We expanded our study of critical quotes from the play and vocabulary from the play using flashcards. Lena excelled in identifying the speaker of the quotes as well as in recognizing the speaker's purpose and emotional state. I then placed the Freytag pyramid on the board, and reviewed the elements of plot from exposition ,to climax, to resolution. Afterward, I listed on the board various events from the novel and asked Lena where on the pyramid the plot event should be placed. Again, she displayed an astute recognition of the play's structure and the plot line. We last looked at some vocabulary words ,premature, and resurrection , in the play's context .Lena continues to maintain excellent notes on all of our class discussion. We should be finishing our reading of the play this week.

As Act I highlights the role of the supernatural, using Bobby's study guide answers, we identified numerous examples of the supernatural in Act I and discussed the role of portents in the play and in Shakespearean drama generally. We then studied Cassius' speeches revealing why he and the co- conspirators need Brutus to join the plot in order to add legitimacy to a political coup. Bobby's homework on the study guide reflected a good understanding of the first act . However, to the extent we needed to modify responses ,we did so and further continued practicing using the text annotations to elucidate the dialogue. During the last segment of the session, we addressed Bobby's essay work. We corrected sentence fragments, and discussed where and how to start new paragraphs. We will continue the essay revisions tomorrow .For homework, read the next 3 pages of the play and answer one study guide question.

We began by my displaying quotes from the play on flashcards I prepared.Lena then identified the speaker and placed any of the quotes not previously recorded in her notebook into her notes. We discussed the few she could not identify. We then continued reading the play. I pointed out where the dialogue reflected the lock and key motif ,and Lena underlined those passages. Likewise, where Annie begins to feel a strong bond and affection toward Helen ,we discussed how Helen is teaching Annie as much as Annie is teaching Helen. In the dialogue we read today, Annie mentions how she has taught Helen nouns and verbs. Using that as a segue , we had a lesson on identifying nouns ,proper nouns, and verbs in a sentence..Lena did very well with this exercise.

Marcel continued taking notes on our extensive introduction to the novel and to Victorian England. I placed the overarching themes on the board such as the contrast between city and country values, Pip's moral and character changes, as well as the distinction between Pip the character and Pip the narrator. We discussed how old Pip, the narrator , might be at the time he is relating his story . I pointed out places in the text where Pip ,the narrator, interrupts his recitation of his life story and judges his past conduct. I then outlined on the board the three formal parts of the novel and described how each part functions. As the opening chapters portray Pip as a child , this section is both comic and imaginative. Marcel did very well in locating textual evidence of both the comic and the imaginative in the first chapters. We discussed the comic elements of the plot and Dickens' technique of using sarcasm or irony to paint the comedic elements. Marcel further discussed the social criticism of the violent treatment of children depicted in the first chapters. We then reviewed Marcel's essays on"Of Mice and Men" and discussed where certain ideas could be supplemented or elaborated by different textual quotes or details. For homework due Tuesday, read through and including Ch 8 and answer accompanying study guide questions.

Lena took notes defining the play's genre as biographical non-fiction. We reviewed the difference between fiction and non-fiction as well as the controlling conflict between Helen and Annie. I then noted how the relationship between James Keller and his father in many ways mirrors the conflict between Annie and Helen. As we completed reading Act II, I commented that Act III will function as the play's resolution and we reviewed the two major conflicts that the play must resolve:Will Helen learn language? Will Annie learn to love again? During the final minutes ,we watched the movie until it reached the end of Act II.We will begin reading Act III tomorrow.

We continued reading Act I often noting the origin of modern popular phrases drawn directly from the dialogue such as :"It was Greek to me, Till then, think of the world, and Beware the Ides of March." Uniquely Elizabethan theatrical characteristics were also highlighted including the use of Elizabethan style costumes for a play set in ancient Rome ,and the use of the rhyming couplet to signify the end of a scene since there was little use of scenery.We last studied the first of many soliloquies that appear in the play wherein Cassius reveals his manipulative nature and ulterior motives for assassinating Caesar. For homework due Tuesday, finish reading Act I and complete Act I study guide questions.

After defining the term"motif" , we reviewed four pages of the play that employ the lock and key metaphor to mirror Helen Keller's relationship with Annie Sullivan. Lena then placed the lock and key motif in her notebook. I then defined and introduced the term "conflict" ,and Lena correctly answered that the conflict in the play is between Annie and Helen. As the play's dialogue and stage directions contain other significant vocabulary, we then added to this list the words "paroxysm , resurrection and commence" and looked at their use in the context of the dialogue. We took turns reading aloud to the end of Act II and concluded the session by watching the segment of the "Miracle Worker" movie we had just read aloud.

We continued reading aloud Act I underlining and explicating the more famous speeches and lines from the play. Bobby is improving using the textual annotations as we explore the difference between the motivation of Cassius and Brutus for plotting to kill Caesar. Additionally ,we noted the stage directions embedded in the characters' dialogue. I last discussed how the study guide could further act as a tool to clarify certain elements of the plot. During the final portion of the session, we began a review of Bobby's rewrite of his essay on the prior novel, and discussed the need for basic grammatical corrections and for organizational clarity. We will continue working on the rewrite tomorrow. For homework, finish reading scene ii, answer 5 study guide questions.

On the board, I introduced and defined the terms protagonist and antagonist . I then placed in question format "Who is the protagonist in the play? Who is the person who is asked to perform a miracle?" Lena then wrote out answers to these questions in complete sentences as we examined why the protagonist is Annie Sullivan ,not Helen. We repeated the same exercise with the question, "Who is the antagonist ?" I then distributed a crossword puzzle based on the play that required Lena to apply the term protagonist as well as to recognize the role of the characters, and the basic plot outline. She did very well with the puzzle. I further distributed a form of multiple choice test wherein a question describes a scene from the play as if the questioner were in the audience and then asks about the characters . Again, Lena excelled in this exercise.

Marcel took notes in an extensive lesson on Dickens and Victorian England. We examined the reign of Victoria and Albert, specifically the Great Exhibition that displayed technology and heralded the benefits of industrialization. I then discussed the rigid class system of Victorian society that relied a great deal on heredity or inherited wealth as a passport to the upper class. We contrasted that caste system to the idealized American dream where class or birth is not a social impediment. I discussed how in the novel the main character ,Pip, yearns to be a member of the upper class despite his humble origin raised by a simple blacksmith. I provided some biographical information about Dickens as well as information on the format of the original publication as serialized magazine installments. Turning to the literary aspects, we examined the importance of names Dickens' employs for his characters, the use of repeated , character traits or "tags", and the characteristics of the Romantic genre. As Dickens' writing is known for its detailed descriptions , we discussed the relationship between setting and mood, and I introduced the terms "metonymy and synecdoche " as types of metaphors, We further discussed the novel as belonging to the genre known as a "bildungsroman" or a young man's journey to self awareness and maturity. For homework due Thursday read chapters 3 and 4, answer study guide questions chapters 1-3.