Thursday, June 13, 2013

Macbeth final project!


Macbeth online searchable text

English 10                                                                                                             Your name:                                                         
Mrs. Bailey

Macbeth Final Project

For your final work with this play, you will complete a project that assesses your overall understanding of the play through work with a single thematic element.  While this project does not involve writing an essay, it will require you to use skills that you would use in creating an essay.  NOTE:  THIS IS A GROUP PROJECT – 2 students only per group. (However, if you’d like to work independently, please speak to me).

Step 1:  First, you must select one of the words (or word-pairs) listed below to be the focus of your work with this prompt:

How does Shakespeare use this word – both in the text and in allusion – to create paradox within the development of imagery and/or characterization in the play?

Word choices:             blood                                       night
                                    fear                                          sleep
                                    hand(s)                                                thought(s)
                                    heart                                        time
                                    look/see

After selecting your word, start by brainstorming ways that the word is used paradoxically in the play.  You may want to try brainstorming with 2-3 different word choices, to see which one generates the most interesting ideas in your mind.

Step 2: Now, you will work to find actual evidence from the play to support and possibly to expand the ideas you created in your brainstorming. You may do this in several ways:

a)      Look back through the text of the play to quotes/sections you remember that feature your word.  Write down each passage that contains your word, including the citations for each passage you quote.  (Correct citations are (ACT.scene.lines) – for example, (IV.iii.108-109)
b)      Use the searchable e-text of Macbeth on my Sharepoint site to find passages that utilize your word. The site is at the University of Virginia: http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/MobMacb.html
Once you have found the passage on the e-text, you’ll need to locate it in your book in order to create your citation. Write down the relevant passages, including citations for the lines that involve your word.

NOTE:  When selecting quotations, make sure to capture a complete sentence, not just a fragmented line.  For example:
     
      BAD:  That look not like the inhabitants o’ the earth (I.iii.42)

      GOOD:                       What are these
                  So wither'd and so wild in their attire,
                  That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,
                  And yet are on't? (I.iii.40-43)
     

Step 3:  Once you have collected lots of examples about how your word is used progressively throughout the play, you can develop some theories about how the use of your word changes as the play progresses.  Write a thesis that poses one of these theories, perhaps about:
q  the ways Shakespeare used your word to create a paradox in imagery – and perhaps how his use of that imagery changes as the play progresses;
q  the ways the word is used to show something paradoxical about the development of a character as the play progresses;
q  or some other interesting paradox that is shown in the use of your word from the beginning to the end of the play.
The thesis statement you create will become the central focus of your final project, so be sure to take time and care in developing it.  Make sure it meets all the requirements of good thesis statements!  (It must be arguable, provable, and important!)


Step 4:  Based upon the thesis that you have composed, select a minimum of 10 quotes from your quote collection that you would use to support your thesis. These will be the quotes you will use on your project.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with using more than 10 quotes on your project.


Step 5:  Construct a visual representation of your thesis idea about the word you have chosen.  You may create either a 2-dimensional, 3-dimensional, or virtual project based upon your thesis.  Your job is to try to represent what you state in your thesis in a visual way.  Incorporated into that visual should be colors and images that are important, your 10 quotations, and 2+ sentence explanations of how each of your quotations help to prove your thesis about the paradoxical purpose of the word.  Your brainstorming and full quote collection will be turned in with your project.

Some possible ideas: 
·         build a multi-sided structure and show various elements of the paradox in imagery or character development of your word on each side.  Quotes with citations are incorporated on each side.
·         paint a “progressive” picture showing the paradoxical change in a character or in use of imagery based on your word.  Quotes with citations are painted in or attached to each section of the progression.
·         draw/paint a multi-sided image of a character incorporating many details associated with the paradoxical use of the word in developing that character.  Quotes with citations are incorporated with those details.
·         create an image diary where each page shows the progression of the word’s paradoxical use accompanied by quotations with citations.
·         develop a Glog or Prezi in which you demonstrate the paradoxical development of an image or character. Use quotations with citations throughout the presentation.

Since this is your last project of this school year, it should be creative, attractive, and done with care and attention to detail.  Ideally, it should be the best work you have done for English all year! 

