Oct. 31

Writing Portfolio
Students learned about how to write effective summaries. We watched the following video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGWO1ldEhtQ

Then we practiced writing summaries based on Luther's "Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation" (Renaissance & Reformation Topic 7).

Core
Bellwrite: How do you think the Protestant Reformation would have influenced politics? Why?

We finished up our study of Bacon's idols of the mind. We considered Ether 3:6-8 in light of these idols and asked ourselves which idol(s) had affected the Brother of Jared.

We looked at the political implications of the Protestant Reformation. We watched some video clips about the Peasant Revolts in England and Germany (Minutes 22-25, 40-42, and 46-49 of the following video: http://www.byutv.org/watch/e0d8c9f3-b3b8-49f7-b139-2ff0c2a52a83/fires-of-faith-part-1-yearning-for-the-word). Then we briefly considered the European wars of religion.

I then lectured on the formation of the Church of England (Anglican Church). I shared background on Henry VIII and his many wives. We learned that it is a misconception that Henry wanted a divorce. Instead, the situation was quite complicated. Henry had married his older brother's wife, Catherine, on the grounds that his brother had never consummated the marriage. The Pope had given a special dispensation for Henry's marriage to Catherine to occur in the first place. Then later, Henry was asking the Pope to declare his marriage unlawful (The Bible taught that a man should not marry his brother's widow.), to annul the marriage. Therefore, Henry was asking the Pope to declare that he had been wrong the first time in granting the marriage. From this emerged the Act of Supremacy of 1534, which stated the monarch was the supreme head the Church of England. We considered the political fallout of this action when Mary I ("Bloody Mary") took the throne. We then traced the English crown through Elizabeth I (The "Virgin Queen") who fought against the Spanish Armada (again, a religious dispute between Protestantism and Catholicism). We noted that in the absence of a clear successor or Tudor heir, Elizabeth's cousin James I took the throne, beginning the Stuart dynasty.

Students in the B Class began reading Renaissance & Reformation Topic 8: The Anglican Church.

Homework:
Remember to turn in your permission slip for our Jail field trip if you have not yet done so.

Update Oct. 29

Writing Portfolio
 We took a reading comprehension test to evaluate our progress after having completed Hamlet. Then we worked on completing our reflections about the Hamlet essays. On Thursday, make sure to have your Renaissance & Reformation Topic 7 with you for Writing Portfolio. We will be learning how to write effective summaries based on Luther's argument.

Core
Bellwrite: What are assumptions? Describe a time you became aware of one of your assumptions. Is it possible to get rid of your assumptions?

We looked at many examples of the four idols of the mind described by Bacon in the Renaissance & Reformation Topic 5.

Homework:

• Get your permission slip signed for service trip tomorrow.
• Get your permission slip signed for Jail field trip next week.
• Answer all the questions for Topic 5 (Scientific Revolution).

County Jail Field Trip

 “For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”

(Matthew 25:35-36)

“God is behind all things, but all things hide God. Things are black, creatures are opaque. To love a being is to render her transparent.” (Victor Hugo)

What: We will visit the Utah County Jail in Spanish Fork. We will tour the jail and then hear from a couple of inmates.

When: Monday, November 4. Please excuse yourself from your first period class and come directly to Mr. Dye’s room at 8:10.

What to Wear: Uniform polo shirt with modest pants. Please bring your complete uniform to change into upon our return.

What to Bring: Sack lunch. We will be returning to the school just as lunch ends.

What NOT to Bring: Cell phones, jackets with school logo

Update Oct. 28

Bellwrite: What is science? What is unique about a scientific approach to learning the truth? What are other ways of learning the truth?

We will be using the homework from the weekend (Renaissance & Reformation Topic 7) tomorrow during Written Portfolio. Please hold on to these assignments until then.

We took a break from the Protestant Reformation to consider another cultural development associated with the Renaissance: the Scientific Revolution. We considered first the Copernican revolution, the shift from an earth-centered model of the universe to a sun-centered model. Then we studied the contributions of Galileo. We discussed how the ideas of Galileo were considered an attack on the Catholic Church. Next we considered the rise of the scientific method, focusing on the contributions of Sir Francis Bacon to developing an inductive (rather than deductive) method of learning truth. We began exploring his writings on the idols of the mind with various examples.

Homework:
Finish reading and annotating Renaissance & Reformation Topic 5: The Scientific Method Emerges. Answer all the questions.

