Feb. 24th Daily Plan

9th Grade - Today we introduced the concept of the tragic hero, and the class took notes on an overview of Greek Theatre and the history of the genre of tragedy.

We discussed the role of theatre in ancient Greece, and how important Dionysus was as a god for the theatre. Plays were written as part of popular competition, and the format that traditional tragedies follow stems from the plays that were successful.

Generally, we looked at three main components of any tragedy -

1) The play evokes feelings of fear and pity.
2) The tragic hero is generally good, and therefore relatable.
3) The tragic hero must perform an action that causes their own downfall.

We also had four vocabulary words surrounding Greek tragedy -

Hamartia - The Tragic Error - the mistake that brings down the hero. Often mistaken as a "fatal flaw" in their personality, but this can really just be a mistake they make.
Hubris - violent transgression - usually mistaken for "too much pride," this really means the Hero has done something that goes against the gods/order of nature.
Nemesis - retribution from the cosmos (the revenge of the gods/nature)-
Peripateia - plot reversal. The moment when the hero realizes that things are falling apart, understanding of his or her own hubris.

Student spend the second half of class working in pairs to create a short tragic story. We will present these at the beginning of class tomorrow.

10th Grade - First, students were reminded that the Reader Response Journals are a significant portion of their grade at this point, and if they are not turned in by the end of the week, it can adversely affect their grade in class by a 8-9%.
Sophomores looked at some background information about the criminal justice system, as well as statistics about prison incarceration rates, wrongful imprisonment, and witness reliability. This is because the next section of TKAM takes place in a courtroom, and much of this information is useful to know as we watch the plot unfold.

Students had a brief review period for the vocab words (commonly misued words), and then had the option to either

a) read CH 16 as a class
b) read CH 16 silently by themselves
c) if they have already read CH 16, work on the next set of journal entries.

Homework - CH 16 if not complete.