Study Plan for English Exam

Weekend 5/11-5/13 

•  Begin to type notes and assignments. This includes Drama elements.
• Type up previous MacBeth homework assignments.       - 1.7.34-52 paraphrase         - 2.1-2.2 staging annotations and narrative description         - Macbeth inference chart         - 4.3 questions         - 5.1 annotations, focusing on connections to previous scenes         - Final scenes notes and paraphrase         - Whole-play annotations

• Read and Annotate MacBeth Act 5, Scene 1, paying close attention on previous images, plot points, and characters
• Sunday- Study for wordly wise quiz, keeping in mind that it is in a different format. Fill in the blank dealing w/ MacBeth. Fill in the blank dealing w/ literary elements. Go on Quizlet.com and create a practice quiz. 
• Remind myself to bring my Norton Book home

Wednesday 4/16

1. Gather all of my essential exam papers into my exam binder- Literary Analysis, Research paper, Nervous Conditions, poetry, MacBeth
2. Make a list or chart that shows ideas of what I can write for the literary analysis essay.  Ideas to think about: Where was I at the beginning of the year? What did we focus on each quarter? What connects the units we have studied? How did it affect how I think today? Read over my literary analysis essay I turned in to familiarize myself with the format. Also consider the rhetorical situation. See pages 143-152 in my Norton Book for further info on literary analysis.
3. Remember what the definition of thesis is: A support or claim with evidence from the book. IT is arguable so that you can argue on side or another. Not opinionated, but it is your interpretations and your thoughts.
4. Ask Dr. D about whether we should include a thesis in our literary analysis essay on the exam

Thursday 4/17 

1. Type up Key Features of a literary analysis that I wrote on looseleaf
2. Type up the style features notes I took on Jan 4
3. Type up the working with quotations notes i took
4. Type up the Research process (focus, find, filter, communicate, reflect, etc) Ask Dr. D- will this be on exam?

Friday 4/18

1. Make flashcards for poetry vocabulary. Review Poetry test. Think: What do I need to work on? What may reappear on the exam?
2. Make flashcards for Drama vocabulary.
3. Go over (and possible retype or rewrite) "Read like a Reader/ Write Like a Writer"- This will make another appearance on our final.
4. Look over elements of fiction???--> ask Dr. D if this is important

Saturday 4/19

1. Nervous Conditions: Review test, characters, really study anything that I got wrong on test, What makes post-colonial literature?* How might the psychological setting affect characters in the book? What are all the characters anxieties?
2. Practice paraphrasing. There is something on her webpage.

Sunday 4/20

1. MacBeth: Review everything that we have done in MacBeth. Reread passages if you do not understand. Try to think about motifs, theme, etc. and go over the Drama vocab. 
2. Look through poetry booklet

Monday 4/21 (Half day, Math exam this day)

1. Flip through everything in english section. Put stickies on anything I need to review.
2. Practice poetry vocab and drama vocab.
3. Highlight/mark/sticky note anything that I need to spend more time on.

Tuesday 2/22 (Half day, Biology & World History today, Day before English Exam)

1. Make sure you are efficient and know everything. Ask friends if you need any help.
2. Review ALL vocabulary cards.
3. Review EVERY PAGE.
4. Don't forget about literary analysis essay that I will have to write.

Don't stress, you can do it!              Take lots of breaks.             Don't study for more than 30 minutes straight. 

Fourth Quarter Participation Evaluation

In fourth quarter, I was finally recovered from mono. Coming back gave me a fresh new attitude to finish up the school year. I was determined to get back on task and start learning again. I try my best to come to class with a positive attitude and open mind, turn in assignments when they are due, and bring the appropriate materials to class. Once I did forget to bring my free reading book on the Monday we returned from spring break. I learned from my mistake though, and I have brought my free reading ever since. MacBeth is always in the front pocket of my backpack so that has never been an issue.  I will admit that dismissal before lunch can be challenging, but I try to wait with the class so that we don't get held in the class for a longer period of time. I know that sometimes teachers let their classes out late as a punishment for being too eager to leave. I am also scared that if I leave too early I will miss a homework assignment. I always check on line for homework, but sometimes there will be something said in class that may be left out online. This doesn't happen in English, but there is always a first. I make sure to check my email so that Dr. DeGravelles can reach me. You never know when a teacher will need you for something. I usually reach Dr. DeGravelles by email for any questions I have, so I know that it is important that people check their emails.


