En11-2: from Friday 19 Nov

1.  We finished the Act 1 quotations review - we'll have a test involving four of the twelve for next class.
2.  We also looked at Act One for examples of the theme of "false faces."  The following quotations are examples of where a character appears/or is thought to be one thing, but is in fact, another.  Click on images to enlarge.

You should have Act 2 preread for next week - DON'T FORGET MONDAY'S TEST.  Next week we will be doing our first dramatic reading FOR MARKS.

En 12: from Friday, 19 Nov

Today we did the following worksheet.  One third of the class was absent.  We decided to read and discuss Act I, ii on Monday.  Please do an initial reading of Scene iii over the weekend.

Click on picture to enlarge.

En10: from Friday 19 Nov

We did a quiz for Acts 1-2.

We finished the quotable quotations from Acts 1-3

We read the prologue for Act 4: below are the notes.

En 10: homework for Friday, 19 Nov

Today we worked on finding information on key quotations from Henry V, Acts 1-3.  We found the following:

a) who's speaking?
b) who is he/she speaking to?
c) what's happening at that point in the play? (tell what's happening in the widest sense - do not translate the quotation).
d) what is the significance (most will tell us more about a particular character, OR they will advance the plot in some way).

EX 1:
a) Who: Archbishop of Canterbury
b) To whom: The Bishop of Ely
c) What: The churchmen are discussing a tax that will make the Church poor.
d) Significance: This scene gives the churchmen reason to try to convince Henry to go to war in order to deflect attention away from the Church.

PLEASE FINISH FINDING THE FOUR POINTS OF INFORMATION FOR ALL OF THE QUOTATIONS IN ACTS 1 AND 2.

English 12: from Wednesday, 17 Nov

Welcome to Hamlet - I thought you did a good job decoding the jumbled scene today.  Please write a comment to this post in order to give your first impressions.

Enjoy your day (or what's left of it).

En 11-1 from Wednesday, 17 Nov

1.  Please finish the "false face" quotations activity.

2.  Be ready to do your first dramatic reading on Friday.  Remember, it can't sound "read."

SS 11: from Tuesday, 16 Nov

Today we switched gears and learned some basic functions and principles of design for class PowerPoint presentations.  We will use the next couple of classes to research and design a presentation on a topic associated with the First World War.  Initially, I said everyone would examine the battle of Vimy Ridge, but I think it would be better if you all had a chance to do any topic that interests you.  I'm also going to discuss how we might allow for some teamwork for those so interested.

If you have a flash drive, you may wish to start collecting images and information for your project.  I am going to ask that each of the projects have a plan and I want to approve each plan to ensure it meets my general expectations.

I'll see you on Thursday.

En 12: from Tuesday, 16 November

Today we concluded our poetry unit.  I returned the tests and then asked students to complete a self-evaluation of their war poetry paragraphs.  Research has shown that self evaluation is an important part of the learning process, and I realize that I don't often facilitate it in a meaningful way apart from the meta cognition that occurs during the completion of your writing logs.  Evaluating writing is  difficult to do, and if you found it unpleasant then you had a glimpse into my world.  In spite of what you may think when you get feedback that doesn't assess your work as favourably as you had hoped or expected, I do take great care when marking, and I do much marking.  It is difficult for me to give someone a low mark or a mark lower than I know they expect.  I really do care how you feel and I want you to experience success and no, I don't enjoy watching some one's frustration.   However, you want to know that you deserve the mark you get when it's a good mark and so do I.  As I said in class, marking English work is often subjective, but by using the rubric to add transparency, I hope to give you a true sense of what the different marks represent.  I know it's a bit naive, but I'm hoping you will move beyond working for food pellets (marks) and work for the purpose of learning and developing your skills.  That's one of the reasons I return work with feedback in forms other than marks.  I think it's important to explain to you from time to time where I'm coming from, but I also know that for many years you've been boss-managed in school and old habits are hard to break.  My wish is that you leave the course satisfied that you were given the tools to succeed and the opportunity to improve experiences where your desired level of success was not initially met.  I want to talk to you if you ever feel you're not being treated fairly or respectfully because to be treated so is an expectation I think you should have.  Keep me honest; no one likes to be wrong, especially in so public a forum as a classroom, but I hope I'm not so proud that I can't acknowledge and fix my mistakes when they occur, or explain the reasons for my choices.

Anyway, this went further than I expected when I started.  As we move into Shakespeare, I just wanted to take time to have you think about your learning, in the short and long term, and the internal and external evaluation that is connected to it.

En 10: Homework from Tuesday, 16 Nov

You all did well in today's reading.  Before you return to class on Wednesday, please paraphrase two medium-length speeches:

a) Montjoy: Act 3, scene 6, lines 103 to 123

b) Henry: Act 3, scene 6, lines 125 to 144

Remember that a paraphrase is NOT a translation, NOR is it a summary - it's a little of both.

Take each sentence and put it into your own words.  If I was to do the beginning of Montjoy's speech at line 123, I would say the following:

"My king told me to tell Harry that our army was just sleeping and waiting for the right time to attack because it is better to not be rash and thus we didn't attack him at Harfleur.  Tell Harry he shall be sorry for what he has done and want to offer himself for ransom to fix the insult and injury France has suffered...."

Use the No Fear Shakespeare link on the blog to get a translation if you need help.
Good luck.

English 11 from Monday. 15 Nov

Remember that it is the season of power outages - if the school stays open we will work.  I like breaks too, but this is a senior academic course and working at a steady pace will eliminate the need to rush near the end (and no one wants to do that after the winter break).

En 11-1: 
We finished the quotable quotations sheet from Act I and had a chance to review the details.   You will have a test on Wednesday - 4 of the 12 quotations.  On the test, you will give a) speaker; b) audience; c) what's happening; and, d) what is the significance of the speech.

Also, please pre-read all of Act II (about five pages).

En 11-2:
We didn't get quite as far as Group 1.  Please have your worksheet completed for Wednesday.  If you don't do your preparation, you'll have to complete it while the rest of us review the answers.  Your test will be Friday.

Also, please pre-read all of Act II (about five pages).

WARNING:  We'll be doing a similar quotations test after Act III, but without all of the prep in-class.  You'll have to pay attention to the scene discussions as we read in order to have an idea of what lines are "quotable."