Reading the last bit of Midsummer - silent AND aloud with people
Working on news article or social media page - GET IT IN
And then, get an Exodus book from the other room on the brown shelves and start in.
Read a bit, then:
Make some predictions about the book.
Research the term exodus.
And you can start reading it if you like.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Act 4, Sc 1 - events
Titania is back to normal. Oberon returns her senses. (because he has the changeling)
Puck returns Bottom to normal.
Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia and Helena wake up with Theseus and Hippolyta there and Egeus is with them.
There appears to be more switchery!
Theseus AGREES that Demetrius should have Helena!
The young lovers all seem confused and Theseus says they will all 6 get married together in the temple.
Bottom stumbles out and looks around for his play to begin
we see once again the chaos that is caused by magic
we also see our theme of love being fickle (changeable)
we also see our theme of manipulating the one you love (Oberon)
we also get a little good comedy from the arrogant Bottom in “ass mode”
- pompous means self-important, over the top and puffed up
- we also get to see some of the sense of the title - the lovers wake up feeling like they’ve been dreaming, Bottom feels like he’s been dreaming, Oberon tells Puck that they will feel this way - comparing LOVE and DREAMS?
Titania is back to normal. Oberon returns her senses. (because he has the changeling)
Puck returns Bottom to normal.
Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia and Helena wake up with Theseus and Hippolyta there and Egeus is with them.
There appears to be more switchery!
Theseus AGREES that Demetrius should have Helena!
The young lovers all seem confused and Theseus says they will all 6 get married together in the temple.
Bottom stumbles out and looks around for his play to begin
we see once again the chaos that is caused by magic
we also see our theme of love being fickle (changeable)
we also see our theme of manipulating the one you love (Oberon)
we also get a little good comedy from the arrogant Bottom in “ass mode”
- pompous means self-important, over the top and puffed up
- we also get to see some of the sense of the title - the lovers wake up feeling like they’ve been dreaming, Bottom feels like he’s been dreaming, Oberon tells Puck that they will feel this way - comparing LOVE and DREAMS?
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Cause and Effect - when one person does X, that creates a response, which could be completely unintended
In the play, the situation is this:
Oberon is angry at his wife (Titania)
Somehow, that makes Hermia sad.
Cause and effect can create comedy and often does so in sitcoms, movies, books, etc
HOWEVER, cause and effect can also create terrible situations.
We want to be able to think about what Cause and Effect means and be able to consider how powerful it is. Wouldn’t it be a GREAT essay topic from which to build a thesis?
Cause - something to DONE or SAID or SET UP
Effect - that something results in an effect or consequence
OFTEN that effect is not planned OR it is completely surprising or TERRIBLE
In stories, we see COMPLICATIONS that arise from Cause and Effect.
In life we see the same things.
It is a common concept in literature and you could apply it as a way of thinking about anything.
Exercise in Cause and Effect
I will write down a scenario and you will jot down THREE possible unintended effects.
Example - Courtney gets a bloody nose in class. (cause)
What COULD happen because of that?
A clever way of coming up with an effect is trying to find something that could happen that is not obvious - the effect might be complex or tricky or take some real ASSOCIATING (you might have to really think about why that effect came from that cause)
Effect - Mr. Lobb was arrested.
Obvious? Lobb punched her.
More unusual? Lobb used Black Lobb Magic
More complex?
A chain reaction - a series of cause and effect relationships that take us into unexpected story areas.
In our lives we OFTEN forget about cause and effect and we behave in ways that indicate we are ONLY thinking about RIGHT NOW.
IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION (now pleasure)
Here is the difference between a former addict whose life fell apart and Mr. Lobb:
Former addict wanted things NOW. He wanted fun NOW. He wanted a good time NOW.
He didn’t really think about long term or later. He was immersed in the moment.
Mr. Lobb was more focused on “what will happen later?”
This Mr. Lobb approach has its own problems too. DELAYED GRATIFICATION
Looking at the idea of Cause and Effect can allow us to think about things in a really smart way. We can analyse ourselves.
Why do we analyse characters in stories in English in school?
Maybe the things are happening in the characters’ minds are realistic.
We want students to MAKE CONNECTIONS between the stories and the characters they read about and their own lives.
In the play, the situation is this:
Oberon is angry at his wife (Titania)
Somehow, that makes Hermia sad.
Cause and effect can create comedy and often does so in sitcoms, movies, books, etc
HOWEVER, cause and effect can also create terrible situations.
We want to be able to think about what Cause and Effect means and be able to consider how powerful it is. Wouldn’t it be a GREAT essay topic from which to build a thesis?
Cause - something to DONE or SAID or SET UP
Effect - that something results in an effect or consequence
OFTEN that effect is not planned OR it is completely surprising or TERRIBLE
In stories, we see COMPLICATIONS that arise from Cause and Effect.
In life we see the same things.
It is a common concept in literature and you could apply it as a way of thinking about anything.
Exercise in Cause and Effect
I will write down a scenario and you will jot down THREE possible unintended effects.
Example - Courtney gets a bloody nose in class. (cause)
What COULD happen because of that?
A clever way of coming up with an effect is trying to find something that could happen that is not obvious - the effect might be complex or tricky or take some real ASSOCIATING (you might have to really think about why that effect came from that cause)
Effect - Mr. Lobb was arrested.
Obvious? Lobb punched her.
More unusual? Lobb used Black Lobb Magic
More complex?
A chain reaction - a series of cause and effect relationships that take us into unexpected story areas.
In our lives we OFTEN forget about cause and effect and we behave in ways that indicate we are ONLY thinking about RIGHT NOW.
IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION (now pleasure)
Here is the difference between a former addict whose life fell apart and Mr. Lobb:
Former addict wanted things NOW. He wanted fun NOW. He wanted a good time NOW.
He didn’t really think about long term or later. He was immersed in the moment.
Mr. Lobb was more focused on “what will happen later?”
This Mr. Lobb approach has its own problems too. DELAYED GRATIFICATION
Looking at the idea of Cause and Effect can allow us to think about things in a really smart way. We can analyse ourselves.
Why do we analyse characters in stories in English in school?
Maybe the things are happening in the characters’ minds are realistic.
