Finals

Students Final exams have two parts:
 

1) Final check and self evaluation of Macbeth paper.

A)Check they essay that is due. Ensure that the title of the play is in italics or underlined.

B) Double special check the embedding of quotes in their paper. For a treat ask them to chant the “quote pattern chant” to you five times. You can also put the rubric under the document camera as a reminder of the editing details involved.

C) On the back of their paper have them hand write a self-evaluation that speaks to the quality of their paper given the assignment and the amount of effort they put into the paper.

Turn in essay.

West White Board Red Ink

2) Viewing and note taking on Throne of Blood.

A) Understand that the film IS the story of Macbeth, though not the plot, or words. (it’s a retelling using Japanese Samurai.)

B) Students will view the second part of the film on Tuesday, and then write an in-class essay on Thursday of next week that responds to the following questions:

C) In what ways are Throne of Blood and Macbeth thematically similar. IN what ways are they thematically dissimilar?  How does the film’s style (visuals, sound design, acting, etc,) contribute to showing the theme Kurosawa wanted to show?

 In class we discussed:

You should help students discuss and understand the differences between theme and plot. Then help students think about “style” means in terms of direction.  You may prompt them that in terms of style the first thing they will note is that the music accompanying the titles will grate on their nerves and set a disturbing tone. Then there will be fog, and fog will suggest mystery…. Be sure that students take notes. 

Monday-Tuesday, 24-25 January

 In class on Monday we divided Macbeth into acts and searched for passages that reflected the chain of being and for passages that seemed to relate to the four suggested topics for the essay.

Macbeth essays are due at the beginning of the final exam period. Students will have a self-evaluation activity on the essay, and an activity to extend the study of Macbeth: viewing Kurosawa's Throne of Blood.

Memoir Day, 21 January, 2011

Writer's turned in their drafts. Periods 3&4 should have printed an extra draft for Mr. Zartler (in addition to the one for Karen Karbo.)

Some final thoughts:

The first draft is for you to tell yourself the story. The next drafts are for you to tell the story to someone else.

Whatever writing assignment you have: Find the place where you have an emotional engagement with the topic.

Give yourself some time; some space; thus the "soft deadline" preceded the "Dead-deadline" by a week.

18-19 January

We viewed Polanski's Macbeth. We reviewed these handouts for the Macbeth essay.

Memoir are due tomorrow!

Memoir Day -- Tuesday, 18 January

1,000 Words due Friday, 21 January!

Extra Credit -- a bit is available to any students who attend the WITS Reading at Broadway books, tomorrow, Wednesday, 19 January at 7 pm. Broadway Books is located at 1714 NE Broadway.

Media Training : Follow these three rules for success:

1) You don't have to talk to the media.

2) Stop and think before you answer

3) If you mess up, ask for a "do-over." The reporter will almost always say, "sure!"

Revising is not editing

First Look at the First Sentence:

Make your opening an "Away We Go" sentence; it should be powerful and seductive. Make sure the verbs are "action verbs." Try to make the content unusual or surprising.

Famous First Sentences:

"Call me Ishmael." -- Moby Dick

"It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen." -- 1984

"The King was pregnant." The Left Hand of Darkness.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." -- Tale of Two Cities

Eliminate these useless words: actually; totally; completely; exactly; very; in fact; kind of; of course. (These words may belong in dialogue, but in your writing just get rid of them if they are not a direct quote.)

No L33T speak! Don't write it the way you would text it.

No Adverbs. Cut them. These words are flabby and weaken the writing (or are a sign that you haven't down the "showing" that they substitute for.

Don't repeat yourself. Don't say the same things twice in a row: See? It's redundant. It's repetitive.

Tuesday, 11 January

MEMOIR DAY

Wednesday, January 19th is the reading at Broadway Books. Students in Periods 3 & 4 can earn a small amount of extra credit if they finish their piece in time and read it at Broadway books.

Word Processed document due IN CLASS.

Where to start (A GREAT RULE OF THUMB): In Media Res : This is Latin for "in the middle of things". It is a great place to start. Skip the background and explanations, just get to when things are going.... Start as late in the story as possible..... Begin with dialogue in the middle of a conversation .... Begin with action and / or conflict .....


January, 14th you must bring a printed (computed / typed) copy!

Monday, 10 January

In class today we watched act II and the beginning of Act III of Macbeth.