?

We began our lesson by getting into pairs, in those pairs we had one partner being a boss whilst another being an employee wanting a raise. The boss would then have to think of reasons as to why he/she wouldn't give the employee a raise.

We then read the book.

After reading it we all had to re-write some of the passage saying what the characters were thinking rather then what they were saying.

My one went like :

(Willy in Howard's office)

Howard: Oh god it's you.

Willy: I need to speak to you.

Howard: Ahh doesn't my daughter have such a beautiful voice?

Willy: I really need to speak to you!

Howard: And my boy is so damn clever, will you just leave already.

Willy: What on earth is that?

Howard: Well i bought it for dictation, it's an amazing machine, but i doubt that you can afford one.

Willy: I could get one, but I don't want one.

Howard: Well you should, it can record radio shows if you miss them.

Willy: That would be good for me, as am always driving and missing them.

Howard: Can't you afford a radio in your car?

Willy: I have it, I just don't use it.

Howard: Wait a minute, why are you not in Boston?

Willy: Because I really need to talk to you about a raise.

Howard: Yes but you should be there, you lost it again eh?

Willy: No! of-course not!

Howard: Oh thank god! Your getting old.

Willy: I've had enough of it, I don't want to travel no more.

Howard: Why on earth not?

Willy: But, remember Christmas you said you would give me a desk job?

Howard: Oh did i, well cant give you one no space.

Willy: But me and your father were so-

Howard: Yes that was then this is now.

Willy: Please, I need this raise.

Howard: No.

Willy: But me and your father-

Howard: No.

Willy: Let me tell you this story-

Howard: Seriously NO, business is business.

Willy: I'll work for fifty dollars please am begging!

Howard: Am sorry, but no.

Willy: 40 dollars, I'll work for anything just pleas give me the job, and am so good at my job.

Howard: No your not, now i must go and get away from you!

Howard exits

Willy: I really need to impress him, desperately need this raise.

Howard: (rushing in) Your still here, you know what you need a break-

Willy: No please done fire me!

Howard: I don't want you to work for us.

Willy: I can't believe your firing me.

Howard: You need to go and relax.

Willy: But I'm broke, i need money.

Howard: Get your two sons to help you.

Willy: Yeah sure thing, like they can help.

Howard: Well I'm sorry, I just cant have you working for us anymore.

Willy: Please this is my life!

Howard: Am busy now. Goodbye.

The end

This was the lesson; for homework we have to comment on my awesome blog on the videos which are in the Chatterley folder located in the W drive.



Esmeralda ;)

Seeds of Tragedy (5/10/10)

We started off the lesson with a task involving facebook updates, but of course, no actual facebook. We were asked to write a comment about Othello, based on what we know, and literally give any opinion about him that came to mind. A few opinions were given, but cause I’m not that fast of a scribe I’ll share my opinion: that Othello is a man of false modesty, as he often talks down about himself and his achievements, but then quotes the in his favour, and possibly even pride, to boost his footing when describing his tale to the Duke.We then discussed a few things to do with writing essays, which when simplified comes out as:

• Use examples from the text, in quotes, and then integrate them into the Essay.
• Stay on task, and don’t ramble. Be sure to always link back to the question.
• Use Word-Level Analysis, basically analyse the words in the quotes with exquisite detail
• Be sure to paragraph, organise your points into them to make it flow, rather than stutter.

After that was discussed, we started, and hopefully finished this task- that if done properly, could be a paragraph in our impending essay
(Mentioned later on):
Task: What does Othello’s Speech reveal about him in both public and private terms?
• Use evidence from the speech, integrate it, then analyse it in detail
• Write at least half a page.

Just put that in there to (1) Take up space, and (2) Fill in anyone who wasn’t there to ‘experience’ it. I recommend doing this for practice if you weren’t there, due to what happened next... We then did the ‘Two Stars and Wish’ system, where we reviewed our own work and decided upon two good points and one thing that we need to work on- which would in turn help us with the essays.

As a fun example, I put my stars as:
• Successfully integrated evidence into the text
• Linked to the question, to a questionable degree of success.

And my Wish was:
• Could have analysed d in much more detail, and should get in more practice to help out with that. And of course, get to the point faster.

