Secondly, each group was given a line to act out in the given emotion. They were able to add one line if it helped. One person said the line, and the rest of the group reacted appropriately.

Finally, we looked at the rubric for the acting/translation project and made any necessary changes. That rubric is available below by clicking on “Read the rest of this entry”.

Also, clicking on “Read the rest of this entry” will give you a list of the emotions and lines acted out by the class. For more practice, you can work on conveying these emotions by saying these lines. Remember, we will be acting in class on Wednesday! Hooray!

Romeo and Juliet Acting Project Rubric

Translation:

• Translation is accurate: 15 points
• Characters are portrayed accurately: 5 points
• Emotions are mapped out: 5 points

Acting:

• Logical emotions and reactions: 7 points
• Enunciation / Clarity: 7 points
• Blocking / Motions: 6 points
• Creativity / Effort: 5 points

Total: 50 points

Emotions:

• Pleasantly surprised
• Determined
• Suspicious
• Frightened
• Cautious
• Satisfied
• In pain
• Helpless
• Relieved
• Proud
• Jealous
• In love
• Disappointed

Lines:

• “It’s okay, the bear couldn’t get the door open.”
• “Hold on, I have to take this.”
• “Jim lives in Minnesota, with his wife and two sons.”
• “You ate that artichoke awfully fast.”
• “There is absolutely nothing wrong with climbing that tree.”
• “Gum is not a cure for children with diseases.”
• “There’s a bunch of kittens out in that barn.”
• “It’s beginning to look like Superman won’t save you this time.”
• “I am going to love using these new pens, you guys.”
• “If I have to pull an all-nighter, I will.”
• “You don’t need a reason to dress up like Will Smith.”
• “She has a lot of seizures, but she’s happy for me.”
• “There’s nothing like extra-greasy lamb chops before bed.”

Coming soon…

I apologize for my tardiness in updating this website in the days leading up to Spring Break. I know that this is a resource, and that you have come to rely on it. I resolve to do a better job of updating the site in the future.

If you have questions about what you’ve missed, please e-mail me or come in before school, after school, or during access time.

I am here because I want you to succeed, and I will help you to do what it takes to get you there. Thank you for your patience.

In class, you were given time to finish the long essay portion of the Macbeth Test of Glory. Afterward, we began watching Schindler’s List. We will continue the film this week as we begin to preview our next unit.

One reminder – Please bring me your permission slip for Schindler’s List if you haven’t yet. We will begin watching the movie on Monday, and I want everyone to be able to take part!

• Section I: Multiple choice. 13 questions, 2 points each.
• Section II: Quotes. 7 questions, 3 points each.
• Section III: Short answer. 6 questions, 3 points each.
• Section IV: Short essay. 3 questions, 10 points each.
• Section V: Long essay. 1 question, 30 points.

Remember to study three things:

1. Characters. Who are they? What do they do in the play? What motivates them?
2. Plot. What happens in the play? Who does what? What are the important parts of each act?
3. Themes. How does your assigned theme (from the Great Frame-Up assignment) relate to the characters in the play?

If you prepare well in those three areas, you will succeed on this test. Don’t forget to check out the No Fear Shakespeare version of the play if you need help understanding the Shakespearean language!

Also, progress reports are coming out this weekend and I expect to include at least the first four sections of your test.

Study hard and get some sleep! I’m looking forward to seeing you demonstrate your knowledge on this test.

Then, we had a sketchpad entry that will help you with voice, word choice, and sentence fluency on the WASL  (or with any writing, for that matter). The title of the sketchpad entry is “Very Very Exciting Person”.

Write these letters down the left side of your sketchpad:

• V
• V
• E
• P

When you’re writing for the WASL, you want your readers to think that you’re a very very exciting person. If you follow these four tricks at the end of each paragraph you write, there is no reason why you shouldn’t get a 3 or 4 for these aspects of the Content, Organization and Style grade.

Here’s what those letters stand for:

• Vitality: Look through your paragraph and find all your verbs. Make sure they are full of life! If you wrote “I went to the store,” think about how you went to the store. Did you sprint to the store? Did you mosey to the store? Did you saunter to the store? Did you scurry to the store?
• Variety: When you’re done writing a paragraph, count the number of words on each sentence. If you were to make a chart of sentence lengths, it should look like the Rocky Mountains, not the Great Plains. Vary those sentence lengths! Long sentence, short sentence, medium sentence, short sentence, long sentence, and on and on.
• Economy: Avoid redundancies. Make your point in a few powerful words rather than a large number of clumsy words. Also, make sure your sentences aren’t too long. Often, you can split a long sentence into a short sentence and a medium sentence. If you do that, you’re using Economy and creating Variety! Whoa!
• Precision: This is very similar to Vitality, except instead of verbs, look at all your nouns. Make sure each noun is precise! If you say “I went home and sat on my favorite chair,” okay. Most people probably know what you’re saying, but you aren’t creating a picture in their minds. What kind of chair was it? Was it your favorite rocking chair? Your favorite desk chair? Your favorite recliner? Your favorite stool? Your favorite bean bag chair?

If you use these four tips, I guarantee you’ll be adding voice and sentence fluency to your writing. Best of luck!

Then we continued reading Act I of Romeo and Juliet!

Progress reports are coming up this week, and some of your grades are looking a little sickly. Please come in during access time to make up any assignments you may be missing.

Our test is coming up on Friday; make sure your sketchpad is up to date!

Remember that every day we read, you can expect a quiz the next day. Therefore, we will have a quiz over the end of Act I on Monday.