On Friday, we began an analytical paragraph over a prompt relating to "Julius Caesar." One main reason we are composing this paragraph now is to begin to transition away from STAAR prep and into English 3 prep. Students in English 3 will be composing literary analysis essays which differ in a few major ways from persuasive and expository essays. Our analytical paragraph is meant to be a practice to prepare English 2 students for the additional rigor of English 3 and literary analysis.
We began by reviewing the notes from the first page of the document below, then proceeding to completing the notes on the second page together.
Here, you can see the notes each class took. Find your class if you were absent and be sure to copy these notes when you return to class.
First, we drafted out what we knew about superstitions and omens and how we see them throughout the first half of the play. Based on our brainstorming, we selected an idea and began writing our analytical paragraph beneath. On Monday, we will complete this paragraph, annotate it based on the different parts, and then students will complete their OWN paragraph using the prompt and document below.
For students who may require additional help or graphic organizers, you can use the document below. It is not required for students to use these handouts, but it may be beneficial for students having difficulty getting started.
Our test over Act 1 and Act 2, Scene 1 of Julius Caesar is on Wednesday, April 25th and Thursday, April 26th. If you are looking for a last-minute study resource, I would be sure to check out the links below.
LitCharts provides the following content that you may find useful based on what will be on the test:
A summary and modern day translation of the entire play
Descriptions and profiles of all major characters
Important quotes, who said them, and what they mean
Cliffnotes offers an overall summary of the text, along with:
Character descriptions
Quizzes
Explanations of important quotes
Sparknotes contains most of the resources listed above as well, but also has:
Quizzes over each individual scene
Don't forget that your quote hunt is meant to be a study guide/review for the test. Some questions and quotes from this assignment will likely appear on the test too! If you complete that assignment and review your notes, you should do fine.
Below are a couple of handouts we will be using during our reading of "Julius Caesar." The first one, which was given out on purple paper, are plot-based comprehensions questions, similar to the questions you may see on the upcoming quiz over the background and Act I on Monday, April 23rd. We are answering these questions together DURING reading. If you are out, I would talk with a classmate and get responses from them during the warm up or during work time.
Next is Quote Hunt #1. This will be due on block day of next week when we take our first quiz over the first half of the play. This is a formative grade and is very similar to the quote hunts we completed when we read "Antigone." This is a GREAT review for the test as many of these questions will also show up on the test itself.
Below is the handout over the historical background of "Julius Caesar" and the powerpoint we used to fill in these notes.
It's important to understand the historical context of "Julius Caesar" to understand some of the references and motivations of the characters. Even though Shakespeare wrote this play more than 1500 years after the assassination of Caesar, his depictions of the characters and their actions are very true to historical record and reflect the values held by people in ancient Rome.
Again, you may be asking,
But, Ms. Hamman, why in the world are we reading this super old play about a bunch of dead guys? Good question. Here's a better one that might also answer it. Why do we keep hearing references to it in modern pop culture?
For the last weeks of this quarter, we will be reading "Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare. While Shakespeare wrote this play in the late 1500's, the play itself is based on historical events of ancient Rome from 40-50 BC.
So why exactly are we reading a play that's over 500 years old about stuff that happened over 2000 years ago?
Well, because the questions and concepts this play discusses are still relevant today! "Julius Caesar" revolves around significant issues such as the responsibilities of citizens in selecting and supporting political leaders, the obligations of politicians to represent their people, and the delicate balance between power and corruption.
Below is the anticipation guide we completed that touched on many of these issues and a few others we will confront and discussing during our reading. This is a formative grade, so be sure to grab a copy or print one for yourself. Make sure to complete all 3 steps in order to earn full credit!
On Tuesday, April 17th, we will begin examining the background of "Julius Caesar," including the events leading up to the play, its connections with history, and information about the main characters involved.
On Monday, April 16th, we will be completing our notes for vocabulary unit 6. Below are all of the links needed to complete these notes at home and prepare for the quiz on Friday, May 4th.
These links can also be found under the Vocabulary tab.
On Friday, April 13th, we will be previewing our upcoming vocabulary unit with the activity below. You really only need your thinking cap, some colorful writing utensils, and this packet. You may use a dictionary or thesaurus, but it is not required.
For the past few days, we have been reviewing annotation and analysis to prepare for the reading portion of the STAAR. Specifically, we have been looking at the genre of poetry.