Suggested timeline:         □  Th-Fri., 6/13-14      Select word/ brainstorm/collect quotations
                                          □  Mon, 6/17              Create thesis statement; select quotations for
                                                                              project
                                          □  Tue-Wed., 6/18-19   Assemble project; check requirements
□  Thurs. 6/20             Project due C & D periods
                                   

English 10
Mrs. Bailey


Assessment for Macbeth Final Project

Project Preparation/Brainstorming                                                               out of 10                      Brainstorming done for 2+ words
            All quotations using your assigned word are collected
All citations are correct

Project            Concept/Structure                                                                             out of 30
Project displays meaningful visual representation the word’s paradoxical use                                           in the play
            Colors, images, and structures all have purpose toward proving          thesis/conveying message
Thesis statement is well-developed, meets all thesis requirements, and shows good understanding of the play
Visual elements show insight into the word’s paradoxical meanings in the play
10 or more quotations are placed in meaningful locations on the project
All quotations include proper citations in correct format
Explanations of quotations help to support the thesis statement


Presentation                                                                                                    out of 20
            Final product is attractive, carefully constructed, shows pride

Students are well-prepared to present the product with pride in 3-4 minute explanation



                                                                                                _______/60

Notes:

C period Macbeth performance - terrific!!


John and Paige - C period Macbeth - Great stuff!



Wednesday, June 12, 2013

D period Act V scenes vii & viii - AWESOME!!

Macbeth is played by Brian Heffernan and Macduff is played by Ryan Bonner

Homework: 6.12.13 due Thursday, 6.13.13


Dear Sophomores,
You did SUCH a great job finishing up this play today - well done!
Please watch the above video of renowned Shakespearean actor Ian McKellan performing the "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" speech.  Then, answer these questions:
 MACBETH 
 17    She should have died hereafter; 
 18    There would have been a time for such a word. 
 19    Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, 
 20    Creeps in this petty pace from day to day 
 21    To the last syllable of recorded time, 
 22    And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 
 23    The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! 
 24    Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player 
 25    That struts and frets his hour upon the stage 
 26    And then is heard no more: it is a tale 
 27    Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, 
 28    Signifying nothing.


1.  The speech is about Lady Macbeth's death, and the focus is on TIME.
He uses words like 'tomorrow,' 'yesterday,'  'time,' 'hour,' 'day'.  
What is he suggesting about time in this passage?

2.  What is Macbeth's TONE?

3.  Do you feel sorry for him at all?

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Macbeth - Day 6/7 Homework for tonight, May 29th, 2013

Okay so we just finished Act I and began Act II in class.  My students have been doing a great job onstage reading out loud and figuring out this complicated language.

For homework:  Make a thematic connection between the following quotations, all from Act 1.  THEN:  create a THEME STATEMENT that illustrates your belief about a main idea/lesson from this act.

Duncan:  "There's no art/to find the mind's construction in the face./He was a gentleman on whom I built/An absolute trust" (I, iv, 13-15).

Macbeth:  "Stars, hide your fires;/let not light see my black and deep desires.  The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be/which the eye fears, when it is done, to see" (I, iv, 57-60).

Lady Macbeth:  "Come, thick night, and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell/that my keen knife see not the wound it makes,/nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark/ to cry "Hold, hold!" (I, v, 57-61).


Wednesday, May 22, 2013

More poetry project links!!

More links to Poetry Projects!

C period Sean Nash
C period Lish Ventura
D period Drew Anderson

These are GREAT!!!!!!

Macbeth Day 3: We FINALLY got onstage!!! Homework for Thursday, 5.23.13


A Paradoxical Statement:  A statement that seems to be contradictory but that might be true when considered from a particular perspective.

            “Fair is foul and foul is fair/Hover through the fog and filthy air” – The Witches, Act I, scene I, line 12.

Consider the various connotations behind this phrase. The words "fair," "foul," and "filthy" can be used as adjectives to describe SO MANY things - people, occurrences, ideas......

Step 1:  Please take the time to define these terms and give examples from REAL LIFE which support these ideas.  Consider one:  first, the witches could be referring to the battle that just occurred:  in truth, all actions on a battlefield are considered ‘fair’ because for those fighting, they must believe in the concept, however ‘foul’, that they either must kill or be killed.  

Step 2:  Speculate as to how this concept could apply to Macbeth's current situation?


Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Day 2: Personal Reflections on Power: Tuesday, May 21, 2013: Homework for tonight!!!

Dear Students,
My hope is that by the end of today's class, you will have begun to develop your own idea of what it means to possess power in our lives.  I would like you to respond to the following questions on this Blog -simply click on the Comment tab below.  You can comment on the question, or if someone has left an interesting comment, you may comment on the comment (does that make sense??).  Be prepared to discuss these questions in class tomorrow  - and don't forget to meet me in the auditorium for Act 1, scene 1 of Macbeth!


