Reflections on Week 3

Honors English 10:

Students are working with Hamlet, one of my favorite plays. Students are working with dramatic readings of the text, comparing it to contemporary English speech, and watching the PBS Great Performances version of Hamlet.

I think drama is best enjoyed as it is intended, so we are going to compare important scenes from several theatrical and stage versions of the play, too. We have discussed the lack of stage direction in Shakespeare's plays and how that can be both daunting and liberating for a director and performers.

College Bound English 3:

Students are working with Words and Ideas that Changed the World. This week the focus is on Colonial era nonfiction. Students are comparing the use of rhetorical strategies in Puritanical literature with those employed during the Enlightenment. Students are analyzing the difference in the author's purpose in Jonathan Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and Patrick Henry's "Address to the Virginia Convention." We also analyzed the structure of the Declaration of Independence.

Art II:

Students began studying Ancient and Classical art from Egypt, Greece, Rome, Minoa, and Mesopotamia. We'll finish the study next week with classical architecture.

Art III:

Students worked with pattern and repetition with zentangles. We looked at the work of designer Si Scott to see where the concept of a zentangle or zendoodle might have applications outside of the classroom. Several students are still working with their grid drawings and will join in the zentangle project shortly.

Art IV:

Several students are working with clay and are looking forward to starting the kiln build in the coming weeks. AP students are hard at work developing concentrations for their AP portfolios. This is proving to be a difficult process as the concentration is totally up to the student to determine, and the possibility of producing literally anything the student is interested in is a bit overwhelming. The breadth section should be easier to put together in the spring.