Thursday, 22 November 2012

Macbeth finished & Interim Reports!

Yes - literally Macbeth was finished in Shakespeare's play, as his greedy reign came crashing down to a tragic end....but now our English 11 Macbeth unit is finished too!

Generally, I was very impressed with the effort that was put forth in the performances today! You have all experienced the difficulty of interpreting a script, memorizing lines, and/or translating to a more modern version, but you seemed to have fun the whole time:) Imagine how real actors must have to memorize and rehearse for weeks and months when they are filming movies!??!
Some very creative plays today, and the audience was engaged, which means success! You should all be proud of yourselves for the hours of effort, tweaking and improving, and acting that you demonstrated today:)

For tomorrow we will begin the movie (new version) of Macbeth, so that you can view it in a hollywood movie version. So enjoy a couple of days of seeing the play that you have studied for a month, depicted on a screen:)

We will begin Short Stories and Media next week!

Your interim report card comments and Work Habits have been entered also, which will reflect your effort and achievements currently in English 11.

Wednesday, 14 November 2012

MACBETH UNIT TEST & Performances

We are finished reading the famous Macbeth play! Great work to all those who participated so fully in dramatic readings and mini performances! Today's talk show panels were hilarious:)

As promised in class, here are some HINTS for your Macbeth unit test tomorrow! It is mostly multiple choice and True/False, with a few short answer. You will be starting the in-class essay outline tomorrow after the test, and writing the essay IN CLASS on Friday

TEST HINTS:

1) Know all the characters - major and minor, such as Lennox, Ross, Doctor, and Porter.

2) Know the chronological order of events, such as battle scenes, and titles awarded to Macbeth

3) Know what Macbeth was at the beginning of the play - (Answer: A successful general)

4) Differentiate between the two brothers Malcom and Donalbain

5) SOME quotes include: " My hand are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart so white"
- "Where we are, there's daggers in men's smiles"
- "It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood"
- "Most royal sir, Fleance is scap'd"

6) Review the terminology from the start of this unit, such as Exposition, Exciting force, Climax, Catastrophe, and the different between concealment, aside and soliloquy.

An excellent idea to also go over and review ALL the quizzes from each Act which have been handed back to you:) GOOD LUCK!

*** Also PLEASE Start thinking about which scene(s) from Macbeth you and your group members would like to re-enact this weekend...and I will be giving your the criteria for performances on Monday! Also a reminder that Mrs. Crosby will be visiting our class on Monday to guide us through Acting 101 tips for you to have the best performances possible:) ****

Monday, 29 October 2012

New Marks & Missing work!

I have posted updated marks in class, so that you can see how you have done on assignments and quizzes/projects. Also for those of you  missing work, you will need to come into my class on Wednesday or Thursday at lunch to make up those quizzes and assignments.

Here are some things that you may be missing:

1) Intro to Shakespeare Quiz - based on the notes given on the overhead first day of the Macbeth unit    /20 marks

2) ACT 1 QUIZ     /19 marks

3) ACT 2 QUIZ    /24 marks

4) LETTER to a friend, pretending to be Lady Macbeth's servant. Tell of the strange things that are happening lately in the castle and how Lady M. is behaving.      /16 marks

5) CHARACTER PARAGRAPH:  Choose one character and write a well developed paragraph about them, using the character Map and the character Qualities handouts.       /24

Please keep up to date with your assignments to avoid a failing mark, otherwise you will need extra help in the way of study hall, which can be beneficial to helping you complete missing work.  As always, you are welcome to see me every Wed and Thurs. at lunch, during the make up days for extra help to catch up:)

Thursday, 18 October 2012

MACBETH! Act 1 quiz Monday:)


Now that our poetry unit is complete, we have a strong foundation to find poetic devices and terms in Macbeth...which is in essence, not just a play but one big long poem itself!

Act 1 has brought us an understanding of the characters and setting, as well as given us some things to look forward to as we begin the rising action of the play.

