Friday, December 3, 2010

En 10: Notes from 03 December

Today we did some editing practice on our Henry V speech paragraphs and then watched the film version of the play.

If you did not do your homework and were unable to hand in a paragraph today, you must get it in by Monday's class.  Have a nice weekend.

En 12: from Friday, 03 December

Today we watched the Act II, i pantomimes - thanks for your efforts.  We then got into Scene iii, as far as the point where Rosencrantz and Guildenstern fess up to Hamlet that they were indeed "sent for."  Please post a journal comment and have a restful weekend.

Any word on when you'd like to collect for the food hamper?

Socials 11: Notes from Friday, 03 December

Today we watched four episodes from the "Canada: A People's History" series.  We discussed each in turn and noted the what/so what relationships of each.  I also issued a study package for the home front and the peace treaty process.  Ensure you have those sheets done for Tuesday - I'll be giving you a quick quiz and the questions will come right off those sheets.

On Tuesday, we will review for the unit test that will occur on Thursday!  Have a nice weekend, but be sure to do your homework.  Go into the winter break knowing you've earned a rest after some hard work.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

En 11-1: Notes from Thursday, 02 December

Today, we finished reading Act II.  It is interesting to note that the murder and its discovery is not in Act III and therefore, not the climax of the play. Hmmm.  I wonder what is to come.  We shall be revisited by the discussion of bloody hands and Lady Macbeth, later in the play.  Are you playing attention to all of the references to blood - that in itself would be an interesting study (it shows up 23 times, and bloody appears 14 more times).

Please ensure you complete your paragraph discussions about the evnts that occur around the time of Duncan's death - could horses really eat each other?

Also, please ensure you are prepared to read your next set of parts aloud on Monday.  I'll try to balance things so that everyone gets a chance to read some of the longer speeches - try not to feel like you're being picked on if it works out that you get some big parts issued to you back-to-back.

For Monday Act III, scenes 1 - 3, please read:
Scene 1:
Banquo: Jake
Macbeth: Kohl
Lady Macbeth: Aisha
First Murderer: Chelsea
Second Murderer: Ben

Scene 2:
Lady Macbeth: Ashley
Servant: Emily
Macbeth: Brandon

Scene 3:
First Murderer: Mike
Second Murderer: Maciek
Third Murder: Jake
Banquo: Angie 

Have a nice weekend.

En11-2: notes from Thursday, 02 December

Today, we discussed the Centron internet filter and some wider issues concerning the school and our parts in it.  I thought you all participated in the discussion maturely and with just the right balance of seriousness and humour.  I am regularly impressed by how students in our school can respond positively to the issues we face.  I hope you can take the tone of our time together and transfer it to other aspects of your lives.  It's so easy to be negative, judgmental and sarcastic and so difficult to live with integrity and to treat others with respect and empathy,  especially if those around you are not doing the same.  You have a year-and-a-half left to leave the lasting impression of your time at the school that others will judge you by; what will it be?  Bennett and Adam have come back to volunteer to coach the basketball team and I am proud to be able to say that as their teacher, I had a hand in their development.  I hope I will be able to say the same about each and every one of you, when you've moved on to bigger and better things.

Please post a comment to the blog to comment on the beginning of Act II of Macbeth.  You can speak to any aspect of Scenes i-ii that you wish.  Also, don't forget to read Act II, Scenes iii-iv (the rest of it).  I hope you read this and can prepare to read the following parts aloud on Monday:

Scene 3
Porter: Jay, Carson
Macduff: Kari, Sam
Lennox: Cody, Stephanie
Macbeth: Madison, Sanannah
Lady Macbeth: Amber, Shyla
Donalbain: Austin, Quinn
Malcolm: Sarah, Sam
Banquo: Allison, Luke

Scene 4
Old Man: Courtney, Khoya
Ross: Joel, Liz
Macduff: Gus, Samantha

En 12: Notes from Thursday, 02 December

We opened the class deciding to do a food hamper drive some afternoon/evening in the near future - please talk it up with the other grads - Go Pender!

