I wish everyone and enjoyable summer vacation, and, more important, I hope each of you were able to enjoy learning English this year. It has been a wonderful year for me, too. Thanks for the memories.
Don't forget to come by and see me next year. I'll still be in F14.
This is the 5th and final posting for A Midsummer Night's Dream and is due before class starts on Friday, May 23.
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare presents us with an unusual and fantastic series of events as fairies and mortals mix in the mysterious woods just outside Athens. The four lovers and the mechanicals each undergo their own experience with the fairy world. However, different characters provide varying takes on the night's strange happenings. Consider the following three reactions/explanations by different characters:
Of the three reactions/explanations, choose one that you believe the most significant or closest to how you might try to explain what happened in the woods. Whom do you believe the most? Bottom, Theseus, or Puck? Why? Point to specific lines from the play to help make your point.
This is the fourth Midsummer post and is due before class starts on Thursday, May 15.
Shakespeare created numerous memorable characters, who exhibit the human traits that people still have today. A Midsummer Night's Dream is no different. In this play, there are both human characters (mortals) and fairies, and all of them are unique.
Choose one of the characters we've met so far and describe what makes them unique. As part of your answer, choose a line or two of dialogue that the character speaks and use it to help explain that character's personality. Think of descriptive words and phrases to help illustrate just what kind of personality traits your chosen character has. Choose some lines of dialogue that accurately and clearly illustrate his or her personality.
Remember, when you cite dialoge from the play, follow this format: "Full of vexation come I, with complaint/Against my child, my daughter Hermia." (Act I, sc.1, lines 22- 23)
Good luck...
At the beginning of Act II, we get a glimpse of the kind of powers and duties the fairies have in the world of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Both Puck and and the unnamed fairy at the beginning of Act II describe ways that they interact with and affect the humans in the world.
What would you do if you were a fairy?
Go back to the beginning of Act II and re-read the exchanges between the fairies, including Puck. If these fairies existed in our world today, which power or duty do you find would have the most impact on the world? If you were a fairy how would you use one of the powers described to change something in our world today?
In your answer, make sure you clearly identify one of the powers or duties the fairies have (as described in the play). Make sure you clearly state where in the play the power or duty is described. Then imagine how that power or duty could be used today.
To help you, I posted the first comment which contains one way to start your response. You can use it as a model.
This is the second Midsummer post and is due before class starts on Tuesday, May 6.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy, which is something that today's television viewers should know a little something about.According to Scholastic Scope magazine, Shakespeare wrote about three kinds of classic mix-ups: 1) mistaken identity, 2) love triangles, and 3) strange coincidences. Each of these classic mix-ups are staples on 21st Century sitcoms. The next time you watch your favorite sitcom or re-run, look for one of those classic mix-ups involving the characters.For your assignment, select one (1) of the classic mix-ups from above and find an example of it from a popular sitcom you watch. First, describe the mix-up from the sitcom, and then explain how the humor of the mixed-up situation helps increase your enjoyment and appreciation of the show. What makes it funny?
As with all of these assignments, it is a good practice to write your response in a word processing program like Microsoft Word so you can better edit and proofread your entry before submitting it. It also makes sense to save a copy of your response in case you have problems posting.
One way to get started with our new books is by making predictions about how we think the stories will turn out. Depending on which book you are reading - Black Boy, Frankenstein, The Color of Water - Please complete the following prediction quiz:
Make a prediction about the book based on a specific passage from the first section. Select a passage that has something to do with one of the main characters. Explain how that passage illustrates something significant about that character. How will the character change over the course of the story? What lessons will he/she learn. Use the passage as the starting point for your response.
Our next unit of study will focus on the idea of alienation and isolation, and specifically how those concepts are reflected in one of three novels, either Frankenstein, The Color of Water, and Black Boy.
