Macbeth Quotes due Wednesday 12/9

Post your 4 quote identifications to the blog by the start of lcass tomorrow.

Thanksgiving Break Assignment

We will begin reading Macbeth on Monday 11/30. Over the break, read the introductory essay on Renaissance drama as well as the biographical sketch of Shakepseare and the background material cconcerning the play (pp 452-439).

Shakespeare Assigment

You may choose either prompt…regardless, this assignment will be worth 75 points. However, considering the fact that “B” is much more challenging, I will weight your score accordingly should you choose to undertake it.

Due Friday 11/20

A. Select one word or passage from each play and write a paragraph explaining how it illustrates a central theme. These paragraphs should contain specific references from the plays (you may incorporate quotes but are not required to do so) and should be grammatically and syntactically clean and precise.

B. Select one word or passage from each play and combine them into a sentence that functions as the statement of a theme for the three plays taken as a whole, then write a brief essay supporting your claim. This essay (3-4 paragraphs) should contain specific references from the plays (you may incorporate quotes but are not required to do so) and should be grammatically and syntactically clean and precise.

Week 12 Schedule

Monday 11/2 - Go over quizzes and AP Prompt Essays.
Finish A Midsummer Night's Dream
HW: Read Act I of The Tempest. Keep marginal
summarizing the play scene-by-scene. Bring BOTH the
Shakespeare comedies and your textbook to clas tomorrow!

Tuesday 11/3 - Homework check/John Donne; discuss Act I
and begin reading Act II
HW: Acts II and III of The Tempest

Wednesday 11/4 - Discuss Acts II and III and begin reading Act IV
HW: finish The Tempest

Thursday 11/5 - Homework check/Francis Bacon; discuss Acts IV & V
HW: Inroduction, "Much Ado About Nothing on Stage,"
and Act I of Much Ado About Nothing.

HW for Monday 11/2

Read through Act IV (p. 69) and keep a running scene-by-scene summary in your text.

3-Day Itinerary, 10/23, 10/26 & 10/27

Friday 10/23 - Sonnets, Essays, and Song Interpretations Due
Review for Poetry Quiz Tuesday
HW: Study poems and poetry terms

Monday 10/26 - AP Prompt Essay (9 pts.)
HW: Study for quiz!

Tuesday 10/27 - Poetry Quiz
HW: Read the Introduction to Four Great Comedies and make sure you bring
the book to class!

Sample Song Interpretation

"Out There"

Safe behind these windows and these parapets of stone
Gazing at the people down below me
All my life I watch them as I hide up here alone
Hungry for the histories they show me
All my life I memorize their faces
Knowing them as they will never know me
All my life I wonder how it feels to pass a day
Not above them
But part of them

And out there
Living in the sun
Give me one day out there
All I ask is one
To hold forever

Out there
Where they all live unaware
What I'd give
What I'd dare
Just to live one day out there

Out there among the millers and the weavers and their wives
Through the roofs and gables I can see them
Ev'ry day they shout and scold and go about their lives
Heedless of the gift it is to be them
If I was in their skin
I'd treasure ev'ry instant

Out there
Strolling by the Seine
Taste a morning out there
Like ordinary men
Who freely walk about there
Just one day and then
I swear I'll be content
With my share
Won't resent
Won't despair
Old and bent
I won't care
I'll have spent
One day
Out there


This is Quasimoto’s solo from the Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The lyrics show us how desperate he is to break out of his “prison” and experience life among the people he watches every day and has come to know well and envy. Quasimoto feels fettered by the walls that isolate him from the outside world, and by his evil master Judge Frollo who has convinced him that he is ugly and that he would not be accepted in the “real world.” He has a real reverence for life and people and feels that he could die happy if he could spend just one day as a "normal" person.

HW for Friday 10/16

Read pp 299-306 and answer (in notebooks not on blog) questions 1-7 on p. 307.

HW for Wednesday 10/14

Read pp 294-297 (The Passionate Shepherd to His Love and The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd) and post answers to questions 1-5 on p. 298.

HW for Tuesday 10/13

Read the introductory material for the unit on the Renaissance, pp 269-290. We will have a 10-question CPS quiz on the essay (274-290) on Tuesday!

Homework for Wednesday 10/7

Post 6 multiple choice questions (4 answer options) for the work(s) assigned to you below:

Pat/Nathan - The Middle Ages (introductory essay)
Jaymie/Ethan - Lord Randall/Get Up and Bar the Door
Matt/Bianca - The Pardoner's Tale
Chris/Jazzmine - The Wife of Bath's Tale
Callie/Lily - Le Morte d’Arthur/Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Assignment for Monday 10/5 & Tuesday 10/6

Go to the link below and read the article carefully. You may want to have a word file open as you read to keep running notes on the author's argument. When you are finished, post a one-paragraph summary of the argument to the blog (no more than 200 words) and write a paragraph explaining why you agree or disagree with the contentions made in the article.

