Monday, February 28, 2011

10th Graders - Dramatic Arc skit!


Based on one of the themes from Macbeth, write a short script where a major conflict occurs. use the following topics:

1. A girlfriend or boyfriend pushes you to do something illegal.

2. You and a friend here from a "reliable" source that ONE of you will get the thing you want the most. The other person, will get nothing.

3. Friends stay the night at someones house. In the middle of the night, you hear screaming. What happened? Why?

4. After years of friendship, you find out that your best friends know your deepest, darkest secret. When people start to find out, your secret could destroy you.



However, you are NOT allowed to use a narrator. All of the character traits and setting must be presented through dialogue.

For example: "Get off of the couch and chance your clothes. You're starting to smell like stale pizza." By reading this statement, you know that the character is a slob and that it takes places in a messy living room.

Your skit should be about 3-4 scenes long.

Shakespearean Insults Skits (9th Grade)


Use the list of Shakespearean insults below:

Insults!


Then, write a short script where a major conflict occurs. However, you are NOT allowed to use a narrator. All of the character traits and setting must be presented through dialogue.

For example: "Get off of the couch and chance your clothes. You're starting to smell like stale pizza." By reading this statement, you know that the character is a slob and that it takes places in a messy living room.

Your skit should be about 2-3 scenes long.

ALSO, you need to read through the prologue and Act I, scene i of Romeo and Juliet. If you have trouble, feel free to read No Fear Shakespeare as a resource (not as a replacement!)

Thursday, February 17, 2011

English Notebooks are due at the end of the day today!

Shakespeare's Background PowerPoint


Click on the following link to access the Shakespeare Notes PowerPoint:

Shakespeare Background

If absent, you will need to view and take notes on this PowerPoint under the Shakespeare Notes entry.

Double Check To Make Sure Your Poems Have Posted!


I will be reading all of your poems over the weekend. If they are not there, they will be late!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

10th Graders! Post Poems Here!


Click on the link that says "comments" below. Write your poems into the box and include your name. Select "name/url" for the user. Type your first and last name.

Poetry Comparison Essay Directions:

• Using the poem you found and wrote down in the library along with another poem we’ve read, your job is to write a 4 paragraph essay describing how the writers in each poem use similar literary elements (repetition, metaphors, etc.) and how those elements effect the meaning of the poem.
• Include a thesis statement and evidence from the poems to demonstrate your point. Example: In “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” by Robert Frost and “Christopher Lomax 60,” by Walter Dean Myers, each poet uses natural imagery, repetition, and extended metaphor to show how painful and short-lived the world can be.
• Each body paragraph should quote lines from the poem that shows this literary element.
You will turn in your notebook at the end of class on Thursday. I will be looking for your poetry log, your organization, and your written final. This work must be done in class. Not using class time will result in a decreased grade

Monday, February 14, 2011

9th Graders! Post Poems Here!


Poetry Final

Part I: Type and post poems to Kearl’s Website.• Make sure you have finished writing at least 4 of your poems. (Where I’m From…How to…Extended Metaphor…Poem in Two Voices…)
• Type and post at least 4 poems into your comment. Be sure to include your name.
• You can include an extra poem of your choice for 5% extra credit

Part II: Writing about poetry. To be completed in your English Notebook.
• Using the poem you found and wrote down in the library, write a 2 page essay describing how the writer uses literary elements (repetition, metaphors, etc.) and how those elements effect the meaning of the poem.
• Include a thesis statement and evidence from the poems to demonstrate your point. Example: In “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” Robert Frost uses the extended metaphor of seasons in order to demonstrate the brevity of life.
• Each body paragraph should quote lines from the poem that shows this literary element.
• You will turn in your notebook at the end of class on Wednesday. I will be looking for your poetry log, your organization, and your written final. This work must be done in class. Not using class time will result in a decreased grade.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Poetry Vocabulary


Extended Metaphor: A comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem.

Assonance: If alliteration occurs at the beginning of a word and rhyme at the end, assonance takes the middle territory. “Food” and “tune” are assonance because of the “oo” sound in the middle of the word.

Meter: Meter is the rhythm established by a poem, and it is usually dependent not only on the number of syllables in a line but also on the way those syllables are accented.

Blank verse = Poetry that is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Blank verse is often unobtrusive and the iambic pentameter form often resembles the rhythms of ordinary speech. Shakespeare wrote most of his plays in blank verse.

Verse = A single metrical line of poetry, or poetry in general (as opposed to prose).

Alliteration = the repetition of initial sounds in neighboring words.

Image = language that evokes one or all of the five senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching.

Mood = the emotional attitude the author takes towards their subject. 

Internal Rhyme = a rhyme that takes place within a line, instead of at the end of the line. Used in most hip-hop lyrics. Example: I fought, the shot grazed my shin

Simile = the comparison of two unlike things using like or as. Example: He eats like a pig. Vines like golden prisons.

Metaphor= comparison of two unlike things using the verb "to be" and not using like or as as in a simile. EXAMPLE: He is a pig. Her love is a broken firework.

Oxymoron = putting two contradictory words together. EXAMPLE: Jumbo Shrimp

Onomatopoeia
= a word that imitates the sound it represents. Example: splash, wow, gush, kerplunk

Enjambment: the continuation of a sentence or clause over a line-break.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Poetry Powerpoints


If you click the links below, you will be taken to the PowerPoints for the Poetry Unit. This will include the Poetry Log, directions for the Where I'm From Poem, as well as the Extended Metaphor instructions.

Poetry Powerpoint 1

and

Poetry Powerpoint 2

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Poems You Need Typed By Next Wedensday (9th Grade) or Thursday (10th Grade)


1. Where I'm From...
2. How To...
3. Extended Metaphor
4. Personal Narrative Poem
5. Poem in Two Voices