bakerboi247

I would first like to start of by saying congrats on being in Duke’s English class. She is amazing. And yes you are probably reading this thinking “Has Alex Baker lost his mind” and the answer to that is NO I HAVE NOT. I went into this class thinking that Mrs. Duke was going to be like the devil. Boyyyyyyy was i wrong. Once you get to know her and stop listening to what kids say about her out of class she is actually a cool, understanding, down to earth country gal. there are a few things you should know and prepare for!!!

1) Duke’s class is like no other. She truly has a unique teaching style. Her projects and assignments are different and challenging. But the thing is you have to remember they are designed to teach you the most they can. Often you will get an assignment and freak out as soon as you read the directions. The thing you have to remember is that along with every project Duke assigns, there is also a time line that goes along with that. The #1 piece of advise i can give is to do the things she assigns on time! By doing that it makes life soooo much easier!! I am telling you, this class is challenging, and assignments are long, but if you break them up into mini assignments it makes things a lot more manageable. I will tell you this, if you dont put in the time, organization, and creativity you WILL fail this class. Let this be your warning…

2) Enter every project/assignment with a positive attitude. Many of her assessments are creative based. Many of you will say “well i am just not the creative type” well guess what… life’s not fair and you have to deal with it! you have to force yourself to think outside the box. the more creative, unique, and crazy your thoughts are the more she will like them. Step outside the box and push the limit on things, Duke’s class is a safe zone and little is prohibited (now if your going to push the limit it was to be within reason and relevant!) 

3) So now that we have discussed doing your work on time and being efficient, lets discuss blogging. You will have to blog every week for the whole year. this is a very very easy way to bring up your great. Now with that being said, it can also bring you down faster that gravity. You MUST blog. If you dont then you will be in hot water. Duke assigns blogs that are relevant to what you are learning in class that week. So by blogging on time, you are also helping yourself study and learn the subject even more. Every blog is due Monday, that DOES NOT mean do them Sunday night. That just adds stress to your weekend. Get them done during the week so you dont have to worry about them. Once you get the hang of it, its easy. 

4) Vocab: Those of you know that Mrs. Duke doesnt do anything the typical/traditional way. Vocabulary is the same way. For every vocab section will be an assignment (might be flash cards one week and pictures the next, who knows). The tecnique she choose is different every section and is designed to cater to all different learning typed. DO THE ASSIGNMENTS! It helps you learn the words…. and then her vocab tests are also not typical. She never does the same kind of vocab test more than once. so get ready! you better know the words. Vocab quizzes are easy points, all you have to do is learn a few words, whats so hard about that?

5) Participate in class! Her class is hands on, so that means engage yourself in the lesson, speak your thoughts, and voice your opinions!!!!

6) The readings are challenging. You read a lot of novels that you have heard of, but probably don’t know the whole story, The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein, Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, and Hamlet are just a few we read. We focus a lot on the elements of drama, quest, how the culture is represented in the novel, and heroes. Some of these texts are short, but dont kid yourself, the shorter they are the more underline meaning there is and the more complex it is. It is amazing how much one can get out of a 70 page book. so get ready its gunna be crazy!

So guys if you put in the time, you will get the results, you can slack off! And the fasted way to get to Duke’s heart is by showing that you are interested in what your learning and that you care. 

Dear Simon Russell Beale,

Our 11th grade English class just finished listening to your version of Hamlet. I really enjoyed listening to it because it helped me understand and focus more on the reading. It left room for interpretation and imagination. I think if i were to read it on my own i would be focusing on all of the words and phrases i didn’t know rather than what is going on in the txt. I feel that you did a good job with this reading but like always there was definitely room for improvement. Your tone throughout the reading remained almost the same, you had a deep quite voice. I sometime got bored. You also spoke very very slowly. I think if you sped it up a bit (now we are not talking about the whole time, just when it was needed) it would improve the over all reading. I understand it must be very difficult to make a character come to life orally so i give you props for doing a good job on that. You just need to change it up a bit so the listener doesn’t get bored or tired of listening to you. 

your listener,

bakerboi247

Dear Kenneth Branagh,

         I fell that you did a great job as Hamlet’s character in the film. It was my first time reading Hamlet and I feel watching it helped me understand what was going on in the beginning better. I liked your interpretation of Hamlet making him more modern and hip. There was a good contrast between your character and the others in the film. It showed how you were just back from college and went through some “urban” changes. I was confused as to why you played Hamlet because to me Hammy is a young guy, and no offence; you are more of the “salt and pepper” kind of guy. Other than the age issue, I feel that you did a swell job. I enjoyed the ghost scene and you made the play come to life. You did however come across as a bit corny and quite cheesy. You reactions to things seem a bit dramatic. I fully understand that Hamlet is a dramatic person but your way came across as sissy and immature.

Another thing that bothered me was the ghost! I feel that he was just all wrong. I think they could have made the scene so much stronger if they used a different ghost, one that was more ghost-like. One that was creepy and spooky.  It would have made for a more dramatic and I don’t want to say realistic because ghosts are not realistic but it would have made it more believable and more relatable, if you get my drift.