We want students to MAKE CONNECTIONS between the stories and the characters they read about and their own lives.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013
On the Social Media Page, you would expect to see:
bio info
photos the depict something about the character’s life, ideas, friends...
tweets/statuses/hashtags/memes (Internet phenomena/trends/etc)(how would that character respond to, or use, memes?)
what do people tweet about?
things that they think are funny, things that they do, things that interest them, make them angry, etc
turn things from the play into tweets
interactions with OTHER CHARACTERS
News Article
MAN FOUND IN WOODS WITH HEAD OF ASS!
LOCAL COUPLE FLEES ANGRY FATHER
GIRL MISSING
WEATHER PATTERNS UNUSUAL FOR SPRING
FAIRY QUEEN’S LATEST FIND
FAIRY KING INDICTED IN STRANGE LOVE MATCH
CHECKLIST:
The Lede - who, what, where, when
how and why in body
quotations from witnesses or parties involved
expert testimony or opinion
summary or spin off at the end - new area or new comment from the end
description is good
refers to things in play
uses characters from the play
gets specific - details are included
style and structure
bio info
photos the depict something about the character’s life, ideas, friends...
tweets/statuses/hashtags/memes (Internet phenomena/trends/etc)(how would that character respond to, or use, memes?)
what do people tweet about?
things that they think are funny, things that they do, things that interest them, make them angry, etc
turn things from the play into tweets
interactions with OTHER CHARACTERS
News Article
MAN FOUND IN WOODS WITH HEAD OF ASS!
LOCAL COUPLE FLEES ANGRY FATHER
GIRL MISSING
WEATHER PATTERNS UNUSUAL FOR SPRING
FAIRY QUEEN’S LATEST FIND
FAIRY KING INDICTED IN STRANGE LOVE MATCH
CHECKLIST:
The Lede - who, what, where, when
how and why in body
quotations from witnesses or parties involved
expert testimony or opinion
summary or spin off at the end - new area or new comment from the end
description is good
refers to things in play
uses characters from the play
gets specific - details are included
style and structure
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Thursday, April 18, 2013
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Key Events in Act 3, Sc 2
What makes an event KEY?
Something that changes the flow of events is KEY.
Something that changes the characters (specifically the MAIN characters) is KEY.
The bigger the PROBLEM, the more “things” it affects, the more we know it’s KEY.
Something that changes relationships.
The addition of a new character.
What key things happened in the rest of Act 3, Sc 2?
Puck mimics the voices of Lysander and Demetrius and sets them up to follow him around, thinking they’re going to fight each other - he is just having a laugh
they are angry at each other because they were both dosed and they now love Helena - they are fighting over loving her - this is ironic, because she thinks they’re lying to hurt her
Hermia can’t believe what Lysander is saying - he seems to hate her now
Helena assumes that Hermia is in on the mean joke that she thinks the two guys are playing
Lysander makes really unpleasant (and racist) comments about Hermia’s looks
Puck tries to fix all this drama because Oberon isn’t impressed with the results
Puck is going to re-apply the love potion and get people back with the right lover
WHAT DOES THIS SAY ABOUT LOVE? - wouldn’t this make a great question for an essay?
love can be manipulated - see THIS example
love is confusing - see THIS example
love is a privilege
love can be seen to be fake
love is blind
love is very specific to each person
Mr. Lobb - I think that this is showing us a little bit about how love is in our minds more than we think.
A question arises - what is the difference between LOVE and LUST.
Lust is wanting something?
Love is you actually like someone.
Lust is a sexual attraction to someone.
Love is a longer term “thing” - a relationship
There’s a HUGE different between love and lust.
Lust is physical AND mental.
Love is deeper and more about feelings in our minds. (and physical)
Lust might be more about YOU and love might be more about THEM.
Key Events in Act 3, Sc 2
What makes an event KEY?
Something that changes the flow of events is KEY.
Something that changes the characters (specifically the MAIN characters) is KEY.
The bigger the PROBLEM, the more “things” it affects, the more we know it’s KEY.
Something that changes relationships.
The addition of a new character.
What key things happened in the rest of Act 3, Sc 2?
Puck mimics the voices of Lysander and Demetrius and sets them up to follow him around, thinking they’re going to fight each other - he is just having a laugh
they are angry at each other because they were both dosed and they now love Helena - they are fighting over loving her - this is ironic, because she thinks they’re lying to hurt her
Hermia can’t believe what Lysander is saying - he seems to hate her now
Helena assumes that Hermia is in on the mean joke that she thinks the two guys are playing
Lysander makes really unpleasant (and racist) comments about Hermia’s looks
Puck tries to fix all this drama because Oberon isn’t impressed with the results
Puck is going to re-apply the love potion and get people back with the right lover
WHAT DOES THIS SAY ABOUT LOVE? - wouldn’t this make a great question for an essay?
love can be manipulated - see THIS example
love is confusing - see THIS example
love is a privilege
love can be seen to be fake
love is blind
love is very specific to each person
Mr. Lobb - I think that this is showing us a little bit about how love is in our minds more than we think.
A question arises - what is the difference between LOVE and LUST.
Lust is wanting something?
Love is you actually like someone.
Lust is a sexual attraction to someone.
Love is a longer term “thing” - a relationship
There’s a HUGE different between love and lust.
Lust is physical AND mental.
Love is deeper and more about feelings in our minds. (and physical)
Lust might be more about YOU and love might be more about THEM.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
ENG1D
Reading from A Midsummer Night’s Dream aloud in groups from where we left off in Act 3, Sc 2
Begin collecting notes for your social media project and your news article.
I will be checking for your rough work (rough notes) around these two assignments.
Think about what you will need in order to do them:
For the social media project you will need to know what your character does in the play, what he/she thinks, why he/she is doing whatever he/she is doing (motivations), how he/she relates to other characters, what he/she wants (dramatic need), etc. You might also want to collect images that can be used to help illustrate elements of your character’s life and personality.
For the news article, you need to follow the pattern that we examined yesterday, and then consider how to describe the events of the plot, and the characters, in a way that will allow your article to be exciting reading and get to the front page. Attaching a really good photo to this article as an anchor for your information would be a great idea.
PUCK
ACTIONS: he turns Bottom’s head into the head of an ass (a plot point or two)
THINKING: (the stuff based around what he says)
MOTIVATIONS: create chaos - do pranks - serve Oberon
RELATIONSHIPS:
DRAMATIC NEED: attention
You want to Tweet and FB things that are about the subject without being too “on the nose”
News Article
rough notes:
WHO
WHAT
WHERE
WHEN
DETAILS - WHY AND HOW
INTERVIEWS
EXPERTS
WHAT NEXT?
