I want to start by saying don’t listen to the rumors about Mrs. Duke. Get to know her for yourself because she’s an amazing teacher and has so much to offer, but only if you take advantage of the opportunities handed to you. I’ve had Mrs. Duke for two years in a row, so I’m going to give advice not only based on this year’s experience but on last year’s as well.

My sophomore year, our class was overall diligent in our work, intelligent, and scared to death of Mrs. Duke’s odd activities/developing our own ideas; we were used to the “textbook” english class, in which you read, wrote a paper, took a test, and had some class discussion, and Mrs. Duke’s class is not and never will be like that. So based on that class, here are some guidelines:
1) Don’t Be Scared! – Mrs. Duke is going to throw weird stuff at you… Just take it and go with it. You’ll be surprised how much more you learn through all her different activities. Some might seem pointless or out of your comfort zone, but I promise you, they’re worth it. Mrs. Duke does everything for a reason, and her intentions are good. She’s not trying to kill you or embarrass you, so let loose a little bit. Don’t be intimidated by some of the weirdness.
2) Speak up! – If you don’t talk, class is pointless. Don’t take this the wrong way and go crazy talking about your boyfriend or yesterday’s football game; stay on topic, but DISCUSS! Mrs. Duke’s class is made for discussion. It’s like a mini “marketplace of ideas” (that’s AP gov vocabulary that means “the concept that all ideas are expressed so they can compete and influence others”). If you don’t put your ideas on the table, you won’t get anything from the discussion, and if no one speaks up, there is no discussion.

This year, our class was overall disrespectful, lacked work ethic, distracted, and didn’t want to learn about english. We were “the bad class”, the dreaded group of students that no one wants to have in one room at the same time. We didn’t want to learn about literature, we didn’t want to work hard, and we got off topic more than any class I’ve ever had. And based on this class, here are some other guidelines:
3) Don’t Think For One Second That You Have Nothing To Learn – You might think that you’re smart, you’ve never worked that hard in english, and/or you don’t care about english. You’re wrong because I know for a fact Mrs. Duke knows way more than you about English. Mrs. Duke works hard for you, so that you can learn from her, but the only way you can learn from her is if you reciprocate the effort. Everyone has something to learn from Mrs. Duke, and even if you choose not to learn about English, you’ll probably learn something about yourself. I know I sure learned a lot about myself.
4) Just Do The Work!!! – Seriously, it’s not that hard. You hear all these dreadful rumors about the work in Mrs. Duke’s class, but the work is rewarding when it comes to your assessments. If you want the grades, YOU have to make it happen. Mrs. Duke gives you all the opportunities in the world to do the work: she tells you ahead of time, she uses the website, and she’ll answer your questions. Also, you will NOT get away with not doing the work… For the most part, she’ll accept late work and she won’t just give you a zero to get out of it. You’ll get an Incomplete, and she can’t turn in your grades until it’s complete.
5) Stay On Topic – I can’t stress enough, how utterly annoying it is to have people constantly interrupting class with irrelevant statements or questions that are neither funny nor cute. Our class was a month behind Mrs. Duke’s schedule… We took advantage of the free-flow environment and discussion and as a class, we created an environment where no one could learn anything. For the last two months of class, every time someone started an off-topic conversation, I’d put my head on my desk and most of the time, it stayed there the whole class. Just because you may not have done the work or you don’t want to talk about what you read last night, that doesn’t mean you can just say whatever the heck you want! Some people actually did the work and would like to benefit from the class. If you actually discuss the information, Mrs. Duke will tell you so much more. You will be tested on the information as a class who benefitted from all the possible discussions, so stay on task and don’t miss out because your grades will regret it.
6) R-E-S-P-E-C-T-! – Mrs. Duke is a teacher and a dang talented one at that! You respect her and she’ll respect you, and you want her respect. Not only should you respect her, but respect the people in the classroom. You’ll be asked to do goofy things, like miming Beowulf, and if you laugh at your classmates, they’ll laugh at you. It doesn’t feel good to be laughed at… I got so nervous that I threw-up, all because my classmates made me feel insecure. Making cruel jokes, laughing at people, and mocking people are straight up disrespectful, so just don’t do it. If you can be goofy in front of your classmates and do strange activities, you’ll do great. Respect the people that do the work and don’t ruin their chance to learn. Respect the people that are insecure and don’t ruin their chance to have fun. Respect Mrs. Duke and don’t ruin your chance at having an awesome english class.

