The Shakespeare club is going to Ashland in May. The four night trip includes 4 plays and 1 workshop. Cost is 425. I have a flier.A $25 deposit is due by Oct. 3.
For Monday complete reading in Antigone. Read Costco college essay and Eric Muthondu essay. Respond to questions at bottom of Costco essay. Make sure that Sunday night you submitted UC personal statement. For Tuesday: Read New York Times How to Write a College Application Essay, "Learn How to Fail" (article handout), and College Vine guide to Common App essay. Come to class with an idea about what essay you are going to write. Essay for is due for peer editing next Monday. Final is due to turnitin next Wednesday. For Thursday: Have read on line the abridged version of Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail. In a page in your journal and/or by printing out and marking up the text answer the following questions. This is informal and should not be more than a couple pages of notes.
Outside Writing:
Link to handout To give you the opportunity to write for a wider audience than just me, you will write one piece for an audience outside this class. You may enter an essay contest, write an op-ed, profile and review for the Mirada or other publication or find another way to meet this requirement. In past year, students have asked to cover something for the yearbook. If you would like to do the writing for an event, team, class or club that you are familiar with see me. Because there are many pieces to a yearbook page you can work with a partner. You may partner on an op-ed or review, but then you have to do two. If you are planning on pursuing the op-ed/review option, see me sooner rather than later. The Mirada only needs so many, and you are writing for publication. However, you may submit to other publications. I have specific instructions for different kinds of writing, but here are a few guidelines to help you decide what you will do. Op-ed: Write for a publication that prints op-eds. You must read at least four sources to become knowledgeable about your topic. You must reference at least two of these sources in the final article. You op-ed should be about 800 words. If you are writing for a professional publication you must write about something you have special knowledge about. It may not be published, but it should be good enough to have a legitimate shot at publication. Read professional models. Here is one guide to writing an op-ed: https://styleguide.duke.edu/toolkits/writing-media/how-to-write-an-op-ed-article/ Review: You can review almost anything, but your review must be well-written and thorough. Read professional examples. You must submit original, high-quality, publishable photographs for all reviews accept movies and plays. (Do not embed them into a word document.) Possible things to review: Restaurant, TV series, concert, album, play, current (just opened or just started streaming) or classic movie, technology, video game, book, etc. Here is one guide: https://spcollege.libguides.com/c.php?g=254319&p=4069053 Essay contest: The essay must be at least 500 words. The essay must be the basis of the contest and not a piece of a larger criteria. The contest must be open to a broad range of students. It cannot be for a scholarship to a specific college. You can also enter contests for creative writing, but, as with the essay, you must write something original this semester. The work must be at least 500 words. For poetry, you may have to enter more than one contest. John Hopkins Gifted and Talented has a good list of contests https://cty.jhu.edu/imagine/resources/competitions/art_writing.html A list from Scholarships.com: https://www.scholarships.com/financial-aid/college-scholarships/scholarships-by-type/scholarship-essay-contests/ College Vine list: https://blog.collegevine.com/the-college-vine-guide-to-high-school-writing-contests/ Or just google high school essay contests, high school short story contest, high school poetry contest, etc. Yearbook: You (and your partner) will write captions a short article (about 300-400 words) and compile writing for three sidebars (usually Q and A, 100-word mini-profiles, short first person accounts, in other words getting the subjects to provide short pieces of content). You may need to provide some cell phone mug shots. You can take pictures if you want to. You must tell me what you will submit to at least two weeks before you submit (unless your deadline is in the next two weeks). The last day to tell me your contest is Nov. 15. The last day to submit is Dec. 3, unless you have a compelling reason and get prior permission--which might not be granted. Whatever you submit must be your very best work; these are not automatic points. You may be able to submit two shorter/simpler pieces to count as one. Points: 50 Cultural events:
Link to assignment handout Note: This is in addition to the Shakespeare viewing project. Part 1/ Good writing and a good education come from experiencing life. Thus I want to encourage to get out into the world. Also, cinema is a form of literature that we don’t have time to delve into, so I want you to experience some great movies as well as great books. We have already seen a Shakespeare play on film (or stage), now you can watch another or watch a different classic of American cinema. Watch a classic movie from the list of American Film Institute’s List of 100 Best Films of the 20th century. https://www.afi.com/100Years/movies.aspx. Or another Shakespeare play on film or another classic play (see me) on film. Or watch There Might Be Blood, which tops the list of the NY Times list of best films of the 21st Century so far. Write a one-page reflection on the watching the film and post to turnitin.com. You can knock out part one and two of this project if you watch or read a source Shakespearean play and a modern adaptation (but not if you used the source for the Shakespeare viewing project.) Part 2. Now you can branch out. You can repeat part 1 (watch another movie, write a reflection). Or you can attend a different kind of performance, Attend any school play or musical event outside of the school day that you are not involved in. Watch a play or jazz, world music or classical performance outside of school. Or visit a museum, beside the one listed for part 3. Write a one-page reflection on the experience. You can backdate part 2 to the start of the semester. Part 3. Visit a museum or gallery. Tour the place and view several works of art. Then select one. In your reflection posted to turnitin.com, include What museum/gallery. Where it is. When you visited. A photograph or drawing of the work. Then explain why this work struck you. Discuss the work in terms of its formal qualities (light, mass, line, color, texture, balance, etc) and how it affected you emotionally and/or intellectually (how did it make you feel? What did it make you think of?) Later we will write poetry and stories based on photographs and paintings. This exercise is meant to get you thinking about art. All parts are due by Dec. 3 15 pts ea + 5 points for submitting all of them by the deadline. Shakespeare viewing project
Link to Assignment Handout Due Oct. 10 Watch a stage or film version of a Shakespeare play. The play is almost entirely your choice. But it has to be in English in Shakespeare’s language. Thus, alas, Kurasowa’s Throne of Blood and Ran are out, so is Ten Things I Hate About You. Romeo and Juliet (overdone) is out and so is Julius Caesar (we reading it). If you attend a live performance you may see any Shakespearean play that is in the original language. To help you find a film: Here is a list of recommended films from the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/oct/09/10-best-shakespeare-screen-adaptations Here is the Daily Beast list. https://www.thedailybeast.com/what-are-the-best-shakespeare-movies Here is a list on IMDb https://www.imdb.com/list/ls060637860/ And one more excellent and useful list from Backstage https://www.backstage.com/news/17-shakespeare-films-worth-watching/ The (British) National Theater Production of King Lear will be shown in movie theaters for one night on Sept 27. It’s at Century Arden and XD at 7 p.m. https://www.fathomevents.com/events/nt-live-king-lear?gclid=CjwKCAjw85zdBRB6EiwAov3Ris3aL0YLMkpxRvhKZyK6irnEERkZ-UVqPTQ52p0IYzDw6ow5Gvep0BoCBTsQAvD_BwE Audience: Plays are meant to be seen in community. For a film version, you will receive extra credit if you create an audience. Stage performances automatically get this. Watch with a parent/guardian/parent-like figure, such as grandma or two or more fellow AP lit students for 5 points extra credit on this assignment. My experience of watching plays when I was young was that the language was confusing at first but became clearer as the play went on. To help myself, back when, before seeing a play, I would read at least the first scene or two. Everybody should look at the character list and setting. I am requiring you to do these things and briefly and informally (and in handwriting) record this. Aside from that, all you need to do is watch--and, I hope, enjoy--the play. If you watch with an audience and discuss the play for at least 20 minutes (theme, production value, characterization, camera shots, setting, mood, casting etc.), I will count this for part 6. Just write a sentence saying you talked about it. Be honest. Turn in:
Total points: 40 Monday: Discuss Oedipus
Block: Discuss Oedipus, quiz, essay. Homework for Thursday: Read Antigone 117-121. Write one have page each in your journal on these topics
Homework for Friday:
Peer edit UC statement. Homework for Monday: Read and annotate sample college essays Read next 20 pages of Antigone. Continue reading your outside reading book. Bring book to class on Friday to meet with group. In class we will read Oedipus. We got behind last week schedule last week because of visitors, so for Monday have done all the prefatory reading and note taking that was assigned for last week. We will continue reading Oedipus in class. Outside class for homework on Tuesday, and Wednesday, write few sentence summary of what you read and an analysis of the most interesting observations you and your group made. Be prepared to discuss with groups and the whole class. I will check all journals on Friday in class. Write for Friday: What is the obligation of a citizen to object to an unjust law? What is the good and the danger of acting on individual conscience to oppose the law? (All entries are one page = 200 words).