All news articles start off with THE LEDE -
Act 3, Sc 2
Who’s been dosed with LOVE POTION?
Lysander -> now loves Helena
Titania -> now loves Bottom (ass head version)
Demetrius -> now loves Helena
What is a duel?
A duel is a fight to the death over HONOUR
There is a situation brewing where we could see some true suffering out of this problem with the love potion - a duel is threatened between Lysander and Demetrius
Read on into Act 4, Sc 1
Reading from A Midsummer Night’s Dream aloud in groups from where we left off in Act 3, Sc 2
Begin collecting notes for your social media project and your news article.
I will be checking for your rough work (rough notes) around these two assignments.
Think about what you will need in order to do them:
For the social media project you will need to know what your character does in the play, what he/she thinks, why he/she is doing whatever he/she is doing (motivations), how he/she relates to other characters, what he/she wants (dramatic need), etc. You might also want to collect images that can be used to help illustrate elements of your character’s life and personality.
For the news article, you need to follow the pattern that we examined yesterday, and then consider how to describe the events of the plot, and the characters, in a way that will allow your article to be exciting reading and get to the front page. Attaching a really good photo to this article as an anchor for your information would be a great idea.
PUCK
ACTIONS: he turns Bottom’s head into the head of an ass (a plot point or two)
THINKING: (the stuff based around what he says)
MOTIVATIONS: create chaos - do pranks - serve Oberon
RELATIONSHIPS:
DRAMATIC NEED: attention
You want to Tweet and FB things that are about the subject without being too “on the nose”
News Article
rough notes:
WHO
WHAT
WHERE
WHEN
DETAILS - WHY AND HOW
INTERVIEWS
EXPERTS
WHAT NEXT?
All news articles start off with THE LEDE -
Act 3, Sc 2
Who’s been dosed with LOVE POTION?
Lysander -> now loves Helena
Titania -> now loves Bottom (ass head version)
Demetrius -> now loves Helena
What is a duel?
A duel is a fight to the death over HONOUR
There is a situation brewing where we could see some true suffering out of this problem with the love potion - a duel is threatened between Lysander and Demetrius
Read on into Act 4, Sc 1
Monday, April 15, 2013
Monday, April 15, 2013
A Midsummer Night’s Dream - ENG1D
Assignments Thus Far:
Choose FIVE characters to describe in brief - (thumbnail sketches)
Social Media Profile for ONE character
OSSLT Skill - Write a news article about ONE of the major events of the play.
News Article Format
A news article follows a VERY specific pattern.
This is often referred to as the INVERTED PYRAMID.
(however, it isn’t 3D, so it’s just a triangle)
This pattern is a way of organizing information to fit the typical news form
On the OSSLT, you are given TWO things - a HEADLINE and a PHOTO
The challenge of this assignment - HOW DO I FILL ALL THOSE BLANKS?
Basically, we need to know how to implement the information from the HEADLINE and the PHOTO into an article that we make up ourselves.
The Inverted Pyramid
First few paragraphs answer WHO, WHEN, WHERE and WHAT IS HAPPENING - this is called THE LEDE
The BODY of the piece is made up of all the paragraphs that come after that (and there could be many)
This is the hard part
This is where we include DETAILS - what are the details? What would you actually write in here?
Learning these pieces of the BODY gives you something to structure your article.
QUOTATIONS from the characters that you invented who are in the story (from the photo and/or the headlines) - EYEWITNESSES or PARTICIPANTS - you actually need to give them names to get marks
EXPERT INPUT from people commenting on the event/story/whatever - ie a psychologist or teacher from the “guest speaker” article - another perspective is given and this can flesh out your article and give it a more important feel
HOW and WHY - you explain the event and maybe something about the reasoning
BACKGROUND - how did it get this way? What happened before?
Where is this going? CONSEQUENCES or RESULTS or RAMIFICATIONS
In general, you can also fill in the Who, What happened, When and Where with more specific details in the body
The LAST PARAGRAPH is the conclusion or summary and in this last piece we need to somehow find a CAPPER that spins us out into another thought or gives us a little idea to take away.
The trick is, what the heck does this mean? It often means introducing some added element of the entire subject
eg in the guest speaker story, you might end by saying, students in GDCI will be having many more interesting assemblies over the next weeks where they will blah blah blah
WHAT MAKES A NEWS ARTICLE GOOD OR NOT? (newsworthiness)
Something is newsworthy if it is interesting to a large number of people (might not include YOU)
Something is newsworthy if it is scandalous or scary or crazy or disturbing or unusual and doesn’t fit into the regular day to day
Something is newsworthy if it involves celebrity or politicians
Some topics are automatically newsworthy - WAR, SCIENCE, sports (reaally?), fashion, NATURAL DISASTER, ECONOMY, cars, CRIME, religion, etc (small caps are human interest stories)
A very dramatic and life or death, very emotional and impactful event is more likely to be in the news.
PLUS - A reading
You will need to choose a piece to read aloud.
I care not which piece you read aloud, so long as it has a MINIMUM of 10 lines.
NOW, Demetrius is chasing Hermia EXACTLY like Helena was chasing HIM!
He is a complete HYPOCRITE! (and a dirtbag!)
SO, now Lysander has been potion-struck and he loves Helena.
Helena is still in love with Demetrius.
Demetrius loves Hermia.
Hermia still loves Lysander.
There is no logic at work in the minds of these teenagers!
We are seeing something that is true, thanks to the crazy potion -
The FICKLENESS OF LOVE - (fickle means ever-changing)
Assignments Thus Far:
Choose FIVE characters to describe in brief - (thumbnail sketches)
Social Media Profile for ONE character
OSSLT Skill - Write a news article about ONE of the major events of the play.
News Article Format
A news article follows a VERY specific pattern.
This is often referred to as the INVERTED PYRAMID.
(however, it isn’t 3D, so it’s just a triangle)
This pattern is a way of organizing information to fit the typical news form
On the OSSLT, you are given TWO things - a HEADLINE and a PHOTO
The challenge of this assignment - HOW DO I FILL ALL THOSE BLANKS?
Basically, we need to know how to implement the information from the HEADLINE and the PHOTO into an article that we make up ourselves.
The Inverted Pyramid
First few paragraphs answer WHO, WHEN, WHERE and WHAT IS HAPPENING - this is called THE LEDE
The BODY of the piece is made up of all the paragraphs that come after that (and there could be many)
This is the hard part
This is where we include DETAILS - what are the details? What would you actually write in here?
