JC Socratic Seminar

Below are some of the materials for our upcoming "Julius Caesar" Socratic Seminar.

The packet below is the info packet. This is mostly the same as the info packet for our "Anthem" Socratic Seminar with just a few minor changes.



Next is the resource packet. This has question stems, thematic subjects, and question categories you can use to help come up with different questions. This is a RESOURCE packet; you do NOT have to write on it.



Finally, we have our prep packet. This was printed on bright orange paper and it is a part of the final seminar grade (it'll be worth about 20% of the overall grade).



On Friday, May 18th, students were asked to finish the entire first page of this packet. That includes the conversational questions and the analysis questions. Both types of questions can consist of level 2 and level 3 questions; the difference is that conversational questions may not have answers that can be supported using the text and analysis questions have answers that MUST be supported or demonstrated using the text.

For example:

Why does Shakespeare portray the Romans as stupid and easily persuaded? 
While this question may not have an ANSWER that relates to the text, I can demonstrate where it happens in the text and then infer the reason why.

Is Portia or Calpurnia more persuasive when speaking to their respective husbands?
The answer to this will depend on your personal feelings and interpretation, but I would use the text itself to support my answer. I would cite a quote from either Portia or Calpurnia and explain how they effectively use the rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos).

Was Brutus ready to kill Caesar BEFORE he received the fake letters, or did the letters finally persuade him?
Here, I might have a personal interpretation, but I MUST use the text to support myself. I can't just speculate; the answer is somewhere in the play.

The rest of the pages involve materials that won't be available to students until Monday, so students should come to class on Monday with the first page of this packet completed.

Be sure to refer to act, scene, and line numbers frequently. If you ask a question during the seminar, it may be possible other people will not remember exactly what you are referring to and might require  you to point out where it is in the play. If you can't do that, you lose the opportunity to earn credit by fostering productive discussion.

Assassination Triplet Video

Below is the video version of the assassination of Julius Caesar for those students who are completing the assassination triplet optional assignment. Try and observe how this version differs or is similar to the Plutarch and Shakespeare versions.

Past Powerpoints - April 16 to May 7

Since some of you have been requesting the powerpoints from days past and the warm ups, here they are below. If you were notified you were given a 0 for a warm-up due to off-task behavior during class, you may not earn credit for it by completing it at a later date. All other warm-ups missed due to absences or being out of class may be completed for credit at a later date as long as they are turned in by the assigned due date.

"Julius Caesar" Analytical Paragraph Notes and Handouts

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.

"Julius Caesar" Quote Hunt #2

Here is our second quote hunt for "Julius Caesar." It is due Wednesday, May 16th and Thursday, May 17th.

"Julius Caesar" Test Resources

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. 

"Julius Caesar" Scene Questions and Quote Hunt #1

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. 

"Julius Caesar" Texts and Audio

Below, you will find the full text of "Julius Caesar" side-by-side with the modern English translation and audio versions of each act.

Bookmark this page if you would like to refer to these resources throughout our reading.

"Julius Caesar" Background Notes

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?

"Julius Caesar" Anticipation Guide

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.

Vocabulary Unit 6

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. 

Vocabulary Unit 6

1. Context Clues Sentences
2. Notes Chart
3. Vocabulary Powerpoint to fill out the Notes Chart above
4. Quizlet to study
5. Extra credit Frayer model handout (complete 1 model for each word for a total of 10 points extra credit) - due Friday, May 4th

Warm Ups Set #7 - Due Monday, April 16

Below are the warm ups we have been working on the past few weeks. They are all due on Monday, April 16th. 

EOC Review: Poetry and Annotations

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. 

Clocking

Below are the slides we used for our clocking activity this week. If you were unable to participate because you did not have a finished essay, please look through it and complete these activities on your own paper so you will be ready to rewrite your draft in class on Monday.

Thesis Practice and Emotive Language

For the past two days in class, we have been focusing on revising and improving our essays that we wrote at the end of the 3rd quarter for our "Anthem" test. Here is the prompt we originally addressed.



To begin, we took a look at our thesis. Many of us had great thesis statements, but a few needed some work. So, to review, we practiced thesis writing with the handout below. (The notes written in are from working together as a class; they are not my personal opinions, but examples)



A thesis can be written many different ways, but it should include 3 big things:

1. Topic (what the prompt is asking you to write about)
2. Position (which side you are taking)
3. Reasons (these should not be specific scenarios, but rather general reasons or benefits/consequences of the position)

Your thesis should also avoid:

1. First and second person pronouns (I, me, my, you, your)
2. Personal opinion statements (I think, I believe, personally, in my opinion)
3. Any reference to the quote in the prompt

Students made minor changes to their original thesis statement and then rewrote them onto a notecard to be approved. I read them over Monday night and returned them with feedback on Tuesday. If you still have not turned yours in, be sure to do so as it will be worth 25% of the formative grade given at the end of the week!

