Monday, February 27, 2012

"Macbeth, Macbeth, Beware MacDuff!"




We will come to the end of the Scottish play this week! I hope you have enjoyed it or at least been interested in it. I just can't believe how fast the months are flying by and that graduation will be here before we all know it!

Monday, 2/27
Define Vocab Unit 3
Macbeth Act V
SR MEM BK 5 DUE

Tuesday, 2/28
Vocab presentations for 1st
Finish Act V

Wednesday, 2/29
Macbeth activity
(Sub)

Thursday, 3/1
Macbeth videos, work

Friday, 3/2
Vocab Quiz 3
Macbeth work

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

"Double, Double, Toil and Trouble"


I really do hope you are getting into Macbeth... I love it OHSOMUCH. :)

Tuesday, 2/21
Finish Act II, start Act III

Wednesday, 2/22
Finish Act III
Trace a word through Act III

Thursday, 2/23
Macbeth Act IV

Friday, 2/24
Macbeth, Act IV
Activity

Monday, February 13, 2012

Snuggle Up with a Good Book...



Today is cold. C.O.L.D. Cold outside, and cold in our school. So, after we did an abbreviated version of our intro to Macbeth, I decided to introduce the outside reading project a few days early. (After all, we may have a snow day tomorrow and they might need some reading material...) ;) I started with a giant stack of my favorite books, and did a little talk about each one. I know that when I talk about my favorite books, I often sound like a dork. I have accepted that. I love my books like I love my friends, and I LOVE to see kids get excited about them too. After I finished, I asked which ones wanted book I had discussed, and many of them did, which made me very happy. We then went down to the library for the others to find a book and for everyone to snuggle into the couches and read for the rest of the period. It was just a day for that... a day to snuggle up with a good book!

Friday, February 10, 2012

Three Day Week, Anyone?



Who's EXCITED!?!?!?!?! How about a FIVE.DAY.WEEKEND... yes, please! And perhaps most exciting, we will be starting MACBETH this week!!! I genuinely hope you love it ohsomuch.

Monday, 2/13
Macbeth Introduction and notes
DUE: Senior Memory Book 4

Tuesday, 2/14
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!
Macbeth Act I

Wednesday, 2/15
Activity
Act II

Seizing the Day!


Well, though it is February in Tennessee, it doesn't exactly feel like it. We got to sit outside and do our Carpe Diem poetry, which was quite nice. After that, there were some very clever poems written after Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" and Sir Walter Raleigh's "The Nymph's Reply". Here are a few:

Nymph's Reply
by Varya
Oh my shepherd, oh my love
You are mine that's sent from up above
I see that you're calling me
And without a doubt I will come with thee
I would love to sit with you upon the rocks
And see all the shepherds feed their flocks
I will lie with you on that bed of roses
and smell these lovely thousand posies.
I will wear that gown that's made of wool
which from your pretty lambs you pull.
And we will live and stay together
for every month, through every weather.

Shepherd's Reply
by JC
But why do you say this, I don't understand
I told you I'd make you a dress and more.
Why would you rather stay where you are so poor?
We would be living the life together.
If you don't like roses, we can lay on feathers.
Tell me what you want and I'll give it to you.
No matter what it is, I'll even make the grass blue.
There is no reason for you not to come here,
To be with me for eternity, don't listen to your peer.
I ask you one last time, come be with me.
For when you come I take out the good glasses to have a cup of tea.
So please, o please, come live on my land.

Shepherd's Reply
by Heath
I was wrong to think you're my love
No longer will I offer you anything
No valleys, groves, hills, fields,
Woods, nor steepy mountain yields.
Never will we sit upon the rocks
And watch the shepherd tend his flock
Nor sleep on beds of roses
and certainly no buckles of pure gold.
I wish you luck in finding your love
One that will give all that I would.
I will delight in each day of not seeing you
Do not come live with me, you are not my love.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

My Own Shakespeares....

Here are a few really creative sonnets...

Remembrance of Love
By Kayla
I think about you day by day
Even though you're gone, I know you're still here.
As my knees fall to the ground, I pray
Please God, keep her with me for I know she's near.