Learning these pieces of the BODY gives you something to structure your article.
QUOTATIONS from the characters that you invented who are in the story (from the photo and/or the headlines) - EYEWITNESSES or PARTICIPANTS - you actually need to give them names to get marks
EXPERT INPUT from people commenting on the event/story/whatever - ie a psychologist or teacher from the “guest speaker” article - another perspective is given and this can flesh out your article and give it a more important feel
HOW and WHY - you explain the event and maybe something about the reasoning
BACKGROUND - how did it get this way? What happened before?
Where is this going? CONSEQUENCES or RESULTS or RAMIFICATIONS
In general, you can also fill in the Who, What happened, When and Where with more specific details in the body
The LAST PARAGRAPH is the conclusion or summary and in this last piece we need to somehow find a CAPPER that spins us out into another thought or gives us a little idea to take away.
The trick is, what the heck does this mean? It often means introducing some added element of the entire subject
eg in the guest speaker story, you might end by saying, students in GDCI will be having many more interesting assemblies over the next weeks where they will blah blah blah
WHAT MAKES A NEWS ARTICLE GOOD OR NOT? (newsworthiness)
Something is newsworthy if it is interesting to a large number of people (might not include YOU)
Something is newsworthy if it is scandalous or scary or crazy or disturbing or unusual and doesn’t fit into the regular day to day
Something is newsworthy if it involves celebrity or politicians
Some topics are automatically newsworthy - WAR, SCIENCE, sports (reaally?), fashion, NATURAL DISASTER, ECONOMY, cars, CRIME, religion, etc (small caps are human interest stories)
A very dramatic and life or death, very emotional and impactful event is more likely to be in the news.
PLUS - A reading
You will need to choose a piece to read aloud.
I care not which piece you read aloud, so long as it has a MINIMUM of 10 lines.
NOW, Demetrius is chasing Hermia EXACTLY like Helena was chasing HIM!
He is a complete HYPOCRITE! (and a dirtbag!)
SO, now Lysander has been potion-struck and he loves Helena.
Helena is still in love with Demetrius.
Demetrius loves Hermia.
Hermia still loves Lysander.
There is no logic at work in the minds of these teenagers!
We are seeing something that is true, thanks to the crazy potion -
The FICKLENESS OF LOVE - (fickle means ever-changing)
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Friday, April 12, 2013
ENG1D Work for Friday, April 12, 2013
Read A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Act 3, Sc. 1
1. Practice a section that you can read aloud in class next week. Pick something long enough, and fun enough, to use some good character.
Come up with some notes on this scene with your group. Remember, notes are usually based upon Who did What, Where and what were the important ideas or themes.
Work on the ongoing assignment of creating a social media presence for a character of your choice.
And if you get done all this, reading ahead is never a bad idea.
Read A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Act 3, Sc. 1
1. Practice a section that you can read aloud in class next week. Pick something long enough, and fun enough, to use some good character.
Come up with some notes on this scene with your group. Remember, notes are usually based upon Who did What, Where and what were the important ideas or themes.
Work on the ongoing assignment of creating a social media presence for a character of your choice.
And if you get done all this, reading ahead is never a bad idea.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Act 2, Sc 2
Oberon doses Titania with the love potion
Puck doses Lysander with the same love potion, thinking he is Demetrius
Self-confidence is a kind of issue in this play.
Or, maybe LACK thereof.
What kind of a person (Helena) would literally CHASE a guy she loves, who tells her flat out “LEAVE ME ALONE!”?
It could be that she doesn’t like herself, and being with someone who doesn’t like her either CONFIRMS her self-opinion, even though it is bad.
Here’s a weird thing about COGNITIVE DISSONANCE - the anxiety and bad feelings that come from having TWO or more conflicting ideas/concepts/etc in your mind at the same time.
IF you have high paying job group and a low paying job group, the low paying job group reports a HIGHER sense of job satisfaction.
This makes no sense.
COGNITIVE DISSONANCE explains this.
A POSSIBLE explanation for Helena’s sticking around with a jerk (Demetrius) could be cognitive dissonance and her lower self-esteem.
It’s kind of cool that a guy who wrote a play in the 1600s was able to describe something that is a modern psychological discovery
Masochist - someone who seems to enjoy humiliation and misery (and sometimes, pain) - often, these people are kind of replaying bad situations from their childhoods
Helena’s possible motivations are pretty interesting and complex.
Hermia might have some interesting motivations as well.
Why do you think she doesn’t want to marry Demetrius, if he is similar to Lysander?
Can we find a possible deep, psychological reason why a teenage girl might want NOT to marry the guy her father has chosen?
Do we not KNOW that teenagers are always testing the boundaries set by their parents and society?
Do we not KNOW that teenagers rebel against those rules?
Do we not KNOW that teenagers are struggling to find their identities and their own individual paths?
These are classic teenage issues.
INDIVIDUATION - the thing that makes teenagers do the opposite of what their parents say
This is an important drive to separate from your family and become your own person.
There is another layer - the SEX ROLES - what makes a woman different from a man?
Part of the answer is EXPECTATIONS from SOCIETY
Think how scary it must be to live in a culture where Hermia is threatened with death if she doesn’t do what her father says.
NO! Lysander wakes up and sees HELENA! (remember, he’s been hit with the love potion)
Because of that love potion, he looks on Hermia and hates her.
AND he hates her all the more BECAUSE he used to love her.
SO, now Helena loves Demetrius, who is after Hermia, who loves Lysander, who is in love with Helena - the potion has made an even greater mess
Magic is OFTEN a chaos builder in stories - Harry Potter to the office?
Writing Assignment:
Choose ANY one character from the play.
Then, make up a phony Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr/Blog page for that character.
Try to incorporate material from the play, and from what we can figure out about their motivations and thinking.
Try to have the equivalent of about 1 - 2 pages of text.
What criteria would we want in a good assignment?
relevant to the play
doesn’t need to be in Old English (can be)
we would need to see identifying information
the relationships coming out
quotations (to prove something)
show character - consistency
writing in character
writing with creativity
writing that reveals characters’ thinking
Oberon doses Titania with the love potion
Puck doses Lysander with the same love potion, thinking he is Demetrius
Self-confidence is a kind of issue in this play.
Or, maybe LACK thereof.
