TODAY IN CLASS
3rd--We read the next ballad, "Barbara Allen" ((218-219).  After some excessive commotion in getting started due to too many lost/misplaced hand-outs, students worked in groups to cross-check ballad features with "Barbara Allen," hopefully ironing out some of the lapses in the narrative along the way.  The whole-class discussion also took longer than expected.  Bottom line:  we simply stopped.  Tomorrow we will pick up the Hamlet text, but then you will do the ballad assessment in class.

4th/6th--Yes, we read the ballad, worked in groups, and discussed the material.  (6th, we were ever so slightly behind because of what we had to pick up from yesterday--so tomorrow, remind me that we need to look specifically at what you can say about "Barbara Allen" in terms of form and style--that 2nd to last paragraph on the hand-out).
Then you received the ballad "Sir Patrick Spens" as well as an assessment hand-out that also has a different variant of "Barbara Allen" on the back. Although I read it once through in class so you could hear the dialect, you'll need to re-read it several times on your own, making sure to pick up all the words/phrases glossed at the bottom of the page.

HOMEWORK FOR 4th/6th:
Do Part I of the hand-out  for tomorrow.  Carefully, with support. Neatly.  Ink.  Loose-leaf paper.
It will be stamped if 1-4 are complete; if not a line will be drawn indicating how far you got.  You'll be allowed to finish but with a deduction for incomplete work.

IN-CLASS tomorrow:
3rd will do the whole assessment
4th/6th will do Parts II and III, with some time left over to get started on new reading.