Writing, Speaking, and Expressing for 4th Quarter, accompanying the play Hamlet

Week 1:
Genre
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Week 2:
Genre
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Week 3:
Genre
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Week 4:
Genre
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Week 5:
Genre
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Week 6: Speaking and Expressing
Class discussions about decisions and decision-making
Recite soliloquy/selected scenes with attention to performance details to achieve clarity, force, aesthetic effect

Record your decision-making process on poster paper; use symbols or drawings to emphasize the points you are making
Display the posters in preparation for a gallery walk; review and support the important decisions peers are making
Post findings of contemporary research figure on a class display or in a photo essay

Week 7: Essay Options
Reflective Essay
Cite examples from world and U.S. history of those who failed to recognize the consequences of their actions.
Recount situations in which leaders understood the consequences of their actions but were powerless to alter their destiny.
What personal lessons do you take from the play
Hamlet?
Discuss how your life reflects your beliefs; explain conflicts.

Comparative Essay
Answer the question: When does a decision that applies to me not have to apply to all? How is the decision-making process different if the decision affects more than just self?
Compare Shakespeare's conclusions about humankind with the conclusions of other authors studied in HS (H. Lee, A. Miller, M. Twain, J. Steinbeck, L. Hansberry).

Literary Analysis Essay
Discuss the ironies of Hamlet's death and the symbolism of Fortinbras' coming reign.

Persuasive Essay
Select the critical perspective (moral, psychological, sociological, formalistic, or archetypal) most appropriate for analyzing Hamlet; support with examples from the text and from knowledge of what the criticism will reveal about the work.

Research Option
Research a contemporary figure whose decisions are analogous to Hamlet's decision/indecision on important issues and resulted in negative consequences (Colin Powell, Princess Diana, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, President G. W. Bush, or other); post findings in a class display or in a photo essay.

Week 8:
Genre
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Week 9: Literary Analysis Essay 
For all options, you must use the Literary Essay instructions (Web Page or Microsoft Word)

You
may use the Narrative Profundity Scale (or http://www.readinglady.com/mosaic/tools/Profundity%20Scale-Narrative%20from%20Jeff.pdf)

Other Writing Ideas:
Personal Essay - Write about important decisions for your future

Annotating text (explicit instruction)
Quotation notebooks

Recording
decisions in
Hamlet and in life
examples of literary devices (imagery, metaphor, allusion, analogies)
examples of the play's major themes echoed in the "play within a the play" literary frame
Shakespeare's conclusions about humankind (as depicted in
Hamlet)
the process used to make an important decision about the future; using the self inventory website and the "7-Step Decision Making Model," record your thinking at each step in the process (in preparation for reflective essay)

Written response to focus questions using text support
Summarize a scene from the play

Reflect on the decision-making process you used in making an important decision in your life; include progress you've made toward the decision and identify next steps in your process.
Journal entries detailing college selection and application activities/progress/plans