Now I know that’s a lot of stuff to take in, but here’s two more general ones:
7) BLOG – Blogs kicked my bootayyy this year, and all I can say is blog throughout the week. If you have to set a timeline for yourself, then do it. If you do the blogs on time and with thought, the points will be extremely helpful!
8) Work Ahead! – Mrs. Duke posts homework online wayyyy before it’s due, so do it. You might think, “Oh these vocabulary squares aren’t due until Friday, I’ll do it later.” But that will bite you in the butt, I swear by my own experience. You don’t want to be doing all of your Hamlet reading in one night or doing three lessons worth of vocabulary the night before it’s due.

Hopefully these guidelines can be Eight Rules to Your Success in Mrs. Duke’s Class! If you need any help or guidance, feel free to come find me. English isn’t my favorite, but I sure do love Mrs. Duke. She’s an awesome teacher who wants to help you learn, so don’t mess it up for yourself or your classmates!!

This section of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern went right back to confusing me. On page 74, the scene starts out with humor and silliness talking about nakedness and selling toffee apples, like what? I thought it was quite funny when Rosencrantz covered Alfred’s eyes and not a woman’s; that’s awkward. When the players are then rehearsing for the play, R&G seem to be trapped in the scene. They can’t leave Elsinore, but they seem to always be running into people and in the way. This plays a role in the intertextuality because the characters of this play are trapped in Shakespeare’s Hamlet plot. I am slightly confused about the amount of time passing between all of the scenes in this play and in Hamlet because they aren’t always congruent (or at least it seems that way to me). Stoppard’s interpretation of these two characters shows that they are not truly concerned with the well-being of Hamlet, and they are only at Elsinore because they were called upon.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are silly when performing tasks they are assigned. For example, when R&G are sent to find Polonius’ dead body, they walk back and forth, and they split up, and then they go together, and then they stay where they are. They are confused and silly. They also don’t take Polonius’ death seriously; they say that they hope people care for their deaths more than people are caring for Polonius’. This section of the play also includes a lot of discussion on the seriousness of death and the ability to act a convincing death. The views of mortality and the concept of life v. death develops this play into the postmodern creation it is.

This reading of Rosencrantz and Guidenstern are Dead confused me as an audience; I think this that postmodern element of confusion, and it drives me crazy. I think listening to Hamlet takes away the element of confusion because I can hear tone and pronunciation and envision the play in my head, while in R&G, I’m having a little more trouble. The parts of R&G where I’m the least confused are the portions taken word for word from Hamlet. Those lines give me sense of when, where, and why Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are talking about whatever they’re talking about. This reading started and ended with portions of Hamlet, which kept me on track as far as all the rambling that went on in the middle.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern referenced back to both their word game and their coin game to remember their purpose in being at Elsinore and what led them there. They then talk about the purpose in life and the feeling of death. The conversation was thought provoking… Would you rather be dead or alive if you were locked in a box? Well, I have no idea. Are people really born with an intuition about mortality? I think everyone knows that if you live, you’re going to die. One quote that I love is on page 67, “truth is only that which is taken to be true. It’s the currency of living.” That’s pretty sweet if you ask me. It’s ironic how they say you can’t go through life questioning it when that is all they’ve done this whole play: question life, death, mortality, and their meanings. Also, they keep talking about how they’re trapped and how Claudius/Gertrude won’t leave them alone, and that goes right back to our class discussion about how this play is framed by Hamlet.

1) In this soliloquy, Hamlet is compelled by the vengeance he feels and the actions he feels he must take against his uncle. Hamlet hasn’t told anyone what is really going, so everything he is feeling is in his own head. Now, he is just waiting for the proof that his uncle really did commit the murder, which he will find out during the play.

2) I’m not exactly sure what the different audiences are considering this is a soliloquy, but I know Ophelia is there when Hamlet speaks or at least in the end of the speech. I think Hamlet’s true intention though is to hear his thoughts out loud, or be his own audience, if that makes sense. Hamlet wants to show all the inner conflict he has and all of the possible resolutions. He talks about the revenge, his purpose, what to do, and when to do it.

3) Like I said before, I think Hamlet is just trying to clear his head. He’s trying to get all his thoughts out so that he can act. He needs to decide what to do and what his purpose is. Hamlet is being driven by the ghost and he’s trying to answer whether or not the ghost is real and what he will do to act for revenge.

4) Hamlet seems to use all of these appeals to communicate with his audience.