Fourth quarter is the hardest to listen because thoughts begin to turn to those of the ever-so-close summertime. These are not the kind of thoughts that should be in my head during english class. It can be hard for me to focus sometimes and I end up repeating a question that my peers have already asked. I like to ask questions, but I need to work on listening to peers' questions. This has been embarrassing because it is taken as though I do not listen.  I have improved though; sometimes I stop myself before asking already-answered questions. I also find that towards the end of the school year (and especially towards the ends of the weeks) I have gotten myself involved more in side discussions. This is not something I'm proud of. My goal is to  get through the rest of next week by not engaging in side discussions and keeping my ears open.


Individual and group work in fourth quarter for me has been very productive. The last group work we did was staging a few pages from MacBeth. After we finished, my understanding of the scene had gotten better and I feel like I helped my classmates too. We worked outside, which wasn't much of a problem, considering we got most of our work finished (only a few lines were left). We had fun trying out the different ways to say sentences and picking which one we liked best. We all felt confident with our final product. I have always been sort of a leader in group work; I like to keep everyone on task. I think this is why I like individual work better because I don't have to worry about others and finishing on time.


Participation has never been much of a problem for me because I like to participate. This quarter there has been more opportunities to participate because we read poetry and reenact MacBeth scenes.  I frequently volunteer for roles in MacBeth, and before that, I volunteered to read poems. I believe that I have participated the most this quarter. Third quarter was tough because I was sick for the majority of it and my energy levels were really low and I don't remember my participation in the first semester other than the fact that it was fine. I am determined to do well on my exam ergo I try to participate as much as I can so that I can fully understand the information that is presented to me in class. 


Outside Reading:
Macbeth- 60 minutes
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins- 50 minutes
Biology Textbook- 30 minutes
French outside Reading book (La Quete de Despereaux)- 25 minutes

MacBeth Act 4, scene 3 Homework

1. Malcolm tests/ tricks MacDuff- How? Why? How does Macduff prove himself to Malcolm?

           

            Malcolm believes that MacDuff is a secret agent sent to lure Malcolm to his destruction in Scotland. Malcolm tests MacDuff by talking about what he would do as king. Malcolm says that he would make a bad king if they defeated MacBeth. Scotland would not be happy under his rule. Malcolm lies that he has an impossible lust that would only get worse as he devoured all the women of Scotland. MacDuff finally shows concern for his country by agreeing that Malcolm would be a horrible ruler (Lines 103-114) and is a terrible person in general. He wouldn’t be able to stand a ruler that would do such things to Scotland. Then, Malcolm takes everything he said back and they become allies.

2. What is the subtext of Ross’s lines to MacDuff when MacDuff inquires about his wife and children? (Lines 203-208) How might Ross say this on stage?

            “Well” normally means fine, doing good, etc. However, the subtext of “well” is “at peace,” meaning at rest. When MacDuff asks about his wife and children, Ross’s response includes “well” for both of them. They are both well off in heaven. Ross might give the audience a wink, avoid eye contact with MacDuff, or he may pause before he says the word “well”.

3.MacDuff has 4 reactions (group his first two lines together) to the news of his family that Ross brings. Paraphrase each (lines 248-276, only MacDuff’s parts). What conclusions can you draw about his emotional process here?)

Reaction 1: Line 250- He is sad, regretful for not being there

Of course I was gone for this! Was my wife killed too?

Reaction 2: Lines 255- 258- He is angry

MacBeth does not know what it is like to have children. You mean all my pretty children? Did you say all? All? All of my pretty children and their mother fell at one attack?

Reaction 3: Lines 227-236- He is being hard on himself. Blames himself. He feels guilty.

I can’t help remembering that they were so precious to me. Did heaven just look down at this and not do anything about it? It is all my fault! Stupid MacDuff.  The wicked man that I am, and they are the ones being punished, even though they did not do anything wrong. I was the reason they were murdred. Let them find rest in heaven.