We spent the bulk of the class editing our Polonius' advice paragraphs.  They are due in on Friday - yippee - marking this weekend for Mr. Marshall.

We read Act II, Sc i and started to practice short pantomimes of the meeting with Ophelia and Hamlet, as described by Ophelia, starting at line 77.  We'll have some giggles watching those mini-performances, first thing tomorrow.

Please read Act II, Sc ii for tomorrow.  I'd like the following people to prepare to read aloud:

King: Brittany
Polonius: Taylor (first half), Rowan (second half)
Queen: Eileen
Gildenstern: Timo
Rosencrantz: Morgan
Voltimand: Hayley
Hammy: Mitch Jones (first half), Aurora (second half)
First Player: Becky (+ everyone else in case becky doesn't read the blog)

With this we can start to read Act 3 over the weekend.

En 12

Brittany and I couldn't post her comment to the Blog because of $#?! Centron - so here it is.

"While watching the movie, i found that listening to the words was difficult. the idea was there,
the imagery of the play was there, but that just is a small part in the play itself. Reading the play i think
is much more helpful in learning, but the movie is very good and is close to the play Hamlet."

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

En 12: NOTES FROM WEDNESDAY 1 DEC.

Today we had a writing workshop to practice the techniques we discussed in yesterday's class.  We will use the first 20 minutes of tomorrow's class to finish and then work on a pantomime activity for Act II, Scene i.  There is no need to post a journal comment today.

Enjoy the Canucks game, or Survivor, or both!

En 10: from 1 December

Today, using the computers, we each found a famous speech and copied some powerful lines from it.  Next, we examined the St. Crispan's speech and noted the ways Henry persuades/motivates his men before the battle.  Lastly, we found connections to join the two speeches.  Tomorrow, we will write a paragraph to discuss our connections.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

English 11: from Nov 30

Please remember to post "journal" comments to the blog regularly. 

Group 1 should review their parts for reading in scenes 2-3.

Group 2 will start Act 2 next day.  Please ensure you have all pre-read Scenes 1-3.  I'll assign parts for performance next class.

English 12: From Tuesday, 30 November

I hope you enjoyed the film - it is a good study aid because it follows the text in the play so closely.  Tomorrow we will write a paragraph to practice some of the strategies we practiced today and then we'll look at Act II, Scene 1.  We'll do some interpretaion on the first half of the scene and some pantomime of the second half - I hope you have some laughs "acting" an "antic" Hamlet.  Please ensure you pre-read the scene if you've not yet done so.

En 10: Notes from Tuesday, 30 Nov

Today, we looked at some famous speaches from the twentieth century.  We then looked at persuasive and emotional lines from the St. Crispan's speech.  Next day we will watc the rest of the movie.  Please remember to post a comment, especially if you've not done so yet.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Socials 11: Notes from Friday, 26 Nov

On Friday, we had a chance to listen to almost half of the class give their presentations.  I thought the PowerPoint slides were for the most part, quite good and I was pleased with how you managed to incorporate many of the characteristics that I showed you in terms of good slide layout and design.  I was hoping that the audience would have been able to ask more questions of the presenters - that will come.  On Wednesday we will hear the rest of the class speak, and on Friday we will look at some of the issues that concerned Canada's Home Front. 

On Friday, we will also be using the learning you gained researching your PowerPoint presentation to learn how to write a proper "what/so what" history paragraph (this would not be a good class to miss).

PLEASE GO BACK TO NOVEMEBR 12TH'S COMMENT AND REVISIT THE POINTS THAT YOU SHOULD BE REVIEWING.  IN ORDER TO BE READY FOR THE TEST ON THE FIRST WORLD WAR, YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO BE FAMILIAR WITH THE POINTS IN YOUR TEXT AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, YOUR WORK BOOK.