HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:
There were no handouts for today.

IN CLASS TODAY:

We covered the first five words of vocabulary from unit 7:

• allay: (verb) to calm or pacify, set to rest. Let me allay your fears by telling you that the test will not be hard.
• bestial: (adj.) beastlike; beastly, brutal; subhuman. The guards at the concentration camp were guilty of bestial crimes against humanity.
• convivial: (adj.) festive, sociable, having fun together. There is almost always a convivial gathering in the lodge during recess.
• coterie: (noun) a circle of acquaintances: close-knit group. Paris and her coterie of friends could be seen shopping around Beverly Hills.
• counterpart: (noun) a person or thing closely resembling or corresponding to another; a complement. I often speak to my counterparts in the guidance offices of other schools to get their insights.

Use the sentences above and the ones from the book as models, and practice writing your own. That's the best way to study and truly learn new words.

We then got through Act I, scene vi of Macbeth. 
Act I, scene iv:

• Duncan asks about Cawdor's execution and is told the man looked honorable in death and regretted his treason. Duncan seems doubtful, saying that there's no way to tell a man's sentiments by looking at his face, and that he had trusted Cawdor absolutely. Macbeth and Banquo arrives, and Duncan praises them and is so moved by them that he actually cries a little.  Macbeth and Banquo praise Duncan. Duncan then tells everyone that he is naming his son Malcolm the crown Prince of Cumberland, and that he'll be staying at Macbeth's house that night. Macbeth claims to be thrilled, but quickly breaks into an aside where he admits to seeing Malcolm's rise as an impediment to his own rise, and calls upon the heavens and his conscience not to pay attention to the actions his hands plan to undertake.

Act I, scene v:

• Lady Macbeth reads a letter from Macbeth about his encounter with the witches and is delighted with the promises they made, but she fears that her husband is just too much of a goody two-shoes to get power.  She clearly believes that getting to the top must involve some underhanded deceit, and she wants Macbeth to get home so she can be the one to convince him of this.  Then a messenger arrives saying that Duncan will sleep at the Macbeth's castle tonight, and this makes her crazy with murderous anticipation. She casts off her civilizing forces of femininity and calls upon the forces of darkness to hide the actions she is willing to undertake to make sure Macbeth becomes king. Macbeth arrives, and she tells him he must look innocent but be cruel.

Act I, scene vi

• Duncan arrives with Banquo and says how incredibly happy he is to be at the castle. Lady Macbeth greets Duncan and they express all kinds of gratitude, affection and loyalty to one another.

Tomorrow, we resume Macbeth and Unit 7 vocabulary, and we really need to pick up the pace!

CLASS NOTES:

Whatever you wrote in your Macbeth books, and I hope it was a lot, serves as your notes for today.

HOMEWORK:

1. Continue reading in Lord of the Flies.  Our next quiz and discussion day will be Wednesday, February 24th, when you should be through page 94 (chapter 5).
2. Translate Act I, scene vii in Macbeth. Here is where Macbeth reasons out his desires and contemplates their consequences, and Lady Macbeth tries to convince him as well.  What kind of argument does she make: pathetic? logical? ethical?
3. Bring your vocabulary book to class.

DAY 04 - CYCLE 05 - SEMESTER 02: 02-16-10

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:
You received a set of questions about Lord of the Flies

IN CLASS TODAY:

You took a quiz on Unit 6 vocabulary and the first two chapters of Lord of the Flies.  Mostly, we stuck with basics of plot and character, but were starting to get to the more interesting questions about why Piggy is unliked, about Ralph and Jack's qualities and deficits as leaders.  Take a look at the questions you received today for more worthwhile considerations.

Tomorrow, we resume Macbeth and Unit 7 vocabulary, and we really need to pick up the pace!
CLASS NOTES:

Notes for today's class may be found here.

HOMEWORK:

1. Continue reading in Lord of the Flies.  Our next quiz and discussion day will be Wednesday, February 24th, when you should be through page 94 (chapter 5).
2. Review scenes 5-7 in Macbeth and come prepared to discuss them.  Look at yesterday's blog post for links to performances, and if you feel especially clueless, be sure to watch the bottom animated version to fill you in.  Tomorrow, we need to head into Act 2.
3. Bring your vocabulary book AND your literary terms handout (given last week).

DAY -3 - CYCLE 05 - SEMESTER 02: 02-11-10

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:
No handouts today

IN CLASS TODAY:

We did the chapter 6 vocabulary review exercises and watched Act I of Macbeth.
I am concerned about the ease with which many of you give up attempting to understand Shakespeare. In today's viewing, we saw Banquo's and Macbeth's encounter with the witches, and Macbeth's response to learning he has been named Thane of Cawdor. This tidbit of information inspires joy, but also ugly thoughts, and we see him wrestle with these visions of murder:


We also saw Lady Macbeth's response to a letter Macbeth wrote her explaining what has transpired and about the witches' prophesies:



You might also find it helpful to view the first three scenes as portrayed by others:


Finally, All of Act I is presented here as an abbreviated/animated version. You should be able to understand all of the plot elements from this, and be acquainted with many of the important lines, but not all.


CLASS NOTES:

There were no notes for today.

HOMEWORK:
Finish your reading of the first two chapters of Lord of the Flies (pages 1-47). Forgot your book? Not a problem! Click here:

DAY 05 - CYCLE 04 - SEMESTER 02: 02-05-10

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:
Today, you received a handout of literary terms.

IN CLASS TODAY:

We moved ahead in Macbeth finishing scene ii and moving into scene iii, where Angus and Ross tell Macbeth that he has been made Thane of Cawdor. We studied Macbeth's reaction to this news, and Banquo's reaction to Macbeth's reaction, looking carefully at the warning Banquo gives him, and Macbeth's response. We also tried to figure out what Macbeth thinks about when he hears this news.