  • Why is it imperative to understand how our own personal power affects not only those close to us, but society as a whole?  Explain.

  • In her article The Necessary Evil, Nancy Gibbs questions whether good and evil are "dependent on each other."  What do you think?  Bonus to the student who can apply a literary term to this concept!!

Monday, May 20, 2013

Day 1: Introduction to Macbeth!!!

Task:  Today, we are going to begin a dialogue about the ways we attain and then maintain power in our lives.  The following short video clips highlight examples of the the way we exert power over others, and the way that others might exert power over us.  One video illustrates the fact that money is a mechanism for power, and the financial inequities that exist in our society certainly should make us stop and think about what this means for the future of our country.  My hope is that we can begin a dialogue about our interpretations of the power we possess both on a personal level and then on a global level.  We will then take these concepts and apply them to major themes in Macbeth.

Once you grab a Popsicle stick with your number on it, you'll go to  your station and complete the task at that station.  You will then respond to the questions that goes with each group, and once each group is done, you'll move on to the next task.  We may need two days for this activity.  Be prepared to discuss your findings at the conclusion of the activity.

Your homework for tonight?  To FINISH the work that you did not get to in class today.  This is all online, so you should have no trouble accessing the information from your home computer or phone.

Group 1:
The Heist: Choosing the participants


Group 2:
Mean Girls: (4/10)
Mean Girls: (5/10)
Mean Girls: (6/10)
Popular: Wicked with Kristen Chenoweth & Idina Menzel

Group 3:
Read the Time magazine article:  Welcome to the Works of the Trench Coat by Roger Rosenblatt

Group 4:
Wealth and inequality in America

Group 5:
Read the Time magazine article:  The Necessary Evil? by Nancy Gibbs




Friday, May 17, 2013

F period Sophomores - Poetry Project

Poetry Projects DONE!!!

I am so proud of my Sophomore Accelerated students - they have worked so diligently over the last two weeks creating poetry projects as a summative assessment for their poetry unit.  Take a look at them:  the link to each student's project is under the Useful Links tab to the right on the home screen.  We are still in the process of adding links, so check back if you don't see yours or your student's.  Now - on to Macbeth!

See a sample below
For more project you can click on the Poetry Tab or on the blog sidebar!

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Friedrich Nietzsche: excerpts from "The Will to Power"


Excerpts on The Will to Power
from various books by Friedrich Nietzsche
THE GAY SCIENCE (1882)
13.
On the doctrine of the feeling of power.— Benefiting and hurting others are ways of exercising one's power upon others—that is all one desires in such cases! One hurts those whom one wants to feel one's power; for pain is a much more efficient means to that end than pleasure:—pain always raises the question about its origin while pleasure is inclined to stop with itself without looking back. We benefit and show benevolence to those who are already dependent on us in some way (which means that they are used to thinking of us as causes); we want to increase their power because in that way we increase ours, or we want to show them how advantageous it is to be in our power—that way they will become more satisfied with their condition and more hostile to and willing to fight against the enemies of our power. Whether benefiting or hurting others involves sacrifices for us does not affect the ultimate value of our actions; even if we offer our lives, as martyrs do for their church, this is a sacrifice that is offered for our desire for power or for the purpose of preserving our feeling of power. Those who feel "I possess Truth"—how many possessions would they not abandon in order to save this feeling! What would they not throw overboard to stay "on top"—which means, above the others who lack "the Truth"!
56.
The craving for suffering.— When I think of the craving to do something, which continually tickles and spurs those millions of young Europeans who cannot endure their boredom and themselves,—then I realize that they must have a craving to suffer and to find in their suffering a probable reason for action, for deeds. Neediness is needed!

163.
After a great victory.— What is best about a great victory is that it liberates the victor from the fear of defeat. "Why not be defeated some time, too?"—he says to himself: "Now I am rich enough for that."

268.
What makes one heroic?— Going out to meet at the same time one's highest suffering and one's highest hope.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Friday, May 10, 2013

Blogging from my iPhone!!

Here is a photo of my brilliant C period sophomores who are working on their poetry movies!

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Poetry Projects

Students are working on creating multimedia poetry project.
This year we are using Google Drive with WeVideo. Students are pleased they can access their projects in school and from home.

I hope to publish student work on this blog next week.