Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Wednesday September 26, 2012 (Matt Donohoe)

Today we read more of Beowulf and then took a comprehension quiz. We read 5-11.  Basically to sum up what happened in a short sentence it was about Beowulf's journey to defeat Grendel.

Homework: Make sure you read your Man-Booker to page 245 and do your poster work for your story.

Make sure your thoughts and prayers go out to Mrs Smith in a time of need.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Monday, September 24, 2012 (Savannah Anderson)

Today, we read turned in the Oedipus essay redoes, and had a quiz over Beowulf 1-4.

Homework: read Man Booker Prize, pg. 230, and work on presentation container.

Notes!

Things to listen for:
-characteristics of epic poems and epic heroes
-impressions of Beowulf, Hrothgar, and Grendel
-Anglo-Saxon ideals
-Good vs. evil
-literary elements

We read 5-11 for Beowulf, and talked about some of the characters. We were introduced to Grendel, the monster that swipes people and murders them. We were also introduced to Beowulf, and he is described as the strongest man that has ever walked the Earth. We were not able to watch the scenes in the movie, but are looking at watching them either Wednesday or Friday.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Scribage for Friday, September 21st, 2012
Danger Engberson

In Class:
     Today we began class by doing the following:
  • Returning copies of Oedipus the King
  • Meeting with Man Booker Prize partners for Independent Reading meeting 2
  • Reviewing notes on Elements of Literature (pg. 2-19, 47)
  • Taking group quiz (no more than 4 people per group) on reading
  • Mrs. Smith allowed a few minutes for the "Gates of Heaven" to open (where you were permitted to use your book and the knowledge of other groups to find answers)
  • Taking notes on Characteristics of Epic Heroes, in this case, Beowulf
Epic Hero Notes
  • Larger-than-life character
Usually favored by or partially decended from dieties
Can't be beaten
Powerful because of supernatural influence
At one point goes on a literal or figurative decent into hell
Proud
Handsome, similar to Matthew McConaughey
Embodies the following: Host, Christianity/Paganism dynamic, loyalty
  • Epic Poem
Long
Passed down verbally through song or chant
Supernatural influence on main character
Main character believes in gods/dieties
Told for entertainment, while simultaneously showing how humans overcome adversity through perseverance


Homework
  • Read Beowulf pg. 1-4 in English book (quiz on monday)
  • Man Booker Prize through page 215
  • Oedipus Essay corrections due Monday, sept. 24th
p.s. Sorry for the late post, I was busy doing my hair for homecoming
<3 Danger

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Skit Reviews


Sorry for the late post but my WiFi at home didn't feel like working last night but here are the
Reviews of modernization of oedipus skits
1st performance
To start the class the first group took on oedipus in a lord of the rings style with characters such as baby Oedipus, Aragon, Arwin, Shepard, Smeagol, and Samwise. almost all were wearing robes except drew who looked naked in my view which was strange for a class performance but he performed well with his with his well rehearsed Smeagol voice brought laughs to help the skit. With that the group also had a well fitting script that fit the story of Oedipus being sent to the mountain die with the lava filled mount doom. all in all the first group started the class nicely with a little comedy.

2nd performance
The second group moved further in time to the nerdy land of the big bang theory. With a cast playing the five main characters and the comic book guy too, the performance fit the big bang theory style well. The stage looked uncrowded as there was usually only 2 people at center stage at a time. There was some slight comedy added in, including a strip to switch characters that revealed some unpleasantly revealing, tight, red jeans. All in all the group performed well and fit the oedipus theme with some poor acting scenes of people dieing.

3rd performance
Oedipus is now Usain bolt, with all his pride and self greeve he thinks he is the best person out there, which he is in the 100 meter and 200 meter run, Usain or Oedipus feels need to use his strength and self glory to bring hope and pride to his country of Jamaica. In an interview he learns his competition is trying to beat him by the use of steroids, however he is 100% prepared and ready to win his races in the Olympics because of his perfection he sees in himself. With a good script to the story of Oedipus the group’s skit was good but less fun to watch than previous performances, no offense to them, but they had less comic scenes.

