Week of January 25

We were a little ahead of the game on Macbeth, so the beautiful thing about those snow days is that they didn't slow us down at all!!! We just had to bump the Therapeutic Thursday to this week and missed a day of AP practice, which we will find a way to recoup. :)

Monday, 1/25
Makeup Lit Terms quiz
Macbeth Act III

Tuesday, 1/26
Macbeth Act III

Wednesday, 1/27
Macbeth

Thursday, 1/28
Ther Thur all

Friday, 1/29
Act IV

Advice for You. For FREE. ;)

My English IV classes wrote letters to their future children, to be given to them on their first day of high school. There were some pieces of advice in these letters that I found to be rather profound. I wrote them down, and in looking over them, it hit me that these things will apply to you all over again as you go into another new space and place next year, as new freshmen again. In fact, most of this can apply to ALL of us at any age! So, here you go. And you're welcome. ;)

"Every person you meet has something you can learn from."

"Not everyone will like you. Not everyone liked Jesus Christ, either. It's ok."

"Don't worry about feeling out of place; everyone else does too."

"You won't always be appreciated or thanked. And that doesn't matter either."

"I wish someone had encouraged me to explore more of myself."

"No revenge is the best revenge."

And, my very favorite:

"Know if what you want is a right or a privilege and who it will benefit in the future."

Mac Memorization Options

Long post, but here they are. Remember to tell me what you want and I'll print you out a copy unless you want to pull it from here....

Option 1
Act I, scene 7, lines 1-29

  If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
    It were done quickly: if the assassination
    Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
    With his surcease success; that but this blow
    Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
    But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
    We'ld jump the life to come. But in these cases
    We still have judgment here; that we but teach
    Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
    To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice
    Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
    To our own lips. He's here in double trust;
    First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
    Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
    Who should against his murderer shut the door,
    Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
    Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
    So clear in his great office, that his virtues
    Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
    The deep damnation of his taking-off;
    And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
    Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed
    Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
    Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
    That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
    To prick the sides of my intent, but only
    Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
    And falls on the other.

Option 2
Act II, scene 1, lines 33-61
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but(45)
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going,(50)
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o’ the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still,
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There's no such thing:(55)
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one half-world
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings; and wither'd Murder,(60)
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear(65)
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives;
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.

Option 3

Act IV, scene 1

  First Witch.  Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d. 

  Sec. Witch.  Thrice and once the hedge-pig whin’d.   4

  Third Witch.  Harper cries: ’Tis time, ’tis time. 

  First Witch.  Round about the cauldron go; 

In the poison’d entrails throw. 

Toad, that under cold stone   8

Days and nights hast thirty-one 

Swelter’d venom sleeping got, 

Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot. 

  All.  Double, double toil and trouble;  12

Fire burn and cauldron bubble. 

  Sec. Witch.  Fillet of a fenny snake, 

In the cauldron boil and bake; 

Eye of newt, and toe of frog,  16

Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, 

Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting, 

Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing, 

For a charm of powerful trouble,  20

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. 

  All.  Double, double toil and trouble; 

Fire burn and cauldron bubble. 

  Third Witch.  Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,  24

Witches’ mummy, maw and gulf 

Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark, 

Root of hemlock digg’d i’ the dark, 

Liver of blaspheming Jew,  28

Gall of goat, and slips of yew 

Sliver’d in the moon’s eclipse, 

Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips, 

Finger of birth-strangled babe  32

Ditch-deliver’d by a drab, 

Make the gruel thick and slab: 

Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron, 

For the ingredients of our cauldron.

Option 4
Act V, scene 3, lines 22-28 and Act II, scene 1, lines 48-72
I have lived long enough: my way of life
Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf;
And that which should accompany old age,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,
I must not look to have; but, in their stead,
Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath,
Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not. Seyton!
To be thus is nothing;
But to be safely thus.--Our fears in Banquo
Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature
Reigns that which would be fear'd: 'tis much he dares;
And, to that dauntless temper of his mind,
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
To act in safety. There is none but he
Whose being I do fear: and, under him,
My Genius is rebuked; as, it is said,
Mark Antony's was by Caesar. He chid the sister
When first they put the name of king upon me,
And bade them speak to him: then prophet-like
They hail'd him father to a line of kings:
Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown,
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If 't be so,
For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind;
For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd;
Put rancours in the vessel of my peace
Only for them; and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man,
To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!
Rather than so, come fate into the list
And champion me to the utterance! Who's there!

Option 5
Act I, scene 3, lines 130-142/Act V, scene 5, lines 19-28/Act 5, scene 8, lines 27-34
This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill, cannot be good: if ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings:
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man that function
Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is
But what is not.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
I will not yield,
To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet,
And to be baited with the rabble's curse.
Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane,
And thou opposed, being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the last. Before my body
I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff,
And damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'

Week of 1/18

FOUR DAY WEEK! Enjoy your time off. Maybe do some AP test prep in your off time.... (Seriously. The next post will include a specific AP prep assignment, but you can find TONS of practice options online. FIND THEM. DO THEM.)

Monday, 1/18
No School

Tuesday, 1/19
Mac Act II
Lit Terms 1 are already up

Wednesday, 1/20
Mac Act II

Thursday, 1/21
Both Ther Thur

Friday, 1/22
Lit Terms 1 Quiz
Act II

Lit Terms 1, Semester 2

Staying easy in Week 1. Most of these are words you at least vaguely know. Remember, become very familiar not only with the definition, but with examples of these. :)

Motif
Parallel Structure
Allusion
Conceit
Parable
Free Verse
Diction
Romance (not of the Friday night/Valentine's Day variety)
Couplet
Connotation

Week of January 11

Here we are, first full week of the last semester of high school! You have made it! :)

Monday, 1/11
Discuss Sir Gawaine and Le Morte

Tuesday, 1/12
Intro Seminar to Mac

Wednesday, 1/13
Mac Act I

Thursday, 1/14
1- AP Prac
2- TT

Friday, 1/15
Mac Act I
Journals Due

Week of 1/6

WELCOME BACK!!! I am excited about another semester! Remember... this is just a slice, but it's a very important one! :) Cherish the gift of TODAY.

Wednesday, 1/6

TED Talk, discussion

Thursday, 1/7

Intro to Unit 3

Housekeeping (TT signups, Love month book)

Friday, 1/8

Kafka due

Kafka discussion

Assign Sir Gawaine and Le Morte