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 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.
Today we reviewed chapter 1 of "Anthem" together in class and then proceeded into our annotation activities.
Now, "Anthem" is not a very long book, nor is the plot too complex. It is a relatively simple story on the surface. However, the author has left many things deliberately unexplained within the text.
This intentionally vagueness is due to the perspective or point of view of the text. Since it is told from the first person point of view, we see the society through Equality's eyes. Equality has only ever known this society. In his heart, he believes his society tries to do the right thing, but he is beginning to see the cracks in the wall. He struggles to understand the seemingly unfair and contradictory actions of his government and society.
For instance, consider this passage from chapter 1:
So we awaited our turn in the great hall and then we heard the Council of Vocations call our name: "Equality 7-2521." We walked to the dais, and our legs did not tremble, and we looked up at the Council. There were five members of the Council, three of the male gender and two of the female. Their hair was white and their faces were cracked as the clay of a dry river bed. They were old. They seemed older than the marble of the Temple of the World Council. They sat before us and they did not move. And we saw no breath to stir the folds of their white togas. But we knew that they were alive, for a finger of the hand of the oldest rose, pointed to us, and fell down again. This was the only thing which moved, for the lips of the oldest did not move as they said: "Street Sweeper."
And we looked straight into the eyes of the Council, but their eyes were as cold blue glass buttons.
Equality is witnessing reality and processing it for what it is at face value and what his society has told him to be true. But we see the society for what it really is: a kind of crazy, twisted collectivist disaster. So, Equality's observations about the Council of Vocations is strange. They do not breathe, they do not move their lips when they talk, their eyes look like glass buttons...
Almost as if they weren't alive at all!
Now, that sounds crazy, but what about this book hasn't had a touch of strangeness to it?
Ultimately, we never will find out the true answer, so don't bother trying to skip ahead in the book to find out (although, if you want to read ahead, that would be fine! 😏)
The point is this: The author is giving us all the clues we need to see Equality's world for how it really is and how he really feels about it even when he can't admit it or see it himself. But we have to find it.
And we can do that through annotating!
So, consider the notes from each class below:
The lovely drawings I did in the margin helped us to answer #4 about the effect that the use of colors have in the text.
Color can have a strong influence on our emotion and thoughts considering how it interacts with our sense of smell and taste, both of which are strong memory triggers. Author's use it to subtly influence our mood and connect with us on an empathetic level (emotions and feelings).
The fact that the color grey is used in the context of the house and is associated with dullness, boring, bland feelings and things that are considered typically unpleasant - smoke, dust, old, death - give us a hint as to how Equality feels when he is at home. He feels trapped, bored, worn out.
But the colors blue and green are connected with the outdoors - the sky and the shadows outside - and are associated with more positive feelings like endlessness, freedom, happiness, and peace. When he is outside, he feels the possibility of growth and freedom.
A few other points about this activity:
Don't forget to answer in complete sentences, like I did in the examples above.
When it asks you to justify your answer with support from the text, THAT MEANS YOU NEED TEXT EVIDENCE!
The effect of the words isn't about how YOU feel, its what the use of those words tell you about the characters, setting, or plot.
Below is the annotation activity that is due at the end of class on Friday, February 9th. Students may work on it alone or with a partner.
Just a quick note about this activity. The brain holds only 7 slots for short-term memory. In other words, if you mark seven different words or phrases in a text, your brain will remember why you marked those seven things for a short time. However, as soon as something else comes into your brain - your partner asks you a question, you remember a song you like, your phone buzzes and you wonder who texted you - one of those slots is automatically filled with something new and you have lost the previous thought.
When you are annotating, just circling/highlighting/underlining the word isn't enough! Your brain can't hold all that intangible data! You should be writing notes off in the margin as to WHY you marked that word. What does it remind you of? What is it associated with? Was it confusing? Was it surprising? Even just one word notes to yourself will suffice. Trust me, it will help.
Finally, if you don't know what a word means, LOOK IT UP!
Today, students were given the study guide for the first half of "Anthem." You can see the document or print it out below.
You may notice that the study guide itself is blank. This is because students will be composing their own questions regarding their reading and answering them using the text. In order to do this, we need to identify what TYPES of questions students will be composing.
We went over the handout below in class.
As you can see, there are three levels of questions: recall, analysis, and synthesis.