4th performance
Oedipus returns to high school, the group went a different style when choosing characters, instead of choosing them based off something else, they played as themselves, which worked well. For the story, a rumor was spread that Brendan stole Trevors headphones, Tristan said its a rumor and tries to protect Brenden. Trevor and Brendan get into a fight about them, Trevor believes brenden has his headphones but Tristin and Colton back up Brenden against Trevor. Most people don’t find interest in other people stealing someones headphones but this group seemed to make it work well.

5th performance
This group performed a talk show, called “whos your momma”. in the show a messenger brings news to Jocasta and Oedipus that Oedipus’s dad is dead but  actually he wasn’t Oedipus’s dad at all, then later, they are told his real dad left him on mountain top but she gave him to polybus, at this point Jocasta felt sick and left the show. before Oedipus could find the truth about his dad the talk show ended and left the audience waiting for more. The group did well and told the story from Oedipus in a good way.

6th performance
The last group took Oedipus on in a zombie fashion. with some comically said repeating saying from the guard and some brain eating tendencies, the performance had some comically added parts. A flaw in acting is that Oedipus’s back was turned toward the audience during some short portions of the skit. The story told fit the requirements toward Oedipus, but a flaw in the idea is that Jocasta, a zombie, killed herself and zombies are already dead so how could she of been able to kill herself. Other than that the performance was good and the group did well.

Monday, September 17, 2012

September 17, 2012

Happy Monday!
Today was the first day of Homecoming week, Western day! Yeeeeeha!

In class:
Homework: 
  • Read your Man-Booker Prize books. You should be on page 190
  • Read "Middle Ages" pages 2-19, 47
    • You can copy the necessary pages from the Elements of Literature book, if you aren't a fan of huge books.
    • Think about: Roles of Various groups influencing culture? Women's roles? Wyrd? Bards and scoops? Role of the church? King Alfred? Role of monasteries?
  • Finish the Modernizing Oedipus Project. It is to be performed Wednesday in class
  • There will be a quiz over the "Middle Ages" reading on Friday

Friday, September 14, 2012

September 14, 2012




HOMEWORK: Read Booker Prize-160. make sure you are annotating the book and writing down motifs and specific quotes from your book. College essay final draft due Monday. Work on the Modernize Oedipus performance- will be preformed on Wednesday, no excuses!!!


TODAY IN CLASS:
  • we selected groups on no more than 5 to work on the modernizing of Oedipus project.
  • Make sure you and your group choose one of the following portions of Oedipus to modernize. No more than two groups can do the same scene.
  • their are two main prompts to choose from. A) the prequel, the group will be modernizing the first events that occur in Oedipus's life prior to our meeting him. The major events occurred in this, part I of his prequel include, but are certainly not limited to, hi birth, his families realization of his prophecy, his alleged death, and his adoption into his family in Corinth. B) The Prequel part II. your group will be modernizing the latter portions of his life before our meeting him. These events include the realization of his prophecy, his fleeing of Corinth, his encounter with the sphinx, and his becoming king of Thebes. 
  • All the information can be found in our gold packet titled Modernizing Oedipus the king!!!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

PLC Wednesday, September 12th


Homework:
  • Modernize Oedipus assignment
  • College essay rewrite due Monday
  • Read man booker prize to page 145
  • For most of the period we spent time peer editing each others essays (we had at least two separate people’s input)
  •     If you want Mrs. Smith to look over and help edit your essay even more, you can try to schedule a meeting with her on an off hour but her freshman classes already have meetings with her so you can try your best!
  • To end class Mrs. Smith went over our new assignment; Modernizing Oedipus the King
    *We will get in groups of 5 on Friday and present this project on Monday (start brainstorming ideas!)

