"I love technology but not as much as you, you see."

While I was not here on Thursday, I was present on campus. I spent the day in a training for a new program the district plans to implement this year called School Loop. The program looks promising and some of the little things it has to offer make the effort needed to change completely worth it. Also, the larger aspects of the program, like parents and students having accounts that they can use to communicate with teachers and track their progress, will be very beneficial to everyone at the school. Once everyone has the okay of the administration, I plan to take each of my classes to the tutoring center so the students can set up their account. The latest I anticipate this happening is March, so this is something I can see aiding all of the students at the school, even the seniors whose first thought about anything announced as "new" is, "It won't benefit us." Trust me, it can and will.

Frosh
Last Thursday, January 13, we checked for ORU books and then went over the act I prologue of Romeo & Juliet. It essentially serves as a preview for the audience so they know what they're getting into with the play. The groundlings can't say Shakespeare didn't warn them, and, yet, they would still get affected by the ending despite knowing what was coming. In fact, it's knowing what is about to happen that makes Romeo and Juliet's story all the more tragic. There's nothing the audience can do but watch as these two young kids experience dizzying highs followed by the lowest of lows.

On Friday, January 14, we moved forward.

Tuesday, you took the lit terms and concepts quiz. Afterwards, we picked up books from the library and then assigned act I roles. You'll occupy that character for the duration of our reading of act I.

When Wednesday rolled around, I decided to change my initial plans. Instead of what I originally planned, we instead practiced how to complete this semester's ORU, and I'm glad that we did because I feel like everyone is a bit more comfortable with the new format and the new skill set needed to complete it.

I was at the School Loop training on Thursday, but you and Mrs. Keepers completed the Romeo & Juliet Scavenger Hunt and discussed the results. The items on the list are things to which many of you can relate and will see in the play.

Friday, we yet again moved forward.

Seniors

Last Thursday, January 13, you turned in the aside questions. We focused the rest of the period on trying to get a grip on Lady Macbeth. Is she overly ambitious, not realizing what she's getting herself and her husband into? Or is she just an evil, vile woman who had the unfortunate temerity to be born a woman instead of a man? The answer is probably somewhere in between, but she's definitely one of the deepest female characters in any of Shakespeare's plays.

While we got our first look at Lady Macbeth in scene v, scene vii gives us a look at the Macbeths as a couple and how the two interact, which we read Friday. The scene also gives us a look at Macbeth's indecision, as he realizes that the only reason he has for wanting to be king is wanting to be king. It's like me and wanting a newer, bigger television. I have a nice TV already, but you know what? I could always use a newer one. The difference is that Macbeth's base desires involve murdering someone, a king no less. That's a big reason why he decides to give up the notion and tells his wife as much, but Lady Macbeth has already made up her mind. What can we gather from how they interact? We've already made mention in our discussion how Macbeth refers to Lady Macbeth as his partner in his letter in scene v. How does this scene strengthen that analysis? Has Lady Macbeth become unsexed like she asked? Does being a woman actually help her in her effort to convince Macbeth to side with her plans?

Tuesday, we finished up act I. We then began to view the different interpretations of Shakespeare's words by viewing the Royal Shakespeare Company's version of Macbeth that aired on HBO long before you were born. Heck, I don't think I was born when this originally aired. Besides noting some of the famous actors in the play, note how different directors could take the same dialogue we've read together and see something else entirely in their reading. My goal is for us to view at least two other versions, if not more, later on to really explore how differing interpretations are key to understanding the Bard.

You took a quiz on act I Wednesday, which determined how well you were paying attention to our reading in class.

There was another quiz on Thursday, this time on the Macbeth terms found in your Shakespacket. You also turned in your first ORU of the semester.

Friday, you turned in your first Act Paragraph, exploring a thematic dichotomy of your choosing in act I of the play. We then discussed Macbeth's dagger soliloquy, which forces us to ask if Macbeth is really being driven by fate or if he's just crazypants. Both, by the way, are valid interpretations.

Also, it's a bad idea to eat chocolate before a cardio-kickboxing class.

I cannot kick this high.

In an effort to fight off Father Time, prove something to myself, and continue my quest to one day become the oldest man in the world, I've decided to go to my cardio-kickboxing class four days in a row this week, with a possibility of a fifth time on Saturday. Today was day three. There were so many kicks, and kicks are the thing I hate the most in the class because I'm not good at them and my hips are boney and inflexible. Plus, my shins still have nerve endings in them so they have not yet become accustomed to striking the heavy bag one hundred times in succession. That is to say, it hurts. But it's on my to do list, so it must be done...just like this blog post!


Frosh
We've been dedicating time to sonnets of the Shakespearian variety.

Tuesday, we went over the components of a sonnet in detail and took a close look at Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, where the speaker compares his friend to a summer's day. As long as people survive to read the poem, his buddy's beauty will always live on through the words the Bard uses. That makes it pretty neat that we're here reading it 400 years later, huh? You also received time to work on memorizing your lit terms.

Our focus today was Sonnet 73, where things took a more somber turn as the speaker in Shakespeare's poem remarks on aging and the inevitable onset of death. Notice that in the three quatrains, the speaker makes sure to note that the person he's talking to sees in him the youth that used to exist. Again, it ends with a nice note of friendship as the buddy still wants to know and appreciate him despite the fact that the youth that used to be there is all gone.

This is also the perfect opportunity to detail the Frosh bonus assignment: For 15 points, write a Shakespearian sonnet that contains all of the components of a sonnet that we've discussed (3 quatrains, 1 ending couplet, and it follows the correct rhyme scheme). If you want to go the extra mile (and really impress the everything out of me), write it in iambic pentameter for an additional 5 points. Heck, if you manage to successfully write a full sonnet in iambic pentameter (successfully being the key word here), then you'll have earned an additional 10 points. The breakdown is as follows:

• Shakespearian sonnet: 15 points
• Shakespearian sonnet attempted in iambic pentameter: 20 points
• Shakespearian sonnet successfully utilizing iambic pentameter: 25 points

Good look. All poems are due by Tuesday. I'll accept blog comments until Monday at 11:59pm.

Seniors
We've been spending our time discussing Macbeth.

On Tuesday, we started off the play proper. The first scene sets the spooky atmosphere and provides spectacle to calm the masses who would have otherwise been a rowdy audience. The second scene provides exposition so we know just how awesome Macbeth is. Our third scene introduces Macbeth and Banquo as well as the prophecies. Remember to keep track of the various dichotomies for your act paragraphs because they are everywhere throughout the play.

Today, we finished off the third scene and then you spent time working on the questions about the aside passage where Macbeth reveals that he's had some rather impure thoughts about how he might become king. It kind of makes you wonder if he's thought about this sort of thing prior to our introduction of him since his mind immediately goes to thoughts of regicide. Those questions, by the way, are due tomorrow.