Beginning the week of 10/10, we will begin reading Hamlet in class. Students will be assigned Hamlet essays every two weeks pertinent to eighth grade Common Core Standards and Vocabulary.
Assignment #1 (Due 10/21)
Write three individual paragraphs (of 150 words each) in the style of different levels of Shakespeare's audience: write one paragraph as a groundling, one as a merchant sitting in the stalls, and one as an aristocrat sitting in the balcony of the Globe Theater. Confine your comments to what you enjoyed or disliked about Act I of Hamlet. (450-word minimum)
In first paragraph, use simple and compound sentences only. Form these sentences in the (1) indicative and (2) interrogative mood.
In second paragraph, use compound and complex sentences only. Form these sentences in the (1) indicative, (2) interrogative, (3) imperative, and (4) conditional mood
In third paragraph, use compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences only. Form these sentences in the (1) indicative, (2) interrogative, (3) imperative, (4) conditional, and (5) subjunctive mood.
AFTER EACH SENTENCE IN ALL THREE PARAGRAPHS, WRITE THE NUMBER OF EACH MOOD (AS LISTED ABOVE):
Run to the Globe Theater this week. (3) The gossip amongst the rank and file is that Master Shakespeare is playing the honest ghost in the first act. (1)
Use at least eight terms altogether from Unit 1 of Vocabulary Workshop.
Assignment #2 (Due 11/4)
Write an additional scene for Act II of Hamlet that attempts to emulate Shakespeare's style. It must be written in play format, i.e.,
Hamlet: __________________________________________________________________
Ophelia: _________________________________________________________________
Claudius: ________________________________________________________________
Hamlet (aside): ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
As an interesting feature, research commonly used words and slang from Shakespeare's time and include them in your scene with footnotes at the bottom explaining their meanings. Choose characters you would want to know more about and write a scene about them that fits between scenes or acts of the play.
Make sure you employ a good number of Shakespeare's rhetorical devices, such as simile, metaphor, personification, biblical and mythical allusions, alliteration/assonance, onomatopoeia, symbolism, irony, hyperbole, rhyming couplets at the ends of passages.
Your scene must be at least 60 lines long and use any 15 spelling terms from the Word List index in the back of Vocabulary Workshop.
Assignment #3 (Due 11/18)
Using the 6-8 English Language Arts Vocabulary handout of 150 terms from the back of the Common Core Standards that every eighth grader must be familiar with prior to graduation, write examples of any 60 terms found of this word list that you can relate to Act III of Hamlet.
Examples:
Allusion: In Act III, scene 2 (line 97), Polonius alludes to Julius Caesar's assassination by Brutus.
Alliteration: In Act III, scene 2 (line 162), the Player says, "Where little fears grow great, great love grows there."
You are also permitted to write sentences about Act III as examples of some of these terms:
Passive voice: In scene 4, Gertrude is devastated by Hamlet's denunciation of her.
(Make sure you don't use my examples for your assignment)
Assignment #4 (Due 12/2)
Write an essay about Act IV of Hamlet in which each numbered sentence in the essay is used to demonstrate all questions found at the bottom of the "Sentence Challenge" on page 164 in your Voyages text. You may even use the same 12 questions on this page, and work in reverse so that your essay contains the exact same constructions as this exercise, such as dependent clauses, noun clauses, simple or complete subjects, etc. Include your own answer sheet for your own "Sentence Challenge" exercise. Make sure your references to Act IV show familiarity with the scenes, and include no errors of grammar, punctuation, or spelling.
Use ten spelling terms from eighth grade Spell Check list showing correct use and context clues.
Assignment #5 Project (Due date TBD)
Students will form teams to condense (edit), storyboard, direct, enact, and film Act V of Hamlet on their own, with certain restrictions on content.
READING AND COMMUNICATION GRADES (for Enactment of assigned parts)
Hamlet scenes (teacher-annotated as of October 8)
Note: Number of lines for each assigned scene in Acts I-IV appears in parenthesis. Memorize parts by Friday, November 4.
Act I, scene 1: Marcellus (11): MB
Horatio (25): MC
Barnardo (4): Au.M
Act I, scene 2: Claudius (36): LG
Laertes (2): WA
Polonius (1): MB
Hamlet (60): RF/DD
Gertrude (6): KM
Horatio (19): MC
Act II, scene 3: Polonius (24): MB
Laertes (1): WA
Ophelia (8): EA
Act I, scene 4: Horatio (10): MC
Hamlet (5): BC
Marcellus (2): MB
Act I, scene 5: Hamlet (29): BC
Ghost (29): TJ
Horatio (3): MC
Act II, scene 1: Polonius (4): AL
Ophelia (24): EA
Act II, scene 2: Claudius (15): Au.M
Gertrude (7): KM
Polonius (47): AL
Hamlet (84): LH/BB
Guildenstern (6): JP
Rosencrantz (5): ED
Act III, scene 1: Claudius (16): Al.M
Gertrude (8): KM
Rosencrantz (6): ED
Polonius (8): AL
Hamlet (68): LO
Act III, scene 2: Hamlet (25): CR
Claudius (4): Al.M
Gertrude (1): KM
Polonius (2): AL
Ophelia (4): EA
Horatio (1): MC
Guildenstern (6): JP
Rosencrantz (2): ED
Act III, scene 3: Claudius (21): Al.M
Polonius (3): AL
Hamlet (14): AK
Act III, scene 4: Hamlet (41): AK
Gertrude (19): KM
Polonius (2): MB
Ghost (4): TJ
Act IV, scene 2: Hamlet (11): AK
Rosencrantz (6): ED
Act IV, scene 3: Claudius (28): JP
Hamlet (11); AK
Act IV, scene 5 and 7 (combined): Gentleman (11): LG
Ophelia (22): ED
Gertrude (14): KM
Claudius (39): GC
Laertes (29): WA
Assignment #1 (Due 10/21)
Write three individual paragraphs (of 150 words each) in the style of different levels of Shakespeare's audience: write one paragraph as a groundling, one as a merchant sitting in the stalls, and one as an aristocrat sitting in the balcony of the Globe Theater. Confine your comments to what you enjoyed or disliked about Act I of Hamlet. (450-word minimum)
In first paragraph, use simple and compound sentences only. Form these sentences in the (1) indicative and (2) interrogative mood.