Then we went through more of Scene 1 in Othello, and I’m pretty sure that we finished it. We all came across some interesting points whilst going through and here’s what I got down. From Lines 187-196, Brabantio gives his speech about Desdemona, and uses repetition to emphasise his broken heart- the repeating of ‘I have done’ and ‘All my Heart’ show how he has given up on his daughter altogether, and from his speech we can see how dramatically this has affected him. Then we were informed that we are attune to any changes in the situation, and this affects our mood- like a change in lighting or music in a movie may signal an approaching terror or upcoming joy. This is seen when the Duke speaks to Brabantio about the situation with Desdemona and Othello, as he uses a rhyming couplet, in verse, to signal the end of the situation, and alert us to a change in tone. For those of you who are interested, this was:

“To mourn the mischief that is past and gone”
“Is the next way to draw mischief on”

This can be observed again after that point, when that particular issue is brought up. It can be speculated that this is a differentiation from ‘Public’ and ‘Private’ affairs.


Now for some quick notes about various helpful thingies:
• Dramatic Irony: When the Audience clearly knows more than a character on stage. Can be seen when Othello proclaims Iago as “a man of honesty and trust”, and at various other points..
• Prose: Normal Speech, as me or you would talk.
• Verse: 10 Beats per line, and possibly rhyming. Can be seen to signal a change of tone.
• Soliloquy: A speech in which a character, alone on the stage, expresses his thoughts and feelings.

And finally, the H/W was:
Essay 1: How does Act 1 of Othello establish the tragedy?

• AO1 – Articulate creative, informed and relevant responses to literary texts, using appropriate terminology and concepts and coherent, accurate written expression.
• AO2 – Demonstrate detailed critical understanding in analysing the ways in which structure, form and language shape meanings in literary texts.
• AO3 – Explore connections and comparisons between different literary texts, informed by interpretations of other readers.
• AO4 – Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received.

Also, things to consider for your Essays may be:
• Iago as a Character/ 2 Faced? Using Roderigo, Manipulating Brabantio? Villainous?
• Racial Language/Stereotypes
• Othello’s name unused for the entirety of Scene 1
• Othello as a Tragic Hero (What this means, Quotes from Speeches?)
• Foreboding, Dramatic Irony, Iago’s Soliloquy
• Othello’s trusting nature.

Heres a link to something we did in Class, if it doesn't work, please say so <_<

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B-jCyWPORublOTk3ZTdiMGEtNjFiYy00ZjI3LTliZjgtM2UzMzc3MzBhM2E3&hl=en&authkey=CKHurJ4O
Thanks all, D. Hughes (:3)

Linda Loman

At the beginning of the lesson we were asked to mind map all the qualities of a mother, for example:
-Supportive
-Understanding
-Protective
-Worrying
-Loving
-Empathetic and so on.

We then gave examples of Mother's who had these qualities such as:
-Bambi's Mum
-Will's Mum (Inbetweeners)
-Peggy Mitchell etc.

We then read from pg. 35 to pg. 49 of Death of a salesman and found out that Willy had on many occasions tried to commit suicide. Linda also found a pipe that Willy had hide from Linda behind the gas heater, but she took it in the morning and placed it back there before he returned home, which begs the answer of why she would do this if she knew he was suicidal? We had a discussion on this and came to the conclusion that she didn't want to expose him as she knew his reputation meant everything to him.

We were then asked to answer the question "Is this unalloyed support ultimately a help or a hindrance to Willy?". The class decided it was more of a help to Willy because she tries to stop arguments from occurring and to please Willy by praising him constantly.

Further to this point, we had to explain Linda Loman's significance to the Loman family with quotations from the book. For example, " If you don't have feeling for him, then you can't have any feeling for me". This suggests Linda's loyalty to willy, it's seen as emotional blackmail so the boy's will understand that they have to love both her and Willy equally, and it shows Linda as, metaphorically, compared to glue as she holds the family together.

Another quotation relating to the one above is "He's dying Biff. He's dying". This can also be seen as emotional blackmail again in order for the boys to change their attitude towards their father and to give him the respect he once had from them when the boys were little.

Overall,Linda's significance to the Loman family is to act as an foundation in order to keep them together, because Linda knows Willy really needs Biff's respect and assurance as Willy is becoming insanely confused.

We then had to relate Mobile Concurrency to the book and why Miller used it, and we came to the conclusion that he wanted to show the audience how confused Willy is.

Towards the end of the lesson we were asked to write a short essay on Willy's relationship with Linda.

If you weren't in the lesson you need to catch up on the book, and to also look at the W: drive, Mr.Chatterley, Atheism tapes as they help you understand the play and to hear about Millers Religious views.