What kind of a person (Helena) would literally CHASE a guy she loves, who tells her flat out “LEAVE ME ALONE!”?
It could be that she doesn’t like herself, and being with someone who doesn’t like her either CONFIRMS her self-opinion, even though it is bad.
Here’s a weird thing about COGNITIVE DISSONANCE - the anxiety and bad feelings that come from having TWO or more conflicting ideas/concepts/etc in your mind at the same time.
IF you have high paying job group and a low paying job group, the low paying job group reports a HIGHER sense of job satisfaction.
This makes no sense.
COGNITIVE DISSONANCE explains this.
A POSSIBLE explanation for Helena’s sticking around with a jerk (Demetrius) could be cognitive dissonance and her lower self-esteem.
It’s kind of cool that a guy who wrote a play in the 1600s was able to describe something that is a modern psychological discovery
Masochist - someone who seems to enjoy humiliation and misery (and sometimes, pain) - often, these people are kind of replaying bad situations from their childhoods
Helena’s possible motivations are pretty interesting and complex.
Hermia might have some interesting motivations as well.
Why do you think she doesn’t want to marry Demetrius, if he is similar to Lysander?
Can we find a possible deep, psychological reason why a teenage girl might want NOT to marry the guy her father has chosen?
Do we not KNOW that teenagers are always testing the boundaries set by their parents and society?
Do we not KNOW that teenagers rebel against those rules?
Do we not KNOW that teenagers are struggling to find their identities and their own individual paths?
These are classic teenage issues.
INDIVIDUATION - the thing that makes teenagers do the opposite of what their parents say
This is an important drive to separate from your family and become your own person.
There is another layer - the SEX ROLES - what makes a woman different from a man?
Part of the answer is EXPECTATIONS from SOCIETY
Think how scary it must be to live in a culture where Hermia is threatened with death if she doesn’t do what her father says.
NO! Lysander wakes up and sees HELENA! (remember, he’s been hit with the love potion)
Because of that love potion, he looks on Hermia and hates her.
AND he hates her all the more BECAUSE he used to love her.
SO, now Helena loves Demetrius, who is after Hermia, who loves Lysander, who is in love with Helena - the potion has made an even greater mess
Magic is OFTEN a chaos builder in stories - Harry Potter to the office?
Writing Assignment:
Choose ANY one character from the play.
Then, make up a phony Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr/Blog page for that character.
Try to incorporate material from the play, and from what we can figure out about their motivations and thinking.
Try to have the equivalent of about 1 - 2 pages of text.
What criteria would we want in a good assignment?
relevant to the play
doesn’t need to be in Old English (can be)
we would need to see identifying information
the relationships coming out
quotations (to prove something)
show character - consistency
writing in character
writing with creativity
writing that reveals characters’ thinking
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Group of Characters 1 (storyline A) - love gone wrong/true love vs duty
The Romantic Young Lovers with Family Problems
Hermia who loves Lysander
Helena who loves Demetrius
Demetrius who expects to marry Hermia
Egeus is Hermia’s father and he expects Hermia to marry Demetrius
Theseus is the Duke and he supports Egeus (Athenian tradition and law)
Hippolyta is the Duchess and Queen of the Amazons and she supports Hermia
Group of Characters 2 (storyline B) - putting on a show
The Players
Bottom - he is the blustery, arrogant “star” of the show - COMIC RELIEF
Snug
Snout
Flute
Quince
Group of Characters 3 (storyline C) - jealousy and romance
The Fairies (the supernatural)
Robin Goodfellow (Puck) - he is also a “puck” - a mischievous sprite
injects CHAOS - he creates problems and moves things forward
Oberon - king of the fairies - (kind of the Theseus of the fairies)
Titania - queen of the fairies - (kind of the Hippolyta of the fairies)
Random other fairies who flit around and do things (fairy who talks to Puck at the start of Act 2, Sc 1, Mustard Seed, etc
Act 2, Sc.1
The more Demetrius doesn’t like Helena, the more she says she loves him.
Is this realistic?
Sadly, it IS!
There is a sick side to our brains that, when something is difficult or held away from us, that becomes the thing we most want. Especially in relationships.
We see this in our lives! Lots of arrogant, jerky, nasty, unpleasant guys with awesome, nice, smart girlfriends!
Women are somehow interested in jerks.
The values of the time are such that the women in this ARE very much “pure like glass” when married.
In the days of Shakespeare, women were the objects of men’s interest and they had to be passive, and allow the men to “woo them” in the tradition of the time.
For Helena to be more aggressive in pursuit is a real surprise. And it might even be disturbing on some level (for Demetrius AND the audience).
Oberon is going to get involved and make Demetrius love HER. Which might just flip her around.
Agh! Mistaken identity! That CLASSIC piece of comedy excitement.
THIS is getting into very clear territory! We can begin to see how much complication can be had with a love potion, a trickster fairy, a bunch of people in love triangles, etc
I ASSIGN YOU ACT 2, SCENE 2!
READ ALOUD (it is allowed)
Then, make some notes about actions, characters, ideas.
The Romantic Young Lovers with Family Problems
Hermia who loves Lysander
Helena who loves Demetrius
Demetrius who expects to marry Hermia
Egeus is Hermia’s father and he expects Hermia to marry Demetrius
Theseus is the Duke and he supports Egeus (Athenian tradition and law)
Hippolyta is the Duchess and Queen of the Amazons and she supports Hermia
Group of Characters 2 (storyline B) - putting on a show
The Players
Bottom - he is the blustery, arrogant “star” of the show - COMIC RELIEF
Snug
Snout
Flute
Quince
Group of Characters 3 (storyline C) - jealousy and romance
The Fairies (the supernatural)
Robin Goodfellow (Puck) - he is also a “puck” - a mischievous sprite
injects CHAOS - he creates problems and moves things forward
Oberon - king of the fairies - (kind of the Theseus of the fairies)
Titania - queen of the fairies - (kind of the Hippolyta of the fairies)
Random other fairies who flit around and do things (fairy who talks to Puck at the start of Act 2, Sc 1, Mustard Seed, etc
Act 2, Sc.1
The more Demetrius doesn’t like Helena, the more she says she loves him.
Is this realistic?
Sadly, it IS!
There is a sick side to our brains that, when something is difficult or held away from us, that becomes the thing we most want. Especially in relationships.
We see this in our lives! Lots of arrogant, jerky, nasty, unpleasant guys with awesome, nice, smart girlfriends!