Reaction 4: Lines 237-241- He becomes revengeful and anticipates attack

I can keep on crying like a woman and bragging about how I will avenge them! But gentle heavens- don’t keep me waiting. Bring me face to face with the demon of Scotland, MacBeth. Put him near my sword, and if he escapes, heaven forgive him.

Outside reading this year

This year, I have read more books than ever. I have never read so frequently in my life. I know, that's sad. I have been doing sports for a good while and I never settled down to read a book until I had to. Usually I read the most in the summertime. It's nice now to have something to read before I go to bed. It's become routine thing. Recently, I've been hooked on the Hunger Games.


 Ever since we have done "Thinking Like a Writer" I have been doing that exactly. I have started to think about how the writer approaches writing a story rather than just what story the writer is telling. For example, in the Hunger Games trilogy, whenever Katniss has deep thoughts, I think of what purpose they have. I think about how everything in the story is connected and sometimes I wonder if the author is foreshadowing.  I pay special attention to word choice now, too. One last thing that I pay attention to is theme. I've learned that theme is a sentence and I've been trying to figure out what theme the Hunger Games has for a while now. I came up with the theme you should stick up for yourself and fight for what you believe. A good quote that I found that puts this in another way is, "To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting" by E.E. Cummings, in 1955.


The next book I'd like to read is "In Defense of Food" by Micheal Pollan. It won't be my summer reading since I am not returning to Episcopal next year, but I will read it anyway. It sounds interesting to me because I have done several projects on the topics in the book, such as genetically engineered foods. Stuff like that always intrigues me. I like to read about how certain governments function, considering I have been reading The Hunger Games and I want to read "In Defense of Food," which talks about how deceptive the government and food industries can be about what Americans eat. 

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins- 150 + minutes

Biology Textbook- 30 mins

La quete de Despereaux (French reading) 25 minutes

A post in Lady MacBeth's perspective

I am hungry for POWER! Now that MacBeth has a higher status, I am one step closer to rule. I have succeeded in convincing him to kill the king. Although I wish it would have been me to do the honor..... HA! Everything is going according to plan. My husband played his part when he killed the king and was actually pretty convincing. Maybe next time he is too cowardly to do something I should question his manhood again.  That works well! I cannot wait until we are on top. It should only be in a matter of weeks, no DAYS. I want it NOW. If only MacBeth and I would switch bodies so I can be the man in control and he can be the delicate wife....

Sarah Jane's Common Errors List

1. Semicolons must have independent clauses that are closely related on both sides.

example- The ice cream truck drove by my house today; I asked for chocolate but I got vanilla.

2. Punctuation marks go INSIDE quotation marks, unless there is a parenthetical citation.

example 1- Fred asked Bob, "Will you be my friend?"
example 2- As Wallace observes, "Blah blah blah blah blah" (42).

3. Always check the words you are uncertain of.

example- I commonly mix up letters in the words weird and definitely.

4. Watch out for the misuse of words or phrases- if you're unsure, look them up.

example- The phrase more superior than is incorrect. It should be more superior to.

5.  Always keep in mind the rhetorical situation and think of what is appropriate and what is not.

6. Comma splicing: Be careful not to overuse commas. A main clause makes a complete thought, so you should not use a wimpy comma to join two powerful clauses.

BAD example- Fanning the slice of pizza with her napkin, Jane waited for it to cool, she had already burnt the roof of her mouth when she took the first bite.
GOOD example- Fanning the slice of pizza with her napkin, Jane waited for it to cool. She had already burnt the roof of her mouth when she took the first bite.

Writing Wrap-Up for Freshman Year

       This year has thrown the more papers at me than ever before. As a result, I've tremendously grown as a writer. I started the year off strong when I wrote my literacy narrative on camp journaling. It was an experience fresh off my mind, since camp had only been one or two months back, and I received a perfect grade. I remember being actually excited when I got this assignment because I knew exactly what kind of literacy experience to talk about. My eagerness to write my paper on a topic that I cared about helped me achieve such a high grade. I also spent three days revising and reworking my sentences until they flowed together nicely and created a story-like effect. My parents proofread it for spelling errors until there was none left. I’ve noticed that writing comes naturally to me when it involves talking about the things that I love.