I have a piece of you still left with me.
You always cone back in my dreams.
I know you're in a better place now,
Someday I know we'll meet up somehow.

I wept and cried when you died
Because there was no reason why
Your son is still here with me
I will watch over him for you, and you only.

Till this day I cry and pray
But I know somehow we'll meet up someday.

Sonnet by Holden
A sonnet, in classical form a charm
Soft as sundown, it wakens spirit love
Calling you, wanting you, it takes your arm
And whisks you away on wings of a dove.

There it holds you with it's perfect meter
Lullabying with its iambic tone.
Nothing does compare or could be sweeter
Than the dance of love as poets have shown.

So take my hand and let us dance today
With these magic words penned so long ago.
We shall taste them, taste then without delay,
So succulent it makes our soul to glow.

A sonnet, lovingly given... Hold tight
As dawn's first light makes your spirit take flight.

Music
By Alexis
Sitting in here with headphones in my ears,
I go from dead silent to alive and fantastic
Feeling the vibrations of the beat with no fears
In a zone of music, I feel captured by magic.

This magic is real, and that is no lie
When I listen to the music with that clean open sound
It paints me a picture of cloud free sky
And brings back many memories, to the past I am bound

But the magic doesn't always work the same way
I see blue skies, but you'll see something else
So these magical emotions, all I can say
Is they are not in the music, they are in myself

So as my mind is an endless page of white
I am painting a picture in the silent night.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Carpe... Carpe Diem!

Can I first say how excited I am that grades are what they are at this point in the semester?!?!?! Talk about some people getting some stuff DONE... you guys are on fire!!! This week is going to cover a few of the smaller parts in Unit 3, The Influences of Love and Power. Then next week-- MACBETH!!!

Monday, 2/6
Wrap up Intro to Unit with Petrarch
Sonnet notes
Sonnet analysis in groups
H/W- Write a sonnet
SR MEMORY BK CHPT 3 DUE

Tuesday, 2/7
Present sonnet group work
Carpe Diem poetry
SONNET DUE

Wednesday, 2/8
Watch "Dead Poet's Society"

Thursday, 2/9
Finish "DPS"
Writing activity

Friday, 2/10
John Donne/Metaphysical Poetry
JOURNALS DUE

Friday, February 3, 2012

GRENDEL!!!


I am a little late posting this, but we have all enjoyed having the board display each student's interpretation of Grendel. I love how we all read the same work, but all of us had a different idea of what he looked like. The other really interesting thing is to see how other monster ideas from our own culture played into our views...

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Canterbury Tales Pilgrimmages




For our Canterbury Tales project, the kids got into small groups and came up with six pilgrims (two from Chaucer's story, two from other literature, and two real people, though not necessarily living). They wrote descriptions for them, decided what sort of story they would tell, how they would get along, and did a visual. Many groups made Medieval food for their visual, so we had a day of good (and interesting...) eating!

Canterbury Tales Poetry

After finishing the Prologue of the Canterbury Tales, we wrote a poem based on a profession of our choosing. The ones below are a sampling of the creativity these two classes have.

OCD Artist
by Victoria
I take all the brushes from my cup
Line them all across small to large with points up.
My colors are arranged from the shades of the rainbow
And with everything set up perfectly I take my place in the studio.
Every stroke and shade counts
But one line out of place and I freak out.
With every little thing so precise
If not then it will never suffice.

The Assassin
by Tyler
Hooded and cloaked, black as night
Killing is his dream, passion, and delight
Climbing on rooftops high in the air
A daredevil without fear or slightest care
Moving so quick to his prey that draws near
The fate of a man becomes ever so clear
Pulling out a hidden blade in pristine condition
He leaps from the roof confirming his mission
A strike like lightning, it was fast and discreet
His work is professional, a mastery for the elite.

Rodeo Clown
by Brendan
Drawing attention with
Your foolish attire, witnessing
the Mist of the Bull you
Inspire... Racing your way
Quick be nimble...
Getting away a breeze
So Simple! Did I forget
to mention? He's big,
He's bad, You're boiling
the Tension! White painted
face, Air Jordans strapped
and Laced--> Sir Rodeo
Clown, a.k.a. the ACE.