Women are somehow interested in jerks.
The values of the time are such that the women in this ARE very much “pure like glass” when married.
In the days of Shakespeare, women were the objects of men’s interest and they had to be passive, and allow the men to “woo them” in the tradition of the time.
For Helena to be more aggressive in pursuit is a real surprise. And it might even be disturbing on some level (for Demetrius AND the audience).
Oberon is going to get involved and make Demetrius love HER. Which might just flip her around.
Agh! Mistaken identity! That CLASSIC piece of comedy excitement.
THIS is getting into very clear territory! We can begin to see how much complication can be had with a love potion, a trickster fairy, a bunch of people in love triangles, etc
I ASSIGN YOU ACT 2, SCENE 2!
READ ALOUD (it is allowed)
Then, make some notes about actions, characters, ideas.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Monday, April 8, 2013
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Act 2, Scene 1
Hey! ANOTHER new group of characters?
What the heck? One of them is called Robin Goodfellow and is referred to as a “puck” or mischievous spirit
A puck is indeed a spirit or sprite or fairy creature that leads people astray (Old English folklore) Folklore is local legend and myth and stories told be people
So, we see that this play takes a turn for the SUPERNATURAL - interesting
And we see that this new character is a troublemaking creature of the woods - this may come into play when all the characters gather in the forest for the meetings they have all set up
This puck would have a VERY obvious look and the audience would immediately recognize him
Fairies serve Nature, as represented by the Fairy Queen
Puck/Robin mentions that the fairy queen has a little human boy that she loves (a changeling) and her husband (Oberon, the fairy king) doesn’t like the baby - Here we have a whole new storyline and set up problems (or situation)
Fairy Queen - Titania
Fairy King - Oberon
If we have this magical trickster in the mix, things will get even more complicated.
He will be working for the fairy king (or queen), but he is also pranking everyone all the time.
Lobb’s Guess - he will even further complicate the romantic tangling
AH! MORE OF THE MALE/FEMALE PROBLEM - men trying to control women and the women refusing to give in
Oberon says to Titania “Am I not thy lord?” - he EXPECTS her to obey him - much like Egeus expects Hermia to obey HIM
Titania accuses Oberon of a) having a mistress and b) only showing up here to visit Hippolyta, who is referred to a “bouncing Amazon”
Amazons are a group of famed female warriors from ancient Greece - they are most famous for one particular pop culture female warrior - they are also famous for being big, powerful, well-shaped women (in pop culture)
In actual legend, they burned or cut off one breast for better use of their bows
The tension between the fairy king and queen is pure jealousy - in spite of being fairies (therefore supernatural) their emotions are very human
He knows the Titania loves Theseus - and now we know that this play is EXACTLY LIKE A SOAP OPERA!
A result of this fighting between the fairy king and queen is that nature is going CRAZY - this is called PATHETIC FALLACY - when the environment reflects characters’ feelings and echoes their feelings - this is something that you are familiar with from modern movies, videos and so on
PATHETIC FALLACY is a kind of SYMBOLISM -
Oberon’s jealousy is NATURAL too - it is similar to something husbands feel when their wives have babies - the baby rules the wife - the baby is the greatest thing the wife has ever seen and she dotes on it in place of doting on her husband -
Doting means to care for, to spoil and to gew gaw over.
Every man understands that feeling - it is something that is UNIVERSAL
Oberon and Titania part angrily, but will stay in that same forest (which is full of activity)
Oberon plans to have Puck get a magic flower which will be used to create a potion that will make the one who is affected fall in love with the first thing (person) he/she sees
We get an idea here exactly how magical Puck really is - he can fly around the world in 40 minutes
Oberon will make Titania fall in love with some animal and then he will get her to give him the changeling boy -
Act 2, Scene 1
Hey! ANOTHER new group of characters?
What the heck? One of them is called Robin Goodfellow and is referred to as a “puck” or mischievous spirit
A puck is indeed a spirit or sprite or fairy creature that leads people astray (Old English folklore) Folklore is local legend and myth and stories told be people
So, we see that this play takes a turn for the SUPERNATURAL - interesting
And we see that this new character is a troublemaking creature of the woods - this may come into play when all the characters gather in the forest for the meetings they have all set up
This puck would have a VERY obvious look and the audience would immediately recognize him
Fairies serve Nature, as represented by the Fairy Queen
Puck/Robin mentions that the fairy queen has a little human boy that she loves (a changeling) and her husband (Oberon, the fairy king) doesn’t like the baby - Here we have a whole new storyline and set up problems (or situation)
Fairy Queen - Titania
Fairy King - Oberon
If we have this magical trickster in the mix, things will get even more complicated.
He will be working for the fairy king (or queen), but he is also pranking everyone all the time.
Lobb’s Guess - he will even further complicate the romantic tangling
AH! MORE OF THE MALE/FEMALE PROBLEM - men trying to control women and the women refusing to give in
Oberon says to Titania “Am I not thy lord?” - he EXPECTS her to obey him - much like Egeus expects Hermia to obey HIM
Titania accuses Oberon of a) having a mistress and b) only showing up here to visit Hippolyta, who is referred to a “bouncing Amazon”
Amazons are a group of famed female warriors from ancient Greece - they are most famous for one particular pop culture female warrior - they are also famous for being big, powerful, well-shaped women (in pop culture)
In actual legend, they burned or cut off one breast for better use of their bows
The tension between the fairy king and queen is pure jealousy - in spite of being fairies (therefore supernatural) their emotions are very human
He knows the Titania loves Theseus - and now we know that this play is EXACTLY LIKE A SOAP OPERA!
A result of this fighting between the fairy king and queen is that nature is going CRAZY - this is called PATHETIC FALLACY - when the environment reflects characters’ feelings and echoes their feelings - this is something that you are familiar with from modern movies, videos and so on
PATHETIC FALLACY is a kind of SYMBOLISM -
Oberon’s jealousy is NATURAL too - it is similar to something husbands feel when their wives have babies - the baby rules the wife - the baby is the greatest thing the wife has ever seen and she dotes on it in place of doting on her husband -
Doting means to care for, to spoil and to gew gaw over.
