Final days.

Schema: SAT

Genre - short story

Lesson: There are only 10 days before final exams begin. We will do a number of things in this period. First, we will look at the prose genre, short story. Second, we will review sentence structure and mechanic issues related to sentences. Third, we will review the texts we’ve read this semester and the literary concepts used to examine the texts; this will be for the final exam. While we are doing this, you will complete your electronic portfolio. For some students, it will be necessary that they revise and edit their Dante essays. I will have the Shakespeare essays graded by next Monday, and I suspect there will be a need for some students to revise and edit this essay. I will be available to meet after school this week to work with you on essay edits.

Today, let’s look at the short story. This will be independent work. Go to “What Makes a Good Short Story” and follow the instructions. The site uses a short story to explore five elements of a short story. Your task is to read the story, create a list of characters and plot events, and take notes on the story elements explained in the site. Provide character detail and description when you make your character list. I suggest you begin by reviewing the elements of a short story and then read the story. As you read the story, the site will allow you to link to the elements to reinforce your learning.

I will be available if you wish to discuss your Dante essays during class. This lesson will continue tomorrow.

Homework: Work on character list and plot events. Revise and edit Dante essay. Organize notes and begin final exam review.

Happy Holidays

Scrooge - Disney

I changed my mind after watching Scrooge's conversion.

No assigned work for the holiday. However, you may earn extra credit if you do the assignment in the previous post.

For those with failed Dante essays, you may re-write and give me your new paper after the holiday

Holiday Learning

To keep your mind working over the holiday, I have a small extra credit task for you. This assignment is worth 10 points, an easy 10 points.

We watched the movie, A Christmas Carol. Your task is to connect the ideas we’ve learned and texts we’ve studied to Dicken’s famous work. Via comments to this site (remember not to use your own name) or in an e-mail to me, please answer the following questions:

What is the theme of A Christmas Carol?
How is Scrooge like Dante?
How is Marley’s ghost like the sinners in the Inferno?
List the archetypes you see in the story and connect them.
Additional observations and connections will be appreciated.

The response to each question should be no more than two-three carefully crafted, correct sentences.

Bah Humbug!

We spend the next few days with Scrooge and Marley. Take a few moments and start to read the great story. I really think you will like it - if you give it a chance. The message still resonates today.

Henry V Unit Test

Test today.

Work on essay drafts that are due tomorrow. We will have a writers workshop devoted to the Henry V essays.

Focus on developing a strong thesis statement and clear topic sentences.

Also, be sure to introduce your quotes and then analyze the quotes. Do not leave them hanging in the middle of a paragraph unintroduced and unexplained. I found this information helpful.

We will also begin to discuss Dicken's A Christmas Carol in tomorrow's class.

Edward, the Black Prince of Wales

Schema: Quiz

Act IV.3 of Henry V features one of Shakespeare’s great motivational speeches, Henry’s St. Crispin Day speech. The speech is before the Battle of Agincourt. The scene opens with Henry’s nobles bemoaning the number of men at hand and the condition of their army. Henry responds with the rationale that they should not want more men because there would be fewer honors for each of them, ‘the fewer men, the greater share of honor.” (IV.3, 23) It is a masterful example of motivation and manipulation (depending on your level of cynicism).

Henry’s response to Montjoy’s request for ransom and surrender is also masterful and brave. He tells him to “achieve me, and then sell my bones.” (IV.3, 92) This is done more for the benefit of his listening men than Montjoy. Both of these speeches are forms of indirect characterization.

One of the four plot elements, climax, is seen in IV.7 when the suspense, the action that has built since Act I, is relieved with Montjoy's line “The day is yours.” (86) My feeling is that this one line is the climax; all is resolved and everything going forward is driven by this climax, the ending of the conflict.

Please be aware that we are fortunate to see the full battle, in all its gore and glory. This did not happen in the play; imagination was needed to fill these scenes, which is why the Chorus keeps referencing imagination and the feeble attempt to represent the battle “[w]ith four or five most vile and ragged foils.” (IV.1, 50) By the way, foils are swords.

Fact to remember: Edward, the Black Prince of Wales (his armor was black) also beat the French in a battle similar in odds to those at Agincourt. The battle is referred to in II.4, “[w]hen Crecy battle fatally was struck.” (54) Crecy was to Edward as Agincourt was to Henry.

Conflict - Act IV

The archers of Agincourt

Schema: Quiz

We reviewed conflict, the struggle between the protagonist and the opposing force, and five types of conflict:

Person vs. Self (Internal conflict)
Person vs. Person (Interpersonal conflict)
Person vs. Society
Person vs. Nature
Person vs. Fate

The protagonist is the central character of the story (person, animal, thing) and the antagonist is in opposition.

We see a lot of internal conflict in modern work (remember modern for me goes back to Dante), and we see person vs. fate more often in ancient works of the polytheistic era. Person vs., Society is also a recent, popular conflict with text such as 1984, Animal Farm, and Brave New World. In Henry V, we see Henry in conflict with himself, especially over his legitimacy as king because of his father’s “compassing the crown!” (IV.I 287) There is also interpersonal conflict with Henry representing England while the Dauphin represents France.

In Act IV, we see yet another side of Henry, the reflective, thoughtful man, who would be king. Shakespeare beautifully develops Henry’s complex, contradictory character through his speech and action (indirect characterization). Remember that a soliloquy is a dramatic dialogue, when the character speaking to him or herself reveals their inner thoughts to the audience. Henry has two back to back soliloquies: one about the burden of kingship (probably directed toward Elizabeth I) and the other asking God not to exact punishment for Richard’s death on Henry and his troops.

The scene with Williams and Bates is a continuation of the God and Justification theme in the play. It highlights the issue, which climaxes and finally reveals Henry’s ultimate concern, his legitimacy in the eyes of God, with the final soliloquy.

So the scene is set for the Battle of Agincourt. Read the link about the battle as it will help you understand the next section of the play. Henry’s St. Crispin Speech is a classic. He will rally the troops, destroy the French, and move onto Act V.

The Agincourt cross over the graves of unnamed French dead

Homework: read the Crispin speech, the Agincourt website, and be prepared for the quiz