beautiful downtown vernon hills

That's where I am spending my spring break! And, I might add, the ten-day forecast calls for snow showers this weekend and a high temperature over break of 49 next Friday.

I wanna go to Florida!!!

That being said...

I shall now proceed to make your lives as miserable as mine will be for the next ten days. (I'm just kidding. I thought I'd say that, though, since I know you'll be thinking it.)

E3H:

• RW: You should all have your RW books. So read them! Each group selects its own pace and determines whether or not there will be posting over break. (If not, though, there must be lots of posting upon your return.) When you finish the first book, choose another!
• Shakespeare: We've now watched both Macbeth and Othello, two excellent examples of films made from Shakespearean tragedies, and two very different tragedies. (If you missed these films, I encourage you to rent and watch them. They were, respectively, the Roman Polanski 1979 Macbeth and the Oliver Parker 1997 Othello.)
• Read at least one of these plays over break. (Don't worry if you don't quite finish it, but do make a solid effort.) In doing so, you may wish to annotate...for yourself...if that helps you to understand things. The movie versions severely truncate the dialogue; it is critical that you actually read the play(s). Some of you will be reading one play; some the other. It is your option which.
  
• When you return, we will be engaging in large and small group--and individual and online--activities that seek to understand what Shakespearean tragedy is all about and how it differs from the Greek tragedy we've been studying. We'll draw from these two and from Romeo and Juliet as well in our discussions.

E2H:

• RW: You should each have a "beach reading" book selected; take it with you over break. I'd like everyone to post a review online about your book when you return. Use this as a model, but add some more depth the paragraphs in which you discuss your opinion of the book. This will be a graded RW assignment.
• Catcher in the Rye is due at the end of break. At that point we will begin discussing the book and you will begin your "journal" of Holden-style entries. Between now and then, I need to see the first example of your work on this project so I can provide feedback. You do not have any entries due over break, but you may use the time to get ahead. However, do not try to do this assignment before reading significantly into the book.
• Don't forget to ponder in what ways Holden might be a bananafish...

Drama:

• Monologue performances begin on the day we return. Be ready.
• I will be collecting scored scripts as you perform your monologue(s). If you wish to email me a scored script over break for initial feedback, feel free to do so.

Something for fun:



and a bit of March madness...



have a great break...


--kt