Your viewer,

         Bakerboi247

what an ending….! I am glad but sad at the same time. The two characters seemed to stay consistent and true to self throughout the text. The book had a whole lot of that LIFE/DEATH stuff. I knew going into the book that they were going to die (and that everyone was going to die) due to the title and i must say knowing that info beforehand helped. I liked how R & G and Hamlet ran parallel. It was as if we would get a preview of what is to come. Guild seems to have an “organic” view on life. The two characters seem to be crazy, but like Mrs. Dukes brothers said, they could just be different. This is a tragedy so we knew going into it that the ending wont be pretty. It was a pain however knowing about how R&G were going to die from reading Hammy. It was difficult finishing the text cuz it was like i knew what was happening. But over all it was a good book and even funny at times. I think it was brilliant how two small characters were put into a text where they were huge characters… very cutting edge. 

This reading was interesting. There was similar to previous readings as far as the dark humor and irony. There is a lot of staging in the section and it really helps to set the mood of the reading. we learn more about the characters and get a lot of insight on them. This section is tied into Hamlet throughout. They refer to Hamlet a lot, and there is so much meaning behind the actual text. (TONS OF IRONY). Like in previous readings death is talked about a lot. 

I find myself understanding the readings a lot more now because of the themes and things we discuss in class. I am now looking for a lot more in the text. there was an important convo between R/G and the player. its full of dark humor, foreshadowing, and metafiction (we talked about that in class a bunch). And always a love when people go back and forth about life and death. it is a great topic….

So this book keeps getting kookier and kookier… as we read on the two characters just seem to be getting even more stupid. They two boys seem to still be confused and mad as to what they are supposed to be doing and go into panic mode for a second (they have a freak out moment). We learned in class they act dumb at times. Why i am not sure but as if they need to act dumb, they are dumb enough as it is ahaha.

There was a lot of talk about birth, life, death and eternity in this section. there is also a separation between made up and the truth. This reading also seemed to do a bit of character building. Nothing too big happened in this section but it was sort of enjoyable to read. i still think its funny how these two people were made into big characters yet are still small characters… good story telling

Wow what a crazy reading this was. 

this reading was linked to the reading we just did in Hamlet. R & G were sent to see Ham to see what is the matter and cheer him up. this was explained in the play as well in R & G. It was a very post-mod reading. It was very sarcastic and they joked about things that were not usually joked about. Both of the characters are very stupid and in the reader there were a million pages of them going back and forth and back and forth. confused and perplexed. 

This reading was wild. R & G played the question game. it was entertaining and funny but very very very stupid. there were “preparing and role playing” for when the see Hamlet. they finally encounter hamlet and have short convo with him. 

“the only beginning is birth and the only end is death” (I liked that quote)

Ok this book is very confusing.

 It was very hard for me to read in the begining. It asks a whole heck of a lot of questions and is hard to follow who is saying what and what is being said. the story went hand and hand with Hamlet (mostly at the end of this section we read). the characters seem a bit strange (crazy). the language used in this text is sophisticated and intelegent. (aka hard to understand). they talk about math and many other learny type things. Guild seemes a bit emo and has “moments” where he has little mood swings… where Ros remains calm most of the time. Guild seems to know what he is doing most of the time and Ros seems to be a little bid more relaxed and chill with things…

why does this text ask so many questions? is this a style of writing used in that time.

Ok so I don’t know hardly anything about dramas. This is something we didn’t spend a lot of time on at my old school. What I have learned in the past week is there are five main components to a drama: dialogue, characters, staging, theme, and plot. The main purpose of a drama is that it is meant to be performed. It seems like there is a lot of implied meaning and that it is important to pay close attention. It is key to do an in depth reading to get what is in-between the lines. Getting inside their heads and trying to think how they are thinking. My thoughts are if you take a text and try and break it down into the five main categories that will give you the best understanding of the piece of work. This doesn’t seem easy and I am apprehensive about doing this. So buckle in and get ready for some hamlet. 

The other day I was driving home from school and I saw two homeless people standing near a red light. I usually just blow them off and forget about them. But there was something special about the two people standing there. I don’t know what it was about them but they got me thinking. They made me realize how much I take for granted and all the great things I have. The fact that we are lucky enough to never have to worry about whether or not we have food to eat or a bed to sleep in is amazing. We are truly blessed. Where this is going is giving back to our community. I must admit I have not done as much as a should have. Helping others is imperative. It teaches life lessons and there is nothing more humbling than helping people who are less fortunate than us. I started thinking about the different things I can do here in Louisiana. Something I think I would really enjoy would be helping out at food banks. Millions of people are living below the poverty line. I think in addition to food, these people just need someone to talk to, a friend. I would like to give my time to try and help out. I would like to “adopt” a kid, or young adult. Someone that I can mentor, spend time with, and help with advice. This would be someone that I meet up with a few times a month and talk to on the phone. What I getting at is I would really like to spend more time helping others. I feel that if we as a school get together and focus on one cause, we could accomplish great things. But we have to have the will to help out.