            My WRAP test paper, on the other hand, was one that had a topic that did not catch my interest. It was the worst writing I have done all year. I felt incompetent while I wrote and was unable to cover three pages on it. I stopped short, which really hurt my mechanics score. I think if I was able to research it, I could have turned my score of 24/36 into at least a 30. I did not find any spelling errors and I thought my order was reasonable, but I wish I used stronger vocabulary. This essay was weird because I am usually good at writing as I go along. I think my lack of preparedness and lack of interest on the topic definitely made me do so poorly.

            My second best paper of the year was my profile paper on my backhouse. I chose to write description about a place rather than a person and it worked out for me. I was delighted when I saw Dr. DeGravelles’s comment, “Your use of active verbs is really impressive. It actually reads like a piece from an interior design magazine. And you did a great job incorporating physical and psychological details.” My adjective choice included words such as cinnamon, azure, and caramel to describe the colors of certain features. It was fun to get to use such rich words to describe. One thing that I had to work more was the opening paragraph to introduce the space and explain how the space is used. Dr. D critiqued my closing paragraph and said that some things came too much of a surprise- like how I said that I was not too fond of the design. I liked this surprise, though, and didn't want to change the other paragraphs just because of this one quirk. The only error in my sentence fluency was the addition of the phrase “in particular” in the middle of a sentence. It sounded a bit trippy, but I thought it added to my voice. I am pleased with the way my paper turned out. It is a paper that I don't want to change anything about. 

            My Literary Analyisis was one of the most challenging papers for me because it was style of writing that I wasn't familiar with. Also, I had do analyze a short story and focus on literary element(s). I had to rework my thesis a bunch until it was fit to both my teacher and my own liking. I had to approach this like a psychologist. The only thing that I made mistakes on was conventions- I misused “sarcasm” for mockery, I put “more superior than” rather than “superior to." I also misused a semicolon to introduce a quote. Another thing that affected my grade was one incomplete peer review that I was supposed to carry out better. The whole paper ended up working out great though. My thesis turned out great and I found that I could expand really well on it. My word choice was great too; I used uncommon words such as epicene and inferior. I am also proud of is the way that I transitioned from one paragraph to the next. 

            My global issues research paper, like my WRAP paper, was not written with eagerness. I found that it took up a large amount of my time for the research part and I was stressed that it involved two classes. Not to mention the fact that it had a lot of point value. I ended up making a 92/100, with the majority of the missing points from my laziness in citations and MLA format.  I should have done an in-text citation to include who is speaking and I should have added a reference to the source in the works cited list. I carelessly left out a few citations.  I had everything else in tip top shape- word choice, sentence fluency, ideas, etc. I was the most proud of my transitions. The content and ideas of my paper was A+ material. This experience taught me to carry out the other requirements to my best ability.

            Compared to eighth grade papers, there was a lot more requirements that I needed to think about this year. I was challenged on a lot of new styles and techniques, though I’ve handled it well. Writing is one of my strengths at school.   My writing continues to show my natural talent for forming flowing paragraphs with fresh word choice and bright ideas. The teacher feedback to my final drafts has mostly been approval, with the occasional remark about how I did not do citations to my best extent, or how I did not do proper peer reviews. These things do, sadly, take off from the overall point value of your paper and I will be sure to remember to properly carry out every requirement next year, not just the part about writing an adequate paper. My classmate feedback, on the other hand, was not as helpful as I would have liked them to be. I do give my class peers credit for proofreading and complimenting, though. I learned from this that I should try to revise classmates' papers better because I know how it feels when my own don't return to me properly or fully revised.

            Overall, the meat my papers are very well written and earn A’s in all areas of writing. Next time, I will try to do better on conventions. I must watch out for misused phrases and need put a little more effort into using standard conventions to document research sources.I hope that by finding more peers to review my papers, I can make my conventions ten times better.  If I am unsure about any word, phrase, or punctuation mark, I can use the web or look it up in the grammar books we received this year. One thing I will be sure to remember is how to properly quote someone. We went over this many times this year and were tested on it; I have even saved the notes on my computer. I’m glad I’ve kept these notes because there are many essays in high school where we must quote a source. Ninth grade english has definitely better prepared me for the high school writing assignments that await me in the future.