And the Winner Is . . .

For Shakespeare's birthday today, my tenth graders played a game I describe in this post. We ended up teaming the girls against the boys:

The boys working on the Shakespeare Birthday Bash Game

We dressed up for the day; this student wore this shirt to show
the motif of rule and misrule in the play she studied this year,
 A Midsummer Night's Dream

This student brought a crown to show the Elizabethan age

And the winner is . . . Wait, before I announce the winner, let me just say that one of the boys said this was the "hardest" he's ever worked in class, and he feels like he knows all of Shakespeare's plays. How's that for "hard fun" (see Frank Moss' The Sorcerers and Their Apprentices) and a wild but still structured 40 minutes -- that also included donuts?

OK, so the winners were . . .

THE BOYS!

Here are their findings, all done on computers and iPads, in a 40-minute period:

Shakespeare Game: Boys

4/23/13

1) “Though this be madness there is method in’t”- Hamlet; Act 2, Scene 2, Line 203 (Polonius)

2) “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em.”- Twelfth Night; Act 2, Scene 5, Line 144 (Malvolio)

            CONTEXT: Malvolio is reading Maria’s fake letter, from Olivia

3) “ Out, out damned spot”- Macbeth’ Act 5, Scene 1, Line 35 (Lady Macbeth)

            CONTEXT: Lady Macbeth, who was anxious about the murders she was         responsible for, hallucinated that there was blood on her hands.

4) “This is very midsummer madness.”- Twelfth Night; Act 3, Scene 4, Line 56 (Olivia)

            CONTEXT: Malvolio and Olivia are fighting

5) “ Friendship is constant in all other thing, save in the office and affairs of love. Therefore, all hearts in love use their own tongs; let every eye negotiate for itself,  and trust no other agent.”- Much ado About nothing, Act 2, Scene 1, Line 158-162 (Claudio)

7) “Men at some times are masters of their fates, the fault dear brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings” Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2, Line 35 (CASSIUS)

8) “The poet’s eye in a fine frenzy rolling.” Midsummer Nights Dream, Act 5, Scene 1 (Theseus)

            CONTEXT: Hippolyta is taunting Theusus about his “Lover”

9) “Life is but a walking shadow.”- Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5,  Line 24(Macbeth)

            CONTEXT: It means that there is no originality left in life.  

10) “If I be waspish, best beware my sting.”- Taming of the shrew; Act 1, scene 10, line 1,059 (Katherina)

11) “Ay me! for aught that ever I could read, Could ever hear by tale or history, The course of true love never did run smooth.”- Midsummer nights dream; Act 1, Scene 1, Line 132 (Lysander)

12) What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculties! In form and moving, how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god. The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals. And, yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? – Hamlet; Act 2, scene 2, Line 1397(Hamlet)

Shakespeare's Birthday Bash Game

Today, in honor of Shakespeare's birthday, first we're going to eat "Duncan" Donuts, and then we're going to divide the class in two. Each group has to locate the plays, acts, scenes and lines in which the following quotations can be found. You also have to find the characters who said them. For five of the quotations, the groups also have to explain the context of the lines. All of these quotations are what make the Bard so famous and so admired.

As Ben Jonson wrote in his ode to the poet, "Nature herself was proud of his designs/And joyed to wear the dressing of his lines." Notice that this sentiment reinforces the idea we talked about, that Elizabethans loved the artificial, that is, Nature enhanced by art.

Here are the lines the groups have to research:

Friendship is constant in all other things,
Save in the office and affairs of love.
Therefore, all hearts in love use their own tongues;
Let every eye negotiate for itself,
And trust no other agent.


How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child.


Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.


Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.


If I be waspish, best beware my sting.


The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,.
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And, as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.


Ay me! for aught that ever I could read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth.


Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.


Out, out, damned spot.


Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings.


This is very midsummer madness.


What a piece of work is a man!
How noble in reason! How infinite in faculties!
In form and moving, how express and admirable!
In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god.
The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals.
And, yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust?

Modernism and Postmodernism Assignment

To prepare for our discussion of The Great Gatsby, my 11H class and I have been discussing Modernism and Postmodernism. We read the Modernist poems, "The Snow Man" by Wallace Stevens; "Desert Places" and "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost; "pity this busy monster, manunkind" by ee cummings; and "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath. We also read the Postmodern poems, "The Writer" by Richard Wilbur and "The Story We Know" by Martha Collins.

Today, I asked my students to explicate a Modernist poem or write one of their own. I allowed students to write in a more Postmodernist mode if they wanted. Here is the actual assignment and how their work is coming along.

Sophomore Explorations Continue

My sophomores have been busy this year with the theme of exploration. We spent third quarter exploring the creative power of the Renaissance, and the students divided themselves into groups to research and analyze different Shakespearean comedies. The students blogged about their work on their new class blog, 10H Explorations.

As we continue with our next era, the Enlightenment, and our next work, Candide, the students will be completing an outside reading assignment that allows them a little freedom in their reading selection and also reiterates the themes of creativity and innovation we've been focusing on since the Renaissance. Here is the outside reading assignment.