Julius Caesar Performance

For our Julius Caesar unit, we have to do a performance about one of the significant acts in the play. I have chosen to do a duet with Lara and we will be doing Act 2 Scene 2 lines: 58 - 105.

Lara: Decius

Shaz: Caesar

CONTEXT:

In the passage we have just chosen, Calpurnia, Caesar's wife, has just told Caesar about the terrifying dream she had just had about him going to the capitol and is begging him not to go. But once he is persuaded, Decius comes along and twists her dream around to flatter him into going to the capitol.

This is a significant passage because, it's leading up to Caesar's death. It shows the conspirators determination to have their plan go all as planned and get him to the Senate House. And by doing that it exposes the two sides of Caesar; Private and Public. In public he portrays himself as this Hubris person, who isn't afraid of anything and says that danger should fear him, but when it comes to his private self, he is shown as this character who is gullible and falls for flattery and who is slightly afraid. He is also characterizes as vulnerable because he is praised by Decius's interpretation of the dream. As well in the passage we have chosen, it brings out the imagery of blood. Symbolizing life and death. It also portrays the theme of Fate vs. Freewill. Fate and death being Calpurnia's dream and Freewill and life being Decius's interpretation.

Learner's Profile

Profile 'L', Gestalt

I am a gestalt thinking with an 'L' learning profile. Gestalt thinkers like to think about the big picture. They look for similarities and they are free with feelings. Gestalt thinkers are more musical and they enjoy having a visualization. When doing a task they are very tactical and intuitive. Being an 'L' profile, I learn best through movements and by focusing on the whole picture. So by doing activities that involve moments and getting up and round, I am more likely to understand better. I prefer working in smaller groups because it allows me to interact with the people apart of the group and it allows me to more social and to get to know the people in my class better. But by being spilt into smaller groups, it also helps when everyone participates because then all the stress disappears because all heads are working together. By splitting into smaller groups we are able to talk about the bigger idea of the whole task and gather information from one another and answer any burning questions. Another way I learn better is by seeing examples because, it allows me to get a better idea of how the end product is supposed to look. As well it gives me a guiding path. Knowing the characteristics of my learning profile, I need to be surrounded by people who wont stress me out, because having this learning profile has a disadvantage when under stress because there's a lack of access to the dominant hemisphere with sensory input. I can also benefit from sitting near the front, somewhere where I can process internally. Also to help me succeed, before a quiz I should perhaps do thinking caps, to calm my nervous to help me do better because when under stress I have trouble concentrating. I would like my teachers to know that sometimes when I'm put on the spot, I tend to make things a lot harder on myself and make things more complicated then they actually are. Also I enjoy a little movement and getting up from time to time during class because if I'm sitting down for too long, I tend to space out and not concentrate as well as I'm supposed too.

Learning about these learner's profiles have really helped me to understand who I am as a person.

The Anatomy Lesson

‘The Anatomy Lesson’ was painted on the 16^th of January, 1632. Rembrandt Harmenszoon created it on an oil canvas. This piece of art demonstrates one of many discoveries made during the Renaissance. ‘The Anatomy Lesson’ shows how people were willing to go out and experiment new ideas and concepts. This expresses how the Renaissance, was a time of inquiry where people were trying to seek the answers to their questions. Dr. Nicolaes Tulp performed the dissection of the human body and it was a first because the Catholic Church forbade dissection because they feared the discovery of the souls location. This exhibits how the Church was losing power and their ability to control the citizens therefore causing them to break away and reform themselves. In the painting you can see that the Amsterdam Guild of Surgeons are intrigued by the anatomy and are taking notes, studying the human’s arm and its muscles and tendons inside. Their curiosity lead to the realization of the human body and from this discovery new medicines were able to be made. This painting is a reflection of the Renaissance because it shows how it was an era of logical discoveries and also how they weren’t relying on the church as much to provide the answers for them.

Driving Forces of The Renaissance

Because of The Rediscovery of Ancient Knowledge, the Italians were able to better understand their surroundings such as their bodies, architecture and literature and understand how their knowledge was able to develop and sound more realistic because some of the knowledge that was brought up from the fallen Roman Empire and the Middle Ages.

http://www.historyking.com/images/Renaissance-Drawings-Vs-Art-Today.jpg

The Battle of Hastings

In class, we started the topic of Medieval Times. We started learning about the battle of Hastings, which occurred in England during 1066. The battle was between King Harold, Edwards’s successor, and Duke William of Normandy. It was a bloodthirsty and savage battle, though in the end Duke William of Normandy victoriously won and claimed the throne of England.

