English 9B Syllabus

Jane Belton

Tue., Wed., Th., Fri.

Syllabus:  October  2009

https://blog.lrei.org/jbelton

Tuesday 10/20

In Class:   Reading Life Letter books should be added to your Goodreads account by today! Share your Antigone letters. Final questions and interpretations. Review vocabulary words (bravado…defilement)

Homework:  1) Complete Worksheet on Antigone and Socrates (handout) for MONDAY 10/26. Bring this worksheet to your history class on that day.

Note: For the Socrates section of the worksheet, you may use quotes from Plato’s Crito, The Greeks (the film), and Cartoon History of the World. When you quote from the Crito, in parentheses at the end of your sentence write (Plato, 1) or (Plato, 2).  The 1 or 2 indicates the page number where the quote was found. If you quote from The Greeks or Cartoon History of the World, put the titles in italics in parentheses at the end of your sentence. For example:  (The Greeks).

2) Select your first outside reading book for the Read, Write, Recommend Project.  You will be asked to write down the title and author’s full name in class on Tuesday 10/27.

3) Begin reviewing and studying your vocabulary words. The vocabulary quiz will be in early November (date TBA after minimester).

Wednesday 10/21-Friday 10/23 – Minimester: No Class

English 9B Syllabus
Jane Belton
Tues., Wed., Th., Fri.

Syllabus: October  2009
https://blog.lrei.org/jbelton

Tuesday 10/13
In Class:        Antigone Short Stories due. Discuss Antigone: Finish discussing Haemon’s tactics; Creon’s anger; Antigone’s speeches. With whom does the Chorus side and why? With whom do you side? What do their references to other figures of myth have to do with Antigone?
Homework:    Review and re-annotate pp. 111-117. Pay specific attention to Tiresias’s Speeches: What is Tiresias’s role? What are his views on Creon? On Antigone? On leadership and justice?

Wednesday 10/14
In Class:        Discuss Antigone pp 111-117. The role of Tiresias; the chorus’s views on leadership and justice.  Creon’s realizations.
Homework:     Read and annotate Antigone pp. 118-128.  Continue work on your vocabulary list (must be completed by Friday).

Thursday 10/15
In Class:        Discuss Antigone pp 118-128
Homework:    Review and re-annotate final pages of the play. You must show me your complete vocabulary list tomorrow at the beginning of class.

Friday 10/16
In Class:         Vocabulary list due. Close reading of Chorus’ last lines and significance to the play as a whole.
Homework:     Write a letter to one of the characters in the play.  In your letter, respond to the character’s most intriguing actions and words.  Incorporate quotes from the play (phrases the character says or about the character) into the body of your letter.  DO NOT use long quotes, but instead weave short phrases from the play into your letter. Use the following as an example: Antigone, when you say that “no loved one mourns [your] death” why do you fail to acknowledge your sister, Ismene (line 969)?  Is it because you feel she betrayed you? Remember that she did try to come to your defense.  Ismene must feel a great deal of sadness at losing a sister now, having lost her entire family already. You say you have been “denied all joy of marriage…/deserted so by loved ones” (lines 1010-1011). But what about Haemon? Did he desert you? 1-2 pages, typed, double-spaced. Remember, when you quote from the text you must refer to the line numbers in parenthesis at the end of your sentence.  Really use this letter to ask and consider questions that you are still grappling with about the characters and their actions.
REMEMBER: Your Reading Life Letter books must be entered into your Goodreads account by Tuesday.

Monday 10/19 – No Class

Tuesday 10/20
In Class:    Share letters.  Wrap up discussion of the play.
Homework:    TBA

Read Write Recommend 9B

English 9B Syllabus
Tue., Wed., Th., Fri.
Jane Belton

Syllabus: September – October 2009
https://blog.lrei.org/jbelton

Wednesday 9/30
In Class:    Writing activity on key issues of Antigone, including: loyalty, resistance to authority, law, conviction, and family. Share. Discuss Antigone pp. 59-66 and connections to our writing: Antigone vs. Ismene: what fuels their actions and decisions? What would you do? Discuss martial law vs. divine law, the Chorus’s speech.
Homework:    Read and annotate Antigone pp. 67-77.  As you read think about how you would characterize Creon as a leader.  Mark/flag passages and specific lines that support your ideas.  Then, how do the Chorus’s words on pp. 76-77 connect to themes of the play so far? As you read, make sure to place a box around at least three vocabulary words you do not know.  Then find the vocabulary word(s) from the vocabulary list I handed out in tonight’s reading selection. For each word, write the part of speech, definition, and context in your notebook.

Thursday 10/1
In Class: Discuss Antigone pp 67-77.  Defining justice and punishment; Creon’s leadership and principles.
Homework:   Review Creon’s speech on pp. 73-74 carefully.  Then mark significant lines in his speech that you find revealing in terms of his leadership and perception of the Theban people.  Monday you will be given an in-class writing assignment on this speech.  Use your flags to mark specific lines you will want to refer to in your writing.

