Bring your complete typed draft to class tomorrow!

TODAY IN CLASS

• The hand-written body paragraphs were handed in.
• You received the hard copy of the "Last Hand-out" that had been linked to yesterday's post.
• We went through the hand-out, and I showed students how to mark their current printed copies of the three body paragraphs in order to improve them for tomorrow's draft.

In 1st and 3rd we also looked at a couple of Shakespearean sonnets, since you can choose one of six sonnets for the memory work (see Monday's post), but we didn't get to that in 5th because of the fire drill.   Everyone should be busy with their essay tonight; I'll say more about the memory work on the blog tomorrow.

FOR TOMORROW

Follow the instructions on the hand-out (again, already posted online if you were absent--linked yesterday).

Print your correctly formatted double-spaced complete draft of the essay and bring it with you to class tomorrow. 

If for any reason you did not get the hand-written body paragraphs on turnitin.com last night, a post-deadline folder has been opened.  Submit it (even if you e-mailed it as an attachment; it MUST be on www.turnitin.com)

11:59 P.M. Tonight!!

TODAY ON CLASS
Day 2 of in-class writing of the three body paragraphs.  I stamped today's progress; people very close to done could finish up at home, but people with "miles to go" needed to continue writing after school.

There was a hand-out providing the steps necessary for today in class and for tonight, but if you were absent today all the info you need is either right here or on the hand-out for tomorrow.

WHAT'S ESSENTIAL TONIGHT and TOMORROW
1. Type up the three body paragraphs
2. Save and print.
3.  Submit it to www.turnitin.com no later than 11:59 p.m.
4. Put your hand-written draft in your backpack.  The stamped hand-written copy of the three body paragraphs must be turned in during class on Thursday. Also turn in the stamped supporting material that you'd prepared and brought into class (not everyone did).

WHAT'S OPTIONAL BUT RECOMMENDED TONIGHT
Get started on the intro and conclusion.  There were tips on today's hand-out, but there's more here:
Last Hamlet Hand-out 2013

FOR FRIDAY
The entire first draft (intro, body, conclusion--all in MLA formatting) must be completed and printed out.
The hard copy must be with you in class because the activity for the day will be a peer response.

FINAL DRAFT is due Tuesday, April 2; also on turnitin.com.  All details on the hand-out linked above, but you will receive a hard copy in class on Thursday.

THE MEMORY WORK
No, I haven't forgotten, and yes, you're still required to do it. We'll talk more about this tomorrow.

Read to the end, please!

TODAY IN CLASS
An overview of what's coming up this week.

First, the Shakespeare memory work:
Not "due" until Monday or Tuesday next week, but you need to be memorizing as you go.

You can choose 12-16 consecutive lines by the same speaker in Hamlet--and you must start at the beginning of a sentence and stop at the end of a clause (preferably at the end of a sentence).
OR you can choose one of the following sonnet:
Sonnets 12, 18, 29, 30, 116, or 130.

Four of these (18, 29, 116, 130) are in your textbook online, but you can access all of them by number on the following site:
http://poetry.eserver.org/sonnets/

Whichever choice you make (lines from Hamlet or one of these sonnets), you must have a clean-copy print-out for me on the day that you recite.

The Hamlet Essay Overview
You'll be getting a more detailed hand-out tomorrow.

WORKING OVERVIEW ONLY—EXPECT MORE SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS

How the essay will work:

Tomorrow in class, I’ll give you paper.  You’ll start writing BODY PARAGRAPHS ONLY.  You’ll continue on Wednesday.  At the end of Wednesday, you should have three body paragraphs.

At home on Wednesday: 

1) You will type the hand-written pages, and submit the body only to www.turnitin.com

2) Then—AFTER the body paragraphs only have been submitted to turnitin.com—you will proceed with the rest.  You can certainly get started on step 4 on Wednesday night.

ON Thursday:

3) You will bring the hand-written body paragraphs to class with you on Thursday. I’ll collect them.  You won’t have them anymore.  But you’ll have your typed copy that’s been already submitted to turnitin.com

Wednesday night/Thursday night

4) You will write the introduction and conclusion. (Of course, you can and should get started with this on Wednesday—just be sure you’ve submitted the body paragraphs first.)

5) Copy-and-paste so that you have one cohesive document containing the new parts as well as the three body paragraphs.  PRINT IT OUT.  SAVE IT as a complete first draft.

6) You will bring the typed complete draft to class on Friday. No excuses, no exceptions; any printing at school needs to happen BEFORE school starts.

7) Friday is a peer-response day. You will leave class with important feedback, but you are still fully responsible for the quality of your essay.

Your FINAL draft is due on Tuesday, April 2; also on turnitin.com as a complete final draft.

The memory work—you will sign up for either MONDAY or TUESDAY to present in front of the class (bonus) or to me. Yes, Monday is earlier, but it’s not the same day as the final draft is due.

FOR TOMORROW

Make your choices from the topics discussed today--copied and pasted here only if you did not get home with your hand-out.

