KNOWLEDGE CAFE

WEEK NINE: UPDATE

We are ending our Macbeth Unit with group choral reading and an individual “Inside the Mind” visual representation of the passage with an accompanying written explanation.

UNIT TEST: TUESDAY, APRIL 16th

What is Choral Reading?

Choral reading is an interpretive reading of text, often poetry or songs, by a group of voices. Students may read individual lines or stanzas alone, in pairs, or in unison. Choral reading, sometimes called “unison reading,” requires repeated readings of a particular passage and it gives practice in oral reading. It is especially well suited to rhymes, poetry, and lyrics. The poems or passages can be “performed” for other students. Ultimately, though, enjoyment and learning should come out of the process of figuring out HOW to perform the poem rather than the performance itself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp-VTHGIKWA

What reading skills does it help students learn and master?

• It helps students learn to decode.
• It develops effective and fluent read aloud skills.
• It improves sight vocabulary.
• It helps students learn to pronounce new words by hearing others reading aloud at the same time.
• It helps students understand rhythm, meter, patterns, rhymes and characters of a poem.
• It demonstrates the importance of oral tradition.

INSIDE THE MIND STUDENT EXAMPLES

WEEK EIGHT: UPDATE

With the reading of the play complete, as well as the Knowledge and Understanding Test, it is time for students to deepen their analysis. Here is an example of what students are working on in class. In analyzing language, students are provided with a short excerpt and must complete the following four questions:

“Come, let me clutch thee. / I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. / Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible / To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but / A dagger of the mind, a false creation, / Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?” (2.1.34-39).

1. Device:  Apostrophe
2. How it is used (general):  By employing apostrophe in their literary works, writers try to bring abstract ideas or non-existent persons to life, so that the nature of emotions they want to communicate comes across in a better way.
3. How it is used (specific): Macbeth addresses this dagger as if it were a character onstage hovering in front of him.
4. Specific Effect or Impact:  This apostrophe effectively confirms that Macbeth plainly sees the dagger; it is right there in front of him, and yet he cannot lay his hands upon it. For now, the appearance of a bloody dagger in the air unsettles Macbeth. Even he does not know whether the dagger is real or a figment of his guilty imagination and questions the dagger “art thou not” and “art thou but” looking for a response. This communication with the dagger also provides a first glimpse of Macbeth’s powerful imagination.

Students are also completing a more extensive quotation analysis:

Q1.  UNDERSTANDING: Describe the circumstances surrounding the quotation. Include who, what, where, and when.

Q2.  LANGUAGE: Analysis of effect (how)

Select TWO elements of style from the quotation and explain their effect or function. INTEGRATE key words or phrases from the quotation in your answer.  You may consider such elements as tone, diction, syntax, figurative language, and imagery.

Q3.  EXTENDING: Analysis of meaning (why)

In a well-argued paragraph, explain how the EXCERPT reveals a theme in the play. You may consider such elements as characters, thoughts, conversations, actions, effects, looks, symbols, motifs, structure, setting, conflict, narration, events, and choices.

HOMEWORK CLUB