In second paragraph, use compound and complex sentences only. Form these sentences in the (1) indicative, (2) interrogative, (3) imperative, and (4) conditional mood
In third paragraph, use compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences only. Form these sentences in the (1) indicative, (2) interrogative, (3) imperative, (4) conditional, and (5) subjunctive mood.
AFTER EACH SENTENCE IN ALL THREE PARAGRAPHS, WRITE THE NUMBER OF EACH MOOD (AS LISTED ABOVE):
Run to the Globe Theater this week. (3) The gossip amongst the rank and file is that Master Shakespeare is playing the honest ghost in the first act. (1)
Use at least eight terms altogether from Unit 1 of Vocabulary Workshop.
Assignment #2 (Due 11/4)
Write an additional scene for Act II of Hamlet that attempts to emulate Shakespeare's style. It must be written in play format, i.e.,
Hamlet: __________________________________________________________________
Ophelia: _________________________________________________________________
Claudius: ________________________________________________________________
Hamlet (aside): ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
As an interesting feature, research commonly used words and slang from Shakespeare's time and include them in your scene with footnotes at the bottom explaining their meanings. Choose characters you would want to know more about and write a scene about them that fits between scenes or acts of the play.
Make sure you employ a good number of Shakespeare's rhetorical devices, such as simile, metaphor, personification, biblical and mythical allusions, alliteration/assonance, onomatopoeia, symbolism, irony, hyperbole, rhyming couplets at the ends of passages.
Your scene must be at least 60 lines long and use any 15 spelling terms from the Word List index in the back of Vocabulary Workshop.
Assignment #3 (Due 11/18)
Using the 6-8 English Language Arts Vocabulary handout of 150 terms from the back of the Common Core Standards that every eighth grader must be familiar with prior to graduation, write examples of any 60 terms found of this word list that you can relate to Act III of Hamlet.
Examples:
Allusion: In Act III, scene 2 (line 97), Polonius alludes to Julius Caesar's assassination by Brutus.
Alliteration: In Act III, scene 2 (line 162), the Player says, "Where little fears grow great, great love grows there."
You are also permitted to write sentences about Act III as examples of some of these terms:
Passive voice: In scene 4, Gertrude is devastated by Hamlet's denunciation of her.
(Make sure you don't use my examples for your assignment)
Assignment #4 (Due 12/2)
Write an essay about Act IV of Hamlet in which each numbered sentence in the essay is used to demonstrate all questions found at the bottom of the "Sentence Challenge" on page 164 in your Voyages text. You may even use the same 12 questions on this page, and work in reverse so that your essay contains the exact same constructions as this exercise, such as dependent clauses, noun clauses, simple or complete subjects, etc. Include your own answer sheet for your own "Sentence Challenge" exercise. Make sure your references to Act IV show familiarity with the scenes, and include no errors of grammar, punctuation, or spelling.
Use ten spelling terms from eighth grade Spell Check list showing correct use and context clues.
Assignment #5 Project (Due date TBD)
Students will form teams to condense (edit), storyboard, direct, enact, and film Act V of Hamlet on their own, with certain restrictions on content.
READING AND COMMUNICATION GRADES (for Enactment of assigned parts)
Hamlet scenes (teacher-annotated as of October 8)
Note: Number of lines for each assigned scene in Acts I-IV appears in parenthesis. Memorize parts by Friday, November 4.
Act I, scene 1: Marcellus (11): MB
Horatio (25): MC
Barnardo (4): Au.M
Act I, scene 2: Claudius (36): LG
Laertes (2): WA
Polonius (1): MB
Hamlet (60): RF/DD
Gertrude (6): KM
Horatio (19): MC
Act II, scene 3: Polonius (24): MB
Laertes (1): WA
Ophelia (8): EA
Act I, scene 4: Horatio (10): MC
Hamlet (5): BC
Marcellus (2): MB
Act I, scene 5: Hamlet (29): BC
Ghost (29): TJ
Horatio (3): MC
Act II, scene 1: Polonius (4): AL
Ophelia (24): EA
Act II, scene 2: Claudius (15): Au.M
Gertrude (7): KM
Polonius (47): AL
Hamlet (84): LH/BB
Guildenstern (6): JP
Rosencrantz (5): ED
Act III, scene 1: Claudius (16): Al.M
Gertrude (8): KM
Rosencrantz (6): ED
Polonius (8): AL
Hamlet (68): LO
Act III, scene 2: Hamlet (25): CR
Claudius (4): Al.M
Gertrude (1): KM
Polonius (2): AL
Ophelia (4): EA
Horatio (1): MC
Guildenstern (6): JP
Rosencrantz (2): ED
Act III, scene 3: Claudius (21): Al.M
Polonius (3): AL
Hamlet (14): AK
Act III, scene 4: Hamlet (41): AK
Gertrude (19): KM
Polonius (2): MB
Ghost (4): TJ
Act IV, scene 2: Hamlet (11): AK
Rosencrantz (6): ED
Act IV, scene 3: Claudius (28): JP
Hamlet (11); AK
Act IV, scene 5 and 7 (combined): Gentleman (11): LG
Ophelia (22): ED
Gertrude (14): KM
Claudius (39): GC
Laertes (29): WA