Update Oct. 25

Bellwrite: Commonplace books

We held our debate on the question of free will. Students argued either for Luther's point of view or for Erasmus's point of view, using only the Biblical knowledge available at the time of the Reformation.

Students read Renaissance &  Reformation Topic 7 about Luther's attacks on the Catholic Church.

Homework

• Finish reading/annotating Topic 7 and answer the Reason and Record questions in writing.
• Continue working on your Hamlet monologue.

Update Oct. 24

Writing Portfolio
We took a small quiz to review what we learned during Term 1 about semicolon and colon usage.
We reflected on what we have learned about ourselves as writers from the experience of writing the Hamlet essays. Students wrote written reflections, based on a handout, on their writing.  We will finish these during the first 15 minutes of Writing Portfolio class on Tuesday.

Core
Bellwrite: How did the Renaissance prepare the way for the Protestant Reformation? (Think of Renaissance Humanism.)

We spent 40 minutes discussing the Bellwrite. We considered each of the key Humanist values in light of this question:

• Rationalism (The belief that reason is the way to understand the truth.)
• Reformers taught the doctrine of Word Alone, focusing on a study of the Bible.
• Reformers reasoned that translations of the Bible distorted original meaning, and so focused on studying the Bible in it's original languages.
• Reformers wanted to get the Bible into the hands of every individual so he/she could reason about it.
• Reformers questioned long-held traditions of the Catholic religion.
• Individualism (The belief in the value and potential of individual human beings.)
• Reformers taught the doctrine of Universal Priesthood: any man who comes to Christ can be his own priest. Men don't rely on priests as intermediaries between them and God.
• Reformers followed their individual consciences in spiritual matters, rather than relying on the authority of the Church.
• Reformers taught that salvation was an individual matter of personal faith, not dependent on traditions of the church such as the sale of indulgences which relied on priestly intercession.
• Moral Relativity (The belief that what is right or wrong depends on circumstances.)
• Reformers relied more on the authority of God as revealed through their individual consciences than on the canonical laws of the Church.
• Reformers were willing to break the law to bring about what they deemed to be a better work.
• Secularism (A focus on man's activities, including his civil government, in this world, as opposed to a focus on spiritual realities or the role of the Church--meaning the Catholic Church.)
• Henry VIII in England declared the monarch of England to be the head of the Church, reversing the tradition order of power in Europe under which the Pope crowned emperors and monarchs.
• Because of Luther, German princes began asserting their independence and declaring their own state religions for their small princedoms.

We talked about how these core Humanist values could be very important in promoting God's work, but when pushed to extremes result in the cultural problems of 2013. Rationalism becomes a belief that truth can only be established scientifically. Individualism results in the breakdown of families and communities, and afflicts society with a number of ills rooted in selfishness, entitlement, and indulgence. Moral relativity becomes a belief that there are no moral standards. Finally, secularism becomes the complete removal of God as states support not freedom of religion but freedom from religion.

Students worked in groups to prepare to debate the question of free will from the points of view of Luther and Erasmus as expressed in our history reading packet, Renaissance & Reformation Topic 6: Christian Humanism.

Homework:
Answer all the questions on Topic 6 (Reason and Record & Relate and Record).
Continue practicing your Hamlet monologue. We will perform next Tuesday.

Update Oct. 23

Bellwrite: None

Students did an excellent job on their Hamlet essay exam. They were invited to take the exams home to finish them tonight and turn them in at the start of class tomorrow.

Update Oct. 21

Bellwrite: Do you agree or disagree with this statement: to love is to suffer. Explain.

We collected the final reading journals for Fire in the Bones. Students shared their thoughts on the book.

We worked on memorizing one of our anchor scriptures for Literature: John 8:31-34. We discussed how it relates to our study of Hamlet. We noted that how characters in Hamlet choose to obey one another reflects their willingness to accept responsibility for their own choices and actions. For example, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern want the king and queen to command them and give themselves up in full obedience because then they think they can blame their betrayal of Hamlet on the king and queen. Likewise, Ophelia chooses to let her father do all her thinking for her. The play seems to be showing us that the natural man shirks accountability, and thus wants to surrender his agency.  In contrast, Hamlet, at least at the beginning of the play, promises to obey his mother only "in all his best." We reflected on what it means to us to choose to truly own our decisions from day to day.

We finished reading and discussing the final scene of the play. Then students had time to finish working on their outlines for the Hamlet essay exam tomorrow.

Homework:

1. Finish preparing for the Hamlet essay exam tomorrow.
2. Continue working on your Hamlet monologues. Performances will be next week. You should have it memorized so well that you can concentrate on being "in character" and expressing the appropriate emotions, rather than focusing on recalling the words.

