Monday and Tuesday we start our work with
Hamlet. What I'm hoping you'll find is that we've actually been working toward
Hamlet all year long.
These next two weeks are going to be action packed to the gills with thinking, reflection, reading, analyzing and creating.
Both classes will follow the same basic outline for these next two weeks. I'm posting the complete plan overview here and we'll get more details as we encounter the days.
HAMLET READING. Starting Monday and Tuesday, an act per class. Our goal is to get almost a full read in before break and then give us plenty of time in March to dig deeper. Hamlet plus shorter supplemental readings is pretty much our 3rd Quarter text.
We will read through the play in the space of two weeks so that we may re-visit and unpack more after break.
TRACKING SHAKESPEARE's QUESTIONs. Hamlet raises all sort of big questions. I typically choose a theme or idea for AP Lit students to tackle via Hamlet. How do we acquire and sustain power? How does status influence our decision making? When do we complete the journey from adolescence to adulthood? We're going to try something different this year. (Haven't heard that before, have you?)
Starting with Act I, identify the questions Shakespeare raises throughout the text. Rather than typical annotations -- lines of significance, apparently allusions, insights of interpretation -- consider what question a passage asks the audience to consider. For example,
"Before my God, I might not this believe/ Without the sensible and true avouch/ Of mine own eyes." -- Horatio, I.1.66-68.
When do our eyes fail to reveal the truth? What conditions must exist for us to believe what we see? To what extent does spirituality filter our beliefs and capacity for observation?
You don't need to include three questions. I did because one bred another, bred another.
We'll be using a tool called
hypothes.is to mark up the text. We'll do our first in class to get a sense of the tool and make sure we are connected. Feel free to use them as the launchpad for a blog post as well.
BLOGGING. There are two blog posts to complete during this week into the first of next.
BARD-CABULARY.
1. Identify an unfamiliar or unique word from your reading in
Hamlet. (You may want to note several as you read.)
2. Identify the context in which the word is used, quoting the act, scene and line number as well as the text itself. Note the speaker of the text.
3. Determine the denotative meaning of the word, specifically as it relates to the use in the text. (There are lots of definitions for some words. You may want to identify more than one.)
4. Determine the connotations typically associated with the word.
5. Use Unsplash, your own photography or your art skills to identify an image that you feel accomplishes two tasks: illustrates the meaning of the word AND illustrates the meaning of the word as it relates to the context of
Hamlet. In other words, how can one found image enhance the understanding of both the word AND the play.
Bonus Extra Super Credit Time: Fuse the image and the quote into a well-designed visual that accomplishes the two tasks in an aesthetic and meaningful way.
PROJECT EXPLODER.
1. Take a listen to any of the episodes of the
"Song Exploder" podcast. Note the format of the show, the tone, the emphasis on process and context, philosophy and intention.
2. Record a "Project Exploder" podcast about your Indie Book project. You can use any audio or video recording tool to do so.
3. Add background music that heightens your overall podcast, fusing your words, your documentation of your project (photos, footage and/or excerpts), and sound into an overall experience.
4. Post your Project Exploder on your blog.
And just to keep things always interesting . . .
Remember that we have No Red Ink quizzes on Wednesday/Thursday this week over parallel structure.
And we will have a multiple choice test prep next week. Maybe even a timed writing over structure and rhyme scheme, too. WHAT? Yup. It's possible.
SHOW YOUR THINKING.
Blog. Req'd Post.
Bard-Cabulary.
Due. Next class.
Project Exploder.
Due. First class next week.
Study. No Red Ink Quiz.
Parallel structure. Next class.
