We read through III.i in class today. Your work for the evening:

• If your journal isn’t up to scene one of the third act, get there. You should be setting aside at least half an hour a night to review what we read in class.
• Look up the story of Pyrrhus and Priam (here would be a good place to start) and journal your thoughts about why Shakespeare chose to include this story at this point in the play. (Also, mobled queen? Why does Polonius approve of this descriptor?)
• By this point you should begin making connections between the poems and the play. Looking over your notes, what scenes, themes, or images in Hamlet are reminiscent of particular poems? Your connections at this stage will be very rough, and many won’t pan out as you look for more evidence. That’s okay; keep looking for connections and evidence, recording as you go. Something will click.

…by popular demand:

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Our foray into Hamlet has begun. Here is the plan for this work:

1. We’ll watch 2-3 scenes per day, pausing when necessary for immediate clarification. As you watch, follow along with the text in your books or on the screen, recording questions, reactions, insights, and connections.
2. Each night you should read back over the scenes, answering questions as you can, looking up information, asking more questions, recording more insights and connections.
3. Come to class the next day ready to ask your questions about the previous night’s reading and help others answer theirs.
4. Repeat.

You will write over Hamlet and the poems for your midterm (due tentatively by 30 September). While I will not give you a required topic to write over, it would be a good idea to start with those poems (3-5) that you feel the most comfortable with and find connections to Hamlet’s story as we move forward. I will give you guidance as I check your journals (at least once weekly from now on, but if you are uncomfortable with your grade you may come see me before or after school to ask questions or show me your progress) and we will be discussing these connections as we move through the work.

The writing process for my classes is as follows:

1. Journaling (yep, you’ve already started your papers! How do they look so far?)
2. Review of your notes, looking for patterns and connections. If more research is required, it is done at this stage.
3. Outlining your ideas, ensuring sufficient support for your points and an appropriate thesis statement.
4. Peer review, presentation of outlines. This ensures that your ideas and connections are clear to you and others.
5. Revision of outlines, peer review as necessary.
6. Rough drafting of the paper, watching for proper style, grammar, etc.
7. Peer review of rough drafts followed by a one-on-one review with me.
8. Revision of rough draft into final draft.
9. Peer review, revise (last time!) then turn it in.

It seems like a lot of work (and it should), but if you have thoroughly journaled a work (plenty of quotations, answered questions, and connections), the outline only requires organizing your thoughts and information, the rough draft entails making the information clear and engaging, and the final draft is a run-through for grammar and punctuation.

So, what’s the punchline? Journal well, my friends, and ask plenty of questions.