Dear parents & students,
February is fast coming to a close. Eek! That means it’s time for me to update everyone on what we’re doing and where we’re going as we head into spring.
In Intro to Shakespeare, we have just begun our fourth play and our first tragedy. Macbeth is a perennial favorite because 1) it’s shorter than other plays, 2) the plot is unbelievably fascinating, and 3) the language is compelling. If you think you know little or nothing about Shakespeare, you probably are familiar with famous lines from Macbeth:
- Weird sisters: “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”
- Weird sister #2: “By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.”
- Macbeth: “It is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
- Lady Macbeth: “Out, damned spot out, I say!”
- Macduff: “What… in one fell swoop?”
In addition to completing a word study and participating in classroom activities, students will prepare a dramatic reading for the final project. More details will be announced in the coming weeks.
Lastly, I distributed video permission slips yesterday to students who will be attending the April 1 performance of Henry IV, Part 1 at Blackfriars. The theater company needs this form completed and signed in order to admit students. There are instructions to opt out, and I need all forms returned to me next week, March 2.
In writing news, we have begun the research process. Yesterday was the first checkpoint for students. If your student was present, I checked for three source cards and 30 note cards. Let me again reiterate that if your student is absent, the research project deadlines still apply. Because this is an ongoing two-month assignment and because I am purposely not assigning other work, it is not okay to ask for–or assume–delayed due dates.
Next week I need all CPW students to bring in source source cards–formatted in MLA style–and 60 note cards. If you were short on sources or notes yesterday or if you were absent and did not email me, this is your one week of grace: I will retroactively give a grade for yesterday’s assignment when I see all 60+6 cards. Please understand that if you do not bring me physical cards, I can’t give you a grade–no matter how amazing a person you are.
Yesterday students turned in their second set of dialectical journals. I have not begun grading them, but I do know that not everyone submitted this assignment. Again, let me say that dialectical journals are an ongoing assignment; no one should spend more than 30 minutes a week reading and responding to the assigned topic. At a couple of points during the research project, I will assign specific journal prompts; however, it will not be a regular, weekly assignment.
Finally, dear writing students, let me encourage you to use the research packet that I lovingly wrote, copied, and collated for you. There is a wealth of helpful information contained within your packets. Let me also encourage you to use https://www.noodletools.com/free/ to format your source cards and, ultimately, your works cited pages.
Fondly,
Mrs. Ford
Read This, Write That 