Ballad Assessment for Tomorrow!

TODAY IN CLASS
We used a Twitter or Facebook format to reveal the shifting personal drama of "Barbara Allan."  We'll use a few minutes of tomorrow to make sure everyone's pretty secure on the "back story," for which there was quite a bit of variation today. I enjoyed the variety and spirit of your social networking versions!

FOR TOMORROW
Study the hand-out you received today; you'll be able to use it for the assessment tomorrow, but it will help if you aren't reading it for the first time then!

You will receive a new ballad as well as a different version of one you've seen and be asked to answer questions that show both your understanding of the ballads (can you read closely, carefully, and with insight?) and your knowledge of the characteristics of the ballad as a form.

TODAY IN CLASS
1.  Discussion of two ballads:  "The Twa Corbies" and "Lord Randall"
2.  Homework questions stamped at the beginning; collected at the end.  People were expected to add info/make corrections as we discussed.  People who did not DO the homework were encouraged to take good notes as we went, and as a new-semester gift, get partial credit.  (That was probably a one-time offer.)
3. Although not covered on the questions, we looked closely at the rhyme scheme (NOT the norm for the first two) and considered the various types of repetition found in ballads.
3. Then we went on to "Get Up and Bar the Door" and simply enjoyed this humorous take on "the battle between the sexes" with some light discussion.  (I'm not sure we quite finished in 2nd)

FOR MONDAY
No written homework, but you are expected to read the next ballad ("Barbara Allen") closely and carefully--probably several times.  Then look at the questions after that poem, and make sure that you would be able to answer them if asked. 

On  Monday, I'll give you an additional hand-out on ballads as a whole for you to study and review; on Tuesday, you'll be asked to examine a ballad not in our book on your own, and respond to various sorts of questions and to be very precise in discussing the full range of its ballad features.  (That will be the first "assessment" grade of the new term.)

Thursday

Yes, I skipped Wednesday. . .  in-class discussion of Morte d'Arthur:  no new homework.

TODAY
Students turned in the modernized paragraphs after adding brief explanations for three specific changes, and a small-group addition of one more short bit of text (4 lines or so).

We also started ballads (barely)--going over some basic characteristics and reading (but not yet discussing)  "The Twa Corbies."

FOR TOMORROW
Read/re-read/study the two ballads on pp. 194-195, including looking at all the "dialect words" that are defined below the text.  Of course we will talk about these, but you need to figure some things out on your own first. 

Answer (in writing, in ink [or typed]) questions 1-4 on p. 195.  Respond to all parts, and include evidence as needed.  These are very brief.  Just do it.

Second Semester

Second Day . . .No post on Day 1.

There HAD been homework, however-- to read the selection from Sir Thomas Malory's "Morte d'Arthur," which is actually the last piece in the Medieval unit of the book (176-184).  The portion in your book is actually from the ending, which really does feature "the death of Arthur" (as the title says)--but the book as a whole tracks Arthur's life from boyhood to becoming king to the end of his reign (and life).  It's actually a springboard into the Renaissance, because it's one of the first books published by William Caxton on his new moveable type printing press.  And it's the first work in your book that is given "as is" except for modernizing the spelling--in other words, it's not a Modern English translation of something originally written in Old English or Middle English.  It's actually "Early Modern English" from the dialect that has most influenced our language today.

TODAY IN CLASS
Some general overview discussion about Sir Bedivere and Wiglaf (sort of my "who read it??" gauge), and then students worked on informal note-taking answers to several questions at the end of the selection:  #2, #3, and #4 on p. 184, and #7 on page 185.  We'll finish talking about these tomorrow.

But FOR TOMORROW
Write out a smooth and accurate modern translation of the first paragraph of the selection (on 176).  Of course I don't mean the intro blurb in italics, I mean the actual first paragraph.  As part of what you do, REDUCE the number of "and"s that you see in the original passage (there are various ways to do that).

We'll look at this first, then you will do at least one more paragraph in class (different sections of the room doing different things, so we can cover more material).

IMPORTANT WEDNESDAY UPDATE

There is some significantly new information in this post that I intended to alert 2nd period to today.  Could the "Social Network" that most of you live by get the word out that there's some important finals-related info in this post?  Thanks!

OK, here's what I've been saying for several days about the final. Essentially, it covers everything we've done EXCEPT for the short stories.

