Monday: We’ll start the week by reading Act 5.1 aloud. I’m going to draw your attention to Lady Macbeth and all of her crazy, and there is a short (and really obvious) lecture about blood as a symbol in the scene.

Homework: Read 5.2 (it will take a total of 3 minutes).

Tuesday: We’ll start the day off with our weekly grammar installment, then move in to reading 5.3 and 5.4 aloud. Again, I have a few things that we’ll be focused on, primarily through lecture. My focus will be on Shakepeare’s use of blank verse versus (see what I did there?) more traditional meters.

Wednesday: We’ll spend a bunch of time with 5.5, which we’ll read in class, and Macbeth’s famous soliloquy about how meaningless life is.

Thursday: Grammar. Read 5.6 and 5.7 in class. People will die. It will be sad.

Friday: We’ll push the grammar quiz until Friday next, as we’ll be spending 2 weeks on the same topic, and will conclude our Macbeth fun with our MacFinal on Friday. I will also hand you, as an exit piece, the prompt for your MacEssay. You have some work to do on it over the weekend, and I’ll discuss it prior to your exit.

Homework: Begin MacEssay.

This is your week. I’m not going to write much, as I’m trying to do a thousand things right now.

Monday: We’ll watch Act 4.1 after we finish discussing 3.4. It will be great.

Tuesday: See Monday.

Wednesday: After I collect your Outside Reading projects we’ll be reading part of Act 4.1 and discussing the apparitions that appear to Macbeth. Afterwards you’ll be asked to work through a series of short questions on the scene.

Homework: Complete 4.1 Study Guide.

Thursday: We’ll be reading/discussing Act 4.2, and we’ll also watch part of the scene. I have a short lecture on this scene that ties into the study questions from Wednesday also. We’ll end the day with a short set of Study Guide Questions which I’ll post shortly.

Homework: Read 4.3

Friday: We’ll be discussing 4.3 through our Study Guide Questions

Homework: Eat yummy things.

Monday: We’ll be reading through most of III.i, and working through a short series of questions on the text. See below for the complete list of questions.

Homework: Read III.ii.

Tuesday: Tuesday will look much the same as Monday, but with Act III.ii and one more set of questions. Here are the questions for Act III Scenes One and Two.

Homework over the Turkey Day: For Extra Credit, print this picture of a turkey, color it, print it, and take a picture of it with your family. I’ll give you extra credit points for the most creative “family portrait.” I require a hard copy, so no cell pics. Bring the picture Monday for credit Also, finish reading Act III.

Monday: To start the week we’ll be jumping into the editing of your essays on Romanticism. Remember that you need to bring two copies of your essay for our peer editing. If you miss class on Monday, you can find the peer edit protocol here so that you can do it with a friend. We should get through at least one complete edit during class. Before you do any of the editing I’m going to show you a little more clearly how I expect you to edit.

Homework: Make sure that you bring your essays back for class on Tuesday for our second day of editing.

Tuesday: Tuesday is day two of our editing. Again, you’ll need your essay and a copy of the peer editing sheet, your essay, and some other folks to help you.

Homework: Your essays will be due Tuesday after break. In the meantime, here’s your extra credit assignment over the break. Just print this picture, color it, and take a picture of your family with it. You must bring in a hard copy of the picture on Monday for extra credit.

Monday: To start the week I’ll be introducing our story for the week, as well as the associated vocabulary (side note: we’ll be rolling our vocabulary over from last week). We’ll read the first part of it aloud, and we’ll be focusing on characterization and symbolism, specifically on how the novel’s characters fit in to definite… um… stereotypes.

Homework: Finish reading Chapter One for class tomorrow. You’ll need to know plenty about each of the characters introduced in the exposition.

Tuesday: We’ll begin the day with Grammar #7, then we’ll work through Chapter One of Bartleby by discussing the characters and what they represent. The second half of the day will be set aside for you to begin/finish reading Chapter Two.

Homework: Finish reading Chapter Two.

Wednesday: We’ll start with Grammar #8, then I have some questions for you dealing with chapter two. We’ll work through them in class, then discuss. Whatever time is left will be for you to read Chapter Three.

Homework: Read Chapter 3

Thursday: We’ll begin the day with two quizzes: first, the Grammar Quiz, then the vocabulary quiz. The end of the day will be a short group work piece dealing with our story. I’ll post it ASAP.

Monday: We’ll be reading one of my absolute favorite stories by Poe, The Cask of Amantillado. As we do, I’ll be presenting more notes on Romanticism (which I’ll post here sometime after 1st period), but for a terrific load of info, check out this site. You’ll need to finish reading the story during the course of the period/the evening. I’m asking you to keep a dialectical journal (minimum 5 entries) that looks specifically for Romantic elements in addition to your general observations. For an example, check this out.

Homework: Complete your dialectical journal entries for the start of class! You’ll need them Tuesday.

Tuesday: After a quick grammar warm-up we’ll transition into a small-group activity with your dialectical journals in which I’ll be asking you to work through a series of questions on the text. You can find those questions here. We’ll be ending the day with a set of vocabulary terms for our next story for the week, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Birthmark.

Homework: Read the first 5 (through the top of page 9) pages of The Birthmark. I’ll mark the pages for you in class. I’ll hand you a small set of Study Questions as you leave which I will stamp, but not collect, in class on Wednesday.

Wednesday: You’ll be working through a series of questions that will ask you to start looking at some specific literary devices that Hawthorne is using in his story. I’ll be asking you specifically to look at allegory, allusion, and foreshadowing. I’ll stamp this Thursday and you’ll turn it in Friday.

Homework: Read through the top of page 15 and complete the accompanying Study Questions.

Thursday: We’ll begin the day with another installment of our grammar unit (during which I’ll stamp your Study Questions). We’ll spend some time in class discussing the story thus far, and I’ll lecture briefly on the role of nature in Hawthorne’s story.

Homework: Finish the story. You’ll have one last set of discussion questions to complete as well.

Friday: We’ll begin this final day of the week with our Grammar Quiz, which will be followed immediately with your vocabulary quiz. The week will end with a discussion of Hawthorne’s piece and its classification as Romantic.

I’ve been thinking about it, and have decided that it would be beneficial for us to wander down to the theatre today for play previews. This will, of course, slightly alter our schedule for the week, but I don’t think that it will be too detrimental. In fact, I’m excited for you to see some students who have been working on putting together a play so that perhaps you can consider ways that you can work on your own. That said, here’s what the week will look like now:

Tuesday: First you’ll turn in your Study Questions on Young Goodman Brown, then we’ll wander down to the theatre as a class.

Wednesday: I’ll hand back your Study Questions (with stamps!) and we’ll go over them briefly, considering especially the motifs that Hawthorne develops and the opposite (binary) roles that nature and the village take in the story. We’ll also be reading Poe’s story/poem The Raven. The end of the day will be given to you working in your small presentation groups.

Thursday: We’ll be reading Poe’s story The Tell Tale Heart aloud and working on some Study Questions about the story, then ending the day with a bit more time to work in our groups.

Friday: Friday will be presentation day. I think that we have few enough groups that we’ll be able to get through all of them on Friday.