January 26 and 28

Objectives:
Understand the objectives, themes and methods of an Absurdist play
Prepare, practice, evaluate and reflect on ways to generate more accurate responses to AP multiple choice

Tuesday 1/26
Act to understand
Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
HW) finish AP practice packet from "Imaginary Iceberg" question 22 through "To An Unconstant One" question 55

Thursday 1/28
group sharing of question response for AP packet
evaluate and understand best answers
HW)  Read end of scene 2 of JB by Archibald MacLeish

Hamlet prompt + weekend hw 1/22

"What is a man?" Hamlet asks rhetorically in the course of the play named after him.  The play, the characters' lines--Ophelia's and Polonius's and the Gravedigger's and Hamlet's dialog and soliloquies-- all build a multi-hued tapestry representing this "quintessence of dust" called life.  Take a stab through the tapestry, just at Hamlet did only to find Polonius on the other end of his rapier.  But, rather than working with a blade, use your very best words, your finest sentences, your most delicately designed paragraphs to write an essay worthy of the wit, wisdom, and wonder of William Shakespeare.

Over the weekend, before our next class on Tuesday 1/26 please read Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

Yes.  All of it. 

Week 20, January 20 and 22

Objectives:

• Decode and understand Shakespearean English
• Evaluate Hamlet and Ophelia's mental illness
• Synthesize our understanding of humanity through Hamlet's speeches and actions

Wednesday 1/20

• Review gravedigger scene from the beginning of Act V
• View Brannagh's version of Act V
• Discuss and evaluate state of humanity

HW) prepare for Hamlet timed write  "What is a man?"

Friday 1/22
45 minute class
timed write "What is a man?"
HW) enjoy weekend

Week 19, January 12 and 14

Objectives:
Decode, evaluate and analyze Shakespeare's Hamlet
Translate and evaluate key speeches in Hamlet

Tuesday 1/12
TPCAST analysis sharing of Act III
view and evaluate Act III for Zefferelli's Hamlet
HW)  Act IV, scene 3, ll 24-62 (Hamlet)

Thursday 1/14
TPCAST analysis sharing of Act IV
view and evaluate Act IV
HW) Act V, scene 1, ll 120-223 (Hamlet and Gravedigger)

week 18, January 4-8

Objectives:
decode Hamlet
interpret figurative language and plays on words
examine the major philosophical and psychological questions addressed in Hamlet

Monday
Act I
Hw)  finish reading Act I,
itemize a TPCAST for Hamlet's speech Act I, scene 5, ll 186-202 (pp.68 and 69)
Though we usually use TPCASTT for poetry, we'll apply it to the Hamlet speeches or soliloquies in the following manner:
T:  make up a Title for the speech (not just the first line)
P:  Paraphrase what the character says into modern English (in your own words)
C:  Connotations -- identify and explain the various connotations, play on words, figurative expressions, images and symbols of the speech
A:  Attitude -- what is the character's attitude (depressed--elated, moody--jovial, etc).  With this trait, always make it 1 yet 2.  For instance, Hamlet could be "suspicious yet outwardly joking"
S:  Shift -- almost all of these speeches involve a shifting from one attitude (tone) or theme to another
T:  Theme
T:  Title revisited--after all your reflection, what would be an even better title than the first

Wednesday
Act II
HW)  itemize a TPCASTT for Act 2, Scene 2, ll 318-334

Friday
Act II
HW) itemize a TPCASTT for Act 3, Scene 1, ll128-153 (both Hamlet and Ophelia)