Monthly Archives: November 2014

11/21/2014

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Last day before Thanksgiving!

Today we just worked on the Othello chart.

character chartHere is a brief explanation of each column:

  • Relationship – what is his/her role and relationship to the other characters.
  • Strength – what does this character do well
  • Weakness – what is this character’s downfall
  • Defining moment – What is the moment when we get to see this character’s TRUE colors – who she/he REALLY is.
  • Essential question – What is the one MOST important question to ask the character.
  • Symbol – draw a quick symbol that represents an aspect of that character’s personality, role, or importance.

Here is a sample chart you can look at for a different book:

sample character chart

Then, we finished the Othello haikus.

Easy!

Have a great turkey day!

11/20/2014

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Today, we finished Othello when we read Act 5.

We talked a lot about Desdemona and her inaction, what she could have done, and what she SHOULD have done.

We talked about Othello and why he committed suicide the way he did – was it to send his soul to Hell faster, or was it to escape living with the guilt of what he did?

Act 5 went by VERY quickly – we had LOTS of time to work on haikus and I even played the movie Othello. We’ll finish it tomorrow.

This is one of the images that we looked at today –  a canopy bed:

So tomorrow, the haikus will be due AND we’ll do the character chart. These two things will add up to a major grade – 150 points!

Hooray! We only have one more day to wake up early before the Thanksgiving break!

11/14/2014

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We read Act 4 today. It went by pretty quickly, so you should have time to get caught up with all of your haikus, especially if you use the Syllable Counter that I have in Blackboard. You can enter in sentences – just be careful with the names of characters. One students used “Desde” as a nickname for Desdemona, and since Desde isn’t a real word, the webpage didn’t recognize it and said it was only ONE syllable rather than two.

Today while reading, we talked about how gestures can be misinterpreted. Remember Riley took a student in hall way to talk about her vegetable noodle peeler? You guys need to get your minds OUT OF THE GUTTER!

carrot

We also talked about how HARSH and HATEFUL Othello’s words to Desdemona were – we agreed that there are some words that you just can’t forgive. If a boyfriend were to compare me to maggots in rotting meat, I’d break up with him. If he said he wished I’d never been born, I’d assume he was breaking up with me. What’s worse to say to someone: “I hate you” or “I wish you’d never been born”?

Get those haikus done! We’ll finish Othello tomorrow!

11/17/14

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A few notes for today:

Progress Reports will printed tomorrow at 8 am. So, you still have time to get work turned in if you want a good grade tomorrow.

The big thing is the Bucket List Persuasive Paper – I’m missing A LOT of those!

We read Othello Act 2 today. We had about 30-40 minutes to work on haikus today, but I suggested that if you needed to finish your essay, get that done first. The haikus are worth 75 points and are due on Friday, so you still have time this week to get caught up if you spend the time today working on the essay, which is due today and worth 150 points. This will be on the Progress Report tomorrow.

Word of the day: misogynist – a woman hater. Iago isn’t necessarily gay, he just doesn’t like or respect women. He especially thinks that they aren’t faithful.

11/14/14

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setting

Today, we read Othello Act 1. If you missed today, please don’t just read the summary – read the actual play. It’s pretty easy, I promise!

The play starts out in Venice:

venice

Some words we talked about today:

Moor

vocabulary

soliloquy

misogynist

misanthrope

misandry

 

 

 

We started the Othello Haikus:
haikusIf you need help, go to BB – there are links on how to write a haiku and a webpage with summaries. Focus on the summary rather than sentences.

nicknamesYou can use nicknames for characters as well.

WE should have PLENTY of time to work on this tomorrow. Act 2 goes by QUICKLY!

 

11/13/14

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Today, we talked about Italian stereotypes and honor killings. If you weren’t here, do the make up activity in BB > Othello. It’s easy.

Then, we spent the rest of the day actually writing the essay. It’s actually just a simple 5 paragraph essay.

Use the thesis that we wrote yesterday – that is the LAST sentence of your first paragraph. Use the questions as help for your introduction.

 

essayThis will be due on Monday.

 

11/12/14

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Sadly, I went home again early today because of a bad medicine reaction. Luckily, Sosa and Sharp were here to pick up the slack!

WE did the Bucket List Pre-Writing packet in the Bucket List folder. There are brainstormed reasons ALL OVER THE BOARD, so make sure that you use them!

We will have tomorrow to write the paper.

 

11/10/14

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Pretty simple day today – we just watched the movie The Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.
No need to do questions while watching the movie, but if you choose to do so, you can get extra credit (you can do this whenever – not just today/tomorrow).
When we finish tomorrow, we will choose the prompt, work on the thesis, and play around with introductions.
All grades for the rest of the term are in BB – don’t get freaked out!