Update Oct. 18

Writing Portfolio
We reviewed our memorization of Matthew 12:33-35. We also introduced our next anchor scripture for literature: John 8:31-14. We discussed how literature can help us see the truth because it serves as a mirror for us. We considered that literature in elementary school had a clearly stated "moral of the story" but in adult literature we tend to look not for a clearcut moral of the story so much as to see a reflection of our own humanity, to see character traits, relationships, and choices/consequences more clearly. We also recognized that not all adult literature tells the truth about these things. We discussed briefly the differences between whole, bent, and broken stories.

Students had time to work on their four-part quotation analysis paragraph (from Hamlet) that was due today at the end of class. This is a paragraph that will be integrated in their final essays on Hamlet. Students conferenced individually with me on their writing.  After they completed the paragraph, they continued to work on outlining their Hamlet essays.

Core
Bellwrite: What is Hamlet (the play) saying about death? What questions is Hamlet (the character) asking about death? Is he Protestant or Catholic in his beliefs about human life and death?

We discussed the theme of death in Hamlet. We looked at some still-life paintings on the theme of Memento Mori (Latin for "Remember you will die."). We considered why people would want to hang pictures like these in their homes. We recognized that our view of death makes claims upon how we live. We wondered what claims Hamlet's view of death made upon his life, how he acted.

We finished watching the movie of Hamlet. We then started reading the final scene of the play (Act 5, scene 2).


Homework

• Continue to memorize your Hamlet monologue. Performances will be in approximately one week.
• Continue to prepare your outline for your Hamlet essay exam. We will finish reading the play on Monday and the exam will be next Tuesday. The exam is open-note, open-book.
• Finish reading Fire in the Bones. Your last two reading logs are due Monday.

Update Oct. 16

We took the full Practice SAT (PSAT). If you were absent from class, you will need to take the 4 sections of the PSAT we used in class a couple weeks ago. At that time we only completed Section 5. Please take the first four sections of the test on your own. Set a timer for each section (25 minutes each). This practice is critical to helping you learn the test-taking skills that improve your SAT score.

Update Oct. 15

Writing Portfolio
Students worked on outlining their Hamlet essay exams. Students are encouraged to come to class the day of the exam with a detailed outline of the four-part quotation analyses they intend to include in their essays.  Students are welcome to come to class Thursday with questions for teacher feedback prior to the exam.

Core

Bellwrite: Compare and contrast Hamlet's and Ophelia's madness. Is anyone else in the play mad?

We had an extensive discussion on the bellwrite topic. We considered that madness may be either being ruled by reason alone or by emotion alone. We considered the shifts in states of madness for Hamlet and Ophelia, how they changed over the course of the play and which events and/or choices seemed to trigger these changes.  We acknowledged that madness is often defined as deviating from social norms; however, we also saw that when social norms are themselves corrupt, as was the case at Elsinore, then perhaps the society as a whole is mad. Perhaps Hamlet is holding a mirror up not only to individual characters in the play but also to the entire society of Denmark. Likewise, perhaps Shakespeare, through the play of Hamlet, is holding a mirror up to English civilization. After all, as we read the gravedigger scene today we saw Shakespeare take a jab at English society saying that if Hamlet does not recover his wits in England it will not matter because the people there are as mad as he. We considered why Shakespeare would have used the term "madness" instead of insanity. There seems to be a connection between madness and anger/vengeance, which suggests a relationship between madness and choosing not to be (to take arms). Madness seems to be the separation of one from himself, refusing to be ruled by conscience. We saw that perhaps madness is the ultimate expression of corruption, for it is the corruption of being.  At the same time, we wondered if this applied to Ophelia, whose madness seems to be more truly a reflection of herself than when she was being told what to think by her father. Her madness seems to be an innocence, and yet it is also more truthful for she speaks without filters. If those around her would actually listen to her, they would see that she is telling them the nature of their wrongs and hurts, as demonstrated by her symbolic use of flowers.

Class A continued their discussion of the Protestant Reformation. They learned the key doctrines taught by John Calvin:
1. natural depravity (man is by nature evil, full of the lusts and desires of the flesh and unable of himself to desire good)
2. predestination (God chooses which souls will be elect and which will be allowed to remain damned. Humans do not have free will, but rather must humbly acknowledge that the will of God will be manifest for His glory.)

