your lack of SOMEthing in the paper, check this out.
5. Remember that your Works Cited page AND in-text citations MUST BE PRESENT in the final draft of the paper or it will automatically receive a zero for "plagiarism" according to South View's policy. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. 

Juniors: Adding a Thesis, Introduction, and Conclusion

Juniors,
Even though I am a few states away, you've still got a golden opportunity to work on your research paper. Follow these steps and watch my awesome instructional video for guidance on how to do your work today.

1. Log in to your CCS account and access your Drive. (CCS Email link above)
2. Open up your outline. You will be adding everything into this document.
3. For your thesis, use this formula:
1. What is your topic?
2. Add an active verb (Resource #2) 
3. What are you trying to prove?
4. Add a transition word (Resource #2)
5. What are each of your paragraphs going to be about?
4. For example,
1. J. R. R. Tolkien
2. created
3. a mythology for Great Britain
4. by
5. integrating his personal history, creating a new language, basing mythical races on real history, and writing a diverse series incorporating this fantastical realm.
5. Finally, use your imagination to create an exciting sentence about your topic that would draw a reader's attention. Some ideas for that are:
1. a mind-blowing fact
2. a quote from someone famous
3. the first line of a short narrative (aka anecdote)
4. some zinger of an analytical comment
6. Then, connect this attention-getter with your thesis using some well-structured and well-directed sentences.
7. For the conclusion, you just do the introduction in reverse. Start out with a rephrased thesis and then work your way back out to a final send-off that relates to the opening remark.
8. To find out more on writing an introduction and conclusion, check out this stick-people video!
9. After you do all of this, go back and edit your outline sentences. You and I BOTH know that those sentences aren't all grammatically correct. Go ahead and fix them now before you loose a slew of points.
10. Once you have finished editing your sentences, go back and edit your citations. You will need these for your Works Cited page at the end of your paper, so you may as well have it done correctly now. 

The Pardoner's Tale

Over the past week, you have read several of the Canterbury Tales, Today, we will finish things up with The Pardoner's Tale. Full of greed, money, and death, the Pardoner certainly spins a morality tale to enchant those "yokel minds." Below, you will find the Tim McInnery version of the tale for review and comparison.

But don't think the Pardoner is the only one that can tell such a tale. Modern writer J. K. Rowling also tells a story of three brothers' interaction with Death. Watch below to see some similarities (as I am sure she must have had The Canterbury Tales in the back of her mind while writing)!

Viewing The Scarlet Letter

Now that we have established Hawthorne's unique and detailed writing style, we will read the rest of the text via the WGBH Boston mini-series interpretation. We will be completing the ABC Charts that we folded today in class.  Using the alphabet, we can identify lots of symbols and setting elements that set the tone and theme of The Scarlet Letter. These charts will help us identify the Dark Romantic style of Hawthorne's writing. Follow this link to watch a video about American Dark Romanticism.

Additionally, we will be doing pages from the Glencoe Activities Packet. Keep up with these papers in your folders and we'll work on them as we go!

For an online version of Hawthorne's original text, click here!

REMEMBER: You should be using the time you are NOT reading in this unit to be WRITING your research paper due March 27 and reading your own Independent Reading Novel with your group.

Canterbury Tales (A Long Journey)

Today, we looked into the history behind The Canterbury Tales using this prezi. Our class also looked into the direct and indirect characterizations of several of the twenty-nine pilgrims on their way to Canterbury Cathedral. There are plenty of images and interactives online that you can explore the Cathedral, the journey to Canterbury, or life in Chaucer's time. Get ready to listen to two pilgrim's tales next week!

If you want an entertaining summary and recap of our lesson today, 

just watch the video below by The History Teachers on YouTube. 

Enjoy!

MB Act I: Setting Mood

The first Act of Macbeth introduces some interesting characters and scenes. Notice already the motifs of darkness, strange omens, and epic foreshadowing that you can connect throughout the rest of the play. We will track these connections through analysis and summary of quotes by characters throughout the play. The first Character Quotes sheet is due at the end of the unit on test day.

We have begun to track paradoxes in the first scene. Think about how these establish a theme and particular motif in the play.

We will watch these three versions of Act I.i and compare director's choices for how to present Shakespeare's words in a real-life enactment.


The following handouts will be completed by the end of Act I and are due on Wednesday.

• Act I.iii
• Act I.vi

Translating Shakespeare's Language

The Three Little Pigs: Shakespearean Style (Branyan)

Today in 3rd Period, we looked into decoding Shakespeare's language into our everyday words. Shakespeare really had over 5,400+ words in his vocabulary because he was one of the elite educated. Now that everyone is educated and uses written words in everyday life (think facebook and twitter), we are down to 3,000+ words.

However, some of Shakespeare's words have made it in tact to our modern era. These phrases are used in our daily life without many of us ever knowing! Check out this massive list for a few! Definitely fun to see how many YOU use!

We used the following chart to look at translations of Shakespeare into modern language and phrases.

New Online Resources

News from Mrs. Steppe:

After years of planning and developing, the Online American Library is now LIVE!  This is a fantastic resource - and will only get bigger each year!  With any luck all American library systems will share their digital collections, creating one of the largest inventories of information, music, and books available for free (well, our taxes pay for it) in the world.

 

Here's an article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/18/digital-public-library-of-america_n_3111264.html

 

And here's the DPLA:

http://dp.la/

Your Very Own Macbeth Film

After seeing the varied performances of 4th period, we will now compare our works to the PBS version of Macbeth. Check it out before our take-home tests will be due the Wednesday after Spring Break!

Filming Macbeth

After this week of planning, today we filmed our own scenes of Macbeth. You astounded me with your preparedness, bringing costumes, phones, and props to film your individual Acts. Monday, bring in your semi-edited films on a flash drive, cd/dvd, or other device you can leave with me to download and compile your videos for viewing on Tuesday.

As a reward after the bell, we recorded our very own English IV Harlem Shake video. For fun and your viewing pleasure, here is the video!

Create-Your-Own ACT! Resources

As we begin our class rendition of Macbeth, you may need some resources about Macbeth in general, the overall themes, or the specifics of other Acts. Here are some reliable and handy resources as you head your way to directing your groups Act of Macbeth!

• A BRIEF Video Overview of the plot, story, and themes of Macbeth
• General Plot Summaries and Analysis (too short to know everything, but long enough to get the gist of things)
• One-Liner Summary (for the quick and dirty)
• College-Level RECAP Videos for review, analysis, and higher-level-thinking
• Detailed Analysis Videos of each scene in each Act
• 100 Incredibly Useful Sites compiled by OnlineCollege.org for learning way more about Shakespeare
• Of course, the symbaloo from last week's assignment
• AND of course, all blog posts tagged "Macbeth" or "Shakespeare"

The Wife of Bath's Non-Chivalric Tale

The Education Portal serves to illustrate, illuminate, and film scholars and teachers on common school topics. Below, click the link to see some explanation on "The Wife of Bath's Tale." At this link, you can also watch other videos to further study and review for our Canterbury Tales test on Thursday!

http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/the-knights-tale-and-the-wife-of-baths-tale--two-approaches-to-chivalric-romance.html