Thursday, March 25, 2010

Agenda for 3.26.10 - 4.5.10

Hello all, good discussion today.

  • Friday, March 26th: SRD on Act 5.
  • Monday, March 29th: Post you thesis paragraph on the blog—I would like you all to see each thesis and the feedback given: Click here or link. Also, video critique # 2 is due in class, proper MLA formatting. Click here for link. (Look at Stephany’s paper (and my comments) posted on the blog. We will tie up loose ends in class in Hamlet.
  • Tuesday, March 30: SRD on Ross C Murfin’s “Feminist Criticism and Hamlet” & Elaine Showalter’s “Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism.” (Essay emailed as pdf—please print in my room or at home.)
  • Wednesday, March 31st: SRD on Ross C Murfin’s “Psychoanalytic Criticism and Hamlet” & Janet Adelman’s “’Man and Wife Is One Flesh’: Hamlet and the Confrontation with the Maternal Body.” .” (Essay emailed as pdf—please print in my room or at home.)
  • Thursday, April 1: Tie up loose ends in discussion. Hamlet Reader’s Notebook due.
  • Friday, April 2nd: No School
  • Monday, April 5th: Annotated Bibliography Due—25 sources (max of 5 from internet, unless you were given permission for a different variation.) You will also need 70 research cards.

Stephany's Hamlet Video Critique Act 3 Scene 1

Stephany Jean Hamlet Video Critique Act 3 Scene 1

Hamlet video critique for Act 5 Scene 1

You have until Monday, March 29th 2010 by class to complete this assignment.

It is worth 100 points in 'Quizzes and Open Response' and will be graded with the APE Rubric.

Objective: Watch the four versions from Act 5 Scene 1 and argue which of the videos is the best interpretation of the scene. Your critique of the video must be based on your knowledge and understanding of the text, so you must provide textual evidence from Hamlet as well as provide descriptions of the video. I can't watch the video and read your essay at the same time, so you need to make me see what you see with your words. It will also help you to take notes on the video while you watch it. Pay attention to what you captures your attention. Notice what you notice!
Click here for link to all three videos.

Pay attention to:
  • delivery of the lines
  • imagery the setting / scenery
  • the portrayal of the actor
  • lighting & camera effects
  • sound effects or music
You should use the same structure as a poem explication with the addition of your critique of the video. It should be about 1,200 - 1,500 words. Paper must be MLA formatted (pages 198-199 of easyWriter)!
Finally, you only have space in this essay to write about one video--please do not waste any words writing about why the other two videos are not as good.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Act 5 Scene 1


Kevin Kline as Hamlet, New York Shakespeare Festival (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1990)


Laurence Olivier as Hamlet, 1948. Directed by Laurence Olivier


Mel Gibson as Hamlet, 1990. Directed by Franco Zeffirelli

Kenneth Branagh as Hamlet, 1996. Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Act 4 Scene 4

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Developing a Thesis


ink and acrylic on canvas

At some point during your research, preferably sooner than later (but after you feel comfortable with your subject), you want to develop a thesis so that you can focus your research. Otherwise, you are wasting valuable time.

It may help to start with a group of paintings that share a common thread—the dates they were crafted, titles, subject matter, they may be a part of a series, or you may find a interesting thread on your own.

Your thesis must tie the work together (what is in common) as well as argue a theory about the significance of the work. Your research should help prove your thesis.

When developing a thesis, think of big questions: How do these paintings explain a perception of the universe? How is the artist’s own life or philosophy portrayed in the paintings? How does the artist ask her audience to view the paintings (or the universe)?

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Hamlet video critique for Act 3: Scene 1

You have until Monday, March 22nd 2010 @ 2:00 p.m. to complete this assignment.
It is worth 100 points in 'Quizzes and Open Response' and will be graded with the APE Rubric.

Objective: Watch the three versions from Hamlet's soliloquy from Act 3 Scene 1 and argue which of the three videos is the best video interpretation of Hamlet's state of mind. Your critique of the video must be based on your knowledge and understanding of the passage, so you must provide textual evidence from Hamlet as well as provide descriptions of the video. I can't watch the video and read your essay at the same time, so you need to make me see what you see with your words. It will also help you to take notes on the video while you watch it. Pay attention to what you captures your attention. Notice what you notice!

Click here for link to all three videos.

Pay attention to:
  • delivery of the lines
  • imagery the setting / scenery
  • the portrayal of the actor
  • lighting & camera effects
  • sound effects or music

You should use the same structure as a poem explication with the addition of your critique of the video. It should be about 1,200 - 1,500 words. Paper must be MLA formatted (pages 198-199 of easyWriter)!

Finally, you only have space in this essay to write about one video--please do not waste any words writing about why the other two videos are not as good.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Agenda and notes for 3.17.10

Hello all.

The last AP prep session is this Saturday at the high school. I've emailed you the agenda.

Homework due:
  • 3.18.10: prepare for SRD on Act 3: Scene 1
  • 3.19.10: read Act 3: Scene 2, work on Reader's Notebooks
  • 3.22.10: no class, video critique (formal MLA formatting) due by 3:00 p.m. Assignment coming soon.
  • 3.23.10: 15 citation cards, 40 research cards
Finally, you are all signed up for the AP Lit. exam. If you would like to take the AP Language exam, as we discussed in class today, please make a post by Friday morning in this comment stream that says: "I would like to take the AP Language exam, please order one for me."

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Hamlet - an introduction by Kenneth Branagh

Hamlet Act 1 Scene 5 (Ghost speaks)



(Alexander Fodor) 2007

Hamlet Act 1 Scenes 4-5



Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996)

Hamlet Act 1: Scene 3 (Ophelia, Laertes & Polonius)



Michael Almereyda's Hamlet (2000) with Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber & Bill Murray.