Ethos: “Whether ’tis nobler…” (65). Hamlet is a noble character, or as a prince he should be, so being virtuous is important to his character.

Pathos: “The conscience does make a coward of us all” (91). Everyone in any audience knows the feeling of guilt and having a conscience.

Logos: “For who would bear the…” (78). Hamlet’s right, who would bear all those pains, it’s logical to try and avoid the pain.

5)  Hamlet uses many literary devices and makes many choices in diction and syntax that ameliorate his soliloquy. Metaphors: “The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune/ or to take arms against a sea of troubles” (66-67) and “death/ the undiscovered country from whose bourn/ No travelers return” (86-88).  Important word choice: “pangs of despised love” (80), “insolence of office” (81), “enterprises of great pitch” (94) and “a consummation” (71). Hamlet also uses similes and metaphors to make exaggerations (hyperbole). It seems as if every word choice or sentence structure created another form of literary devices within itself. The images that stand out to me are those I mentioned under the metaphors category because those are the strongest and relate to Hamlet’s speech about choices, struggles, internal troubles, the death of his father, and many other circumstances he faces. All of the images Hamlet uses exaggerate why he’s there and what he’s feeling.

6) I think Hamlet is losing his mind, for real. He doesn’t know whether or not the ghost is real. He’s deceiving everyone with what he believes to be real, but is losing sight of the original truths. He seems to have a lot of weight on his shoulders, and if I was him, I would have crashed and burned by now. I wouldn’t be surprised if he does something he regrets. How could you control yourself? He knows so much and can only do a little to fix it, but you can tell he’s mad because he can hardly tell the difference between right and wrong, murder and revenge, death and life.

This reading of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern was much easier than the first, or at least in my opinion. After reading further in Hamlet, we can now see where the two stories go together. There are lines from Hamlet in this section of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; hello, intertextuality. This technique is just one characteristic of postmodernism and is the most important literary characteristic in this play. The play truly is a different angle on a well-known Shakespeare tragedy. Another technique used by Tom Stoppard is the element of confusion, and although this part of the play was easier to read, there were still confusing aspects. For example, the word games with rhetoric and repetition were quite confusing, but once I realized what type of game they were playing, I could understand.

This section of the play also gives us insight into the characters through dialogue and staging. Guildenstern is obviously smarter than Rosencrantz, who is slow to catch on and not very original. One example of this would be when Guildenstern proposes they role play- he will play Hamlet, and Rosencrantz will play himself/Guildenstern. However, Rosencrantz doesn’t understand the purpose of the game until after a few tries. Guildenstern seems to be bossy and enjoys the power he has over Rosencrantz, but aren’t the two of equal status? They almost act like brothers with the constant bickering, but we can easily see that around Hamlet their attitudes change.

During the first 35 pages of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead , there doesn’t seem to be too much going on in the actual plot. We are introduced to the two main characters, who are ironically small characters in Hamlet. At the end of our reading, Hamlet and Ophelia appear, so we know that Tom Stoppard’s play is based on the plot of Hamlet. This is intertextuality, like our summer reading book, The Eyre Affair. The dialogue in this reading is short, quick, and fiery between the characters, and it reveals a lot about their personalities. Guildenstern seems to be a little boisterous and easily angered. He’s always jumping up and down and shouting out. Rosencrantz seems to be a little more content and not quite as philosophical.

Guildenstern is roused by their little game, their purpose, and also by the Player. He goes into all this discussion about probability and fate and where they’re supposed to be going. They are going to Denmark to Hamlet’s court, but why? Why were they called to Hamlet’s court? I guess the plot of Hamlet will tell us. I’m also a little confused about the use of the word indifferent… Every time they talk about the time period, it is described as indifferent. How can a time be indifferent? Is this a result of the background we get from Hamlet? I don’t really understand the role of the Player either. I think he’s just a random man they encountered on their journey, but I’m not sure about his significance. Rosencrantz just thinks he’s a pervert, so I don’t know what that’s all about. I guess this introduction is just a little confusing, but we will learn more about the characters as we read more in Hamlet.

Well, since I had Mrs. Duke last year, I already know the characteristics of drama (although I did need a little reminder). Last year we studied two different plays, A Raisin in the Sun and The Crucible. In each of these plays we analyzed the characteristics of drama within them through reading, acting, and close-readings looking for specific aspects within the text. I’ve also studied a little bit of Shakespeare. In middle school, we did Hamlet in my drama class, so I’m familiar with the plot and characters. In 9th Grade, with Mrs. Edwards, we read Macbeth as well. Shakespeare wrote comedies, tragedies, narratives, and poetry. Shakespeare is also known for his Globe Theater. Shakespeare lived in the late 1500s and early 1600s.

