tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67762604750856042502011-07-30T21:51:10.418-07:00Blog belonging to the Northbridge High School English Department, Whitinsville, MA.NHS English Departmenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07914056919399567434noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6776260475085604250.post-40260085886704463122010-01-04T07:05:00.000-08:002010-01-04T07:26:00.180-08:00

This is the time of year when we vow to improve ourselves in some way, perhaps by eating less, exercising more, or getting more organized. These perennial goals are of course laudable, but how about making it a point to exercise your brain and improve your writing and speaking skills? And the best parts of this particular New Year's resolution? It's easy, painless, and even fun.One of the best

NHS English Departmenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07914056919399567434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6776260475085604250.post-50624441113411084692009-12-29T17:06:00.000-08:002009-12-29T17:38:34.430-08:00

It's important to note that December 22 marked the ten year anniversary of the death of the great playwright Samuel Beckett.Beckett's most enduring and well-known play is Waiting for Godot, a 'tragi-comedy' (as Beckett called it) following the inextricably linked characters Vladimir and Estragon as they wait on a bare country road for another character, Godot, to arrive.While the play is known

NHS English Departmenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07914056919399567434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6776260475085604250.post-23123539812076761282009-12-29T11:37:00.000-08:002009-12-29T12:02:02.564-08:00

With 2009 coming to a close, Time magazine has released their 2009 top 10 lists of 'everything.' And since Time is one of the most respectable news magazines, I thought their 'best books' top 10 list was one to take notice of.The best fiction book of 2009, according to Time, is Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. The book is set in early-17th century England, and follows protagonist Thomas Cromwell who

NHS English Departmenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07914056919399567434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6776260475085604250.post-18754533514597234152009-12-01T07:23:00.000-08:002009-12-01T08:49:44.142-08:00

I am extremely excited because today my Theatre class begins Death of a Salesman. Since Arthur Miller's Pulitzer Prize-winning play is one of my all-time favorites, I cannot wait for my class to meet Willy Loman and his less-than-successful family. As characters they are enduring, and their struggle is poignant and affective. There is perhaps no better and more accessible play to portray the

NHS English Departmenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07914056919399567434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6776260475085604250.post-87608429015952406922009-11-30T03:57:00.000-08:002009-11-30T04:21:28.945-08:00

November has been an interresting month. I completed the Shakespeare unit with my 10th graders and began Dickens. One of the major themes in A Tale of Two Cities is personal sacrifice. I decided to introduce this theme with a film produced by HBO that came out this year called Taking Chance.The film is based on an essay written by Lt. Col. Mike Strobl U.S.M.C. (ret.). He volunteered in 2004 to

NHS English Departmenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07914056919399567434noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6776260475085604250.post-67250080647693960162009-11-27T12:48:00.000-08:002009-11-27T12:54:06.984-08:00

For those of you who do not yet know, the NHS drama club's spring production will be Alice in Wonderland!After auditions concluded for Alice in Wonderland, feelings of trepidation and excitement came over me. I felt a little bit like I had just tumbled down the rabbit hole. On one hand rests the promise and anticipation surrounding the production of a play, but on the other rests the enormous

NHS English Departmenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07914056919399567434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6776260475085604250.post-36847496720206255252009-11-24T08:51:00.000-08:002009-11-24T09:24:55.144-08:00

Taking part in a teacher exchange is an extremely interesting experience. Every day reveals new cultural differences that permeate, well, everything; what was once familiar has become strange. I find this fascinating.My visa describes me as a 'legal alien', which actually, on occasion, isn't too far from how I feel! At these times, I am reminded of the British poet Craig Raine's poem, 'A Martian

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Wordsworth, William. 1888. Complete Poetical Works.:"COMPOSED A FEW MILES ABOVE TINTERN ABBEY, ON REVISITING THE BANKS OF THE WYE DURING A TOUR. JULY 13, 1798FIVE years have past; five summers, with the lengthOf five long winters! and again I hearThese waters, rolling from their mountain-springsWith a soft inland murmur.--Once againDo I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,That on a wild secluded

NHS English Departmenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07914056919399567434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6776260475085604250.post-10289568094719018992009-10-09T10:57:00.000-07:002009-10-09T11:35:09.238-07:00

We're reading Long Day's Journey Into Night in theater class right now, and the students are encountering The Tyrone's, a dysfunctional family to say the least. Their predictions about the play were that it was going to be boring, somewhat funny, or inaccessible 'like Shakespeare.'What is impressing me most, however, is that so many of them have not only fully grasped the flaws and idiosyncrasies

NHS English Departmenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07914056919399567434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6776260475085604250.post-3343733539284058072009-10-09T10:07:00.000-07:002009-10-09T11:35:50.754-07:00

Since Nobel Peace Prizes are so much in the news, it's worth mentioning that yesterday - October 8 - was the day in 1970 that Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn won the Prize for his groundbreaking novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Published in 1962, One Day allows readers a glimpse into the life of the title character, Ivan Denisovich, a prisoner in a Soviet gulag. The novel is

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