Welcome to Mr. Gowan's Shakespeare on Stage Web Site
"another time around the block."
We will discover and make choices together
COURSE OUTLINE:
check GENESIS/Parent Portal often for grades; e-mail Thomas.Gowan@holycrosshighschool.org
All tests and quizzes are open notebook.
Specific due dates are available on GENESIS "Parent Portal"
You are encouraged to take class notes in "Journal", and save those notes in "One Note." You have been instructed in how to do this, along with how to use the keyboard and/or a stylus, as well as how to create and name a "New Folder."
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SHAKESPEARE AND ME, an essay (early is good)
BACKGROUND; study and tests:
SCENE(S) FROM SHAKESPEARE: performances: selecting; editing; casting; playbill**; introducing; performing; essay later. CREATE A **PLAYBILL: Go to Google Images; search the name(s) of your character(s);copy and paste to Word; type in the names of the students playing those characters.
**HAMLET text, personal copy (100 points)
***HAMLET script from Sharepoint "power points" (100 points)
Last scenes:
SCENE ESSAY after all scenes are finished.
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ELSINORE, cold and dark;
**HAMLET Students are to have their own copy of the text
a pre-HAMLET test
Performance of HAMLET; an in-depth study of HAMLET;
there will be five quizzes, one after each act;
When we are finished our performance, there will be a mini film festival, studying various movie versions of HAMLET. Our HAMLET film festival, from Olivier's (Oscar-winning Best Picture) black & white 1948 version to Ethan Hawke's 2000 in New York (with eerie shots of the World Trade Towers) version, and all sorts in between. "There is more than one way to do Shakespeare."
At the conclusion of our study, there will be a post-HAMLET test ...
HAMLET essay
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pre-sonnet test ...
SONNET PRESENTATIONS: analysis, discussion, dramatic reading
MSND text
"YOUR" (post) sonnet test
MSND pre-test
A study of the interior Shakespeare through the sonnets. An assignment packet will be distributed. We will have an overview of the sonnets. This will be followed by a test. Additionally, each student will select one of the sonnets and present it to the rest of the class. This presentation will include, among other aspects, a dramatic reading. We will locatesources, both print and electronic, that are wonderfully informative and insightful about the sonnets. Study of the Sonnets will include an original sonnet due before Christmas break.
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FIRST PERSON MEMOIR (formerly "Term Essay") First person memoir:complete text of play and script from Scenes from Shakespeare, and packet, complete text, quizzes, and pre- and post-tests of HAMLET. Two parts: construct a scenario that gets the character you played in the Scenes from Shakespeare to Elsinore at Act V, Scene ii of HAMLET; present your character's reactions to the death that is all around. Use lines from BOTH plays ( use lines from one play in the context of the other play.)
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Study and performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Each student is to have a personal copy of MSND. Text; a pre-test; a post-test; and an essay. An assignment packet will be distributed.
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Original sonnets are due before Christmas.
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The year concludes with dramatic monologues. There will be in-class reading days of preparation and rehearsal. There will be several days of online research centered on some wonderful sites that feature a range of choices for dramatic monologues. There will be an assignment packet.
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And then Final Exams. There will be no exemptions. I selfishly enjoy the final essays too much to miss even one.
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Then graduation, good-byes, and greatness.