Getting Ready for Romeo and Juliet

This week we're watching A Midsummer Night's Dream in class to acquaint you with Shakespeare's language. Based on this experience and your past, if any, experiences with Shakespeare, what do you anticipate as we begin Romeo and Juliet? What challenges will you encounter in reading and studying the play? What types of activities or assignments do you think will help you enjoy and understand the play?

Write two paragraphs for this post. The first paragraph should describe your experience with the film (Are you enjoying the story Shakespeare has created? Is it difficult to understand? etc.) and, if applicable, your past experiences with Shakespeare. Your second paragraph should describe your anticipated challenges in reading Shakespeare, what you think you will like about Romeo and Juliet and tell what type of activities you would like to be encounter in class.

Also, please complete this survey by clicking on the link:
Shakespeare Survey

Due Friday, April 13.

Essay Help Comment Stream

Need Essay Help?

Need help on your essay? Chances are your classmates may have similar questions. You can post comments here with questions and I will answer them with a comment back for the benefit of all who follow this blog. I will continue to check this daily during spring break. However, I won't check on Sunday, April 8.

Good luck!
Mrs. Gilman

Character Klatch

CHARACTER KLATCH:         Publish your final draft on your blog by  Fri., 3/23

What lurks inside Dickens’ characters’ minds? What would their innermost thoughts and feelings be? We are about to find out!

You have been assigned a character or the author. For this character you will focus on the most recent ten chapters and:

·             Create a vehicle to share their thoughts and feelings previously unavailable to us through Pip’s narration. Choose one:

o   An interior monologue (description of what the character is thinking about an idea or event.)

o   A diary entry

o   A letter to another character (or friend or editor if you are Dickens)

·             Ground the character’s thoughts and feeling with the text. Cite specific examples from the text in your creation.

·             Show you know and understand who the character is; how they think and feel; and what purpose Dickens has them serve.

·             Share your creation during a group discussion on characters and characterization.

. Revise and publish a final draft on your blog by Friday, March 23. Your writing will be assessed on content, relevance to character, and conventions.

Early Essay Ideas

When we finish reading Great Expectations you will be writing your first full-length 5 paragraph essay. You will be given a prompt for the essay, which will focus on themes and motifs in the novel and we will work on the essay in class during the week before spring break.

If you were to begin an essay on themes and motifs in the novel today, what would you write? As you know, an essay begins with a thesis in which you set out to prove something about the content and style of the work you're discussing. Considering everything you've been thinking about while reading and analyzing Great Expectations, what ideas come to mind? What would you write about? Review your themes and motif chart and your opinion survey from the first day of the unit to get ideas.

Write one full paragraph about your ideas for an essay on themes/motifs in Great Expectations.
Due Friday, March 16.

Great Expectations: How's it Going?

We are about halfway through our Great Expectations unit. How is it going for you? What challenges are you encountering and what are you doing/what could you be doing to overcome those challenges? Discuss both what you can do at home and what you can do in class to better understand the novel, its themes and motifs, and the characters, actions and setting.

Write two paragraphs for this post - the first should reflect on your at-home experiences and the second should discuss your in-class experiences.

Consider:

• What are you doing at home to help you understand and engage in the novel? 
• What else could you be doing at home to better comprehend and enjoy the novel?
• What are we doing in class that helps you? 
• What else could we be doing in class to help improve your experience with Great Expectations?

Due Friday, March 9

Great Expectations: Connections

In your weekly journals you have been making text to self or text to text connections in regards to the essential question: what is important in life? However, there are countless ideas in the novel that you can relate to personally or that you can compare to another book you've read.

For this week's blog post, make a meaningful text to self or text to text connection about an important and pervasive idea in the novel. Describe what it is that you're relating to and use a significant quotation from the novel to highlight it. Write at least two paragraphs comparing the idea from Great Expectations to your own life or to another novel. Be sure to show critical reading of Great Expectations through the connections you make.

Since there is no school Friday this post is due Thursday, March 1.

Research Blog: 1800's and Invention

Great Expectations is set in the early 19th century, pre-Victorian era. In order to understand the setting, it's important to consider how vastly different life was during this time period. These were harsh times when having multiple siblings not survive childhood was a common occurrence. Things we take for granted (and suffer without: think back to the recent storm) were unheard of, such as running water, indoor plumbing, and powered heat sources. Even matches had not yet been invented -  Pip says in chapter two as he's searching in the dark for food to take to the convict "for there was no getting at a light by easy friction then" (13).

Do some research into the modern conveniences that were lacking when the novel is set - the first few decades of the 1800's. What was daily life like? What simple modern conveniences did people lack? What conveniences did they enjoy?  Contrast the life that Pip lives with his sister and her husband to your own life.

In addition to discussing daily life during this time period, think of one simple convenience that would have made life easier for people living in the first few decades of Dickens' life. Come up with an original "invention"  to make life easier using things that were available at the time period. Describe what you would invent and why. How is your invention making life easier during this harsh time period? Be sure to show your knowledge of the setting through your invention.

Due Friday, February 24