Level I: Recall questions are questions that can be answered directly from the text. They are questions the author explicitly or directly gives us the answer to. These questions do not take much thought to answer and usually only have one right answer. We do not have to draw conclusions or make inferences, because the text will say straight out what the answer is. For example, What is the name of the character with glasses in Lord of the Flies? Answer: Piggy.
The author tells us that Piggy wears glasses directly in the text.
Level II: Analysis questions are questions the author doesn't directly answer for us, but instead leaves clues that we put together to come up with an answer. These questions may take more thought because we have to prove our answer with text evidence and our interpretation of that evidence. Because we are interpreting the text to come up with an answer, there are a few possible correct answers to a Level II question depending on the reader's perspective.
A somewhat nonsensical level II question :)
For example,
What was Haemon's reason for killing himself in Antigone? Answer: Haemon killed himself because he did not want to live without his love, Antigone. The messenger observes that when Creon found Haemon crying over Antigone's body, he was "lamenting her, his love lost underground, crying out that his father had stolen her away from him." (Exo.61-63)
OR
Answer: Haemon killed himself as punishment for his father's terrible behavior. Haemon even threatens his father with this directly when Creon declares Antigone will be executed: "Then she must die. But her death will cause another." (3. 119)
The ultimate reason for Haemon's death is not communicated to us directly, so we must infer based on the observations and actions of the characters.
Level III: Synthesis questions are questions that go BEYOND the text. These are questions that involve the thematic subjects and thematic statements of the text, but are questions that could also be answered by someone who has never read the text before. Answers to Level III questions can be used to further your understanding of the text as a whole, the value in reading it, or its application to the real world. Level III questions take the most thought to answer and there are many possible "correct" answers because they rely primarily on the reader's understanding of the thematic subjects rather than just the plot. Students should still use text evidence to connect to their answers for Level III questions.
A wonderful example of a level III question!
For example,
What does it truly mean to be loyal to your family? Answer: Being loyal to your family doesn't always mean doing everything your family wants. It can sometimes mean honoring the wishes of some family members, while ignoring the selfish desires of other family members. For example, Antigone showed loyalty to her family by ensuring that her brother, Polyneices, received a proper burial even though her sister, Ismene, told her it was a bad idea. Antigone knew Ismene's desires were more selfish and so she had to ignore them in order to remain truly loyal to the wishes of her family as a whole.
You may also use personal experiences to answer Level III questions, but you must still find some way to connect it back to the events, characters, symbols, or references within the text.
Below is the story we read aloud in class today. Below that are the example questions we came up with in each class. Make sure to review them and bring any questions you may have to class with you tomorrow when we will begin reading chapter 1 and writing questions together for that chapter.
We are set to begin reading "Anthem" soon and many students have already signed out a copy of the book for this quarter. You can also find a digital copy of the novel HERE. (Please note that there are no page numbers, so students will need to refer to a print copy when citing quotes and study guide answers)
Below are the due dates for this novel that students may print out and keep for their own records. Copies are available in the form of a bookmark in my classroom as well.
We will also be doing study guides and extra credit plot reviews for this text. We will be introducing the study guide Friday and next week, but students may begin on the plot reviews as soon as they begin reading. Both documents below are the reviews for the first half of the book and both are due for extra credit at the beginning of class on Thursday, February 15th.
Our next piece is a novella called Anthem by Ayn Rand. During block day this week, we watched a few minutes of an interview she did with Mike Wallace in 1959. In this video, she explains some of her ideas. For most of you, her ideas are very different than what you've been taught at home and at school (and at church, if you attend). We watched the first 9 minutes during class, and I encourage you to watch the whole interview. By watching it, you learn more about her ideas, and understanding her ideas may make Anthem easier for you to understand.
Aristotle once said, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." Rand's ideas may be very different than your own, and I think that's what makes her interesting to read.
We will be watching the interview in class on Friday, February 2nd and answering the questions below afterwards.
Only 17 days remaining until Christmas Break! Let's start this off with some good news! Say "hello" to our newest classmate, Regal the Eagle!
That's the answer to our bonus question this week. Be ready to give the answer on Friday for some candy!
This week, we will begin discussing theme and theme statements in relation to Lord of the Flies.
We began today by clarifying the difference between a thematic subject and a theme statement. A thematic subject is usually one or two words and identifies the subject matter present in the text. A theme statement extends this to include the author's message or perspective on the subject.
