 The White Mountains of New England Objective: Evaluate three different definitions/perspectives on what leads to a successful life and formulate your own opinion as well.
Reminders:
STARTER: Success Podcast #3 Angela Duckworth + discussion (no required journal entry here) As you listen, decide to what extent Duckworth's definition of success could positively affect your own life AGENDA 1. TURN IN THE STRANGER 2. Review your readings and highlight the following: From "Catastrophe of Success"
From "The Ambitious Guest"
3. Ungraded Seminar:
4. J.D. Salinger
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Starter: Success #3
No Journal Today! Agenda Seminar + Time to read shorts due Friday SEMINAR MAKE-UP INSTRUCTIONS: DUE MONDAY via EMAIL In addition to your standard seminar prep, please answer TWO more additional questions from Wednesday's DP using a quote from the book and your own analysis to support your response to the question. These should be in solid TEA paragraph form. Here's an example..... Example from a student response to The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: If someone were asked to describe Daisy, after only reading the first few chapters, one might use words such as elegant, innocent, proper, or timid; all words that describe the facade of a true East Egger. Fitzgerald possibly puts these words purposefully into the reader’s head in order to make the contrast to that of Daisy at the end of the novel. This scene, where Nick is over at Tom and Daisy’s house for the first time, is a perfect example of this image setting that Fitzgerald does so beautifully: "The only completely stationary object in the room was an enormous couch on which two young women were buoyed up as though on an anchored balloon. They were both in white and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house" (12). The way that Fitzgerald plays with imagery here invokes innocence and lightness as the personality of these two girls. The way that he describes Jordan and Daisy in conjunction with a stationary object, might also suggest that these sorts of women need a support buoy or man to keep them grounded in reality and keep them from drifting away. Today's Objective:
Journal #5: Response to Success Podcast #1
ANNOUNCEMENTS; 1. Thursday is the last day to make up the existentialism quiz! See me to review concepts today during work time. 2. New York Times article from 1/27 on Korematsu-- it was never overruled!!! Work Time Options
Seminar Questions (Part 3 of seminar prep) 1. What passage BEST represents Camus’s recommendation for how we handle the Absurd (the imminence of death and meaningless of universe)? 2. What is the significance of the conclusion of the novel? How does it reflect Meursault’s transformation as well as Camus’ philosophy of the Absurd and/or existentialism as a whole? Look specifically at this quote from pages 122-123: “For the first time in a long time, I thought about Maman. I felt as if I understood why at the end of her life, she had taken a ‘fiance,’ why she had played at beginning again. Even there, in that home where lives were fading out, evening was a kind of wistful respite. So close to death, Maman must have felt free then and ready to live it all again. Nobody, nobody had the right to cry over her. And I felt ready to live it all again too. As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself—so like a brother, really- I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate” 3. Albert Camus outlined three different responses to one’s recognition of the Absurd…one’s understanding that life was meaningless. 1. Suicide. If all life ends in death and there is no inherent meaning in the universe, all we do is for nothing, then why not end it? Camus did NOT advocate this path because death is no more meaningful and it rids us of dignity. 2. Putting faith or hope in something beyond ourselves….perhaps a higher power, perhaps the idea that one day life will be better, or that death could be postponed. 3. Accept that life is meaningless but live with dignity and create your own meaning out of your life. The 3rd was what Camus advocated for in his own writings. Read pages 108-109 from the top of the page on 108 until the line “I would just be caught up in the machinery again” on page 109. Which of the three of these responses to the Absurd does Meursault initially consider and what does he ultimately decide by the end of this passage? 4. Why do you think Camus chose a murder trial and a hanging as the climax of the novel? Think about the relationship between the courtroom, a trial and the concept of the Absurd. You might start by looking at pages 89-90 where the prosecutor examines two witnesses about Meursault's relationship with his mother. 5. What is the significance of the story about the Czech and how does it relate to the concept of the Absurd? (pages 79-80) 6. How does the relationship between the Chaplain and M represent the concept of the Absurd? Also, how does the trial represent the Absurd? 7. What is the significance of the line, "everything is true and nothing is true" (91)? Read page 91 then compare to pages 98-101 (Closing Arguments of the lawyers). 8. Why does Meursault want people to greet him with cries of hate at his execution? Additional Seminar Questions (Created by you during group seminar prep): 9. To what extent are you Meursault? 10. Why did Meursault hesitate to shoot the gun? 11. If Meursault didn't care about killing the Arab then why did he take the gun from Raymond? 12. Who is "the Stranger" and from what is he estranged? 13. Why is the lawyer asking about Maman's death during the trial? 14. How has reading this book changed your outlook of the meaning of life? 15. What relevance importance does the robotic female reporter have? 16. Do you believe one's life is as good as another? 17. What meaning does the chaplain have in the book? 18. What realization about life did Meursault gain at the end and would he have come to this same realization if he had died of old age instead of the death sentence? 19. If marriage means so much to Marie, why is she so willing to join her life with a man who does not care about her? (page 41) 20. Why did Meursault feel like he had to explain that his mother's death wasn't his fault? (page 1 and 20). Today's Objective:
Deconstruct Camus's philosophy of The Absurd and other elements of existentialism as they appear in The Stranger. Starter: Desert Sun Friday Show Video Journal #4: Response to key passage in The Stranger Near the end of the novel, the Chaplain asks Meursault, “Have you no hope at all? And do you really live with the thought that when you die, you die and nothing remains?”(117). How would you respond to this question? Agenda: 1. Ashley finishes Existentialism Powerpoint presentation (Alienation and Authenticity) 2. Class discussion on The Stranger 3. Group Seminar Prep Work Time 4. Time to read short stories that are due on Friday 5. Remind Ashley to pass back mock trial research/prep grades! Today's Objective
Journal #3: Link to Required Journal Prompts For the next 10 minutes, write a response to The Stranger. Stuck? Consider...