Poetry is convenient for practicing analysis and annotation skills because it's shorter, they are sometimes humorous, and they allow for a wide range of interpretations by the reader.
Many of us may feel nervous about reading and analyzing poetry in fear that we will be "wrong." While poetry does take a lot of mental energy to interpret, it doesn't necessarily mean that the meaning is any harder to determine. As long as you can support yourself with text evidence and explain yourself clearly, you cannot be "wrong" when analyzing poetry. We began by looking at a poem called "Dating Myself" by a poet named Poetri. You can see the video of him performing it below along with a copy of the poem itself.
We began our annotations by numbering the lines and counting the stanzas. This helps to give the reader a quick reference point when searching for text evidence or answering questions over the poem.
Stanzas are like poetic paragraphs. They are usually denoted by a gap or a line break. We didn't see any of those in "Dating Myself," so we concluded that there was only ONE large stanza.
Some people assume that poems are only poems because they rhyme. NOT TRUE! Poems do not HAVE to rhyme. Some of them do, though, just not in the way we expect. Some of them have internal rhymes. "Dating Myself" had a few internal rhymes, which we labeled on the poem itself.
Rhymes and other sound devices are used as attention grabbers, or even to accentuate how a poem should be HEARD. Just like stanzas, they are used deliberately by the poet to try and draw the reader's attention to the deeper message by making certain words, phrases, or lines stand out more than others.
Next, we moved on to repetition. Repetition can happen anywhere in a poem. While looking at "Dating Myself," we noticed many of the words he repeats are:
I
Myself
No
Like
Man/Guy
Women/Girl
From instances of repetition, we can start to see the thematic subjects emerge from a poem. Based on what we found, it seems like Poetri might be trying to express something about himself, possibly how much he likes himself or others like him. The repetition of the word "no" may imply that he is uncertain or is rejecting the way people see him or how he sees himself.
We then moved on to examining the tone of the piece. Every class had a different response, and this is for the same reason that you cannot be "wrong" when analyzing poetry. Everyone sees this text a little differently! There were some overlaps, as you can see in the scans of the notes below, but ultimately, each class had a slightly different perspective on the piece.
We began by circling words we saw that had strong emotional meaning, words like "fatigued" and "consumed" and "amaze."
Overall, we found that while Poetri starts his poem with a tone of uncertainty and frustration, he ends with an attitude of determination and confidence. His decision to date himself - to appreciate himself for who he is rather than wonder what it is he's lacking - is what makes him confident and, ultimately, more attractive to the opposite sex.
This helped lead us to determine the theme of the poem. Some subjects we identified within this piece were:
Dating
Confidence
Self-worth
Self-love
Relationships
Insecurity
This helped guide us to our theme. Every class had a different theme, especially depending on which gender we focused on. You can see some of them in the scans below.
Lastly, we looked at how poets sometimes use non-standard English in a poem, especially in modern poetry. Ultimately, we just wanted to show how it is sometimes OKAY to break the standard grammar rules, as long as it is done with PURPOSE.
On block day, we are going to independently practice analyzing poetry. We developed a list of things to annotate for based on the various questions that have been asked in the past on the STAAR. I know it's a lot, so I decided to do it on my own with a poem of my choosing, "High School Training Ground" by Malcolm London. You can see my annotations and the video below
Yes, I want your paper to look that messy afterwards. Thinking is messy. Thinking is chaotic. Our brains are filled with nerves and synapses like wild vines in the Amazon Rainforest, not neat file folders and catalogued memories.
Watch out! Ms. Hamman's being extra again!
So, you can see what I want you to annotate for below, along with the 4 poems you can choose from. JUST CHOOSE ONE. You may do more than one for extra credit if you wish.
Now, please, read this and take heed: FOLLOW THE STEPS. Don't try to do everything at once! You will get overwhelmed and frustrated. Do ONE THING at a time. We deliberately ordered them to build on one another. And don't SKIP steps. That's a good way to forget to do them later and then lose points.
If you need help choosing from these poems, here's a quick break-down:
"Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou - If you are feeling sassy and confident, this is the poem for you!
"To My Favorite..." by Billie Collins - A feel-good letter from father to daughter. For those who are sentimental or need faith in humanity restored
"Spring in the Classroom" by Mary Oliver - A poem that starts off complaining about school, but turns into an intriguing scandal
"First Period" by Kevin Derrig - For those days when you just feel like nothing is going right and you want people to understand why you're frustrated
We will complete these annotations in class and they will be due by the end.