Please remember to finish completing the Act 1 crossword, and questions to better understand the events that have just transpired in the play. Of course these will help you prepare for the ACT 1 quiz on Monday too. Here are some hints:

- know the names and titles of the royalty introduced
- who was the battle against in the opening scenes, 1.2?
- names of King Duncan's sons
- heir to the throne
- witches prophecies so far to Macbeth and Banquo
- ironic passages so far?

Enjoy the long weekend and see you all Monday!

Thursday, 4 October 2012

Poetry Project - Lets get started NOW:)


You all have been given the Poetry Project criteria now, and had Library time to sign out relevant books for your project theme...

Although its due Monday Oct. 15th, this means that you should be working on the project bit by bit each day...especially this weekend! Everyone should have printed out their 10 poems from different sources (internet, Inside Poetry text, and library books).

REMEMBER 2 Canadian poets and 1 International poet!

The next steps are to either explicate and find the 5 mandatory devices on your criteria sheet - Alliteration, Assonance, Simile, Aphorism (short witty statements) , and Didactic (poems that have a moral or lesson).

If you can start with the illustrating and finding devices on your 10 poems this weekend, that is a good start, then next week you can focus on the written sections such as Critical interpretation paragraphs (3) of them, and the Personal Response Journals (2).

NO music quiz tomorrow, we will work on being creative and composing a strong IMAGE poem out of /24 marks, due at the end of class.

see you!

Thursday, 27 September 2012

HINT FOR MUSIC QUIZ # 3 - Fri.Sept.28


GREAT work on your song explication presentations to the class everyone! I hope you all learned so much from having to teach the class a song with poetic devices, as well as keep them engaged and focused (not easy, I know!)

We will continue working through our poetry booklets tomorrow, and our paragraph on the 2 Hans Jewinski poems. IN the meantime, its Friday which means MUSIC QUIZ:)

Here is this week's hint:  Its a tough one to find a hint for so I'll tell you the artist is Amy Lee. GOOD LUCK and see you all tomorrow:)

Thursday, 20 September 2012

HINT FOR MUSIC QUIZ #2


I am in the middle of marking everyone's mini poetry booklets now. Remember to get yours in if you are late handing it in...it is out of 25 marks!

For tomorrow, we will have our second Music Quiz and I feel confident that you are getting to know more and more devices each day with practice in class. However, its very important to know new devices so please go over your A-Z booklet of terms, and know both the rhetorical (Sound) devices as well as figurative devices:)

We will continue your "I am from..." poems after the quiz tomorrow, so bring your rough drafts that you did during today's class!

GOOD LUCK with the quiz tomorrow and the hint is below!

Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Mini poetry booklets!

I'm looking forward to seeing your completed poetry booklets tomorrow. From
What I have been reading in the last 2 classes there is some great poetry being composed!

If you are stuck during a composition please email me a draft or your ideas and I will help steer you in the right direction:)

Email is kambo_a@sd36.bc.ca

Remember that tomorrow is Meet the Teacher night for all parents starting at 5:00 pm on a drop in basis:) I look forward to meeting your parents and discussing what we are learning:)
Dismissal is at 1:55 tmrw.

See you all tomorrow!

Thursday, 13 September 2012

HINT for the music quiz :)

All week, we have been practicing and becoming more proficient in finding devices in poems (explication)
and tomorrow we will have our first music quiz!  You will ELF the lyrics that are given to you at the start of class.

If you continue to study the devices in your booklet, you should do well tomorrow! As promised, here is the HINT that I am posting for you. Good luck:)

Tuesday, 11 September 2012

Poetry Terms Quiz!


Just a brief quiz on poetry terms, which should be mostly REVIEW from the last few years of poetry. To be up to date, I recommend going through your A-Z Literary devices booklet and making sure you know the terms:)

The quiz is all multiple choice and out of   /20 marks!