Agenda 1. Discuss journal responses and general response to the book 2. Announcements 3. 20 minutes: Time to review Existentialism and the following key terms:
4. Existentialism quiz 5. Ashley finishes Existentialism Powerpoint presentation (Alienation and Authenticity) 6. Read this short explanation of important historical context on The Stranger and Camus 7. Read aloud pages 3-5 of The Stranger and discuss the characterization of Mersault
 Wednesday's Starter: Discuss with a partner the plot of The Stranger up to where you have read without spoiling anything. If you haven't started reading, join a group of 2 and then get to reading today! Agenda: Humanities-focused work time
Honors: Fahrenheit 451 project proposal due today via email-- only if you're choosing to do a project on this book  Agenda: 1. Libby's LINK time 8:15-9:15, 12:05-1:05 2. Work Time
 Friday's Starter Write down 2 discussion questions on The Stranger thus far on THIS DOCUMENT. Agenda: 1. Libby's LINK time 8:15-9:15, 12:05-1:05 2. Starter 3. Share your questions with a partner or in groups of 3. Select the two most interesting questions and discuss them. 4. Continue reading and annotating The Stranger Objectives:
1. Explore the difference between happiness and meaning and take a stand on which you think is more important based on this article's definition of happiness v. meaning 2. Understand basic idea of Existentialism, Albert Camus' concept of "The Absurd" and how these ideas showed up in the film, Stranger than Fiction. Starter/Journal Prompt #3: Read and summarize the findings in the article, entitled "Stanford research: The meaningful life is a road worth traveling"
Agenda 1. 4 corners:
2. Listen to an excerpt from this Radiolab podcast on "Bliss" (first 5 minutes, 40 seconds) and watch the youtube video of Aleksander Gamme's blissful cache discover 3. Partner chat: Have you ever been this happy? What do you think is the relationship between this guy’s happiness and his pursuit of a meaningful life? 4. Existentialism Powerpoint presentation and connections to Stranger than Fiction 5. Ashley's introduction to our next book: The Stranger, by Albert Camus
Objectives:
1. Understand the big picture of our next project and be open to the journey Starter: What is the purpose of your existence? Write about this in your new journal or be sure to attach the paper into your journal once you get one by next Wednesday. Agenda 1. Instructions for keeping up with your journal requirements (bookmark this link) 2. Introduction to our next project: Happiness and Meaning
Objectives:
Starter: Complete the survey to help propel our class debrief on the mock trial Agenda: 1. Watch Durango Herald video and read their article about YOU GUYS! and then debrief the trial 2. Organize/print your mock trial prep work and turn it in. Staple all your work together with your name on top-- include any notes you took for or during the trial.
3. Judges deliberate and begin writing your ruling while other students begin drafting Mock Trial DP Update and Reflection 4. Begin watching "Stranger than Fiction" Homework: Get a journal (could be your original starter notebook) for class by Wednesday, January 22nd at the latest. We'll start using them tomorrow though. This will be a place where you engage in sincere self-reflection and develop profound thoughts, entertain challenging questions, and process the ideas we discuss in class for our next TWO projects. We'll use these for our Energy and Place project in the spring as well. Announcements:
Agenda 1. Review Homework for the week + Checklist for Turning Stuff In 2. Rehearse as a whole class the order of our trial Class A Script and Schedule Class B Script and Schedule 3. Questions? 4. Work time
Homework
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December 2017
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