To get us started, we will read the first chapter or chapters of each novel, then use that to help you decide which novel you'd like to read in its entirety. Although each of the novels is quite different, All three novels address these concepts in various ways. The following slideshow helps provide an overview of alienation and isolation.
As part of our unit on "Dead Poets Society," you are being asked to find your own voice and make a creative speech in front of your classmates. The assignment, with the three options, is linked here (as a Microsoft Word document.)
In addition, if you are interested in selecting one of the poems, here is a page with links and brief explanations for each.
Above all, this is an assignment that will test your abilities to prepare and present a speech in front of your classmates. Like Mr. Keating taught his students in the film, find your voice and don't let your work be ordinary.
As we watch "Dead Poets Society," we will be using some of the following vocabulary to help us understand and analyze the film. Once we finish, we will all give speeches in front of the class as we seek to find our own voices.
The following embedded presentation contains all the vocabulary, definitions, and questions you are being asked as part of the film. If you click on the square below, you will be able to view the presentation.
For the last several weeks, the state's mandated CAPT for all 10th graders has been at the forefront of our classroom work and discussion. We've read a variety of literature and non-fiction, prepared for the different assessments that face you, and discussed numerous different strategies to read and write.
You have also written to plenty of prompts, not just in the last few weeks, but throughout the year. I hope that what we've done will prepare you for what's ahead.
But before we officially send you off into hours of standardized testing, let's look back on two of the major reading and writing tasks that you will face - the Response to Literature and Interdisciplinary Letter tests. We are using the two slideshows below in class as part of learning activity to provide an overview of the two tests and review the writing done in class up to this point.
After reviewing your essays in MyAccess, we've noticed several comma and other punctuation problems. One way to improve in this area is through repetition and quizzing on the skills. Below are three online quizzes that will test your knowledge in the use of commas and punctuations.
In class today, complete all three and show me the screen after you do it, so I know you completed it.
Take this fill in the blank comma quiz.
This one is more a multiple choice quiz assessing different grammatical problems and sentence combining.
Finally, this quiz tests several different punctuation issues.
This posting is due before class starts on Friday, Feb. 1.
We've begun creating our wiki resource page on our dystopian novels. For this unit, all assignments will be posted there, rather than in the comment section of this post.
This assignment requires that you find a vocabulary word from your novel.
When you find a good word (and one that hasn't been used yet this year), please add it to the vocabulary page, along with the sentence from the novel, the page number, and a short definition in your own words. Your word should be unique in the class; that is, you shouldn't post the same word as someone else. Therefore, before you post your word and definition, read through the existing words to see if your word is there already. If it is, you need to find another word.
Post your word on the vocabulary page here. Remember you need to log in and use the password key to be able to edit the page.
Record the following for your word: 1) the word and sentence from the book in which it is used; 2) page number as it appears in the book; 3) easy to understand and accurate definition; and 4) your name, so we can keep track of who is contributing what.
Link to vocabulary page
Link to Dystopian novel wiki resource
Note: This blog spells out the assignment for the wiki post #1 due Tuesday, Jan. 29 on the class calendar.
As we continue with our Dystopian Literature unit, we will begin using the class wiki page to compile and gather ideas about the novel. Directions for creating this wiki resource page can be found at that site, but I will continue to post information on assignments here.
Each group will create their own page where they will record their ideas. It is expected to grow and evolve as more ideas are added. The first posting I'd like each group to create involves describing just how the world of their novel is a dystopia. Describe what makes the London of 1984 or the nameless country in Fahrenheit 451 a dystopia. What are the dystopian characteristics of those worlds?
Each group should collaborate in class to write and post a well-developed paragraph that makes mention of events and ideas in the novels and connects it to the definitions of dystopia we've used in class. Post your paragraph on your new wiki resource page.
This blog posting is due before class starts on Tuesday, Jan. 8 - click here for the calendar of due dates
By now, you should be started on the first part of 1984 or Fahrenheit 451. If you remember from the introductory PowerPoint presentation, we discussed the four perspectives from which we are going to look at the novels.