If you do not finish during class, do so for homework.


http://american.com/archive/2007/july-august-magazine-contents/abolish-the-sat

HW for Tuesday 9/29

Read The Wife of Bath's Tale, pp 177-190 and complete the following for discussion in class tomorrow:

1. Quickwrite on p. 177
2. Question #1 on p. 188
3. Question #8 on p. 188
4. Question #9 on p. 188
5. The Practice exercise on p. 190

Schedule through Monday 9/28

Wednesday 9/23 - Begin Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
HW: finish Prologue and answer ?s 3, 4, 6 & 7 on p. 165

Thursday 9/24 - Discuss Prologue
HW: The Pardoner's Tale

Friday 9/25 - AP Prompt Essay (9pts.)
HW: The Pardoner's Tale and vocab...CPS Quiz Monday!

Homework for Wednesday 9/24

Read all of the introductory material on Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales (pp 135-141). We will read The Prologue in class tomorrow.

HW for Tuesday 9/22

Read pp 130-134 and post answers to questions 4-7 on p. 133. Make sure you bring your book to class tomorrow!

HW for Friday 9/18

Read Political and Social Milestones (pp 114-115) and the introductory essay The Middle Ages (pp 116-119). As you read, identify at least seven words that your are not sure you know. Re-write the sentence in which they appear in your vocabular notebook book, and define the work in context as best you can. We will go over your words in class tomorrow.

PS - I just discovered that there is a 10-question quiz over this essay on the resource CD that I can open and run using the CPS software...just a little hint!

Things to know for Wednesday 9/16

1. Liverpool plays in the first round of the group stage of the Champions League at 2:45 on FSC...oh, I guess that's not important for class!

2. The definitions of all 20 vocab words.
3. Basic story-line, themes, and literary characteristics of Beowulf.
4. Main points made in Life in 999 and The Fury of the Northmen.
5. Basic bio of the Venerable Bede.
6. Similarites and differences among the three poems (Seafarer, Wife's Lament, Patrick Spens).

HW for Thursday 9/10

Read The Wife's Lament and answer the Response and Analysis question on p. 93. Post your response (which should be written in complete sentences!) to #4.

Homework for Wednesday 9/8

Read The Seafarer, pp 87-91, and answer the six Response and Analysis questions on p. 91.

HW for Thursday 9/3

Read "The Final Battle" from Beowulf (pp 43-48) and "The Fury of the Northmen (p. 49). In your notebook, answer the 9 reading questions that appear in the margins of the passage from Beowulf, and make an oultine of the article about the Vikings. If we happen to have a CPS quiz over this assignment tomorrow (hint, hint!), you may use these "notes" if you have them.

Homework for Monday 8/31

Over the weekend, read the first three passages from Beowulf (pp 21-30). In your notebook, answer each of the 11 content questions that appear in the margins.

English III Syllabus

English III & English III Honors: British Literature

Course Description

This course combines composition, literary analysis, vocabulary development, and an interdisciplinary survey of British literature and history. The survey begins with works written as early as the Anglo-Saxon period (5th c. CE) and travels all the way to the late 20th century. The chief grading focus is the analytical essay. In addition there are tests for every major unit of study, as well as weekly quizzes and/or short writing in-class writing assignments. There will also be vocabulary and reading comprehension exercises designed to prepare students for the SAT. Additionally, students in Honors will be prepared to take the AP English Language and Composition Exam in May. To this end, these students will take practice AP Exams and learn the rubrics used to evaluates and score AP essays.

Text Titles

Text title: Elements of Literature: The Essentials of British and World Literature
Publisher: Holt, Rinehart and Winston
Copyright: 2007
ISBN:

Text title: A Pocket Style Manual, Fourth Edition
Author: Diana Hacker
Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin’s
Copyright: 2004

The Moonstone
Pride and Prejudice
Where Angels Fear to Tread
A Tale of Two Cities
1984
Frankenstein
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Pygmalion
Macbeth
Merchant of Venice
Much Ado About Nothing
Brave New World

Course Objectives

1. To analyze and study the logical progression of British literature.
2. To focus on vocabulary in all reading and communication skills.
3. To develop analytical writing skills with an emphasis on independent critical thinking.
4. To work toward collegiate level research skills.
5. To continue emphasis on grammar and mechanical skills.
6. To sharpen communication skills through small grouping and presentations.
7. To relate the literature we read to contemporary issues of interest to students.


Course Materials

You will need a large three-ring binder for this class, preferably with at least one folder-insert. Each student will also need a black-and-white composition book which will be used as a response journal.

Grading

Reading Comprehension Exercises (reflective response, explication, and analysis)
Quizzes (consisting of MC and short answer questions)
Unit Tests (some will be entirely MC questions, some will have MC and essay sections)
AP Essays (timed, in-class writing scored with 9-point rubric)
Longer Essays (out-of-class, careful revision required)