Next, we took a look at how we could possibly improve our word choice to increase our emotional appeal. We discussed how an essay should not maintain the same scope of focus throughout the essay, but should have more of an hourglass shape.

The beginning of your essay should be a broad view of the topic and position, giving reasons that apply to many possible examples and scenarios.

In other words,

Instead of: Stealing is sometimes acceptable because a person could be hungry. 

Try: Stealing is sometimes acceptable because it could mean the difference between life and death for some. 

The second thesis could apply to MANY examples, not just those involving food or starvation. The writer wants to take a broad look at all the possible reasons it may be acceptable to steal.

However, when the writer begins their body paragraphs, they narrow their focus down to one or two SPECIFIC scenarios and examples and gives specific details. Then, the focus begins to widen again as the writer gives their analysis and commentary, explaining how the example relates back to and proves the thesis.

Then, we move into the conclusion and restated thesis, where the focus broadens out again.

So what does this have to do with emotive language?

Well, your introduction and conclusion are the best places to add this emotive language.

Of course, you can add emotive language to any point in your essay, but it has the most impact as an attention grabber and a clincher.

At the beginning of your essay, your reader is still trying to figure out where you stand on a topic and why. In the body paragraphs, you are trying to prove your point. But by the end of the essay, you should not have only convinced your reader that you are right, but you should transfer your passion to them as well! You don't just want them to agree, you want them to be your ally!

To examine how we can use emotive language, we watched three different motivational speeches from classic movies. While we viewed them, we filled out the handout below.



You can view the movie clips below:


Braveheart (Begin at 3:30 to 5:10)


Rocky (Begin at 1:45 to 3:55)


Pursuit of Happyness (sic) (Begin at 0:24)

On Wednesday, we will discuss how we can add emotive language into our on writing and begin our revising and editing activities that will take us through class on Thursday and help us rewrite our final essays.

Revising and Editing + Sentence Notes: Compound-Complex

Today, we discussed two different topics: sentence structure and how to approach revising multiple choice questions. Below is a handout regarding the fourth sentence type to add to your quincunx: compound-complex sentences



If you have your quincunx: Review the powerpoint below and then copy the information from the picture of MY quincux below that.

If you don't have your quincunx: Review the powerpoint below and fill in the blanks on the handout above with the information from the powerpoint.

Everyone: Complete the short practices on the second page of the handout above. Then complete the sentence identification practices on the third page. We will be going over these together on Friday, March 23rd.

Sorry for my messy handwriting!

Then, we began our practice of revising passages and how to approach these multiple choice questions. Instead of focusing on grammar, spelling, and changes to individual sentences, we have to consider the essay as a whole to accurately answer the questions. So, we began with a strategy called chunking.

Chunking is a strategy where you summarize "chunks" (usually paragraphs) of a passage into a sentence or a single subject. This gives you a sort of outline of a passage that you can use to get a general overview of the focus and organization of the passage itself.

We chunked the first passage of our two revising practices together. When I chunked this passage, I skimmed each paragraph and tried to get an overall idea of what each paragraph discussed.



Then, we moved on to answering the questions with a partner. If you were not in class on block day, print out these practices below and be sure to answer the questions as best as you can. Be ready to discuss and check them over on Friday, March 23rd. 

Revising and Editing Practice + Multiple Choice Practice

Today, we began our STAAR prep and practice over revising and editing.

We've been working on revising and editing all year and applying the skills we've learned to our essay, so the purpose of our practices this week is less about learning new skills and more about choosing the right skills to solve the problems we may encounter on the STAAR.

First, we watched the video below that explains the difference between revising and editing because some people thing that revising and editing are the same thing! Can you believe it?!

Actually, revising and editing focus on different aspects of the essay and even utilize different tools and resources.

(We stopped the video at about 1:22 as the rest of the information only relates to research papers)



Then, as a class, we made a list of the differences between revising and editing. Here are the examples below.



Notice that revision is more about large-scale changes. It's about making the essay better as a whole. For revising, the tools you may want to use could include:

• An outline! (If you made one...and you should have.)
• A highlighter
• An eraser
• Scrap paper (to write out new ideas, to rewrite new sentences, to rearrange paragraphs)
• Your knowledge of the purpose of the genre and of the prompt you are writing for

When you revise, you may find yourself changing large chunks of your essay. That's okay! That's the whole point! Revising is hard, because it requires you to think of your essay not just as a bunch of separate sentences that are squished together on the page, but as a single thread of thought that you must expertly weave into a tapestry of effective communication.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm being extra again. :)

Editing is about small-scale changes. It's more about the nitty-gritty. Ultimately, editing is easier because it is about making small changes within individual sentences. The tools  you may use in editing is:

• A dictionary (it is more helpful than you think!)
• Your knowledge of sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization (and maybe parts of speech) (all of this should be in your writing folder or your class binder, by the way!)

