HYPERBOLE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN AIR!

For today’s task, you are going to be identifying instances of hyperbole in the poem “Sarah Cynthia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out.” Once you identify the hyperboles, you must then explain the effect that it has on the reader.

Questions to consider:
Does it make your visualize something?
Does it emphasize a point?
Does it help you to understand something?
Does it make the poem more entertaining or funny?

In your entry, include:
4 – 5 different instances of hyperbole
4 – 5 lines from the poem that are hyperbole
Explanations of each of the instances of hyperbole
Explanations of the effect that the hyperbole has on the reader

CLICK HERE FOR THE POEM!

Discovery Learning - Oxymorons and Paradoxes

Today we are going to try a new type of learning, a style of learning that requires you take charge of what you accomplish in one forty minute lesson. We are going to try “Discovery Learning.”

Discovery Learning allows you to be in control of important concepts and skills that you learn in class.

Your goal today is to define, explain, and utilize oxymorons and paradoxes in your writing. You may use any tool or website that you find helpful.

In your post, include the following:

1. A definition of BOTH terms
2. An Example and Non-Example of each
3. Write a short piece in which you use 1 oxymoron and 1 paradox.
4. Use complete sentences.

Understatements are somewhat interesting

Your task today is to compose a short blog entry and to utilize understatements in your writing. Be sure to consider the positive and negative connotations of the words you use as you write.

The topic of your writing is “Staying Smart through Summer”

What is your Plan?

Today, the day before we start our last unit of study for the year, we would like you to take this opportunity to think about what you have been doing this year and how it will impact your life in the big picture.

We would like you compose a 2 – 4 paragraph analysis of your work so far this year and your hopes for your career after high school.

In your comment, include the following:

1. Assess your progress this year: did you accomplish everything that you wanted to? Why or why not? If you could have done something different, what would it be and why?
2. What are your plans for after high school? Do you want to go to college, a trade school, or start working? Which professions are you interested in? If you are interested in going to college, what majors are you interested in and why?
3. What are some steps you can take to make sure that you accomplish your goals? Have you put serious thought into these yet? If not, what can you do make sure you stay focused on accomplishing your dreams?

If you are interested in going to college, the website listed below will help you start the college process off right. The link to the site is:
http://www.college-scholarships.com/ten_rules_for_selecting_a_college_or_universities.htm

Brutus and Booth - One and the Same?

We just finished reading Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar.” As we have discussed and experienced, the play deals with many issues of human nature, including: betrayal, trust, loyalty, justice, and leadership. There have been many instances in real life that reflect what happens in plays, one of the most famous is John Wilkes Booth’s assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

Read this diary entry, which Booth wrote after he killed Lincoln, and compare it to Brutus’s decision to kill Caesar. Be sure to note his mention of Shakespeare’s character, Brutus, in his diary entry.

Once you have read the entry, answer 3 of 7 questions (you decide which 3!) listed below and post them as a comment. Use complete sentences and evidence from the text to support your answers.

1. Describe how Booth justifies the shooting of Abraham Lincoln in his diary entry. How does this compare to the way Shakespeare's character Brutus justifies the assassination of Julius Caesar?

2. Assess Booth's claims that his "action was purer than" that of Brutus and that he never sought any personal gain.

3. How do you think Brutus might respond to the claims made in Booth's diary? What might these two figures, Booth and Brutus, say to each other if they met?

4. Diary entries like Booth's give us access to a writer's innermost thoughts. How do we gain access the innermost thoughts of a dramatic character like Shakespeare's Brutus?

5. Why do you think Booth kept a diary after shooting Lincoln? (Do you think he ever anticipated that the diary would be read and/or published? If so, does this change the way we read and interpret the diary? In other words, is it possible that Booth's journal entries were crafted to sway his potential readers?)

6. Do you think there is ever any way to justify the assassination of a political leader? Why or why not?

7. Has reading Booth's diary changed your perception of Brutus's actions in the play?

Walking in Antony's Shoes

As you know, we have been reading William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, a play that deals with major human issues like loyalty, revenge, and power. We just finished the death of Julius Caesar and Mark Anonty’s speech to the people of Rome, a speech that is so heavily laced with irony and the rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, and logos) that it convinced all of the citizens to believe in his cause. Today, you will be comparing yourself to Mark Antony.

Your Task Today:
Rewrite Anonty’s speech from Act III, Scene II in modern language.

Steps to Take/Questions to Consider:
Step 1- Think about Anonty’s Position. What would you do if you were in his shoes?
Step 2 – Re-read and evaluate Anonty’s speech. How would this speech be different if it were given today?
Step 3 – Rewrite the speech in today’s language as YOU would write it. How can you convert the speech to today’s language while still maintaining the heavy uses of irony and ethos, pathos, and logos?

Rubric for Assignment:
Proficient – the speech is rewritten in modern language, yet still maintains the major points and integrity of the speech, the re-written speech is at least 3 paragraphs long and is well-written with proper grammar and strong vocabulary words
Non-Proficient – The speech is not rewritten in modern language, nor does it maintain the major points or integrity of the speech, the speech is less than 3 paragraphs and does not use proper grammar or a strong vocabulary

Bonus Question (only to be answer if speech is re-written) – In Julius Caesar, Brutus is able to convince the “ignorant masses” relatively quickly, and then Antony is able to convince them just as quickly to agree with him, a completely opposite opinion. With this is mind, what do you think Shakespeare is saying about the rhetoric in our lives?