Recently I went and saw the Chapel on the Campus’ production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat, and the acting was fabulous. Now that I look back at all of the aspects of drama, I can see why the play turned out so well. The  characters were all animated and had good placement on the stage. There’s an obvious theme and moral to the story of Joseph and his brothers. The plot of the story is intriguing, and the church did a good job with the interpretation of the lines. Overall, I can see how the aspects of a drama play into the actual production. When I read the two dramas, I’m going to imagine, as best I can, the production going on right in front of me.

On Monday I have both of my AP exams, french and government…. Talk about a stressful day! I have been babysitting a lot after school this week and I’m babysitting tomorrow from 7am to 3pm, which makes it slightly difficult to study. I’ve been trying really hard to study ahead, and I think I’ve done a good job. I just can’t wait to get these exams over with!!! It has been difficult trying to manage studying for AP exams along with other homework for my regular classes. I remember saying how much I was going to study ahead, but it didn’t exactly happen as well as I had planned. Don’t get me wrong though, I’ve already done a LOT of studying! I think I’ve made over 400 vocabulary cards… They help me learn. Exams last semester and these AP exams have helped me realize that notecards are the best way for me to study! It seems like I should have learned this a long time ago, but better late than never!

Hopefully after all this my mom won’t have to nag so much when it comes time for real exams. She’s always telling me to study more and when to study, but now I’ll have three “study halls” a day. I think English will be the only class I’ll have a good amount of work to do for the rest of the year, but I’ll manage haha. I can’t believe the year is almost over, and I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself when the seniors leave… Without them, the reality of me being a year away from graduating is scary!! Well I’m going to study some more for the APs, but this has been the most rambling post about studying ever.

Okay, so I know all my free posts seem to be about babysitting or horseback riding, but I’m doing it again. However, this time I wanted to talk about why I love babysitting…. This weekend I got to babysit for the Mitchell family for the first time. They are members of my church, but I’d never seen them or heard of them before. I teach the 4yr old Sunday School Class, so usually I know the little kids, and Mrs. Mitchell got my phone number from the Sunday School Director. It’s a little intimidating to drive up to people’s homes when you don’t know them already, especially when you’re going to have to sit with their kids for hours. When I pulled up to their little house on Cloverdale I was greeted at the gate by two dogs, a golden retriever and something else, that followed me, wagging their tails, all the way to the front door. Mrs. Mitchell opened the door with her two little kids, Jack and Ella, close behind. I knew from the very beginning these kids weren’t going to be shy because they both came up to me to introduce themselves and asked me to come play on the trampoline. I had noticed that there didn’t seem to be a dad around and the house was very small. After getting to know the kids for a little bit while their mom was getting ready, Mrs. Mitchell pulled me aside to talk about all the details of babysitting that night, like when the kids needed to go to bed, what to feed them, etc. Then she proceeded to tell me that her husband has passed away last year after a long divorce and it was extremely hard on both her and the children. From that point on I noticed quirky things about the children’s behavior that resulted from all the stress of divorce and losing a father. The night turned out great, minus a few small brother/sister arguments, but the surprise came the next morning. I woke up to a text from Mrs. Mitchell that said, “I just wanted to let you know that the first words out of Jack’s mouth this morning were, ‘Mommy, Ms. Eleanor is the COOLEST  babysitter EVER!’ He hasn’t said anything like that since his father passed away, and it makes me so happy to have found someone who can come babysit and have fun with my kids.” And that is why I babysit!

My problem in my papers is that I always follow the same frame, and my voice isn’t really a strong paper voice. The framework of my papers is simple and ambiguous. Therefore in this paper, my goal is to try a new structure, and to explore different types of sentences and using my voice through them. My other goal is to not use too much support. I always add too many quotes, write too many sentences, and use the wrong words. I want to be more concise and clear, but also leave room for reader interpretation. I need to realize this paper is being written for people who know some about the subject, and I don’t need to drown them with details. If a paper is that much longer, it needs to be that much better, but typically my papers don’t get any better if they are longer.

This is not something that causes a problem for me only in papers, but in any subject. Whether in french, physics, or history, I always get caught writing too much in the most simple manner. My writing needs to reflect my ability to understand my subject instead of what looks like writing to get around making a point.