Lucy

Narrative techniques

Firstly, we discussed the meaning of 'narrative techniques', which basically means different ways of telling a story.

We then spoke about eight different Narrative techniques, which were:

Expostion-Provides background information,establishes the setting and introduces the character. It also explains the story and gives the you content. Examples for Exposition is the introduction of all the Star Wars movies.

In media res-this narrative technique is when a play opens on a scene at the middle or end of the story. This is often different from flashbacks and dream sequences. the main reason for In media res is to unroll the full story in front of the audience. Examples for In media res is the movies Pulp Fiction, and Kill Bill

Historical Present-This is using present tense when narrating or describing past events. It is describing past events as if they are happening now. Examples for Historical Present is the news, and many of Shakespeares academic writings

Dream sequence-This is a brief interlude from the main story. It adds another perspective on something e.g funnier or sadder. Examples for Dream sequences are movies and programmes such as Scrubs, Vanilla Sky, Everybody Hates Chris and Gladiator.

Retroactive Continuity-This is when the author delibrately alters the facts that already is established. It may be used to reintroduce popular characters, update a series for modern audiences or just to create more confusion. Examples of Retroactive Continuity are movies such as Donny Darko and Lucky number sleven.

Stream of consciousness-This is the attempt to portray a certain characters point of view,or thought process. Examples of Stream of consciousness are Inbetweeners,Scrubs,Peep show,American psycho and My name is Earl.

Flashback-This is when the present day in a play or movie the narrator takes you back in time. they usually foreshadow later events that may happen in the future. Flashbacks are mainly use to help build character personality and story, and also fills in crucial back story. Examples for Flashbacks are CSI,Family guy and One Tree Hill.

Flashforward-Just like Flash back, except it goes forward instead of backwards. It is used to show what happends in the future. Examples for Flashforwards are Final Destination and Thats so Raven.

Afterwards, we began reading where we left off on Death of a Salesman. In the book now, Willy remenisces the times when he his sons were still in education. His friend then comes in, plays abit of cards, and then Willy imagines his dead brother-Ben entering the room. The audience can hear and see him, but none of the characters can. He is then having a conversation in two different times of his life. This is called Mobile Concurrency, a Narrative technique in which two time frames are happening in the same time. The audience can see it, but certain characters cannot.

The lesson ended with us writing what Willy thinks of his brother Ben, and what Ben thinks of Willy.

Bye xx

Saways

Public & private Othello: Act 1.3 (28/09/10)

At the beginning of today's lesson we were asked to discuss the difference between the words "Exotic" & "Different". After we discussed this in pairs we were asked to feedback to the class, there were a range of ideas that suggested that the word "Different" was more used than the word "Exotic". Next the class decided that when someone/something was "Different" it was often referred to the unknown and was more negative compared to "Exotic" which was seen as unique (more positive). We then established the dictionary definitions of the words:

Exotic: From another part of the world; foreign.
Different: Uniquely new or of experimental nature.

With are gained knowledge of these words we then discussed whether the character of Othello could be classed as exotic or different. We concluded that Othello's character was both exotic and different.

Sir then added a new word to our vocabulary..

Dichotomy - A split that divides something into 2 parts

Following this we then started to read Act 1 Scene 3. (The duke is telling Othello about the Turks coming to invade Cyprus but is interrupted by Brabantio)
At the end of this scene we gather that Othello is a very composed & humble character who feels he is not in the wrong.

The rest of the lesson was focused around Othello's speech during this scene. (Click link to listen to speech)



The class then split into groups and had to act out a portion of Othello's speech & emphasize certain aspects which showed:

1. Othello's bravery and determination as a warrior
2. Othello's love for Desdemona
3. Noble savage
4. His intelligence and ability to argue in public
5. His passionate nature

Our final task was to come up with a conclusion stating if Othello was different or exotic, we also had to evaluate what the speech shows and how the speech reflects Othello's public/private life.

Homework: Note 10 bullet points on the Ottoman empire and the Venetian empire, Due Thursday.