The game that I chose:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/games/hastings/index_embed.shtml

Briefly, this game was shown through Williams and Harold’s pointsn of view during the battle. Its straight forward because, all you really need is to know your facts, and its nothing to complicated. It also shows the main points of the battle, and what happened. What I enjoyed about this game is that it gives a visual image of the battle. And that way, I could get a better understanding of how the battle somewhat looked like. And I also liked how they gave Williams and Harold’s point of view because that way, there’s two sides of the story. Whilst playing the game, I learned that Harold was quiet exhausted by the time he had to fight William, because he had marched 190 miles to fight and defeat his brother Tostig and his ally Harald Hardrada, then he had to travel back south to fight William. Harold also had peasant soldiers who weren’t as strong. So basically, Harold had no chance against William in the battle. There were a lot of events that happened during the Battle of Hastings. First of, Harold was worn-out before the battle with Duke William of Normandy. That was because he had to travel up north to fight with Harald Hardrada, then march back down south to fight with William, and along the way he had lost many soldiers due to the fact that there wasn’t much food, and that some where just much too weak to carry on. So therefore Harold grabbed untrained peasants from the fields to fight along side him. Harold and his army had created a strong shield wall, to try and block off from the cavalry and the archers of the Normans. But the Normans had a strategy to unbalance the Brits from their shield wall. They did this by pretending that William had fallen and fleeting, then quickly turning back when their shields were down. King Harold had died with an arrow through the eye, and the throne as well as England belonged to William. This game is a valuable learning experience because like I said before, it gives a visual of the battle as well as information to add to your understanding. As well its not too hard, and it can be a great tool to help before quizzes and tests.

Medieval Times: "Catherine Called Birdy"

"Catherine Called Birdy" by Karen Cushman

The historical fiction based novel “Catherine Called Birdy” is written by Karen Cushman, which is set in Medieval times, when life was hard and frustrating. Where a teenage girl tries to be free of marriage, and is powerless within her family and has major lack of fine medicine. Catherine wished she were a villager, for she despised getting married. Especially to some pig chosen by her father, the beast. She always made up some kind of scheme to scare them off. For example, trying to act all rude and less lady-like so the men would just turn their heads and head elsewhere. Most of the time, it worked on them, but it certainly did not work towards the pig, Shaggy Beard. Catherine yearned to be a villager, for they had all the freedom towards their marriage. They could marry whomever they desired for. This shows how she was powerless within her family. Although Catherine tried to stand up and be courageous and use her massive powerful mouth, it always ended with her locked up in her chamber and getting a slap in the face. Catherine could do nothing. She couldn’t speak up. She was a prisoner. Her mouth was taped up, and it couldn’t be ripped off. Catherine was also forced to sew embroidery. Which she loathed most of all. She couldn’t escape it, for it was her job to do so. Yet again, impotent. The medieval times were also powerless with their medicines. Back then, medicine was just a cluster of ingredients mixed together. They probably didn’t even know what they were doing. Who knows whether the medicine really cured illness and pains. For example Catherine’s mother lost 5 babies (it could have related to the fact that she drank way to much ale) and with one she spent 3 days in labour, and as a results she could have died showing that medical care was ever so distant. So life in medieval times was very challenging. Especially for Catherine, for she was a noble girl who couldn’t escape marriage, and was forced to be traded off to some pig, and was powerless against it for she couldn’t speck out, and medicine was unsatisfying.

Shmuels Point of View

Shmuels Point of View

I trundled along the empty, lonely, bitter ground, dragging my exhausted skinny bare feet along, heading towards THEIR fence. Heading towards the place where I just like to sit to be alone. To get away from all the fear, and the hunger of wanting to be free. But something, I’m not sure what, was already there. Invading my space of comfort. My heart started to pound, as my fears crept in. What is that thing? Sitting on THEIR side of the fence? Sitting in my place? I inched closer and my worries faded as I thought of the positives. Maybe that blob would be a new friend. Maybe I wont be so alone anymore. That blob turned into a figure of a boy, sitting cross-legged and staring at the dusty ground. I sat down in the same position as him. He looked up, and his eyes grew wide, and his mouth made a shape of an O. We just started at each other. Awkwardness started to fill the atmosphere. I needed to break the ice, so I tried my best and coughed up a sincere “hello” and said my name was Shmuel. His face loosened, and he gave a pleasant crooked smile, and said his name was Bruno.