Battle Royale!!!

We held our Love Letter Battle Royale today in class, and it was a tough competition.  There were beautiful letters, funny letters, grammatically incorrect letters, even letters that needed to be sung.  And in the end... there was only one winner left standing... Mr. Isaac Li.  Congratulations for winning the battle!  Most of the letters will be posted on our wall for all of you to enjoy.

I assigned Act II scene iv, to be read for Monday.  Also, please note the numerous hints Viola drops in that scene, to let the Duke know that she loves him.  Bring a list of them to share on Monday.  Could you please also write a little bit about what you think of the love that has emerged in Olivia for Cesario, in Orsino for Olivia, and in Viola for Orsino.  What do you make of these emotions?  Be ready to chat about what you think in our next class.

Love Letter Battle Royale!

I gave back the residential schools synthesis assignment today.  If you were away, your assignment has been placed in your work folder.

We spent today's class working through Act II, scene iii, answering questions on key plot points, and noting how Elizabethan love songs are similar to, or different from, modern day love songs.  We concluded these questions with a brainstorm on what makes an awesome love letter.  We will be having a Battle Royale of love letter writing next class.  Prepare.  Bring it.  It will be epic.

A copy of the questions can be accessed from the link at the side.

Shakespeare Sudoku

That's right... that's no typo... we started class with a Shakespeare vocabulary Sudoku.  All you have to do is match the word from Twelfth Night with its definition, and write the number for the definition in the corresponding square.  If you have all the definitions correct, each row and column will total the same sum.  Can you figure out the Magic Number?  Can you believe I am using a Math game in English class?  If you want to try it, access it at the side.

We then performed our "Making it Modern" scenes from last day.  You are all really, really good at updating Shakespeare's language!  The performances were funny, and smooth, and accurate!  Well done.  This is good practice for later, when we perform "for real."

Finally, I gave the class some time to finish off Act I Questions.  If you have not already submitted these to me, please bring them with you on Wednesday.

Enjoy your long weekend!

Act I Review

We finished our reading of Act I scene v today, though we scrapped the performing of the remainder of the tableaux.  (Sorry!)  Thank you to those of you who read today!

Then, we summarized the important information from each of the scenes we've read so far in Act I.  It seems we are finally clear on all the different story lines, and we've got all the characters (cross-dressing, or not) figured out.

I distributed Act I review questions and asked the class to have questions 2, 3 and 4 completed for the beginning of class on Wednesday.  I will provide some class time to complete the remainder of the questions.

Spoken Word with Zaccheus Jackson

Ahhhhhhh... so great!  Zaccheus Jackson, spoken word artist, visited us today, and performed, taught and shared his work with us.  After teaching us a little bit about the history of spoken word, Zaccheus performed four of his poems for us.  Such an amazing synthesis of rhyme, movement, volume, rate and energy!

After performing for us, Zaccheus ran students through three short writing exercises.  First, he had us list a noun (anything... something random), and then we listed an animal that the noun reminded us of.  Finally, we had to write an adjective we associated with the animal.  Then we crossed out the animal, and flipped the order of the noun and adjective.  We ended up with a super cool personified object.  We had things such as "sultry sunglasses"....  Then students were asked to write about gravity, using all the senses.  Then, to conclude, Julianna was asked to read her horoscope as an angsty seagull.  That's right... an angsty seagull.

Zaccheus wanted us to see the three stages of writing spoken word: write your words, amplify them, and then perform them.  A great class!

Act I Literary Devices and Characterization

I began class today by letting students know about an opportunity available to them next year, early in September, to attend Bard on the Beach - Twelfth Night!! If you are interested in taking part in this field trip, please pick up the appropriate forms from me.  Tickets are first come, first served, and we only have 30!!

We spent the next part of class reviewing the events of Act I scene ii.  This is where Viola talks with the Sea Captain and we learn of the shipwreck she was involved in, the apparent loss of her brother, and her new location (Illyria).  Viola plans to go work for the Duke, as a eunuch.  I'll let Isaac explain what a eunuch is.

Finally, we worked through some of the literary devices present in scenes iii and iv.  I provided a handout meant to point you to some specific devices in these scenes, which we will talk about next day.  Please complete the handout for Wednesday.

A reminder that Zaccheus Jackson is coming to present to us, and work with us, on Monday.  That is going to seriously rock.  

If I were an actor....

We began class today with some puns.  Some funny puns.  Punny stuff.  Yes.

Then, we took Act I scene i and ii from Twelfth Night and we began to make sense of them as actors/directors would.  How would the people on stage position themselves in relation to one another?  What gestures would they use?  What emotion is guiding their speech?  We went down to the cafeteria to begin to move as actors would, and then came back to the classroom to debrief the scenes.

We will discuss the acting of scene ii next class.