Tone

Definition: the devices used to create the mood and atmosphere of a literary work; the author's perceived point of view. 

• The tone is the overall feeling that you get from the story. When describing the tone, use alot of descriptive words that tell what the author was trying to show.

Notes on Hamlet

Explain how your thinking about the play has evolved from the time we began reading to the end of Act III. Has anything changed your mind about the plot or characters since the ghost showed up at midnight? Where do you see things going from here?


As we read about the ghost in the beginning of the story I assumed that the play going to be serious and sad, maybe even a little scary. But never would I have guessed that there was going to be dark humor. The dark humor I detected in the play was when Ophelia was seen as crazy because of Hamlet. It would seem that the situation would be seen as horribly tragic but Shakespeare does not write straight forward, he writes so each reader can take the text the way they want. I took it as dark humor. Then there is Hamlet.  In the beginning I had assumed that Hamlet was a sort of hero, someone seen with much respect.  But as the play proceeded I realized that Hamlet was not seen the way I had assumed, not at all. As far as the ending goes, I don't believe it will be a happy one.  

Roy Christopher Conference

• "Program or be Programmed": Those of us that call ourselves Digital Natives need to become more aware of technology and how it works. Not paying attention to these new changes can significantly harm us if we do not take action to learn how these "improvements" work. The impact of our being naive can be extremely negative because the things that we do not understand have better chance of controlling us.  
• The old generation needs to trust the youth with how they grow up.  I find it rather disappointing that we aren't seen to our full potential. Most teens are judged upon the reputation that we are all lazy and insignificant because we can not act for ourselves. The thing is even though there may be teens that live with that lifestyle, that does not mean that all follow it. I have come to meet people of my own age who get more things done then your average adult and I don't think it is fair that we are stereotyped so awfully.
• We focus better doing one thing at a time. Multitasking does not work and many of us are easily fooled. I have realized that when I multitask I do not give half of the effort I would give if i wouldn't. We think that if we do many things at once we are being more productive and getting things done faster, but that isn't exactly the case. 

Thesis

Definition: a proposition for consideration, especially one to be discussed and proved or disproved; the main idea. 

Theme

                                            

Definition: main idea of the story; its message(s).

Setting

Definition: the time and place in which events in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem occur.

Setting	Place	Time
As I carried my tray  piled high with burgers and fries, I realized, every table was full.  The only seat left was next to Billy Markum!	beach cafeteria   dentist	breakfast lunch dinner
I leaned back in the chair and shut my eyes.  When I heard the sound of the drill I slowly opened my mouth. "What a way to start a day!" I thought.	dentist     movies   hospital	evening afternoon morning
When I heard the crack of the bat, I knew it was coming to me.  I opened my glove and pointed it toward the sky.  The midday sun was blinding. "Please let me catch it!" I silently chanted.	beach     baseball game   movies	morning noon evening
Even though it was dark, I knew where we were.  I could smell the fresh cut hay and I could hear the animals  moving restlessly in their stalls.	house    garage barn	morning afternoon evening
Megan opened her notebook and turned to the next page. She reached into her desk for a pen.  "I hope I finish this assignment before recess?" she thought.	bedroom school garage	evening breakfast afternoon
"Please can't I watch one more show?" I begged.  "Not tonight," said Mom.  "Tomorrow you have a big day.  It's your first day of school!"	home    school camp	fall winter spring