For your first blog response on these novels, I'd like you to go back to the first few pages of your novel. Select a telling quote and write a response that discusses how one or more of those four perspectives is revealed through the quote and why it may be important to larger ideas in the novel. What is the author trying to show?
In addition to your response, record the quote in proper MLA format with book title and page number, like this: "...text of quote, blah, blah, blah" (Fahrenheit 451, 13)
We have been blessed in F14 - and at Branford High - to have access to plenty of the latest computer technology to enhance our learning. As you know, this year is the first year using a portable laptop cart to provide easy, in-class computer access for each student.
And as you also know, not everything has gone perfectly. We've had problems accessing the Internet or even just signing on. Glitches in the computers have surfaced, making our work sometimes difficult, sometimes frustrating. Maybe we haven't completely tapped into the full potential of these machines. However, with a new year, I got to thinking that despite any minor malfunctions, just how fortunate we are. Not everybody in the world is so fortunate.
This lead me to consider about just how powerful a tool a computer can be for our learning. Maybe we haven't fully tapped into the full potential of these machines, but trust me, there are limitless possibilities for what we can do. So why not do something productive, something that reaches beyond the walls of the classroom, and this school, to make a difference somewhere else.
I stumbled across the One Laptop Per Child project, which ships inexpensive computers to children in third world countries who have minimal resources for learning. For $200, an XO Laptop - designed to be durable, easy-to-use, and accessible to the Internet - can be shipped to a student in a third world country. See more details here.
Don't we have a responsibility to help those out who are less fortunate? How could we get involved in something like this? What could we do to help? Are we capable of collaborating as a class and coming up with ideas to make this happen? Can we make it happen? Can we raise at least $200 to purchase a laptop?
From now until February break I'd like to find out. I'd love to hear your ideas.Learning new vocabulary words is an important component of our class this year, and it's a skill that will help you in your writing and reading comprehension. So far this year, we've compiled a list of 52 new words from the literature we've read. In addition, students pursuing the honors option will have a separate vocabulary component, this one modeled on a sample SAT-type vocabulary test. One way to prepare for the midterm is to review all the quizzes you've taken this year. All the words and definitions are there.
But wouldn't it be great if you could improve your vocabulary AND help defeat world hunger? Well you can. Here is an online vocabulary quiz that raises money for the hungry – This unusual website – http://freerice.com/ - has a multiple-choice vocabulary test with instant feedback (words get harder if you are more successful, easier if you get words wrong). For every word you get correct, ten grains of rice are donated to the world’s needy through the United Nations.
Any site that can promises both an improved vocabulary and feeding the hungry is worth a try. If you do, I'd like to hear what you think. Post a comment if you'd like.
This is the 5th, and final homework blog posting of Gamma Rays... Have you completed them all to earn full credit?
Now that we've gotten to see Mrs. Beatrice Hunsdorfer in the play, how would you categorize her as a mother? Go back and re-read the article on dysfunctional families that we studied in an earlier post. Using information from the article, decide what type of parent category Beatrice fits into. In what way will her parenting style affect her children, either now or in the future? Explain your reasoning by pointing to specific examples from the play.
This is the fourth homework blog posting for Gamma Rays. The calendar says it's due Monday, but we'll extend it to before class on Tuesday, Dec. 18.
Langston Hughes, the poet who wrote "Dreams" from an earlier post, also wrote "A Dream Deferred." In both poems Hughes address the power of dreams. Likewise, Zindel's play The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds deals with the impact dreams have on human beings, both for the power they have to instill hope and the emotional havoc wrought by broken dreams. Now that we've read most of Gamma Rays, read "A Dream Deferred." Which character do you think this poem speaks to the most in the play? Hughes uses several evocative similes. Choose some lines that you can connect to incidents and events from the play. Explain the connections.
A Dream Deferred*
What happens to a dream deferred*?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
by Langston Hughes