Monday, September 10, 2012

September 10, 2012

Today we had an in-class essay!
  • If your computer wasn't being cooperative, you have until Wednesday to make it great!
  • Those of you using your own technology as opposed to the class computers, you can share the outline and your paper with Smith through Google Docs at  asmith@lps.k12.co.us .
Homework:
  • Your college essay should be ready for peer review on Wednesday (Google Doc it)
  • Read through page 130 in your Booker Project books
  • And donut day is on Wednesday, which is also a late start!
Have a great Monday night and Tuesday!

Monday, September 10th

IN-CLASS ESSAY!

 

If you did not finish your essay in class due to technology issues (since there were a lot fo them) the essay is due in class on Wednesday, no exceptions!
 
Homework
Continue to read your Mann Booker Prize; you should be to page 130 by Wednesday
Have your almost polished college essay on a google doc and ready to be edited for the next class period
Finish your in class essay if you haven't already

Friday, September 7, 2012

Friday September 7th
Homework:

  • By monday read 100 pages out of man booker prize independent reading book
  • Prepare for in class essay Monday (can have skeletal outline)
  • Bring one revised college essay Wednesday (google doc it)

-We finished reading Oedipus the King
Examples of 4 stages of a hero:
Innocence
  • (pg.2) “Here I am, myself, world- famous Oedipus”
  • Unaware he killed Laus
Initiation (become aware of evil, innocence is lost, intimate awaking)
  • (pg.64) “He is dead and in his grave.”
  • the city’s distress
  • plague
  • sickness
  • dead bodies
  • mourning
  • ships
Chaos (start revealing truth, do not believe the truth)
  • blinded himself
  • he sees that he is the one wrong
  • jocasta distancing herself from Oedipus
  • Realization of marrying his mother
Resolution (hero has wisdom of experience and a fuller wider vision of world)
  • casts himself out of Thebes
  • he gives his children advice on their journey and wishes a better life upon them
Connections to Lance Armstrong Article

  • went through the hero journey:
  • innocence: sport is overall innocent
  • initiation: starts doping;l wanted to be greater than the sport itself, wanted to control his fate, competition itself
  • chaos: let down country, denial(wanted to go back into innocence period, nostalgia),
  • resolution: no wisdom gained, steps away (chooses to make a better choice for his daughter's life), on similar path with Oedipus; realization of reality  

-We discussed the in class essay guidelines
-We had about 15 minutes to start the essay at the end of class

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Happy doughnut day!

Today in class our latest college essay's where returned and then our motifs homework was checked, we then discussed some of them. We then broke into our independent reading groups and ansered questions about our books(see website for specifics). We then finished reading Oedipus the King and disscussed  the hero's journey. (look at the website for the power point).

Hw: Read your man booker books,
Connect armstrong article to Oedipus.
Prepare for the final college essay meeting.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012


Happy Friday!!!!!!!!!!

Homework:
~3 motifs with quotes from Oedipus the King (motif reoccurring theme, emotion, object)
~Read through page 60 in your man booker prize


Started off class by turning in our who am I essays and then used our phones to polleverything our adjectives about Oedipus.

SAT word of the weekend is......hoy-ploy!!!!!! meaning common people or masses.

Reading time HURRAY!!!!!!!!!!!

read through page

Looking for motifs through out the story.

Oedipus continues to accuse Creon of killing Laius until Jocasta comes to break them apart. Jocasta tells Oedipus the story of how Laius died and the more in detail she goes the more Oedipus remembers what he has done. He then goes into detail about how the prophecy really did come true, as Jocasta becomes horrified. They wait for the shepherd to be sure that it truly was a band of robbers that killed Laius. A messenger is sent to fetch him so he can present his account on the matter. The messenger comes with news that Polybus is dead which makes them feel they are safe from the prophecy.  Finds out Polybus is really his father (very much a shocker and very well acted in class). Oedipus hears the account from the shepherd and learns what we have known all along. He is the child of prophecy.