Anglo-Saxon Unit:  Start reviewing by skimming back through the text book. 
Historical Background
Literary terms
The short poems
Beowulf

Medieval Unit:
Historical section in the book AND on the hand-out
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight--excerpts in the book and on the hand-outs
Canterbury Tales--
Material on the background structure
Main points of Chaucer's life
General Prologue--"frame" to the story.  Know setting, structural details, basics of the pilgrims, etc.
The two tales in the book:  "The Pardoner's Tale," and "The Nun's Priest's Tale"--Know details of the soties as well as the literary terms associated with them (all clearly identified in the intros to each story):  exemplum, parody, mock-epic

FORMAT OF THE TEST
This test will contain a fairly long objective section (80-90 questions) that ranges across the material.  There will be a written section containing perhaps 2-3 "short" responses of several sentences each and then a couple of longer responses (extended paragraph or multi-paragraph).  These questions will focus on the medieval units

You should think about some of the following possibilities as some of the "big picture" connections for this section.

• Medieval views of knighthood as seen through Sir Gawain and in Canterbury Tales (think about some differences with the Anglo-Saxon warriors, but such a question wouldn't really focus on the Anglo-Saxons--the emphasis would be on how chivalry CHANGED the warrior code).
• Consider the major pilgrims--the ones with the longest descriptions.  Who among them seems the best?  Why?  What about the worst? Why? Which are similar in some ways but very different in others?  What aspects of human nature does Chaucer (NOT the narrator) seem to be satirizing?
• Although it should be easy to see that "The Pardoner's Tale" is an exemplum, according to the definition in your book, it might be harder to see "The Nun's Priest's Tale" as having elements of parody and the mock-epic.  Try to think through what some of these features might be.

Recapping Yesterday, Plus a Slight Variation

Please see yesterday's post for the complete recap of the assignments. Here's what matters most:

1) Yes, we will briefly touch on the Pardoner's Tale, but you should have run through those questions for Thursday and already looked up/worked on points that you weren't shre about.

2) I believe I told you we would go over the Pilgrim's worksheet on Friday (the "Quiz" that's for practice only).  However, it makes more sense to wait until Tuesday to go over it, because we haven't even completed the Pilgrims.  It is still instructive for you to have that, because you know this is the level of detail that you should know the pilgrims.  But as you look at the ones we've done, I hope you see that the details are pretty significant ones for the pilgrims they describe.

3) DO work on the questions for "The Nun's Priest's Tale."  The first nine cover just the first few pages, and that's where we will focus on Friday. I will be stamping to see that you have completed questions 1-9.

So the blog is late . . .

Because the faculty meeting lasted until nearly 4:20, and I arrived back at my room--geared up to do the blogs before leaving--only to encounter about six guys armed with power tools who were taking apart the computer tables and building new ones.  I left.

So now it's 6 p.m., I'm 35 miles north, where we still have some snow around the edges, and here is what you need to know/do for sure:

1) If you missed the super-short reading check quiz today, you need to take it ASAP upon arriving in class tomorrow.  YOU remind ME, please.

2) Also, there were three hand-outs on Wednesday.  To recap--

• The Pilgrims "Quiz" is actually just for PRACTICE.  Complete it,  closed-book, by Friday.  We will go over it then, but the answers aren't the point--the process is for you to know how well you are learning and retaining info about these individuals.  That's part of the process of studying Canterbury Tales.
• The questions over "The Pardoner's Tale" are to make sure that you have followed the details of this story.  It's direct, and clear, but every single step is important.  But you do NOT need to write these out in full.  They are for you to review, for tomorrow, so that we can build a discussion around them.  (We may not get to talking much about the story on Thursday, but it's important to think through them for Friday because there is other work for Friday/Tuesday.
• That third piece is the hand-out on "The Nun's Priest's Tale."  These questions are to be done in writing (ink or typed), in complete sentences, and in nicely developed detail.  At least the first 9 should be completed for Friday (will be stamped), and they must be finished, of course, by Tuesday.  The first part of this story will be discussed on Friday, so I can't give you credit for 1-9 if they aren't done by the time you get to class--and WITH YOU IN CLASS TO VERIFY and get the stamp,

FINAL EXAM--
I'll try to type up a little more later, but essentially, the final covers everything except the short stories.  That means the historical background, literary terms, and literature for the Anglo-Saxon and Medieval periods.  The test will contain both objective questions (answers on Scantron) as well as several paragraph and/or short essay questions. 

Monday Academic Post

TODAY IN CLASS
(Apart from the district survey) We finished the fairly difficult Friar, showing all of the ways in which he not only misrepresented himself (and the actual duties permitted to a "limiter") but also hurt others by swindling them out of money, allowing them to make a false (invalid) confession, and even luring young girls into his snare. As you know, there were three other pilgrims you should have focused on for today.  (See Friday's blog if you did not do this over the week-end.)
In class we had some time to compare notes in your groups for the first pilgrim in each set, and we barely got started in talking about them. 

FOR TOMORROW
As long as you have taken notes on all three pilgrims and given thought to what we should really think of them, you're OK on them.  We'll continue talking about them tomorrow.

