Week 8 - November 16

Final week of the first semester of Shakespeare!

Let us know if you've earned your crown!
Crown Requirements (due this week)  

• Have read all of King Lear as part of your 7 plays
• 7 plays total read, watched or listened to (email the mentors your list or bring your list to class)
• Memorized and passed off the Albany speech
• Turned in your character sketch (do a thorough job of this!)
• Turned in your summary of King Lear
• Done your Shakespeare presentation

Note cards

peevish

     fretful, irritable; obstinate; headstrong

gudgeon

     credibility, gullibility

gaged

     a pledge or pawn, security; a challenge

occasion

     circumstance, opportunity; need, requirement

debtor

     a person in debt or under obligation to another

Memorization
If you haven't passed off the Albany speech we'll be doing that in class

Reading Assignment

All of Act Five (finish reading King Lear)

Writing Assignments

Summary of King Lear AND Character Sketch

Week 7 - November 9

It's hard to believe there are only two weeks left until the end of our first semester! As we get close to wrapping up our study of King Lear and closer to our Kings and Queens of Shakespeare evening on Friday, December 1st,  there are several things to finish.

To be crowned a king or queen and to earn a crown here are the things that need to be completed by the last day of class so we know how many crowns to order and have enough time for them to arrive.

• Pass off the Albany speech to Jessica, Sister Brown or Sister Maurer
• Have given your Shakespeare presentation
• Read, watch or listen to 7 Shakespeare plays (Remember that reading all of King Lear and watching the King Lear play we saw on Vision day can count for two of the seven and you can read and listen to a tape or CD at the same time if you choose)
• Turn in finished Character Sketch (the person you chose two classes ago) AND a summary of what happened in King Lear (due the last day of this semester, November 16)

Homework

Memorization - prepare to pass off Albany speech to a Shakespeare mentor this Thursday (or last chance on the following Thursday)

Note cards

Usurer

   money-lender, one who charges excessive interest

Compromise

   to damage, weaken or expose

Rank

   high, great; foul-smelling, stinking

Beholding

   sight; attention; obliged, indebted

Reading Assignment

Act 4 Scenes 6-7

Writing Assignment

Is it easier to forgive others or yourself? Why? How are both types of forgiveness important?

                                         

Week 6 - November 2

Notecards
Peevish
obstinate, perverse, self-willed
Gudgeon
type of fish used as a bait; credulity, gullibility
Disabled
discouraged
Gaged
judged, esteemed
Occasions
reasons, explanations

Reading assignment
Act 4 Scenes 1-5

Writing assignment
Was Lear's authority real or imagined?

Presentations
Kate -- Mental illness & retardation
Daisy -- What is a fork?! Food & dining customs
Amanda -- The Life of Queen Elizabeth the first

Week 5 - October 26

Memorization

"If that the heavens do not their visible spirits

Send quickly down to tame these vile offences"

Note cards

argosies

a large merchant ship

signiors

a title equivalent to Mr or Sir, usually an Italian man of rank or gentility

burghers

citizen, inhabitant, denizen

pageant

show, scene, spectacle, tableau

vailing

lowering or taking off as token of respect or submission

edifice

a building, especially a large, imposing one

Reading assignment for play discussion

Act 3 Scenes 4-7

Writing assignment

Choose a character in the play and write a character sketch.

Presentations

Amanda Wells - The life of Queen Elizabeth

Elena Maurer - God, religion and superstition

Sarah Barber - Who's who in the arts

                                                           

Week 4 - October 19

Great discussions today and we are so impressed by your writing! You have amazing thoughts. Between the lot of us, I think we must be brilliant!

Here is next week's Shakespeare work. Enjoy!

Memorization                          Could my good brother suffer you to do it? 
                                                 A man, a prince, by him so benefited!

Note cards                               wench
                                                girl, lass
                                                wherefore
                                                for what reason, as a result of which                                             
                                                whither
                                                to what place or state, to which (with reference to a place)
                                                sooth
                                                true, truth; flattery, sweet-talk
                                                rated
                                                evaluated; exposed; prized; to be reckoned with
                                                scanted
                                                withheld, stinted, limited

Reading Assignment              Act 2 Scene 4 & Act 3 Scenes 1-3

Writing Assignment               Are older people wiser than young people? Why or why not?

Next week's presentations      Harmony Siufanua           Myths, legends & mysteries
                                        Caleb Martin                   A man's home is his castle -
                                                                               housing for the rich & poor

Week 3 - October 12

Memorization                           Whose reverence even the headlugg'd bear would lick,

                                                 most barbarous, most degenerate. Have you madded?

Here are your note cards for the week. Remember to come to class knowing all of the note cards we've studied so far.

hither

here, to this place

mistress

the jack at the game of bowls

Sirrah

a man or boy, especially one younger or of lower status than the speaker.

tarry

stay, remain, wait

thence

over there

troth

truth, good faith

Reading assignment                  Act 1 Scene 5 & Act 2 Scenes 1-3

Writing assignment                    Lear asks "Who is it that can tell me who I am?" Who are                                                         YOU? What does that mean to you?

Next Thursday's Presentations

Jayson Fontano “Witches, fairies and things that go bump in the night.”

Benjamin Mulder "The religion of the times"
Luke Mulder "The geography of England"

Week Two - October 5

                                                       

Great job today everyone! Remember to bring your King Lear book to class.

Memorization                          Tigers, not daughters, what have you perform'd?
                                                 A father, and a gracious aged man

Note cards                               
cur
dog, mastiff, watch-dog (without a contemptuous sense)
fain
forced, compelled; satisfied, well pleased; willingly
forsooth
in truth, certainly, truly, indeed
gaol
jail
hap/haply
luck, chance; happen/happening, take place

Reading Assignment               Act 1 Scenes 3-4

Watch "I'll Be What I Believe"

Writing Assignment                Define loyalty. Why did Kent stay loyal to the king? 
Remember to write this on a piece of paper (not in your Commonplace book) so you can turn it in to the Shakespeare mentors.

Next Thursday's Presentations

Isa Maurer “What did people wear?”

Kylee Martin "Off With His Head! Unemployment, Crime and Punishment"