Romeo & Juliet Prompt #5

Find an example of each of the following in Romeo & Juliet and type in the phrase from the text(number your examples):

1. a metaphor
2. a simile
3. alliteration or assonance
4. a joke or pun
5. an example of flattery
6. foreshadowing
7. irony

Romeo & Juliet adaptation task

Imagine that you are William Shakespeare writing this play in 2009. Where would you set the play? Why? How would you portray the main characters (describe Romeo & Juliet and at least 3 others) - their look, dress, speech, job, relationships, personality, etc.? Write a description of your approach to the story. Create a play or movie poster that reflects your version of the story.
Additional details and rubric will be posted here and to Edline.

Romeo & Juliet prompt #4

What do you think would have happened had Romeo not intervened in the fight between Mercutio and Tybalt? Why do you think so? (Also react to a classmate's post to #3)

Romeo & Juliet prompt #3

Are Romeo & Juliet really in love? WHY or WHY NOT?? (Also react to a classmate on Prompt #2)

Romeo & Juliet prompt #2

Could Tybalt's death be avoided, or is it inevitable? Explain your reason(s) for thinking so! Also, read a classmate's response to prompt #1 and post a reaction to his/her comment (agree/disagree/add an opinion, etc.). Identify your classmate by first name.

Romeo & Juliet prompt #1

What/whom do you think is the primary cause of Mercutio's death? EXPLAIN WHY!

Scarlet Ibis WebQuest

Fill in your worksheet using the following WebQuest source:

http://www.aacps.org/aacps/boe/INSTR/CURR/COMED/HSWebQuest/ScarletIbis/index.htm

Scarlet Ibis discussion post

Describe the relationship between Doodle and his brother. Compare their feelings and behaviors toward each other? What are the benefits and/or risks of their feelings and behaviors?

The degradation of language?

It is a commonly held misperception - one which I have finally started to overcome - that the English language (or any language!) is losing its structure, formality, or elegance. As it happens, this is a universal truth about language: writers, thinkers, and historians throughout history have bemoaned the current state of their languages compared to that of previous generations. Ancient Greeks and Romans felt that their generation was witnessing a decline in the quality of their language as it was being written and spoken by their contemporaries, and we fall under this same spell today. I can't help but be appalled at the lack of correct spelling and poor grammatical usage by students, teachers, politicians, journalists - you name it! The fact is, however, that language is in constant evolution, and the changes which break old rules of grammar, spelling, or punctuation are not at all new, and our perspective is skewed by the times in which we live. I personally regret the imminent loss of "whom" as an English word, and if you doubt this trend, pick up any newspaper or book and you will see very few examples of its use, because it is very rapidly (and incorrectly!) being replaced by "who." At the same time, I am very comfortable with the fact that we have only one form for "you", even though we once had several - read your Shakespeare and older texts for "thee" and "thou"! The nature of language is to simplify itself on the one hand - combining phrases into single words ("not" was once "ne a whit", for example) - and expanding by applying parts of speech in new ways or by metaphor (applying new abstract meanings to more concrete terms) on the other, actions which are constantly at work. A hundred and fifty years ago, it may not have been as odd for Lincoln to describe 87 years earlier as "four score and seven years ago, " but few people in 2007 have any idea what a score is (20) nor do they recognize the French number pattern in Lincoln's phrase: 4x20 = four score = quatre-vingts (four twenties) or 80 in French. This has gone the way of thee and thou in modern English, and yet we don't miss them because we've all moved on. Our challenge now is not so much to preserve older structures of English as to remember them, appreciate them, and better understand the workings of our language and others. And to have fun with it!!