~Waldner’s Blog~

I hope things are going well this year for you. I heard you had an outstanding pep rally. I would have liked to see that!

I came across this video and shared it with my new students, but thought it might be interesting for some of you. See what you think. It’s a useful guide in approaching essays.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/jtf0KIBR4xU" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Hope you enjoy!

 Ms Waldner

I’ll remain in my classroom in the afternoons of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for any students who wish to get a little help or guidance in preparing for their final exams. Of especial importance, those students who are struggling in English 30 and History 30. If you take some time and focus on what you’re doing, you’ll manage. You need to make it a priority, though. Come for some help!!

Ms. W.

1. Students watched the end of the video for Macbeth. As it played on, I paused it at times to discuss or elaborate on certain events, like the question “Why did Hamlet say ‘The rest if silent’”?
2. We are finished the play, students have accumulated some great quotes from the play to reference for their exam and we will look at those quotes and others on Monday in our preperations.
3. Remember, our theme in studying Hamlet in this unit was “Doubt and Fear”, that it is a common human experience, regardless of time in history or class of man.

1. Students in attendance worked hard again on their yearbook pages. The hope was to have the pages finished for Friday but no internet service at school yesterday slowed some people down. Today, we continued.
2. We’ll work next week the few days that we’ll need to to finish.
3. Media Log Entries are due Monday in class. They’re an important part of your overall grade. Hope you put the effort into them throughout the course.

1. We watched the end of the Macbeth movie, or at least as far as the scratched disc would allow. Unfortunately, my copy has been used one too many times, it seems.
2. We watched examples of different student creations with Macbeth on youtube. The one who did a Emnimen rap using leggo actually did a great job.
3. We’ve only four classes left and students were told they will be aware on Monday who will write the final or not. There will be no more English work in class but a movie on Monday that students will have to write a response to (possibly essay question) for the Final Exam.

1. The deadline to hand in the Major History Essay was today in last class. Several students had either handed it in yesterday or earlier today, so many of them left early for the weekend or were helping the Kindergarten class enjoy a fun day outside with face paints and games.
2. For those students who worked in the library with the class, they did well to focus on the small details of their essay, making improvements, and also created a good Reference Page that was as close to the example given. Good job for those of you who took that extra time to make those improvements.

1. With no internet, it made for a difficult time for kids to work on yearbook pages. We would like to have their pages finished for tomorrow but we’ll likely work on them a bit next week as well.
2. Students grabbed some magazines from the library and worked on Media Log Entries as the thirty entries will be due on Monday. Others worked on other assignments.

1. Students were lucky enough to get another swim class instead of Social. They had a free period of swimming and sure kept themselves entertained in the water!

1. Students discussed what had previously happened in our last reading and were reminded that Act III in Shakespeare plays seals the fate of the tragic character. Up to the key event in Act III, Hamlet was so concerned with his fate, whether he’d end up in heaven or hell and it was this question that caused him to delay so long. Once he had accidentally killed Polonius, an innocent man, Hamlet realized he was damned to hell already so he might as well continue on with his quest for vengeance, except he goes in such a round-about way of doing it. Once Act III is finished, it is clear that Hamlet is destined to become a fully tragic figure.
2. We read and discussed all of Act IV together. We also wrote a few found quotes from the reading on the board and talked about how they could apply to our unit theme if used in their essay on the departmental.

1. We began reading together through the rest of Act IV. The final scene, scene three, is the longest in the play.
2. Students answered the questions together as they read through each scene.