But also for tomorrow, read "The Pardoner's Tale" and all of the surrounding material (pp. 141-150).  Note that this NOT the story that immediately follows the General Prologue--it is the one after that! 

Why is it important to read this for Tuesday even though we will be still talking about the pilgrims?  Because there is a longer story to read for the later part of the week, with some significant questions to answer for Thursday and Friday.

Survey Link

Please go to the following site, click on the Start Survey arrow, and answer the questions.

http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22BHA5TVUM9

TODAY IN CLASS
Second period began the Friar; 4th barely finished the Nun. But as a class, we will have covered The Knight, the Squire, the Yeoman, the Nun, the Monk, and the Friar before we begin talking about the following pilgrims on Monday.  When we finish the pilgrims students are largely responsible for, we will work together on the last three:  the Summoner, the Pardoner, and the Host.

FOR MONDAY (and next week--see the end of the post)
For Monday, students will need to become experts on three of the pilgrims by re-reading (probably several times) and taking detailed written notes to specifically account for two broad categories:
Description--of appearance, attire and accessories, job/profession, degree to which person is skilled/competent, degree to which person is ethically/morally upstanding, etc., degree to which the person is a good representative of his profession and a decent human being
Attitudes--of narrator, of Chaucer (and thus of what the reader is to think of the particular character) 

2nd period  Student Groups--
First, I have divided the class into six groups of five students each.  For privacy purposes, I'm identifying you only by first name (rarely with last name initial):
Group 1--Kyle A, Tristan, Michael, Amy K, Said, Nic S
Group 2--Chris, Jay, Alex H, Daniel L, Seung, Ry
Group 3--Hayley B, Taylor, Sarah, Haley M, Alex P, Jessie
Group 4--Will, Dan F, Cory, Allison, Madison, Eric
Group 5--Blaire, Tess, Laura, Andy, Alyson, David

4th period student Groups--You were told your group number in class.

For both classes, here are the pilgrims assigned to each group (yes, the Wife of Bath does appear twice).
Group 1--Merchant, Cook, Plowman
Group 2--Oxford Cleric, Skipper, Miller
Group 3--Sgt.-at-the-Law, Doctor, Manciple
Group 4--Franklin, Wife of Bath, Reeve
Group 5--Haberdasher, etc., Parson, Wife of Bath

NEXT WEEK--read two stories in the reverse order of how they appear in your book

• for Tuesday, read "The Pardoner's Tale"  and extra info (pp. 141-150).  Easy--you'll get it.
• for Thursday, read "The Nun's Priest's Tale" and extra info (pp. 119-137)  Tougher--there will be study questions. 

TODAY IN CLASS
Basis for understanding Chaucer's General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales: 
The narrator--the fellow who decides to join up with the 29 other pilgrims he meets at the Tabard in Southwark--is NOT "Chaucer." Chaucer created the narrator as a character, just as Fitzgerald created Nick Carraway or Mark Twain created Huck Finn.  It's important because we will need to distinguish the stated opinions of the narrator from Chaucer's actual opinions.  Sometimes that will be difficult, but always respect the process of trying.

So--today:  2nd period covered the Knight, the Squire, the Yeoman, and got started on the Nun.  In 4th period, we only managed the Knight and the Squire.  It's OK, we'll catch up easily.

FOR TOMORROW
Continue reading to get an overall familiarity.  Specifically, read from group of characters listed at the bottom of p. 103 through the Reeve (sort of a farm manager) on p. 110.  You can stop when you get to the Summoner at line 641 on p. 110.

FOR TOMORROW
Read from the top of page 100 to the bottom of 104--carefully, at least twice per character.  Study details.  Decide whether we are to "agree" or "disagree" with the narrator's assessment. 

Thursday and Friday's reading will be longer; we will finish the prologue this week/over the week-end and read two of the tales next week.

Sorry--It's Nearly Six

TODAY IN CLASS
1) Finished watching "Becket"
2) Brief discussion of types/stereotypes of high school students, particularly at IHS; began listing some possible types.

FOR TOMORROW
Pick ONE category, either named so far in class or something you didn't have a chance to suggest.  Come up with a substantial number of details concerning appearance, clothing/other attire or accessories, speech, common activities, where time is spent outside school, etc. that would help to characterize or identify the category of student you are describing.

Happy New Year to the Class of 2011

TODAY IN CLASS
1) Please take a look at a terrific article in yesterday's Seattle Times that I somehow missed (thanks, Sarah!):
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2013785316_apusmeadrenaissance.html

2) Review of Becket so far, plus continuation.  To be completed tomorrow.

BUT FOR TOMORROW
Read pp. 90-93 in the textbook:  background on Chaucer's life plus intro material to Canterbury Tales itself.