Every man understands that feeling - it is something that is UNIVERSAL
Oberon and Titania part angrily, but will stay in that same forest (which is full of activity)
Oberon plans to have Puck get a magic flower which will be used to create a potion that will make the one who is affected fall in love with the first thing (person) he/she sees
We get an idea here exactly how magical Puck really is - he can fly around the world in 40 minutes
Oberon will make Titania fall in love with some animal and then he will get her to give him the changeling boy -
Friday, April 5, 2013
Friday, April 5, 2013
Poetry Assignment
Poet - bio and connection to poetry
Poem - analysing - create a pattern or model for analysis (I can help - Internet)
Plot (what happens), Setting (mood), Character (POV), Theme (meaning, The Big Ideas), language and structure, power words and phrases, connection to you (response - multimedia in some way)
Your own Poetry - you should try to write something in some kind of line with the poem/poet
Your Poetry -
no cliches
try something new
has a theme
has some good language
is long enough to convey something
fits the pattern of the poem or poet
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Act 1, Sc 2
We get a new set of characters.
These characters are unlike the first scene’s characters because they have JOBS.
This is contrasted with the lords and ladies of the first scene.
We can see here a distinction between the way that ARISTOCRATS are portrayed and the way TRADESMEN are portrayed.
This reveals how important social standing was in Shakespeare’s time.
In our culture, we value money and power (based on job) and fame.
In the world of Shakespeare, there is a different measure of one’s social value.
It is all about BIRTH and FAMILY and NAME.
As time went by, a new group of people started to get rich, even though they had no status - they were tradespeople - skilled workers who made things - they were like peasants (the higher class looked down on them) but they had money (sometimes more than the lords)
When these guys with jobs show up in Scene 2, they are funny - they’re weird, they’re not lords, they’re wacky and they’re kind of in the middle between HIGH CLASS and NOBODIES - they’re not really ranked “correctly”
Bottom is a key character - maybe the funniest character - big, loud, arrogant and confident - this is usually a recipe for a problem
These crazy guys are also ACTORS - and this is even worse - actors were totally frowned upon back in the 16th Century - they were seen as TROUBLE - plays were considered BAD because they attracted a group of rabble-rousers
Why is this group of actors in THIS story?
They fit into the time period - maybe, but they don’t fit the STORY
They might be COMIC RELIEF (when the main story gets deep or emotional there can be a heavy feeling, so comedy is added to make the story more entertaining)
This might be a comment about social status in some way...ie Bottom’s arrogance
In Mr. Lobb’s mind, there becomes a question - Can these story lines cross over?
I would start to look at how this could happen.
Flute has to play a female character because women weren’t allowed to be in plays back then - women had no rights and weren’t allowed in such nasty environments as theatres, except of course, to watch
We just found out how the stories will cross - the players will meet in the same wood where Hermia will meet Lysander! Remember, Helena will also be telling people about this - she will tell Demetrius - And I bet he will tell Hermia’s father, Egeus and he might report this to the Duke, Theseus!
This is looking like a great COMPLICATION
At this point, I would like you to WORK on something you owe me...
OR your poetry analysis - poet and a poem and you write a poem
OR you are reading Midsummer and doing the initial character profiles (quick)
We get a new set of characters.
These characters are unlike the first scene’s characters because they have JOBS.
This is contrasted with the lords and ladies of the first scene.
We can see here a distinction between the way that ARISTOCRATS are portrayed and the way TRADESMEN are portrayed.
This reveals how important social standing was in Shakespeare’s time.
In our culture, we value money and power (based on job) and fame.
In the world of Shakespeare, there is a different measure of one’s social value.
It is all about BIRTH and FAMILY and NAME.
As time went by, a new group of people started to get rich, even though they had no status - they were tradespeople - skilled workers who made things - they were like peasants (the higher class looked down on them) but they had money (sometimes more than the lords)
When these guys with jobs show up in Scene 2, they are funny - they’re weird, they’re not lords, they’re wacky and they’re kind of in the middle between HIGH CLASS and NOBODIES - they’re not really ranked “correctly”
Bottom is a key character - maybe the funniest character - big, loud, arrogant and confident - this is usually a recipe for a problem
These crazy guys are also ACTORS - and this is even worse - actors were totally frowned upon back in the 16th Century - they were seen as TROUBLE - plays were considered BAD because they attracted a group of rabble-rousers
Why is this group of actors in THIS story?
They fit into the time period - maybe, but they don’t fit the STORY
They might be COMIC RELIEF (when the main story gets deep or emotional there can be a heavy feeling, so comedy is added to make the story more entertaining)
This might be a comment about social status in some way...ie Bottom’s arrogance
In Mr. Lobb’s mind, there becomes a question - Can these story lines cross over?
I would start to look at how this could happen.
Flute has to play a female character because women weren’t allowed to be in plays back then - women had no rights and weren’t allowed in such nasty environments as theatres, except of course, to watch
We just found out how the stories will cross - the players will meet in the same wood where Hermia will meet Lysander! Remember, Helena will also be telling people about this - she will tell Demetrius - And I bet he will tell Hermia’s father, Egeus and he might report this to the Duke, Theseus!
This is looking like a great COMPLICATION
At this point, I would like you to WORK on something you owe me...
OR your poetry analysis - poet and a poem and you write a poem
OR you are reading Midsummer and doing the initial character profiles (quick)
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Act 1, Sc 1
We are introduced to some characters from Greek mythology who discuss their forthcoming marriage. (Hippolyta and Theseus)
Then, we meet a character named Egeus who complains that his daughter Hermia, has been bewitched by Lysander even though she has been promised to Demetrius.
The father has “arranged” a marriage for her. (a forced marriage between people who may or may not even know each other, let alone be in love)
It looks like our main problem in the story is a classic LOVE TRIANGLE
Question: Has Lysander really tricked Hermia? Or does she actually love him?
BREAK FOR FAMILY TREE (kind of)
Theseus is the Duke (a kind of lord, ruler, etc)
Hippolyta is his wife (another leader - however, women are NOT equal back then when this play was written - not at all)
Egeus is a man who has come to get a judgment from the Duke - regarding his daughter
Hermia is the daughter who is following her heart and NOT her father’s wishes
Demetrius is the man Hermia is SUPPOSED to marry (according to Egeus)
Lysander is the man Hermia loves
We also find out that a new character (Helena) loves Demetrius!
Our triangle has become a LOVE SQUARE? (I don’t think this is a term)
We see a complex series of love problems (guess what, it’s not complex, it’s actually super common and typical in human life)
It kind of seems like Hippolyta isn’t too keen on the way Theseus addresses the situation - he tells Hermia she will do as she is told or die/become a nun
Complication!