Here are some hints on what you should definitely know in addition to new terms from the booklet:

- pun
- allusion
- free verse, blank verse, internal rhyme, and rhyme (whats the difference btw all these?)
- symbol
- couplet
- assonance
- metaphor and simile (the difference between these? One uses like or as and one does NOT)
- Iambic Pentameter
- Trochaic
- Apostrophe
- Euphemism
- Cacophony (Harsh sounding words with consonants like K/T/C/R)
- Euphony  (Nice sounding smooth words with consonants like W/VOWELS)
- Oxymoron and Juxtaposition and Paradox (Difference btw these?)
- Hyperbole (big exaggeration to prove effect)

GOOD LUCK and see you all tomorrow! Email me/Tweet with any questions anytime:)

Monday, 10 September 2012

E.L.F the 5 poems for HomeWork!

Welcome to the English 11 blog! You'll be happy you visited, and you'll see why soon:)

Today we had 5 poems of various themes and ideas, to read together and discuss as a class, from our Inside Poetry Texts.  They were;
"Backwards Journey" (pg.4), "Fairy Tales" (pg.6), "Islands" (pg.7), "Child who Walks Backward" (pg.7), & "I've always lived across the Street" (pg.11).

Just to review, when we read or dissect a poem there are many steps to consider so that we understand the poem as fully as possible; see your notes from class.

I've created the acronym E.L.F a poem to help remember what to do with our poems studied.

E - Explicate  (means to find and label as many poetic devices as possible in the poem. 

       (Use YOUR A-Z dictionary of devices to help you!)

L - Literal (what is the surface meaning, literally?)

F - Figurative (what is the deeper meaning suggested by the author, or the theme?)

We did E.L.F the 5 poems partially as a class, but your assignment is to complete each one. As a bonus for visiting the blog today, I have posted the complete assignment answers below for the first poem "Backwards Journey" so that you will have a full example done for you plus one poem crossed off your list for h/w!  SEE! Pays to check the blog for these bonus hints and tips...saves you time too:)  The other 4 poems to be E.L.F'ed are due tmrw. and we will go over the answers in class together so be prepared!

"A Backwards Journey"

Explicate:  "say, seven, still, serious..." (lines 1 and 2)  ALLITERATION
                    "Dutch Cleanser"  (throughout poem)  ALLUSION to something famous, capitals
                    No periods or punctuation in this poem - POETIC LICENSE
                    "dutch cleanser can, woman, can, woman"  (lines 9-13) REPETITION
                    " The woman led me" (line 14) FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
                    " ...through the eye of the mind" (line 15) PERSONIFICATION
                     " ....my thought could hold on to" (line 16-17) PERSONIFICATION
                     "Until she was the smallest point...to" CONSONANCE with T sounds
                     "Broke...delicate" (line 19)  JUXTAPOSITION opposites in one line
                     "Smash" (line 21)  ONOMOTOPAIEA word that is spelled like the sound it makes

ANY Others I missed? Jot them down and lets share tomorrow in class:)

Literal:   The literal meaning of this poem when I read it for the first time, is basically a boy discussing how he pays serious attention to the Dutch Cleanser can pictures.

Figurative:  I feel the deeper meaning of this poem, is related to childhood imagination and how as children we can pay attention to things and go deeper into the layers but as we grow older we are impatient and less likely to take time to do this (ie: get to know someone rather than judge them based on looks or first impressions).  The author might be saying that ....If more people took time to delve deep rather than dismiss things, it might be a different world.








Wednesday, 5 September 2012

Literary/POETIC DEVICES due Thursday!

hello and welcome to the English 11 classroom blog!

The information here may be the same or similar as my homepage  www.mrskambo.blogspot.com, so you may have read this already. Its best to always click on the link ENGLISH 11 though to be safe!

Good job coming up with your own examples today in class, for the Literary devices. Your assignment was to complete up to the word "Protagonist".

Try and think of movies, tv shows and stories that you have read when writing your own examples in the blanks. This A-Z dictionary is going to be your best friend in English 11 and 12, as you will refer to it often during Poetry and Short story sections for the next 2 years, so be sure to complete the booklet to the best of your ability! Share answers and ask others in the class if you are stuck.
Be prepared to share tomorrow, we are always looking for some fun and relevant examples to help each other out:)

See you all tomorrow, and there may be a quiz on these Literary devices coming up in the next week or so...details to come on this blog and twitter! Those of you who are following me on Twitter will get first hand hints for quizzes and tests/projects:) 

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