Read the below notes on Greek tragedy. Be prepared to discuss how they contribute to our understand of Oedipus and Antigone. Here is brief background, summary and explanation. Below are excerpts from the text. Some notes on Oedipus from Aristotle’s Poetics: “Reversal of the Situation is a change by which the action veers round to its opposite, subject always to our rule of probability or necessity. Thus in the Oedipus, the messenger comes to cheer Oedipus and free him from his alarms about his mother, but by revealing who he is, he produces the opposite effect.” “Recognition, as the name indicates, is a change from ignorance to knowledge, producing love or hate between the persons destined by the poet for good or bad fortune. The best form of recognition is coincident with a Reversal of the Situation, as in the Oedipus.” “A perfect tragedy should, as we have seen, be arranged not on the simple but on the complex plan. It should, moreover, imitate actions which excite pity and fear, this being the distinctive mark of tragic imitation. It follows plainly, in the first place, that the change of fortune presented must not be the spectacle of a virtuous man brought from prosperity to adversity: for this moves neither pity nor fear; it merely shocks us. Nor, again, that of a bad man passing from adversity to prosperity: for nothing can be more alien to the spirit of Tragedy; it possesses no single tragic quality; it neither satisfies the moral sense nor calls forth pity or fear. Nor, again, should the downfall of the utter villain be exhibited. A plot of this kind would, doubtless, satisfy the moral sense, but it would inspire neither pity nor fear; for pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, fear by the misfortune of a man like ourselves. Such an event, therefore, will be neither pitiful nor terrible. There remains, then, the character between these two extremes- that of a man who is not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty. He must be one who is highly renowned and prosperous- a personage like Oedipus, Thyestes, or other illustrious men of such families.” “A well-constructed plot should, therefore, be single in its issue, rather than double as some maintain. The change of fortune should be not from bad to good, but, reversely, from good to bad. It should come about as the result not of vice, but of some great error or frailty, in a character either such as we have described, or better rather than worse. The practice of the stage bears out our view. At first the poets recounted any legend that came in their way. Now, the best tragedies are founded on the story of a few houses- on the fortunes of Alcmaeon, Oedipus, Orestes, Meleager, Thyestes, Telephus, and those others who have done or suffered something terrible. A tragedy, then, to be perfect according to the rules of art should be of this construction.” “Fear and pity may be aroused by spectacular means; but they may also result from the inner structure of the piece, which is the better way, and indicates a superior poet. For the plot ought to be so constructed that, even without the aid of the eye, he who hears the tale told will thrill with horror and melt to pity at what takes Place. This is the impression we should receive from hearing the story of the Oedipus. But to produce this effect by the mere spectacle is a less artistic method, and dependent on extraneous aids. Those who employ spectacular means to create a sense not of the terrible but only of the monstrous, are strangers to the purpose of Tragedy; for we must not demand of Tragedy any and every kind of pleasure, but only that which is proper to it. And since the pleasure which the poet should afford is that which comes from pity and fear through imitation, it is evident that this quality must be impressed upon the incidents.” Monday: Memorial Day
Tuesday: Peer edit Binding of Isaac. Get from book room or library The Complete Plays of Sophocles. We will read Antigone in this book, but read Oedipus in the fat green anthology: Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing by Roberts and Zweig (hereafter Roberts) Complete in Purple Language book, exercise on quotation marks. Homework: HW For Thursday: Bring completed essay to class. Also submit to turnitin by 11 p.m. HW For Thursday: Read and take notes on "The Tragic Vision: Affirmation Through Loss" and intro to Sophocles and Oedipus (pages 1297-1334 in Roberts). Read and reread the first two speeches of Oedipus and the speech by the Priest. Write: 1 page: From Oedipus's own words, what do you learn about Oedipus's character. Quoting the text, argue for whatever conclusion you come to about Oedipus, but then assume you got it wrong and in the bottom half of the page argue for a different understanding of his character (also based on the text). Write 1/2 page: What do you learn about the situation in Thebes from the priest. Look up the following figures and places from Greek mythology and add them to your notes from the reading: Zeus, Apollo, Athena (aka Pallas Athena), Poseidon, Hades, The Oracle at Delphi, Tiresias, city of Thebes, the Sphinx. HW for Friday Bring with you your modern novel project book. Have read at least 15 pages, so that you have something to discuss with classmates. Wednesday: Guest speaker Thursday: Introduction to Greek theater. Friday: Continue reading Oedipus together. Bring Roberts and novel project book to class. HW: For Monday: Read to the end of episode 1 in Oedipus (p 1326). Write one page of reading notes: You may consider questions 2 and 3 on page 1350. You may make observations about characters, themes and motifs. You may ask questions. Find what interests you and what you want clarified. HW: For next Friday: Know literary terms for DRAMA, refresh yourself on Greek Theater and Mythology. For Week of 8/27
Monday 8/27: Guest speaker Rabbi Azen om Garden of Eden and Cain and Abel Tuesday: Binding of Isaac. Explain Outside Reading and Bible essay. Wednesday: MLA. Parables. Thursday: Introduce the Greeks. Friday: Bible Quiz. Begin Oedipus. Rough Draft of Bible essay due. Bring printout to class for peer editing. |
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