We’ll do a quick homework update today — it’s Friday and we’re all tired.
First and sixth periods worked on the introduction to their ballad essay. We’ll be finishing up the project tomorrow, with the final draft due January 30.
Second period went over 2.2 — the famous balcony scene. We had written conversations to prepare us for group discussions about Romeo and Juliet as people — would we like to be friends with them? What type of people do they seem to be?
Seventh period continued with Hatchet.
First and sixth periods continued working on their Schaffer model essay on ballads. We’ll finish them up on Wednesday. Second and fourth periods finished 1.3, looking at various ways in which characters view love. Seventh period reviewed chapters 1-4 of Hatchet by looking at cause and effect in the text before moving on to chapter five.
First and sixth periods worked on ballads some more, looking at Dudley Randall’s “The Ballad of Birmingham” to see another example of the primary characteristics of a ballad.
Second and fourth periods worked on Romeo and Juliet 1.1. I also shared with them an example song for the soundtrack project.
Seventh periods worked on descriptive language in Hatchet.
First and sixth periods returned to using the Schaffer model to organize writing about literature, specifically ballads. We’re going to be writing a fairly impressive essay about ballads, and we began planning and writing that today. First period’s notes are below, and sixth period’s notes were virtually identical.
Second and fourth periods looked at act one, scene one from Romeo and Juliet. We examined Shakespeare’s use of puns, and we focused on the EQ, dealing with the bawdiness of the play’s opening and speculating on Shakespeare’s motivation for writing something so relatively crass.
Seventh period continued with Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet, using the Say Something engagement to work through chapter two in groups.
First and sixth periods worked on the ballad, determining some of the qualities of a ballad. We’ll be using this information to begin an extended writing using the Schaffer model.
Second and fourth periods went over the prologue to Romeo and Juliet.
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents’ strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love,
And the continuance of their parents’ rage,
Which, but their children’s end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
We made a few observations, including the fact that this is a sonnet.
Seventh period used the “Say Something” engagement with the first chapter of Hatchet.
First and sixth periods continued working on the poetry unit. We looked at ballads, specifically “Boots of Spanish Leather.” We’ll be finishing it up in the next couple of weeks.
Second and fourth periods began Romeo and Juliet by watching a brief biographic video on Shakespeare. We’ll begin the play proper tomorrow.
First Period at Work
First and sixth periods worked on using the Schaffer model to help organize and plan our writing about alliteration in the poem “Silver.”
First Period Partner Work
Sixth period, not having read it before, had to spend a bit of time going through the steps we’ve been using to understand poems, but by the end of the respective class periods, the two groups came up with something rather similar.
First Period's Work
Sixth Period's Work
We’ll complete the work tomorrow.
Second and fourth periods worked on ballads, doing inductive reasoning from the ballad “Boots of Spanish Leather.”
Seventh period had a test on the poetry unit.
First and sixth periods continued working with short stories. We’ll be finishing up the unit tomorrow and preparing for Tuesday’s test on Monday.
Second and fourth periods began looking at the musicality of poetry, specifically be examining sound devices.
Seventh period completed the four-day (though it was supposed to be only three-day) ballad lesson.
To the parent that was asking about the organization of the binder: you’ll find that material here.
First period completed the “Say Something” engagement with the story “Charles.” We’ll look at character development tomorrow.
Second and fourth periods worked on connotation and denotation, finishing by doing group work sorting words according to the strength of their connotations.
Sixth period completed the “Say Something” engagement from yesterday with the story “An Hour with Abuelo.”
Seventh period continued with the ballad lesson, looking at some of the characteristics of a ballad.
