Thurs Nov 30

A nice easy day.

We read Chapter 10 from A Separate Peace.

We got these questions assigned to us:

And we chilled.

And got homework done.

Yo.

Wed Nov 29

So ... today we started by looking at the Theme Study. I've been asked to post the electronic copy of it, and it's on the right-hand side of this blog.

We read Chapter 9, talked about homework ... and we also wondered about why Finny didn't want to admit that there was a war on. We got 25 and 27 for homework.

Well, I mentioned this scene in class.

Tues Nov 28

What a day, what a day.

We chatted about the questions from homework, and then we read to the end of chapter 8.

You should have the following questions done already:

In any case, then we did a bit of work on the Theme Study: The setting, the conflicts and the Point of View of the novel.

As a bit of a gathering together at the end of the class, we took a look at twitter with "A Separate Peace" in the search engine....

Monday Nov 27

Twenty days left until Christmas Break ... not that we should be counting or anything like that.

In an attempt to get this novel done a bit more quickly, we read two chapters today ... we got to the end of Chapter 7.

We got 15 and 17 for homework and I'll remind you about the vocabulary and the Theme study we'll be handing in on Friday.

Thursday Nov 23

Oh, man

Today we read two chapters, finishing to the end of Chapter 5.

In that time, we chatted about Silken Laumann, a famous Canadian Olympian and her recovery from a very bad leg injury while training for the Olympics in 1992. It was the best example of a rather incredible recovery of an athlete from a vicious leg injury. I'm still hoping that Finny can do the same.

We read to the end of Chapter 5, and got questions 12 and 14 for homework.

We also talked about The Dixie Chicks, the musical group. Not one of my students had heard of them, so... I have to post this:

Wed Nov 22

I showed people what they should have done yesterday ... listening to the screencast of Chapter 2.

I'm hoping my students don't skip it and watch it by themselves.

We got through Chapter 3 today - and got questions 10 and 11 for homework.

We saw the first game of Blitzball being played, too.

For whatever reason, the sport of swimming was pointed out as something that Phinny didn't like in this chapter as well. At least swimming in a pool. Meh, I'll admit that I'm more of a fan of swimming in the ocean myself, but I also admire people who swim in a pool



 

Tuesday Nov 21

Hey everyone.

Here is Chapter Two ... Shhhhh. Just listen and answer questions 3,5 and 6 from the Unit Outline.

Don't forget to work on some of the Vocabulary work too!

See y'all on Wednesday. Hand in the Webquests then!

Monday Nov 20

So ... we started A Separate Peace by John Knowles today.

We got the unit outline and were assigned the first two questions on the novel, too.

I'm still collecting Othello assignments, too.

Web quest on ASP is due tomorrow, too.

Friday Nov 17

I didn't know how long students would take for the short quiz we had on Othello.

I just posted the Webquest for the novel A Separate Peace here.

I will also post it under the "Helpful Links for ASP" list on the right side of the blog.

Link is up there and also on the right

We also chatted very briefly about the CA and the dates for it.

Thursday Nov 16

We finished watching Coriolanus today. Man, that Ralph Voldemo ... He Who Shall Not Be Named was awesome in this film watch this




And we did also get a chance to prepare for the 3U English by watching this summary of Hamlet, too

Wed Nov 15

Coriolanus.

'nuff said.

What a great enrichment activity for this unit and for this course. Ralph Fiennes takes the language to the next level and demonstrates just how it should be done.

We got to the scene in the market where Coriolanus asks for people to vote for him and they do.

Stuff is due Friday and people should be working on the Character Sketches inside the D2L system. Oh, and the vocab, too. Questions, as assigned, were on the board.

Numbers below the line are part 2

Tues Nov 14

We took today to watch the finish of the film and get the questions for the rest of the play assigned.

Questions were : 23, 24, 27, 29, 30, 33, 34 .... for Act 5 they are 35, 37, 38 and 39.

I'll get a picture up of them later.

In any case, I also opened up the character sketches Discussion area that students must participate inside the D2L site.

I also posted the due date for Othello part 2.

Friday and Monday Nov 13

So ... these were odd days.

Friday was both an odd day as the schedule was different, as we had a Remembrance Day event at the school. Half the class was out of the school for various field trips and the like.

Monday was the quiz for part one of Othello.

It was weird.

Back to normal on Tuesday.

Thursday Nov 9

Well, yeah.

Man, this was kind of hilarious. I discovered that I photocopied the quiz incorrectly ... I mean that the photocopier copied the quiz incorrectly just as I was arriving at the door of the portable at the start of the class.

so ... we got to the oath swearing by Othello and Iago in the middle of Act 4.

Then we talked a little about the plot of Othello and how it is similar to another of Shakespeare's plays ... namely ... Coriolanus. A military man who is easily misled when not on a battlefield.

We watched the trailer and the first few minutes of the film. It was pretty epic.

Wed Nov 8

Students are going to work on the material that is due tomorrow.

And .... "one more thing ..."

Please watch the following trailer and get themselves ready for Thursday's quiz.

Tuesday Nov 7

Today, we started by taking a peek at the homework that was assigned yesterday. We then read and watched until the middle of Act II, iii.

We then did some work on the homework for tomorrow ... here is the list

I also reminded students that Part One of Othello is due Thursday, too.

After that, we got a chance to work on that while I conferenced with students about their marks that will appear on their midterm report cards.

Monday Nov 6

At the start of the class today, we started with talking about the homework that was assigned on Friday and we got a few more today, too.

We got to the start of the "Illness" of Othello in the play.

Here are the questions you should have done up to this point in time:

We also took a look at the Theme Study - we did the easy stuff today. Tomorrow we'll get to the "hard stuff".

Friday Nov 3

Iago knows you didn't do your homework.

So ... today we got the due date for Part One for Othello and finished Act One aaaaand got these questions for homework:

And we watched this scene in the Lawerence Fishburn version and the Magneto version, too:

Thurs Nov 2

Here are the questions for homework for Friday.

1. What is Iago’s problem with Cassio?

2. How do you know Iago is the “sneaky” character in this play?

3. What do the two men tell Brabantio? Why do this?

We got about minute 18 of the film, and we sat through a few of the speeches that various characters made during the start of this play.

We did talk about the opening shots and how it was filmed, too. Lots of darkness and set in Venice. We noticed the Venetian gondolas and commented on the fact that Iago is the sneakiest person in the play.

Wed Nov 1

Because some couldn't get their heads around clicking on a link, here is the Webquest that you need to complete today and upload to the Dropbox inside the D2L system:

Webquest on Othello by William Shakespeare

1.  Go to the Wikipedia page for the play and scroll down to the section labelled “Cinthio source”. Why, do you think, there were so many similarities between Shakespeare’s play and this “source”?

2.  In a paragraph length formal piece of writing, speculate why we would have chosen this play to read this semester. Ideas might include the popularity of the author, the plot or even themes we have discussed in class.

3.  An awful lot of really popular writers have said that William Shakespeare helped them become a better writer. As you have already studied some Shakespeare and we’ve talked about this in class, what might you be able to point out a few things about how that might have come about for writers?

4.  Go to the IMDB.com entry for the film version we are watching in class – it’s on the Blog for this course. Who are the actors you can identify without much effort? What other plays have they done with the rest of the cast, if anything?

5.  Which version of the play – paper or electronic – do you think that you will prefer in order for you to help “get” the play? Why do you think that is?

Don't forget: Renaissance Man film study is also due Thursday!