As a psychological outgrowth of these doctrines, we saw the emergence of the "Protestant Work Ethic"--the subconscious desire to be industrious and materially successful to prove to oneself that God is prospering him and therefore to prove to himself that he must be one of God's elect. The Puritans who settled in North America, as Calvinists, brought this work ethic with them and may explain the origins of the American Dream.

We also read into Act V of Hamlet. We are in the middle of the graveyard scene. We noted that the gravedigger seems to be the only character in the play who is able to match wits with Hamlet. Likewise, we noted the significance of the revelation that the gravedigger began his work on the very day Hamlet was born, which was also the day Hamlet Sr. defeated Fortinbras Sr. It is almost as if Hamlet were predestinated to vengeance and death. We also found it interesting that the play starts with a wedding-funeral and now in Act V we have another would-be-wedding-funeral, as Ophelia is buried with flowers with which the Queen would have liked to have celebrated her wedding to Hamlet. Likewise, Hamlet and Laertes find themselves sharing a funeral bed with Ophelia when they fight in and over her grave.  What might be suggested by this parallel structure of the play?

Homework

• Fire in the Bones reading due Thursday. Last two reading journals will be due next Monday.
• Work on outlining your Hamlet essay.
• Continue to memorize and rehearse your Hamlet monologue.
• At the end of Writing Portfolio on Thursday, you must turn in a paragraph four-part quotation analysis that you intend to include in your Hamlet essay. This paragraph will allow you to demonstrate that you have mastered the four-part analysis structure. Make sure your claim is arguable/interpretive rather than stating an obvious fact about the play.

Update Oct. 8

Writing Portfolio
Period 1 attended a presentation by the debate class with speeches about George Washington.
Period 2 worked on developing ideas for the Hamlet essay exam (see separate post).

Core
Bellwrite: Write a diary entry from the point of view of one of the following characters between Acts III and IV: Ophelia, Claudius, Horatio, Gertrude.

We read from Act IV of Hamlet.

Students were given time to work on memorizing their monologues.

Homework:

• Check grades for accuracy on Edline.
• Work on memorizing monologues.
• Fire in the Bones reading journal.

Hamlet Essay Exam

Instructions: Select ONE of the essay prompts below.  On separate lined-paper, respond to the prompt with an in-depth essay (more than just a five paragraph essay).  Support your ideas with evidence and quotations from the text (Remember to take your evidence from the play script and not from the movie).

Please use the four-part quote analysis to present your evidence:

1.       Claim (What is the main idea you are trying to communicate with the paragraph?)

2.       Context for the quotation (Who said it? To whom? At what point in the play?)

3.       Quotation (Don’t use long quotations.  Instead, select the most important part of the quotation. Make sure to introduce the quotation with an appropriate dialogue tag such as Hamlet says, “To be…”.)

4.       Analysis of the quotation (Use 4-6 sentences to point out important words or phrases and to show how the quotation proves the claim.)

The test will be given upon completion of the play in class. You will have a two-hour class block to write your essay. This is an open-book, open-note test.  You would be wise to prepare an outline beforehand.

Essay Prompts:

Note that each prompt has a main question followed by sub-questions to help you explore the topic. You are not required to respond to all the sub-questions; moreover, you are not limited to just these sub-questions.

A.      What is the meaning of Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy?

a.       Which does Hamlet choose?  At what point in the play?

b.      Which characters choose to be?

c.       Which choose not to be?

d.      How does the play show the consequences of these choices?

e.      How is the to be question related to the corruption motif throughout the play?

f.        How is the to be question related to the acting motif?

g.       How is the to be question related to madness in the play?

 

B.      Explore the acting motif in the play.

a.       How does Hamlet’s acting “hold a mirror up to nature”?

b.      Which characters are acting?

c.       How does their acting reveal and/or conceal the truth?

d.      What is the significance of the play-within-the-play?

e.      How do the final scenes of the play, including the funeral services for Hamlet and Horatio’s implied storytelling, relate to the acting motif?

 

C.      What is the play saying about madness?

a.       What is the significance of Polonius’s seemingly absurd comments to the King about Hamlet’s madness? Why did Shakespeare use the word mad instead of insane?

b.      Compare and contrast Hamlet and Ophelia’s madness.

c.       Is anyone else mad in the play?

d.      What is the relationship between madness and truth in the play?

e.      What is the relationship between madness and corruption?