SELECTING AN ESSAY TOPIC

Note that you have choices to make as you “shape” the topics. Know which question (1-3) and which characters you will focus on.  You should not bring a pre-written draft to class tomorrow--all writing must be done in class or in a supervised setting after school or with your guided studies, etc., teacher--but you CAN bring some jotted down ideas, act/scene/lines for key interaction, etc.  I'll be taking a quick look at such material if it is out on your desk as you are writing.

1. Discuss the importance in Hamlet of either Laertes or Fortinbras as a foil character.  A foil character highlights characteristics of the main character by being similar in some ways but significantly different in some other important aspects.  Focus on one or the other as a foil for Hamlet; don’t try to compare Laertes and Fortinbras.

2) Examine the ways in which the secondary characters Polonius OR Rosencrantz/Guildenstern are used by Shakespeare to reflect the concerns of themes and motifs of the play, as well as Hamlet’s own development.  Choose either Polonius or the pair of friends and show how they are significant in these ways. Do not just write about what these people do.  Discuss how special attention to them illuminated issues of central importance to the play as a whole (i.e., deal with matters of importance to the major themes, motifs, or character development in the play, not with matters of the plot).

3. Hamlet is about family relationships, especially the relationships of fathers and sons—Hamlet father and son, Polonius and Laertes, and Fortinbras father and son—but also father and daughter—Polonius and Ophelia—and mother and son—Gertrude and Hamlet.  The play raises all kinds of questions about loyalty and duty and trust.  Find the most interesting relationship and illuminate it for the reader. 

Hamlet test--You've either had it or you will!

TODAY IN CLASS
1st--going over the Act 3-5 self-assessment quiz and using it as a springboard for further review of the play. TEST IN 1st PERIOD IS ON FRIDAY/

3rd/5th--Test was today.  Make up as quickly as possible.  Bring your Hamlet texts with you tomorrow.  (I certainly hope everyone is clear about "what happens," but we aren't done with the ideas and artistry of the play.)

Hamlet Test tomorrow--3rd and 5th

Yes, the dates for this test are different depending on which section you are in.

What:  A fairly long multiple-choice test that will mix some very straightforward and hopefully "easy" questions with others that are more challenging in terms of understanding the meaning/implications of material within the questions--sometimes quotations--as well as thinking critically about the options to find the "best" answer.  

It is not the "end" of our Hamlet study, though--so do not expect to turn in your books just yet. But by having an important objective test now, I am hopeful that everyone will have invested their best energy in reading and understanding the play. 

 

When:  3rd and 5th period will take the test tomorrow, March 21.

             1st period will take the test on Friday, March 22.

For Tuesday--you should have finished reading Act III.

Different Timelines--Please read carefully

ALL classes:  homework (two Act V questions) was collected.  See Friday's post if you did not do this.  Late credit if you were in school on Friday; full credit if you were not.

ALL classes:  Hamlet test on Thursday

1st period only--you did not receive the worksheet (all machines down); you'll have some time to work in class tomorrow.

3rd/5th--you received the Act V study guide in class.  It is due tomorrow, Tuesday.

TODAY IN CLASS
1.  Act IV Study Guide collected from 1st and 3rd (had been collected on Thursday from 5th).
2.  In 1st and 3rd--correction of frequently-missed questions from Act III study guide (had been done on Thursday in 5th).

3.  Picking up--at slightly different spots in each class--to finish Act IV discussion.

One topic new to every class today:  what's odd or problematical about Gertrude's account of Ophelia's death?

It was discovered that very few people had read Act V.

SO FOR HOMEWORK
1.  Yes.  Read Act V.
2.  Type the following assignment concerning Act V.

• Question 1: discuss whether we should take the "math" in the gravediggers' scene at face value.  First, explain exactly what the play's dialogue indicates that Hamlet's age should be: summarize how we know, and give the line numbers for your edition for each part of your answer.  THEN write 2-3 sentences that support your claim whether we should agree with the age that is indicated stated or what approximate age you would argue for instead--and why!!
• 
  
• Question 2:  Briefly explain exactly what Hamlet did to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as well as how it was accomplished.  Then evaluate the ethics or morality of his actions. Decide whether or not he had the right to take the action that he did, or whether this constitutes a major flaw in Hamlet's character. (Some of you may know the show "Justified"--was this "justified"?)

5th period today
1. Turned in the Act IV questions--should have been complete.
2.  For Friday, READ Act V.  Just know what happens.

1st and 3rd, for tomorrow
1.  You will turn in the Act IV questions--all seven scenes' worth. That was your homework for the rest of Wednesday or earlier today.
2. For Friday, READ Act V.  Know what happens.

HSPE Schedule Week

1st and 3rd
TUESDAY
We looked back at Hamlet's impetuosity, and we examined the Scene 4 soliloquy and part of scene 5.  One of the on-going challenges of Hamlet is to get "inside" the characters to understand their motivations and anticipate behavior/reactions, and we worked on that.

