AP Lit: Hamlet Acts II & III: Discovery/Experiment Phases of HMW Stage "To Be or Not to Be"

We're doing a bunch of close readings, we're exploring how Shakespeare constructs this narrative, we're discussing how Shakespeare serves as a drama rather than a dogma, we're heading toward building empathy for these characters, and we are taking each class period as it comes so we can focus on the scenes, the moments that speak most to us in the moment.

Phew.  I'm tried just writing all of that.

Here are the blog prompts of last week and this week with regards to Hamlet.   The new blog tracker is up.

ACT I.
Blog: Analytical and Design.  Potent Quotable.  Choose a line from the act I you believe captures the essential TONE of the play so far.  The attitude Shakespeare as author, creator, intent driven artist is bringing to the words of the play.  Playful? Pedantic? Satiric? Doleful?

Then take that one line and illustrate with either an original photograph of your own or an image from Unsplash.com.  Use fonts and your design skills to create a visual.  Post it along with a written or recorded explanation of your intentions behind your design.  Posting your intentions is necessary to meeting the standards for media and reading.

Blog:  Critical Creativity.  Color Palette.  Use ColourLovers.com to create a three to five color color palette for Hamlet Act I. Give each color a unique name that reveals your understanding of the characters thus far.  Explain your intentions to meet the reading standard.
Due Jan 27, 2017

ACT II.

Blog post:  Casting Call.  Very few people did this one last time.  Important to do so this time around because this sort of thinking will help you with your design challenge.  Cast Prince Hamlet, Ophelia, Claudius, Gertrude, Ghost Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes and Horatio.  Creative constraint:  must be a cast that could actually exist.  In other words, you may use actors from the past, but all of the cast must be from that era.  Include a line of dialogue you can imagine the actor speaking in that role and a brief rationale for each chocie.

Blog Post: Close reading Hamlet.  Select a speech or soliloquy from Acts I or II -- any speech except for this, too, too, sullied flesh.  Unpack the speech in terms of poetic and literary devices used, allusions and references, and finally how those elements seem to contribute to a key idea in Hamlet.

Due Feb 6, 2017

ACT III.

Staging Hamlet.  Rose/Bud/Thorn.  Take a look at these three versions of Act I, Scene i.  Rose/Bud/Thorn each interpretation and record your thoughts on FlipGrid.  Then embed your FlipGrid on your blog.  (Help each other to figure out how to do this.  You can do it!)

Scoring Hamlet. (Act III.)   Create an original score for any scene in Act III using either live instrumentation, Garage Band, SoundTrap  Wolfram Tones, Beat Lab, or another online/digital music generator/creator.  Explain your intentions.

Due Friday, Feb 10th, 2017.

Brit Lit: Design Challenges: Discovery & Experiment Phase

We'll start today with a ten-minute blog prompt to serve as part of our Discovery phase of our MUDDING SIGNAGE and THERMOSTAT CAR STARTER design challenge.

PROMPT.  Why did you choose the design challenge topic you did?  What experiences have you, or people in your life, had that led you to this topic?  What experience can you bring to the table that will inform possible solutions?

Then we'll complete DEEP dt Adventure Grids to game plan the next stages of the design challenge.

Then, we're going to jump right into some Experiment phase and make some low-rez prototypes of possible solutions.  We're going to use our Adventure Grids to guide us into Empathy work next week.  Expect to experiment each day going forward though.

The other thing to expect next week is a spreadsheet in Google Drive and assessments on PowerSchool  that will give you a checklist of exactly what you need to do between now and the end of the year.

ASSESSMENT.

Req'd Blog Post.  
Why did you choose the design challenge topic you did?  What experiences have you, or people in your life, had that led you to this topic?  What experience can you bring to the table that will inform possible solutions?
Due. Thursday, April 30.

Humanities: Little Things Essay: Discovery & Experiment Phases

We continue Discovery phase of designing our Little Things essays today.  We also jump over Empathy phase and start Experiment phases.  (We'll come back to Empathy when we do some peer feedback sessions & have some empathy conversations about readership,  details, storytelling)  

From Ms. Boiselle:

Below are station options for today’s class. You are required to do three of them today.

1.     Dialogue

In this station, you will use the pictures below to re-create dialogue for the scene presented. Then when you have finished writing dialogue for the scene, I want you to read it to a friend, without showing them the picture, and have them guess which picture you created the dialogue from.

For example:

“Sally, can I tell you a secret?”

“Duh Jane, I love secrets!” Sally replied.

I leaned in close and started to whisper my deepest, darkest, secret into my friends ear, when all of a sudden I hear, “Oh no Jane! If that is your secret, I’m gonna have to tell my mom!”

Can you figure out which picture that goes to?

2.     Setting a Scene

Using legos, rebuild the scene you are trying to create. This can be either literally or figuratively.

3.     Timeline Station

  Take index cards and write down the key things that happen throughout the scene that you believe are really important. Then with the index cards, put them in order, change the order around, and see what the best timeline of events would look like. When you feel you are comfortable with the timeline, take a picture of it so you can have it during the essay writing process.

4.     Topic Refining Station

 Finish the Rose Bud Thorn activity if you haven’t already. If you have finished that, use this station time to write down the most important pieces of the little thing that matters to you most. This can include the reason why it is important, the setting and time that makes it important, whatever it may be. Create these ideas on a stickie note, or index card and take a picture of what you write so you will have it during the essay writing process.

ASSESSMENTS.

BLOG. 3+ Posts
Req'd Post 1.  Students Making a Difference Playlist.
Create a playlist of three videos showing students making a difference in their local, national or global communities.  Post these videos on your blog and explain what the student did and why you chose to include it in your playlist.   Be intentional.

This playlist is only one of your posts for the week and will be our pre-work for our final project of the year.

Req'd Post 2.  Composition & Culture.  Create a slideshow or video of your presentation that can be shared with a wider audience.  Post it on your blog.  Include voice over or typed commentary and music -- the qualities that you know will appeal to your users based on our empathy conversations.

Due. Friday, May 1st.

Culture & Composition.  
Export your slideshows as QuickTime movies OR PDFs and put in your Humanities IN folders along with your rationales and self-assessment (Four Corners).
Due. ASAP.

ROOTS 12. Quiz.
Due.  Thursday, May 7

WRITE. Baltimore story.
Based on slideshow
Due. Today, April 29

LITTLE THINGS ESSAY.
Discover Phase:  Brainstorm, Rose/Bud/Thorn.
Post to Blog.
Due.  Wednesday, April 29.