Friday 10/2
In Class: Graded Writing Assignment:  write two organized paragraphs on Creon (see handout)
Homework:   Read and annotate Antigone pp. 78-92.  As you read, think about what Creon’s principles are and how they differ from Antigone’s.  Also consider the following question: Who do you side with and why? Mark/flag passages or lines that support your ideas. As always, make sure to place a box around at least three vocabulary words you do not know.  Then find the vocabulary word(s) from the vocabulary list I handed out in tonight’s reading selection. For each word, write the part of speech, definition, and context in your notebook.

Monday 10/5 – No Class

Tuesday 10/6
In Class: Discuss Antigone pp. 78-92.
Homework:   Read and annotate your assigned article. Mark moments that are particularly striking to you or that surprise you, intrigue you, and make you think or question your assumptions. Think about the following question: what is the article’s relevance to the play? Be prepared to share your article and your thoughts with the class.

Wednesday 10/7
In Class: Discuss articles; other ways of seeing the issues of the play.
Homework: Read and annotate Antigone pp. 93-106 (for FRIDAY).  As you read, pay particular attention to the character of Haemon.  How does he respond to forces of authority? How is he similar to/different from Antigone? How does he approach his father? How is that different from how Antigone approached Creon? As always, make sure to place a box around at least three vocabulary words you do not know.  Then find the vocabulary word(s) from the vocabulary list I handed out in tonight’s reading selection. For each word, write the part of speech, definition, and context in your notebook.

Thursday 10/8
In Class:    Introduce Read Write Recommend  (RWR) Project
Homework: Read and annotate Antigone pp. 93-106 (for FRIDAY).  As you read, pay particular attention to the character of Haemon.  How does he respond to forces of authority? How is he similar to/different from Antigone? How does he approach his father? How is that different from how Antigone approached Creon? As always, make sure to place a box around at least three vocabulary words you do not know.  Then find the vocabulary word(s) from the vocabulary list I handed out in tonight’s reading selection. For each word, write the part of speech, definition, and context in your notebook.

Friday 10/9
In Class: Discuss Antigone pp. 93-106. The character of Haemon, his tactics for
approaching Creon.
Homework:   Read and annotate Antigone pp. 107 – 117. As always, make sure to place a box around at least three vocabulary words you do not know.  Then find the vocabulary word(s) from the vocabulary list I handed out in tonight’s reading selection. For each word, write the part of speech, definition, and context in your notebook. Complete Creative Writing Assignment (due Tuesday 10/13): Which character(s) in the play you would like to meet in the modern world? What would a modern day Creon, Antigone, or Ismene, for instance look like? What issues would they be dealing with? First spend some time describing who the modern characters are, then write a short story inspired by one of the characters you find most interesting in the play. In your short story, you should explore a central conflict or issue that character faces (perhaps the character must deal with conflicting loyalties, or is haunted by stories of the past, or must decide between what he/she feels is right and what his/her parents or the law says is right). Do not retell the plot of Antigone up to this point! (2-3 pages, typed, Times New Roman font, double or 1.5 spaced).

English 9B Syllabus

Tue., Wed., Th., Fri.

Jane Belton

Syllabus: September 2009

https://blog.lrei.org/jbelton

Wednesday (9/23)

In Class: Writing workshop on revising your “Reading Life Letter” – pulsing moments, moments where there is more “juice to squeeze.”

Homework:  Work on reading life letter.

Thursday (9/24)

In Class: Writing workshop on Reading Life Letter

Homework: Complete the final draft of your Reading Life Letter. This assignment must be typed in 12 point, Times New Roman font. Please double or 1.5 space your document.

Friday (9/25)

In Class: Reading Life Letters due. Share.

Homework: Read and annotate handout: “Background on the Legend of Thebes: The Story of Oedipus, The Riddle of the Sphinx, and Antigone”

Monday (9/28) – School Closed

Tuesday (9/29)

In Class: Discuss background. Antigone and the weight of the family stories she carries. Begin reading Antigone together.

Homework:  Read and annotate Antigone pp. 59-66. As you read, make sure to place a box around at least three vocabulary words you do not know.  Then find the vocabulary word(s) from the vocabulary list I handed out in tonight’s reading selection. For each word, write the part of speech, definition, and context in your notebook.

Wednesday (9/30)

In Class: In class writing on key issues of Antigone, including: loyalty, justice, authority, family, and conviction. Discuss Antigone pp. 59-66: Antigone vs. Ismene, women’s roles, martial law vs. divine law, the Chorus’s speech.

Homework:  Read and annotate Antigone pp. 67-77.  As you read think about how you would characterize Creon as a leader.  Mark/flag passages and specific lines that support your ideas.  Then, how do the Chorus’s words on pp. 76-77 connect to themes of the play so far? As you read, make sure to place a box around at least three vocabulary words you do not know.  Then find the vocabulary word(s) from the vocabulary list I handed out in tonight’s reading selection. For each word, write the part of speech, definition, and context in your notebook.

Thursday (10/1)

In Class: Discuss Antigone pp. 67-77