Hamlet Assessments (from now until holiday break)

Unit Work (Formative Assessments) (30%)

0. All of the "Odds & Ends," "Hamlet's Soliloquies," "Motif/Thread," and "Ophelia Speaks" work is due Monday, December 15.

End-of-Unit Work (Summative Assessments) for Hamlet (70%)

1. Test
Take the Hamlet test on Tuesday, December 16. Use the Hamlet 2014 review (click here) to study in class on Monday and Monday night. (I filled in all the things we didn't get to while reviewing on Friday.) [Assessment worth one end-of-unit grade.]

2. Take-Home Passage Analysis (Q2) Essay
STEP ONE (Annotate the prompt: In class on Monday, December 15 circle what you are being asked to do. Underline key information.)

AP English Language Q2/AP English Literature Q2 Style Essay

Choose a passage from Hamlet that is rich in content and style. Write a formal essay in which you explain how William Shakespeare’s use of literary strategies in the passage contributes to the play's exploration of how the human mind concocts a range of responses to the inherent imperfections of the world, such as deceit, corruption, loss, mortality, and uncertainty.

STEP TWO (Annotate a passage with the prompt in mind)

In class on Monday, December 15, begin annotating a passage of your choice* (50 to 200 lines, give or take). Annotate with the prompt in mind. Pay particular attention to how particular literary strategies contribute to thematic development in the passage. In other words, make sure you apply what you've learned about literary strategies to your analysis of the passage. Don't just point out the strategies but explain how they're thematically significant.

* You cannot choose Hamlet's soliloquies in 1.2, 2.2, 3.1, or 4.4.
[Assessment worth two end-of-unit grades.]

STEP THREE (Plan your essay. Use notes from your annotation of the prompt in your plan.)

STEP FOUR (Write your essay.)

STEP FIVE (Revise. Edit.) Due Tuesday, December 23 (or before you leave for winter holiday break.)

[Click here for the peer-assessment and self-assessment activities that we did earlier in the year when revising our analytical essays about Baldwin and Kincaid.]

3. Motif/Thread Writing and Discussion
Participate in the motif/thread discussion on Wednesday, December 17. (We will use thread to physically connect the desks of the people who participate in the discussion It's fun.) You have already prepared for this discussion by writing about your motif/thread in each of the five chapters in a Google Doc/paper. 

[Assessment worth one end-of-unit grade.]

4. Hamlet Screenplay (excerpt)

You are applying to be the director of a new film version of Hamlet set to begin production in 2014. After studying parts of several versions of Hamlet you have begun work on an application consisting of (1) a screenplay excerpt based on a passage you’ve chosen from the play and (2) an explanation of the choices (including relevance of setting, significance of acting directions, character motivations, subtext, obstacles, and perhaps even proposed actors, music, etc.) for your screenplay.

Additional Directions (READ THE DIRECTIONS)

(1) screenplay excerpt:

Turn the excerpt you have chosen into a screenplay with interpolated film directions about elements such as setting, movement, speaking, facial expression, sound, music, camera shot selection, etc. Use the screenplay format. (See screenplay format handouts.)

(2) screenplay explanation:

Explain and justify the choices you've made in the screenplay excerpt. Consider your setting descriptions, camera shot selection, acting directions, sounds and music, etc. Consider how these choices relate to each important character’s objectives/motivations, subtext, obstacles, and adjustments in the scene. You might also consider how these choices relate to other aspects of the text, like the imagery, motifs, metaphors, puns, etc. You might also discuss specific, meaningful ways your Hamlet will differ from and/or build upon famous productions of Hamlet by the likes of Olivier, Zeffirelli, Branagh, Almereyda, and Doran.

All of this is due by the end of the day Tuesday, December 23 (pumpkin time Christmas Eve Eve).[Assessment worth two end-of-unit grades.]