Works cited: Cuarón, Alfonso, director. Children of Men. Performance by Clive Owen, Universal Pictures, 2007.
9/28: A Block: Because I am out today, you can turn your assessments in either tomorrow or Monday without penalty. If you need me to show another scene from the film, please email me today.
9/26: We worked on the draftwork by watching a variety of scenes from Children of Men.
9/25: We worked revising drafts. We worked with a model paragraph from the film from last year's class and with student drafts from this class. Both are attached.
9/22: HOMEWORK: Pull together a draft paragraph making an argument about one of the thematic ideas James explores in the novel. To do this successfully, you'll need to make an argument about one of the themes (essentially, develop a them statement) then prove it using evidence (placed in context) from the text. You'll need to explain (analyze) how that evidence supports your argument. PLEASE take a look at the notes you and your classmates put together along with my comments, redirecting and helping you revise your ideas.
Here are the notes with my comments for each group. Please review all of them - you can decide to make an argument from another group's work.
Power (Eli's group), Power (Maia's group), Power (Brianne's group), Hope and faith (Alex's group), Hopelessness and despair (Emma's group), Hopelessness and despair (Etienne's group).
9/20: HOMEWORK: Return to the book tonight to close read for your thematic idea (see attached). TAKE NOTES. Write down what you see/notice,etc that advances theme
Group examination of the clips and poem. Discussion about how Cuaron's use of continuous shot reinforces characterization and theme.
9/19: HOMEWORK: Groups should have divided up this work. At least one person in each group should work with Warsaw Shire's poem "Home" (attached). Mark it up, look up words you do not know, use images that stick out to make meaning of the poem and make connections to Cuaron's film. At least one person in each group should watch, take notes and analyze this clip from the film (car scene) and at least one other should watch, take notes and analyze this clip (uprising in Bexhill). To do this successfully, write down shots,camera angles, use of sound, composition, etc. THEN analyze WHY Cuaron crafts the scenes this way 9what does he gain and how does that help with the storytelling?).
We talked about the ending of the film and its ambiguity. In small groups, students shared their ideas about the changes made from novel to film and how these changes support James' themes.
9/15: Finishing the film. See "COM end of film + changes" for class work AND homework.
9/14: We watched the bulk of the film today, talked about changes made and WHY (medium, time period, social issues, etc.)
9/13: We finished the novel - talked about ambiguity of the ending. We started the film (first 25 minutes) See "Children of Men 2017" (attached).
9/12: HOMEWORK Read WWS + the rest of the book. In class: see COM 26-28 for work.
9/11: HOMEWORK: Read WWS + 26-27. In class, (reading notes): We looked at Julian's character description and applied to to what we saw of her character in 21, talked about Felicia's comment to Theo about the death of his daughter, about Theo's developing character, about faith and the allusion to the birth of Jesus, thematic ideas Jame is wrestling with (hope/hopelessness, power, faith, etc.). We looked at Sept 11 as Cuaron made the film version of Children of Men a few years after 2001 and in a world dealing with the fallout for the attacks. Finally, we watched the opening of Cuaron's film.
9/8: HOMEWORK: reading WWS 13-21 + chapters 21 + 22. In class we close read characters' descriptions, including Xan's and talked about the conflict between providing protection, comfort vs. proving justice, compassion and love.
9/6: HOMEWORK (see reading schedule attached below for reading) + close read your character section. Mark up the text for words that stand out/contribute to James' character development (HINT: look for string verbs, nouns and adjectives that pack a punch, etc.). In the space provided, write about your sense of character based on the mark ups (what is important to know here, what is James highlighting, how does the word choice shape character, etc.) and make connections to other actions by the character in the chapter that reinforce what we first see in the description).
CLASS: Storyboarding our version of the opening of Children of Men.
9/5: HOMEWORK: Finish reading chapter 8 and complete the questions. See COM 5-8 (attached below).
We worked on building our shot vocabulary and on analyzing film. We discussed Jasper's character, the similarities between Jasper and Theo, their relationship and what that tells us, and about the religious figures at the end of chapter 7 and why religion might play a prominent role in P.D. James' world. In groups, we started to sketch out an opening for Children of Men.
9/1: Raucous discussion about Theo's character and whether or not we have any empathy for him at all. Students had to examine their empathy count before and after discussion as well.
8/31:HOMEWORK: See COM 5-8 (attached below).
We talked about the opening chapter of Children of Men and especially about setting. We worked in pairs to examine the setting objectively then to infer what people living in this world my feel. We returned to the Rayford photographs of Charlottesville to find a photograph that illustrated the same sorts of emotions as the novel.
8/30: We are going to spend some time today looking at Sean Rayford’s photographs from the incidents in Charlottesville earlier his month. We are looking at these photographs for a variety of reasons: so we can have a discussion about the events in Charlottesville and beyond, so we can start to talk about some thematic ideas that Children of Men will explore and so we can begin to look at filmic techniques we’ll be studying this semester.
Scroll down the photos just to get a sense of what is there. I’d like you to focus on two of the photos. For each photograph, start by describing what you see in the photograph: describe setting, describe characters, describe props, describe “plot” including interactions/relationships (between people, between people and props, people and setting, etc.), and conflict. Then, read back over what you have written, look again at the photograph and word associate (brainstorm a list of words that connect to what you see in the photo). Finally look back at the photo and pay attention to composition (HOW it was shot) – describe what you notice about how the photo is “framed,” (what’s included, what is prominent, what’s in focus, what isn’t), shot (does the photo look like it was taken with the camera at the same level? shot from below subjects? from above? straight on or tilted? close up or far away?), what do you notice about the colors, the balance (are objects/people weighted more to one side than the other or is everything centered?), etc. Once again, read over what you wrote about and add some notes about why what you noticed matters (how does it affect your “reading” of the photograph?) HOMEWORK: Please read chapter 1 for Thursday. Complete the handout (attached below).