 

D.      Explore the idea that ultimately, Hamlet is a meditation on death.

a.       What does the play say about death?

b.      What does it say about life and human nature?

c.       What do Hamlet’s monologues say about the topic? Consider his to be or not to be speech. Also consider his words to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about his depression.

d.      What is the significance of Hamlet’s words to Claudius after having killed Polonius?

e.      What is the significance of the gravedigger scene?

f.        What is the significance of Ophelia’s burial scene?

g.       How is the play related to Catholic and Protestant beliefs about death and salvation?

h.      Interpret Hamlet’s final words, “The rest is silence.”

 

E.       Explore the character of Hamlet.

a.       Why would many literary critics consider him the most brilliant mind in all of literature?

b.      Is he flawed?  Is he cruel? Is he likable or pitiable?

c.       Is he a hero?

d.      Why does he appreciate Horatio?

e.      How does he compare with the other sons in the play, Laertes and Fortinbras?

f.        Why does he favor the election of Fortinbras to be the next king of Denmark?

 

F.       What does Hamlet say about love?

a.       What is the relationship between love and obedience?

b.      Did Hamlet love Ophelia?

c.       Did Gertrude love Claudius?

d.      Did Hamlet Sr. love Hamlet Jr.?

e.      Which characters truly loved each other?

f.        Why did Hamlet love Horatio?

g.       What is the significance of the harlotry motif?

h.      Does the play offer any hope for love?

Update Oct. 7

Bellwrite: Compare pictures of the interiors of two church buildings: a Catholic cathedral and a Protestant church. What differences do you notice? (How do those differences reflect different understandings about salvation?)

We continued our lecture on the Protestant Reformation. We learned about the basic doctrines Luther introduced: faith alone, grace alone, word alone. We also saw how these beliefs led Luther to deny human free will.

Homework:

• Check Edline to make sure that records are accurate. Please let me know tomorrow if something needs to be corrected.
• Fire in the Bones reading log for page 175 is due Wednesday.
• Bellwrite journals are due Wednesday to be graded during Fall Break.
• Keep working on memorizing your Hamlet monologue.

Update Oct. 3

Bellwrite: Who is choosing to be or not to be in Hamlet? How do you know?

We discussed each of the main characters in light of this bellwrite prompt. We then began reading Act IV, seeing the fallout of the decisions made in Act III.

Homework
Fire the Bones p. 146 due Friday. We are shifting the reading schedule back by one so as to relieve some homework pressure during General Conference this weekend. Thus p. 175 will be due Oct. 9.

Update Oct. 4

Bellwrite: Please record in your commonplace book your most important learning this week.

We took a break from Hamlet to return to history. We reviewed what we have learned thus far: Renaissance Humanism and the Age of Exploration. We then proceeded into the Protestant Reformation. I shared a lecture introducing the Protestant Reformation. We considered why there are so many different Christian denominations, and reviewed a brief history of the following major branches of Christianity: Catholicism, Orthodox, Protestantism, and "Mormons." We traced each branch's claims to authority and historical origins.

We next considered some of the key players and doctrines of the Protestant Reformation: Luther, Calvin, grace alone, faith alone (justification by faith), word alone, predestination. From our consideration of predestination, we were led to the debate between the two great Christian Humanists--Luther and Erasmus--on the question of human free will. We studied their debate in our history primary source readings packet (Renaissance & Reformation Topic 6).

Homework:
Work on memorizing your Hamlet monologue.

Remember, we have adjusted the Fire in the Bones reading schedule to limit homework during General Conference weekend. The adjusted schedule is as follows.

Date Due	Page Due
Sept. 19	23
Sept. 23	47
Sept. 25	59
Sept. 27	85
Sept. 30	110
Oct. 2	133
Oct. 4	146
Oct. 9	175
Oct.15	197
Oct. 17	217
Oct. 21	235

Update Oct. 2

Bellwrite: Use the Topical Guide in the scriptures to study what it means to be a saint. Consider looking up related concepts such as holy or sacred.

Students had some time to work on editing and memorizing their monologues.

Students read the remainder of Act III in small groups and annotated for understanding. They considered which of the decisions in Act III was the turning point for the play.

Homework: Due Oct. 4--Fire in the Bones reading journal through p. 146.

Update Oct. 1

Bellwrite: Which character in Hamlet do you find you can relate to the most? Explain.

We watched several scenes of the movie in class. We reenacted the play-within-the-play and began noting the key decisions being made in Act III.

Homework: Fire in the Bones reading journal up to page 133 due tomorrow. Print reading journals 4-6 and prepare to turn them in.

Writing Portfolio:
We reviewed some of the most commonly missed problems from the practice SAT (section 5).