https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/magazine/a-time-for-refusal.html?_r=0
For those of you reading Rhinoceros, here is a link to a contemporary article connecting current politics to the play written in 1959.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/magazine/a-time-for-refusal.html?_r=0
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Welcome to the drama unit of 8th grade Magnet English!
Over the next few weeks, you will become intimately acquainted with a theatrical work which has received widespread critical acclaim as a masterpiece of theater. The culmination of our study of the drama will be a performance of selected scenes from each drama. Reader’s Theater: We will be reading the plays in class in a “Reader’s Theater” setting. You will select which roles are being read by which students (and the roles will rotate daily), then you will act out the entire play as you encounter it for the first time. You will be standing and moving around a makeshift stage as you read and act. Sure, the performance will be rough. Concentrate more on the story during the Reader’s Theater, but remember that this is a play and it is meant to be performed. When you have finished reading your section for each day (approximately one third of the play), you will sit with your lit-circle groups and attend to the thought-provoking questions and activities found herein. After reading, discuss the following questions in your lit circles. Take notes on what your fellow group members say. For homework, using your notes, write a well-developed essay which is informed by your discussion. DO NOT answer the discussion questions in your essay; rather, use the ideas from your discussion to craft an assertion which you can defend. Also, please do not summarize the plot. Your essay should be a minimum of 1.5 pages typed. Day 1: Introduction and Plot 1. What is established in the opening scene of the play? How did the playwright establish those things? 2. What role does setting play in the drama? How would the drama be different if the setting were different? 3. What motivates each of the main characters? What are their hopes, dreams, desires, etc.? Do they (hopes, dreams, etc.) differ or conflict among characters? 4. What are the essential conflicts which are introduced in the play? How might they be resolved? What clues does the playwright provide which might foreshadow potential solutions? Day 2: Analysis 1. What are the major dramatic events in the play and how have the characters handled those events? 2. What motifs and/or symbols are in the play? How do you know? 3. How does the playwright establish character? How is each character distinctive? 4. Aside from direct dialogue, how is character revealed? Day 3: The Human Condition 1. How do the symbols, motifs, or ideas relate to the human condition? i.e. How have you seen these things represented in other texts or media? 2. How does the play transcend the stage to comment on society? 3. Do you agree with the playwright’s assessment of the human condition? Final Analysis: 1. Which characters were static and which were dynamic? How? 2. How did the playwright incorporate use of time to manipulate the plot? 3. How is the essential conflict resolved? Are all conflicts resolved? Were the resolutions predictable? How? 4. In looking at the information flow, when did the audience know things that some characters didn’t? When, if ever, was the information revealed to the other characters? Why or why not? Your final order:
Research Paper with works cited (typed 12 pt double spaced, 5 page maximum) Draft paper (edited in class) Outline Notecard (rubber banded or in ziplok with name on a card on top). HEADING: In the top left: Name Webster/ Period Date In the top right of each page EXCEPT the first: Last name, Page number. sampleresearchpaper.doc.pdf See the SAMPLE PAPER for help on this . |
Homework and the Web
This is not an online course. The information here is to assist students in clarifying assignment expectations. Please note that different classes may have different expectations depending on how much we accomplished during class. The student is responsible for completing homework regardless of the accuracy, clarity, or timeliness of this website. Other ways to clarify expectations are a face-to-face encounter with Mr. Webster or getting information from a classmate. If you miss class, the info on this website may not provide enough context and instruction for you to successfully complete the assignment. See Mr. Webster for help. Archives
May 2017
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