For example, here is a list of all of the thematic subjects we came up with during class based on our current reading:
Survival
Savagery
Childhood
Family
Obstacles
Civilization
Isolation
Danger
Hope
Leadership
Fear
Nature
Adventure
Loneliness
Beauty
Innocence
Logic/Intelligence
Learning
Death
Evil/The Devil
Exploration
Imperfection
Maturity
Hatred
Masculinity
Teamwork
Friendship
Responsibility
Recklessness
Culture
Freedom
Violence/Ruthlessness
Self-defense
Adaptation
Sanity
Authority
Discipline
Courage
Instinct
Corruption
Abandonment
Identity
We then proceeded to begin step 1 of our Theme Statement Generator. We started by narrowing down our list of thematic subjects to 1-3 ideas.
You can use this generator for any text - just insert the title into that blank and PRESTO!
As you can see, I chose more than 3 (sorry, overachiever alert!). I chose subjects that I felt like, if I had to, I could explain them and how they show up in LOTF verbally.
For the next step, find out who the author of the text is. So, I reached into my bag and found my book and...
Yes, I was extra enough to make a gif of me getting my book out. WHEN IN DOUBT, TAKE YOUR BOOK OUT!
AHA! The author is William Golding. Not WG. Not Will. Not Gucchi Golding. Not Ya Boi Willy G.
William. Golding.
Put the author's name in the FIRST blank of the question in step 2.
Now, it's decision time. Take a look at your 3 (or 5 in my case) thematic subjects and choose ONE that you feel like, if you had to, you could write at least three sentences about how that thematic subject shows up in LOTF.
So, I chose to focus on the thematic subject of fear, since it shows up in so many different ways in the text. I wrote this subject in the second blank of the question in step 2.
But, now I have to actually ANSWER that question.
When it says "what does William Golding believe/say about fear," it doesn't mean what did he write about that had to do with fear. It's asking me what does he believe about the CONCEPT of fear. What does William Golding have to teach us about this very powerful emotion? What lesson can we learn from this text regarding fear?
So, I thought about it and considered the way that fear affects the course of the story and the characters involved. A majority of the boys, except possibly Roger and maybe Jack, are not inherently mean. In fact, they are more interested in having fun and playing around and swimming in the lagoon than anything else at the beginning of the book. It isn't until someone brings up a beastie or a snake that the boys begin to change and focus more on "survival" and destroying whatever might threaten them.
It isn't until each of the boys feel fearful or threatened by something that they begin to turn to a more brutal nature. Jack's role as leader of hunters is threatened by Ralph's authority; Piggy's intelligence and logical voice is threatened by the bullying and teasing of the other boys; the littluns' safety is threatened by the Beast.
From that, I began to deduce that maybe William Golding was trying to teach us that fear can bring out our worst tendencies. It can uncover our darkest potentials (thanks, Miguel V. from 2nd period for that awesome insight!)
When writing your response, try to avoid just finishing by saying "is important/good/bad/some other adjective." You can say this, but you need to follow it up with a "because."
Still having trouble? Try these sentence stems:
Thanks for the sentence stems, Mrs. Wise!
The last step is the EASIEST. Just cross out the first 3-4 words (the part that says "William Golding believes/says that...") and PRESTO!
There's a working theme statement!
I say WORKING theme statement only because we have to do a little fine-tuning to make sure the metaphorical engine of our literary analysis powerhouse is running smoothly.
Go through each of the fine-tuning tips and check off each one as you confirm you have followed their guidelines.
And that's it! We wrote our final theme statements on a notecard and put our names on the blank side, so if you were not in class today, be sure to get a notecard when you come to class tomorrow to turn yours in!
Now get a good night's sleep and be ready for our station activities tomorrow!
Don't forget that your Lord of the Flies summative test over chapters 1 - 6 is tomorrow and Thursday! If you're feeling a bit nervous, or if you have been absent, the links below will be super helpful for getting caught up!
Here is the review that we completed in class today. The numbers after each statement indicate the page numbers in the book where you can locate the answer! Be sure to do the back pages too. There will DEFINITELY be some questions on the test over symbols and characters!
Here is a quizlet with 87 different study questions over chapter 1-6!
If you're still feeling uncertain, review the section entitled "English II" on this blog to locate other resources such as summaries, audio recordings, and videos.
As always, get a good night's sleep!
Yes, that is my cat. His name is Winston. Want a piece of candy? When I ask what the answer to the bonus question is at the end of the warm-up during class on block day, tell me his name.
Don't forget! We have our reading check quiz over LOTF Ch 1 and 2 tomorrow! Read chapter 2 tonight and review using the resources posted under the English 2 tab!