Hermia’s secret meeting with Lysander is revealed to Helena, who angrily plans to tell Demetrius and spoil the romance.
She is bitter and angry!
Act 1, Scene 2
We meet some new characters. These are in the play for comic relief.
They are ridiculous and stupid on purpose. Their storyline is just for fun and is kind of unrelated to the main storyline.
Act 1, Sc 1
We are introduced to some characters from Greek mythology who discuss their forthcoming marriage. (Hippolyta and Theseus)
Then, we meet a character named Egeus who complains that his daughter Hermia, has been bewitched by Lysander even though she has been promised to Demetrius.
The father has “arranged” a marriage for her. (a forced marriage between people who may or may not even know each other, let alone be in love)
It looks like our main problem in the story is a classic LOVE TRIANGLE
Question: Has Lysander really tricked Hermia? Or does she actually love him?
BREAK FOR FAMILY TREE (kind of)
Theseus is the Duke (a kind of lord, ruler, etc)
Hippolyta is his wife (another leader - however, women are NOT equal back then when this play was written - not at all)
Egeus is a man who has come to get a judgment from the Duke - regarding his daughter
Hermia is the daughter who is following her heart and NOT her father’s wishes
Demetrius is the man Hermia is SUPPOSED to marry (according to Egeus)
Lysander is the man Hermia loves
We also find out that a new character (Helena) loves Demetrius!
Our triangle has become a LOVE SQUARE? (I don’t think this is a term)
We see a complex series of love problems (guess what, it’s not complex, it’s actually super common and typical in human life)
It kind of seems like Hippolyta isn’t too keen on the way Theseus addresses the situation - he tells Hermia she will do as she is told or die/become a nun
Complication!
Hermia’s secret meeting with Lysander is revealed to Helena, who angrily plans to tell Demetrius and spoil the romance.
She is bitter and angry!
Act 1, Scene 2
We meet some new characters. These are in the play for comic relief.
They are ridiculous and stupid on purpose. Their storyline is just for fun and is kind of unrelated to the main storyline.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
The Highwayman - Alfred Noyes
Structural Observations:
1. there is a rhyme scheme that we notice - AABCCB
Could have googled the poem and found out that it is a NARRATIVE POEM (story poem) or a BALLAD (of a type)
it uses REPETITION
it has ONOMATOPOEIA - “Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot!”
it has STANZAS - (eleven, even)
http://nfs.sparknotes.com/msnd/page_2.html
You Are Going to Have A Poetry Assignment!
Find ANY poem.
Come up with a way of analysing that poem.
You should think about STRUCTURE and MEANING.
Structure - the way it is written, the language, the pattern, the words...(poetic devices)
Meaning - the theme (big ideas)(level 4 area), setting (mood), plot (what happens), character (or POV)
Might it be a good idea to tell a little bit about the poet? (yep)
Put your questions (or activities) on a... POSTER!
Make sure YOU answer at least 4 of the questions yourself, but feel free to work in groups.
Maybe one thing ANYONE could talk about is their connection to the poem.
Maybe you could write a similar poem and include it in your poetry assignment.
Hey, Welcome to Shakespeare!
Who is/was Shakespeare?
There is a known problem in English classes in Canada (for some students).
They often HAVE to read a play written by this old, dead, white guy from England.
This old, dead, white guy wrote a bunch of famous plays (about 37), but he wrote them A LONG TIME AGO.
He was most known as an actor/writer around the turn of the 16th century - around the late 1500s and early 1600s.
Some students find reading his plays VERY CHALLENGING.
Why would I make you read one of these difficult plays?
Reading something difficult is good for your brain. Especially when you are young.
This old, dead, white guy invented MANY of the words and phrases we use every day.
His work is some of the earliest type of drama and storytelling that we know of, that still influences modern drama and storytelling. He was key in creating patterns that are still in use.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Hey, these names sound Greek! Hey! They ARE.
This play takes place in Ancient Greece, and some would say, in an imaginary Ancient Greece.
First Job: Find out (with Mr. Google) who the characters in this play are based upon.
GO! Choose the KEY FIVE CHARACTERS and tell me a bit about them.
Theseus
Hippolyta
Hermia
Helena
Puck
Bottom
Philostrate
Snug
Lysander
Demetrius, etc
Structural Observations:
1. there is a rhyme scheme that we notice - AABCCB
Could have googled the poem and found out that it is a NARRATIVE POEM (story poem) or a BALLAD (of a type)
it uses REPETITION
it has ONOMATOPOEIA - “Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot!”
it has STANZAS - (eleven, even)
http://nfs.sparknotes.com/msnd/page_2.html
You Are Going to Have A Poetry Assignment!
Find ANY poem.
Come up with a way of analysing that poem.
You should think about STRUCTURE and MEANING.
Structure - the way it is written, the language, the pattern, the words...(poetic devices)
Meaning - the theme (big ideas)(level 4 area), setting (mood), plot (what happens), character (or POV)
Might it be a good idea to tell a little bit about the poet? (yep)
Put your questions (or activities) on a... POSTER!
Make sure YOU answer at least 4 of the questions yourself, but feel free to work in groups.
Maybe one thing ANYONE could talk about is their connection to the poem.
Maybe you could write a similar poem and include it in your poetry assignment.
Hey, Welcome to Shakespeare!
Who is/was Shakespeare?
There is a known problem in English classes in Canada (for some students).
They often HAVE to read a play written by this old, dead, white guy from England.
This old, dead, white guy wrote a bunch of famous plays (about 37), but he wrote them A LONG TIME AGO.
He was most known as an actor/writer around the turn of the 16th century - around the late 1500s and early 1600s.
Some students find reading his plays VERY CHALLENGING.
Why would I make you read one of these difficult plays?
Reading something difficult is good for your brain. Especially when you are young.
This old, dead, white guy invented MANY of the words and phrases we use every day.
His work is some of the earliest type of drama and storytelling that we know of, that still influences modern drama and storytelling. He was key in creating patterns that are still in use.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Hey, these names sound Greek! Hey! They ARE.
This play takes place in Ancient Greece, and some would say, in an imaginary Ancient Greece.
First Job: Find out (with Mr. Google) who the characters in this play are based upon.
GO! Choose the KEY FIVE CHARACTERS and tell me a bit about them.
Theseus
Hippolyta
Hermia
Helena
Puck
Bottom
Philostrate
Snug
Lysander
Demetrius, etc
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