Alas, Poor Yorick: September 28, 2016

Focus: Why does Foer include the play Hamlet in his novel? What does it help us understand about Oskar's role?

6th hour: Click HERE for the tentative sign-up (feel free to edit).

1. Warming up with a crash course on Hamlet

• Read "Hamlet in a nutshell"
• In your journal or in your ELIC Google folder, spend some time listing possible parallels (strong similarities) between the play Hamlet and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. In particular, what conflicts do Oskar and Hamlet share?

• Read Act 5, scene 1 from Hamlet using No Fear Shakespeare (pages 8 and 9).
• What's Hamlet struggling with in this scene?

• How might his struggle relate to Oskar's struggle?

• The beginning of your reading assignment tonight shows Oskar's mind going to a disturbing place. Keep in mind the depth of his struggles as you read this scene.

2. Optional: Watching the "Alas, poor Yorick" scene from the 1990 Hamlet (in the book, Oskar plays the role of the Yorick, the skull)

3. Reading and starting our journal conferences

HW:

1. Read pages 142-173 in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; spend 30 minutes this week with your journal.

If you miss a Fishbowl or Socratic, you must make it up. Fishbowl: Read over the syllabus and blog comments, then add an extended comment to the class blog. Socratic: Read over the syllabus and the class notes, then add an extended comment to the class blog.

2. BRING INDEX CARDS ON FRIDAY.

3. We will continue our READING JOURNAL CONFERENCES in class next Monday and Wednesday. Click HERE for the rubric. 

4. THIS FRIDAY IS THE END OF 6 WEEKS. All make-up work from the first 6 weeks must be submitted by this date. After Friday, any grade in IC will remain as is.