Editing will make your essay look good, not necessarily sound good. An essay that has been edited but not revised will look beautiful, but say nothing at all. That is why we use BOTH to make our essays effective.

But today, we aren't going to be revising or editing our writing. Instead, we are going to be practicing using our knowledge of editing and revising to determine the correct answer to STAAR formatted problems.

To start, we need to talk about how to tell the difference between revising questions and editing questions.

On the STAAR test, revising and editing are both lumped together in the same section. The only way to quickly and accurately identify if it's an editing passage or a revising passage is to READ THE DIRECTIONS!

The directions on STAAR for revising passages

The directions on STAAR for editing passages

Yep, they tell you in the directions which skill they are going to be assessing!

STAAR is ultimately a test of skill and stamina. 5 hours is a LONG time to sit and test! And we know revising is a more difficult skill than editing. Therefore, we don't want to end up wasting energy trying to apply our knowledge of revision to an editing question and vice versa.

For our in-class practice today, we determined it was an editing practice.



That means I really don't have to waste time reading the whole essay, so instead, I skip straight to the questions and only highlight the specific sentences the questions ask about!

And, of course, I made sure to grab my handy dandy dictionary!

In class, we went through and modeled the thinking process for each question in this packet. Here, I will only be doing that for one question.

STAAR questions are usually written to follow a specific format: 2 answer choices are obviously wrong or have a serious flaw, 1 answer choice is close to being correct or seems correct on the surface, and 1 answer choice is flat out the right one.

Looking at A, I can say pretty confidently that A could be the correct answer. "Filed" doesn't seem like it is the word the writer was looking for. It should probably be changed to "filled."

But what if it's supposed to be a fishing term? Hmm...let's check the other answer choices just to make sure.

B might also be right, but only if the word after water - "and" - is acting as a FANBOYS to make a compound sentence. But that would mean that both clauses on either side of the word "and" are independent clauses. But if I look at them, the second phrase after "and" is missing a subject, which means it isn't an independent clause, so it doesn't need a comma.

This means B is incorrect.

Looking at C, I can say that answer choice is incorrect as well, because the "it" is referring to the fish that the writer caught, but the fish is already mentioned in the sentence. Adding "it" would make the sentence repetitive, so C is incorrect.

Answer choice D has me uncertain. I'm not sure if the word "red-bellied" needs a hyphen or not. So, I referred to my dictionary to see if maybe I could find it.

There isn't an entry for "red-bellied," but there IS a definition for red-faced and red-handed. Both refer to parts of the body, so it seems like it would be grammatically acceptable. So I can say that D is also incorrect.

Therefore, answer choice A must be correct.

Seem tedious and extra?

Maybe, but it is important! STAAR questions want to see if you have MASTERED a skill, not just learned a little about it but can't remember the specifics. There will be answer choices that seem right at first glance (like answer choice B) and answer choices that you may not be completely certain about (like answer choice D), so it's best to try to prove why your answer is right and all the others are wrong!

Doing this can also help you eliminate an answer choice such as "Make no change." If you can prove that one of the other answer choices is grammatically correct, then you can be certain that "Make no change" is not a correct answer!

On block day, you will be working with a partner to create a how-to guide about how to select the write answer choice to ONE question from our next in-class multiple choice practice.

Vocabulary Unit 5

On Monday, March 19th, we will be completing our notes for vocabulary unit 5. Below are all of the links needed to complete these notes at home and prepare for the quiz on Friday, April 6th.

Please remember that I WILL be collecting the vocabulary notes and context clues sentences activity as well on the day of the quiz.

These links can also be found under the Vocabulary tab. 

Vocabulary Unit 5

1. Context Clues Sentences - due Friday, April 6th.
2. Notes Chart
3. Vocabulary Powerpoint to fill out the Notes Chart above
4. Quizlet to study
5. Extra credit Frayer model handout (complete 1 model for each word for a total of 10 points extra credit) - due Friday, April 6th

"Anthem" Last Minute Review!

Need to study for our "Anthem" test tomorrow and Thursday? Check out the resources below! One is our jeopardy game for today. You can scroll through and test your own knowledge by quizzing yourself or a classmate with the questions!

The other slideshow is from our cram session today. You may not get the face-to-face teacher time to go with it, but it's still a good resource for a last minute refresher.





And don't forget about our notes over plot from our warmup today!

"Obsolete Man" and Analysis Questions

Below is an episode of the "Twilight Zone" called "Obsolete Man." We will watch this episode in class and complete analysis questions to show similarities between this story and "Anthem."