Classy Talks

Semester 1 Week 13 update

Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities www.allthingsd.com

www.charlesdickenspage.com

www.cliffnotes.com

Claude Monet Impression Sunrise

Homework Review – complete before week 14 class
Algebra 2	Lessons 47-50. Also, bring one math question from your own math book to put on the board.
Latin	Lesson 17, ex., Open Grammar Quiz (the translation page is extra credit only)
Logic	Finish Lesson 13 and answer questions
History: HSWTL	HSWTL – chapter 12 to the end and questions in the guide (section X).
History: Art Essay	Notebook and Timeline Collection and discussion. Review and practice for the Art Identification Lecture (Week 15). Testimony Essay on “Claude Monet’s qualifications to be an Authority on Impressionism.” Look at Monet’s painting Impression Sunrise. Annotated Mona Lisa pages 96-97, 102-103
Art Presentation:	Practice for the Art Critique/Presentation on week 15 (pg. 48).
British Literature Essay:	Finish Tale of Two Cities. Words Aptly Spoken questions on pages 75-83.
Biology:	Finish Chapter 8 up to page 242 and read Exp. 8.1. Lab Journal Collection

Algebra 2 (Chapters 43-46) Welcome to Trigonometry. This week’s lessons jumped right into the study of measuring triangles using simple line measurements combined with the more complicated ratios related to angles.

Latin – We covered changing Latin adjectives into adverbs (much like adding –ly to English adjectives). We also discussed changes as the comparative and superlative forms are added (-er, -est, more, and most).

Logic – We continued tackling fallacies in Syllogisms. The students zoomed through 12 exercises in class to spot the different distribution rules for syllogisms that can be broken.

History – We discussed our essay topic regarding the shift from Romanticism to Realism. Since we only have one painting left, we took a quick pop quiz to see how much we remember about the paintings we’ve evaluated this year.

This next essay discusses what qualities make a person an expert (including: knowledge, skill, consistency, peer recognition, & education). The students write about Monet and Impressionism.

Many of the Impressionists took their painting inspiration from the Realistic painters. Impressionists took the realistic scenes one unique step further (They realized that the human eye focuses on one focal point at a time and blurs the rest of the world around the focal point automatically - like a camera shot. They also enjoyed the effect of painting quick glimpses that they eyes might glean from unfocused details.). The reigning art experts were opposed to the new style (most of them had opinions about the acceptable subject matter - historical, Biblical, or mythological - and they valued set standards in clean lines, brushwork, and tones). Once photography emerged in 1839, both Neoclassicism and Romanticism suddenly seemed dated. Painters started to begin infusing beauty back into ordinary life scenes, portraits, and landscapes. In France, the Barbizon painters met to push for realistic outdoor paintings, and in England, the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (painter, poets, and critics) rose up to paint truthful nature scenes. Both groups reacted against emotionalism of Romantic painters and against the academic rules governing the painting of artificial subjects and ideals. Realistic painters like Courbet even refused to paint angels since he couldn't physically see one to be able to render a likeness. The Impressionists faced an era of changing politics and technology (cameras and even paint in portable tubes affected the opportunities for painters to dabble in new ideas). They stretched the realism to a new level as they played with light and brush strokes. Monet surrounded himself with like-minded painters (Pissaro, Renoir, Manet, Sisley, and others) to form the Societé Anonyme des artistes, peintres, and sculpteurs et graveurs. He painted with an emphasis on lighting and small brushstrokes with pure colors. He frequently painted the same subject in different light levels. He consistently stayed with this style throughout his life. Monet was impressed by Manet's strong break from the rules in society. Manet inspired others with daring techniques and controversial subject matter (Manet fought against old styles of painting and he chose modern settings. He was inspired by the Spanish painters. He liked bold brush strokes, strong colors, harsh tonal contrasts, and modern subjects and scenes). Monet's own paintings had fewer tonal contrasts and more subdued pastels. He poured atmospheric light into his scenes. The earlier Realistic painters included accurate atmospheric light and serene scenes, but the Impressionists included all the realism but then dialed back the sharp hyper focus of details and caused the light to glow. Impressionists truly rejected many of the styles and subjects that preceded them. As with each era though, soon the younger painters grew bored and wanted to experiment and explore new ideas.

Lastly, we read a few pages from Saving Leonardo (pgs.243-245).This reviewed biblical viewpoints and the arts.

Art Presentation Project – Prepare for Art Presentation on week 15. Aside from introducing the art piece, the students also begin to critique the piece for its form and meaning.

British Literature – We are saving our full discussion on The Tale of Two Cities until we finish the book this week.

Biology – Before starting labs, we discussed parts of cells again...more specifically, the structure and function of DNA. We covered DNA replication, viruses, and cell reproduction. We also completed a few fun lab projects.