Temporarily offline

I regret to announce that Battle Creek Public School's technology department is now blocking access to Blogger.com from school. (Blogger is a free service used to publish weblogs like this one. Some inappropriate blogs use Blogger to post -- but the inappropriate stuff is not actually on Blogger but at another hosting platform. Nonetheless, they've decided to throw the baby out with the bathwater and ban all access from Blogger.)

Since I can not access this blog from school, I can not keep it updated.

I will keep you posted if (and when) this blog re-appears. I hope to have this resolved before the start of second semester.

Act 4 and beyond

Today we began by sharing our notes from Act 3 and our homework analysis of Antony's funeral oration. Then we discussed how to organize our own persuasive speeches so that they too will have logos, pathos and ethos. A rough draft of the persuasive speech is due Wednesday, January 17th.

We also were assigned reading Act 4 as homework over the weekend and there is a worksheet to complete on it (and another worksheet as extra credit).

Finally, we had a preview for tomorrow's activity: we'll meet in the computer lab to research how Shakespeare used Plutarch as a source in his writing. Tonight everyone should begin reading over the instructions for the activity (found at www.cjgilbert.net/ase/jc/plutarch.htm) and then login to www.nicenet.org to get familiar with it.

I don't want all of the internet to know how to get in to our nicenet discussion, so I'm going to give you most of the key with only one letter removed:
7Z79995*27

Where * is, instead use the first letter for the name of the play we read right before Julius Caesar.

Logos, pathos and ethos

Today we reviewed the events of 3.3 and then took notes on persuasive rhetoric, including logos, pathos and ethos. We will be using these in our own persuasive speeches to be delivered in front of the class. Then we watched most of Antony's funeral oration and homework is to analyze how he used logos, pathos and ethos.

Also: You should have your Act 3 notes (persona journal, dramatic irony paragraph, literary technique quotes) ready tomorrow as well.

Friends, Romans, and Countrymen...

Today we started with a pop quiz over the end of 3.1. Then we read 3.2 and analyzed how Antony manipulated the crowd in his famous funeral oration.

Homework:

• Come to class tomorrow with 2-3 possible topics you would like to give a persuasive speech on. The topics must be ones that you can argue from personal experience (e.g. no additional research necessary)
• Read 3.3 as homework

Et tu, Brute?

Today we began class by journaling, and then we shared some of our persona and dramatic irony journals from Act 2 of Julius Caesar.

We ended class by performing most of 3.1. -- your homework is to finish reading 3.1

Caesar shall go forth!

Today we performed and discussed scene 2 of act 2 of Julius Caesar. We also shared some literary techniques orally.

Homework for the weekend: Read scenes 3 & 4 of act 2, and write both your persona journals and your dramatic irony journal. Be prepared to share on Monday!

Like a snake in an egg...

Today we performed and discussed scene 1 from act 2 of Julius Caesar. As homework, everyone should begin their persona journals for Act 2 and also look for literary techniques in Act 2 so far.