Friday Workshop and Week in Review

In reading the posts this week, you'll see a number of topics. Some of you went to see the school play, but if you didn't have a chance and think you might be interested, read Mellofelloet's post. Speaking of plays, many of you talked about our versions of Romeo and Juliet. The Truth_Never_Falters wrote about the differences in our translations, and Lake_Wobegon wrote about the emerging theme of secrets in our play and how it relates to his or her life.

Braven_Gilmore_Girl questions the wisdom of Juliet's willingness to take the sleeping potion. Spotty C made a connection from our play and the movie The Illusionist. Little_Miss_Sunshine talked about family and her plans for the summer.

Check out those posts and more. Finish Act IV before Monday. As always, happy reading and blogging!

What is Courage?

Looking back over the literature we've read this semester, think about our essential question: What is courage? Is it possible to know what or who is courageous without an understanding of culture? If we were to look at the circumstances our characters face in Romeo and Juliet, could we make some judgments about courage? Do any of the characters display courage, and if so, who and how? And if you think there are no examples of courage in the play, why not? How does fate play into courage, or does it?




During class today, we'll focus on character development and our essential question. Due to locker clean out and our assembly, class will be cut short for some of you. Don't worry! Tomorrow is a reading and writing workshop day, and you'll have plenty of time to read and blog.





So....as you read the rest of Act IV, think about this: "Love give me strength, and strength shall help afford" (IV, i, line 125). Was Juliet courageous for drinking the potion?






Adieu, my friends!

From Bad to Worse: Is Fortune Fickle?

I must say that the artwork, photo stories, interpretation and acting were fabulous in our classroom production of Act III and part of Act IV. You brought the poetry to life - literally - and demonstrated some interesting characterizations. What becomes clear by this point in the play is that whatever could go wrong will, and whatever could be worse will be! But what do we expect? This is a tragedy.

Most of you have handed in your production goal sheets and your self-assessments, but if you haven't yet, be sure to get that in right away. We'll be forging ahead into Act IV, and we'll be reviewing notes and setting up more reading today.

In the meantime, be thinking about what themes we see in the play. Be thinking about the characters and what traits we still see in people today. These ideas are what make Shakespeare's work interesting and current today.

Lights, Camera, Action!

Act III certainly offers a whirlwind of emotional scenes: dueling to the death, a new marriage proposal, the honeymoon, a horrible family fight and a plea for a "magic" cure, we see it all. That's where we begin today. Your scenes will bring to light your interpretation of the script as well as your artistic presentation. Cooperation is the key, so we'll take this opportunity to help each other and show our appreciation for your efforts. This will also be a great chance to get our questions answered, so you'll definitely want to have your notes out to finish up any troubling passages.

Too bad we can't take an actual field trip to the Globe. We can online, though, so for a virtual tour of the refurbished Globe theater, visit this site. Can you imagine our productions on a stage like this?







You'll be rewarded for your efforts in this project. Be sure you complete your self-assessment and turn it in with your goal sheet.








And so for now, adieu!