The Beauty of Tragedy & Othello as a Tragic Hero

In Friday’s lesson we started off by looking at an extract from one of John Milton’s poems called "Il Penseroso", as a class we focused on two particular lines;

“Sometimes let gorgeous tragedy, in sceptred pall come sweeping by”

This lead to an in-depth discussion about whether or not tragedy actually could be ‘gorgeous’, and if so how? Well the class as a whole pretty much came to the conclusion that tragedy can only be beautiful or gorgeous when it is scripted, setup or basically anything except real and factual. The discussion then veered towards why we are attracted to tragedy and the fact that we only ‘enjoy’ tragedies when they aren’t real. For example someone in the audience of a play might absolutely adore how poetic the story is and how well they connect with the characters etc, but that all depends on how well it is written and the quality of the author; this evolved into our next topic. Tragedy comes from real life, real life is ugly and fictional or even well written factual tragedy is gorgeous. We spoke about this statement at length in class, the main point that kept popping up were that someone will warm to something more if they can connect with it; hence well told stories in the news have their subject matter awarded the title ‘tragedy’ whilst generic journalists get ‘natural disaster’ or ‘terrible accident’.

The apparent reason or cause for this way in which ‘tragedy’ is viewed, stems from the need for catharsis at the time of Aristotle; catharsis is the purging of emotions or relieving of emotional tensions through art... which is in this case tragedy.

After all that brainstorming and coming up with individual opinions we read Act 1, Scenes 1 & 2 of Othello. As a class we then spoke about Othello and whether or not he’s a victim of racial discourse due to his accent, place of origin and his skin colour. The outcome of this discussion was that whilst we all agree Othello is a pretty solid character and in fact the opposite to his stereotype, that even if he was neither of these his actions as a Venetian general speak louder than any man’s racial slurs.

If you weren’t in you should catch up on what parts of the play you’ve missed, also here is the full version of John Milton's poem:

http://www.readprint.com/work-1236/Il-Penseroso-John-Milton

Stage Directions and Characteristics

At the start of the lesson, we were asked about an upstage stage direction (which the class was pretty unsure about,) so we had to copy a diagram on the certain stage directions which could possibly face us in further reading of "The death of a salesman".

Going back to the previous lesson about Ambition, we were given a series of questions:
1) Why did/ didn't you predict any bad things happening to you?
2) If your life doesn't work out like this, will you think your a failure?
3) How important is ambition to being successful?

After these questions were answered, we briefly moved on to the stage directions in the opening of "The death of a salesman." We discussed as a class what the flute (at the beginning) tells us of the atmosphere and the dreams Willy may have. Sir, then made the class read pages 9-15 of the novel, which would lead us on to our next task. After reading the allocated pages given to us, we got into groups of 4 and were given 4 particular characters from the first scene. We had to describe their: Appearance, Character/Personality and their relationship to others.

Willy
Appearance- Old, "Past 60 years of age", "Exhausted looking", "Dresses like a businessman"

Character and personality- Short tempered, "Has a mercurial nature", Contradicting, Confused, Big dreams.

Relationship to others- Treats Biff different to Happy (there's been no mentioning on happy thus far from Willy to his wife.) He wants Biff to carry out his dreams, not to be a failure like himself.

Moving on to Linda,
Appearance- Not much mentioning of her appearance as yet- just dresses in a gown.

Personality- Very loyal to Willy- she mothers him, Very typical "motherly figure" (caring for her children.) Linda has only spoken about her family so far in the play. This as yet, is what her character is all about. As we discussed in depth about Linda, we came across this quote: "Most often jovial, she has developed an iron repression of her expectations to Willy's behaviour." This quote brought us the following question: `What clue is their about Linda's character which the audience might not know?` It may give clues to what might happen next in the play, what do you think..........?

The next group spoke about Biff,
Appearance- Well built, Good looking.

Personality- Was really confident but life has made him more pessimistic. He's still searching for something perfect to make him happy and successful.

Relationship to others- He's close to Happy, but the relationship has deteriorated over time. Biff tries to please his father but fails to do so- he is mocked for this. His father had too much expectations, he thinks.

Lastly, me moved on to Happy,
Personality- Competitive, Was bashful with girls but got over that, People think he's an assistant buyer- but actually lower down.

• He's embarrassed of his father, but gets on well with him.
• He wants to find a girl like his mother (Stable, Supportive.)
• Tries to please brother, but changes subject when it gets too heavy.

After this task was completed, our final objective was to write 2 PEE paragraphs on how Willy treats his 2 sons. use the following questions to help you:

• Who is his favourite?
  
• What's his attitude towards his sons?
  
• What are his values in raising his children?
• Has Willy brought up his children well?

Homework: To find examples of narrative techniques. Research and feed back to class (Due next week, Wednesday 29th September.)

Chris