Macbeth and Banquo seem to respond to the witches' prophesies in different ways.

PHASE 1: During and immediately following the encounter with the witches
BANQUO: Curious, distanced, wary, interested but uninvested
MACBETH: Scared, spellbound ("rapt"), curious, invested, eager, disbelieving, hopeful, excited

PHASE 2: During and immediately following the encounter with Ross and Angus
BANQUO: Leery, cautious, disbelieving (cleary distrusts the source="Can the devil speak true?")
MACBETH: Reckless, ambitious, mesmerized with more concrete images of Duncan's death, eager, seeming to rationalize.

These two have just been in battle together and are good friends. What does this difference in responses, and the increasing divergence between them, tell us about their relationship?

Then, if time allowed, in your table "pie pieces" groups, I had you do two things:

Write stage directions for the types of facial expressions and gestures both Macbeth and Banquo would use from lines 104-146 of scene iii.

Make conjectures about what Banquo will say to Ross and Angus when he pulls them aside for "a word."

CLASS NOTES:

There were no notes for today.

HOMEWORK:
FINISH the essay assignment.  Remember to consult the questions on the assignment sheet!!

Bring your vocabulary books with you Monday. We will conclude unit 6.

TIP FOR TESTS & EXAMS!
 Look at the two scenes we discussed today.  What would you say are important quotes and why?  Flag them in your book, and write a note of explanation.  Keep this up as we go through the play!

DAY 04 - CYCLE 04 - SEMESTER 02: 02-04-10

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:
Today, you received a handout about Fortune

IN CLASS TODAY:

We discussed the following question for the entire class:
Is it all right to get ahead at any cost?

The majority of you placed yourself on the right hand side of a spectrum where the word "never" appeared on the left and "always" appeared on the right.  Collectively, you seemed to indicate that it's all right to get ahead at any cost on most occasions, though some restraint is called for on some occasions.

This led to a larger discussion about cheating in general.  Cheating on homework is not as repugnant to you as cheating on a test because the consequences for such infringement aren't as steep. You also indicated that cheating on a test in comprhensible, given the weight tests carry.  While you all indicated that maintaining integrity is important, and honesty is probably the best policy, depending what's at stake, cheating in some form is understandable, even acceptable, so long as no harm results.

But that last statement bears scrutiny, as harm comes in many forms. Forrest wisely indicated that no one would want to be treated by a doctor who cheated his way through med school.  I wouldn't want  a financial advisor who cheated her way through business school managing my money.  We'd like to think that the ingredients listed on the side of the box are really what's actually in the food, and not some toxic or contaminated concoction that went unnoticed because the food plant inspector cheated his way through college chemistry and can't recognize dangerous problems or understand industry reports.  Cheating in school always has consequences because it comes at the expense of genuine mastery, and over the long haul, it has consequences for more than just the cheater.

As we move ahead in Macbeth, consider the nature of pursuing power.  Is it OK to grab it through unethical methods? What are the consequences of taking power you haven't earned? How does one justify doing that?

CLASS NOTES:

There were no notes for today.

HOMEWORK:
Work on the essay assignment.  Tonight, you should continue analyzing the essay in depth.  Consider ethical arguments, or appeals the author makes to gain the reader's trust.

Remember to consult the questions on the assignment sheet!!

Bring your vocabulary books with you tomorrow. We will conclude unit 6.

TIP FOR TESTS & EXAMS!
 Look at the two scenes we discussed today.  What would you say are important quotes and why?  Flag them in your book, and write a note of explanation.  Keep this up as we go through the play!

DAY 03 - CYCLE 04 - SEMESTER 02: 02-02-10

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:
There were no handouts for today.

IN CLASS TODAY:

We started Macbeth!  We look at Act I, scenes 1 and 2, and just got a sense of who these people are and the world they live in. 

We started by talking about tricks to figure out the language.

We then read the scenes to figure out plot.

We focused on several lines to practice this.

• 1. For brave Macbeth
• 2. —well he deserves that name—
• 3. Disdaining fortune,
• 4. with his brandish'd steel,
• 5. Which smoked with bloody execution,
• 6. Like valor's minion
• 7. carved out his passage
• 8. Till he faced the slave;
• 9. Which ne'er shook hands,
• 10. nor bade farewell to him,
• 11. Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops,
• 12. And fixed his head upon our battlements.

 We identified the unresolved questions we have to carry us into the next scenes.

CLASS NOTES:

There were no notes for today.

HOMEWORK:
Work on the essay assignment.  Tonight, you start analyzing the essay in depth.  Begin by listing stated and unstated premises (assumptions) the author makes throughout, and identifying what qualifies as evidence.

Remember to consult the questions on the assignment sheet!!

Bring your vocabulary books with you tomorrow. We will conclude unit 6.

TIP FOR TESTS & EXAMS!
 Look at the two scenes we discussed today.  What would you say are important quotes and why?  Flag them in your book, and write a note of explanation.  Keep this up as we go through the play!

DAY 02 - CYCLE 04 - SEMESTER 02: 02-01-10

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:
Today, you received an overview of the essay that you will be working on for homework all of this week.

IN CLASS TODAY:

We carefully went over the essay assignment.  It is important that you self advocate.  If you are confused about ANYTHING, please tell me so I can help you!

We played a memory game about Macbeth, which we begin tomorrow.

We talked about what we know about Macbeth.

CLASS NOTES:

There were no notes for today.

HOMEWORK:
Work on the essay assignment linked to above.  Tonight, you should pick your essay and read it through thoroughly.  At the end, you should have a good sense of just what the author wants you to do, feel or think as a result of reading this essay.

Tomorrow, you can start your analysis in depth.