Hamlet Act 1 Scene 2 (Soliloquy)



From the Hamlet movie directed by Kenneth Branagh in 1996, this is Hamlet's 1st soliloquy.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Artist Research Paper Week One

Week 1

Tuesday & Wednesday, March 9th & 10th, 2010:

Overview: You will be choosing one artist, either from the following list or a contemporary artist of equal historic merit--(he or she must have adequate primary and secondary source material from which to research). The research you gather will help you prove your thesis about specific pieces of art (1-5). Choose an artist whose work you like, and even more importantly, who you think makes an interesting statement through his or her artwork that you think you can explain for about 10 pages.

Here are two model papers from previous years:

Vik Muniz
Wangechi Mutu

You should read these papers to understand where this process is going.

Step 1: I have set up hyperlinks for more than 60 artists. Spend the next hour or so choosing an artist that you would like to focus for the next few weeks. (You will want to have a back-up choice or two for various reasons.) I know a bit about each of these artists and have an idea of what you will face if you choose to research any of them. I’ll be around to answer questions. Enjoy.

Noriko Ambe
Francis Bacon
Banksy
Jean Michel Basquiat
Romare Bearden
Wallace Berman
Norbert Bisky
Joe Brainard
Chuck Close
Jess (Collins) (Just as easy to do an image search.)

Joseph Cornell
Jay DeFeo
Willem De Kooning (Image search has more variety of his work.)
Jorge de la Vega
Jim Dine
Aaron Douglas
Marcel Duchamp (Just as easy to do an image search.)
Max Ernst (Just as easy to do an image search.)
Shepard Fairey
Tony Fitzpatrick

Lucien Freud
Arshile Gorky (Image search has more variety of his work.)
Tim Hawkinson
David Hockney
Hans Hofmann
Damien Hurst (Image search has more variety of his work.)
Jasper Johns (Image search has more variety of his work.)
Wolfgang Kals
Alex Katz
Anselm Kiefer

Edward Kienholz
Franz Kline (Just as easy to do an image search.)
Lee Krasner (Just as easy to do an image search.)
Sol Lewitt
Roy Lichtenstien (Just as easy to do an image search.)
Julie Mehretu
Joan Mitchell (Easier to do an image search.)
Robert Motherwell (Easier to do an image search.)
Vik Muniz
Wangechi Mutu

Takashi Murakami
Alice Neel
Caleb Neelon
Damian Ortega
Erik Parker
Yana Payusova
Raymond Pettibon
Tom Phillips
Robert Rauschenberg (Just as easy to do an image search.)
Gerhard Richter

Larry Rivers
James Siena
Amy Sillman
Shinique Smith
Frank Stella (Just as easy to do an image search.) He was born in Malden!
Yves Tanguy (Just as easy to do an image search.)
Mickalene Thomas
Cy Twombly (Easier to do an image search.)
Raissa Venables
Kara Walker

Phoebe Washburn
Lee Waisler
Trevor Winkfield

White Cube also has a good list of contemporary artists.
So does
this PBS site.

I chose these artists because they should be easy enough to find research on but have not been written on endlessly. If you have an artist in mind, I’d be happy to add him or her to the list.

Homework:
Step 2: Due Thursday, March 11th 2010: Choose an artist. First come, first serve.
Step 3: Due Monday, March 15th, 2010: email me 1,000 word description of a piece of art.

  • You will be graded on your ability to write 1,000 words. Late posts will lose a letter grade a day.
  • Choose 1 – 2 paintings and try to describe them to the best of your ability. “Paint a replica of the image with your own words.” Can you make your reader “see” what you are seeing.
  • This is an important step in the process of writing this research paper for a few reasons:
  1. First, you will need this descriptive writing in your essay to aid your analysis.
  2. Second, you will learn things about the piece of art by forcing yourself to stare at it with the attention needed to describe it.
  3. Last, what you see may be different from what others do, not just the abstract work, but what are your eyes drawn to first? You will never be able to get this moment back--what your eyes noticed when you were first drawn to the painting / or piece of art. You will need this writing when you start to compile your formal research paper.

Hamlet Packet

AP Schedule for Hamlet

AP Calendar of Events

AP Day Rotation- Monthly Calendars 09-10 0000000000000000000000000

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Samuel Beckett's *Waiting For Godot* Blog Post on Act 2


This is a 20 point homework assignment.
  1. Prompt A: Post your reaction to something specific and thought provoking (for literary analysis) in Act 2 (though this is not a minimum, your post should be at least a couple hundred words.) Feel free to ask questions in this section as well, since everyone will be reading these posts. There should be no repeats in ideas or topics--you will not get credit if you post something that has been covered already.
  2. Prompt B: You should also respond by elaborating on another comment in the stream (about the same length--a couple hundred words as a minimum.)
You will be graded on the Malden High School Open Response Rubric.

Prompt A due by noon Monday March 8th.
Prompt B due by
noon Monday March 8th.

Samuel Beckett's *Waiting For Godot* Blog Post on Act 1


This is a 20 point homework assignment.
  1. Prompt A: Post your reaction to something specific and thought provoking (for literary analysis) in Act 1 (though this is not a minimum, your post should be at least a couple hundred words.) Feel free to ask questions in this section as well, since everyone will be reading these posts. There should be no repeats in ideas or topics--you will not get credit if you post something that has been covered already.
  2. Prompt B: You should also respond by elaborating on another comment in the stream (about the same length--a couple hundred words as a minimum.)
You will be graded on the Malden High School Open Response Rubric.

Prompt A due by class time Friday March 5th.
Prompt B due by midnight Friday March 5th.