You should finish reading Act IV as well as finishing the questions by Wednesday (by Wednesday night is okay; I'm not collecting IV in class on Wed.)

By FRIDAY (when I see you again after our 10 or 15 minutes today), you should have read through all of Act V.

5th
You should definitely have read through Scene 6 of Act IV by today, but I know we won't have much time to talk.  FINISH Act IV by Thursday; have answers written down through scene 6 by the time you come to class.  We'll either do Scene 7 in class and then I'll collect them, or I'll let you turn them in on Friday.

FRIDAY IN CLASS
1.  The Act III study guide was collected.  FINISH IT if you've been absent and get it handed in
2. We've spent quite a few days on Act III, and most have you have seen some significant chunks of this act on film.
3. We will be finishing the play next week, regardless of the unusual schedule.

FOR MONDAY
No specific homework unless you are behind.  Some students really profit from reading ahead though, so that you're reading for the second time as sections are specifically assigned.

TODAY IN CLASS
Act III study guide stamped through question 19 (end of Scene 3).
We discussed selected questions.
We started Scene 4 together in class.

FOR FRIDAY
Finish reading Scene 4.
Answer the Scene 4 questions on the study guide.
The study guide will be collected at the start of class.

TODAY IN CLASS
Turned in:  Character perspective on the play-within-the-play scene; four questions on the back.
You need to turn this in TOMORROW--both parts--if you were absent on Tuesday.  See yesterday's post   for instructions on the first part, and for the other questions if you didn't pick up the half-sheet today.

We watched Act 3, Scenes 1-3, of the BBC production of Hamlet, even though we had not yet read scene 3.

HOMEWORK
On the printed questions sheet, you've already done questions 1-8.  For tomorrow,

• Answer 9-15 on Scene 2
• read Scene 3
• answer the Scene 3 questions

TODAY IN CLASS
Students were assigned a specific character (Gertrude, Ophelia, Claudius, or Horatio) and wrote a blog post or diary entry describing the events of the evening entertainment at the palace from that character's point of view.  Then there were four other questions about the rest of Act 3, Scene 2 to write on as homework

HOMEWORK
So for people who were in class:  read the rest of Scene 2 and answer the questions on the half-sheet I have you in class.

If you were gone today for band or choir, here are the instructions for both parts of the assignment; you should do them and be ready to turn them in tomorrow.  If you were sick today, you have the normal one day for each day's absence.

Absent people--go by birthday:  Jan-March = Gertrude; April-June = Ophelia; July-Sept. = Claudius;
Oct-Dec = Horatio.

Hamlet:  Act 3, Scene 2

You now have a number (1-4); write that number beside your name.  Now write down which character you are doing for this portion of the assignment (will vary by class).

                                                               

Assignment

After leaving the theatrical performance, each character retreats to write in his diary or post in his blog. 

·    Even if you have read to the end of Act 3, this assignment refers to what characters are thinking right after everyone leaves the play.

·      Report on what you saw in the play, report your interactions with Hamlet, and report your thoughts on how the pleasant evening was so abruptly interrupted. 

·       Include two quotations in your blog. 

·       You can quote directly or paraphrase extremely closely; either way, include line numbers.

Now answer the following questions on the back of your paper:

1. What does Horatio seem to agree with Hamlet about?  (He never says so directly).

2. What do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern come to tell Hamlet--that is, what's the actual message/request they bring?

3. Explain what Hamlet tries to get Guildenstern to do near the end of Scene 2.

4. When Guildenstern protests that he can not do what Hamlet is requesting, what larger point does Hamlet make?  Explain the analogy.

TODAY IN CLASS
Finishing Act III, Scene 1: We discussed Hamlet's mood/tone of the "To be or not to be . . ." soliloquy.  Bottom line:  more thoughtful and contemplative than distraught and desperate. Though it had been assigned over the week-end, students read the exchange between Ophelia and Hamlet aloud in pairs from Ophelia's attempt to return items Hamlet had given her through Hamlet's exit. We pondered Ophelia's response, double-checked the course of action Claudius intends to take--his overt reason and his public excuse as well as the unstated one--and noted the suggestion Polonius makes. Students were given an Act III study guide and either had some time to work on the Scene 1 portion in class (1st/3rd) or as homework (5th).

FOR TOMORROW
Yes, finish questions 1-8 on the study guide for Tuesday if not completed in class.
Also, read part of Act III, Scene 2:  Read from the beginning of the scene to the point that the King (echoed by Polonius) call for lights. This is near the bottom of P. 153 in the Folger edition (line 296) amd p.151 in the other book (line 272).

Reading instructions:  Read everything, but I know that the "play within the play" lines are hard because they are deliberately formal and wordy in the style of almost "over-dramatized" drama.  Use the summary and the notes to follow it as best you can.

FOCUS on the actual dialogue/conversation between and among people we know:  Hamlet, Ophelia, Getrude, Claudius, Polonius, Horation . . .try to think about their own moods/feelings behind the overt speech.

There will be some accountability on this tomorrow BEFORE we discuss anything together.