AHS * HUMANITIES 11
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Daily Blog

Wednesday: Intro to Lit Circles!

2/8/2017

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Starter- Reflect on yesterday's seminar!
1. Overall did you enjoy reading The Stranger?  Why or why not?
2. What did you takeaway from yesterday's seminar? What new understandings, insights or appreciations did you have? 

Today's Humor:  Thug Notes on The Stranger

AGENDA
1. Discuss your interpretations of "Shades" 
2. Intro to Lit Circles
  • Get into groups!
  • ​Go over the Lit Circle Guidelines/Meeting Notes ​

Get organized with your lit circle
  1. Make a copy of the Lit Circle Guidelines/Meeting Notes 
  2. Come up with a group name
  3. Title the document like this: Lit Circle Work_GROUP NAME
  4. Share it with all group members and ME!!
  5. Divide up the reading and fill in the page numbers/chapter numbers on page 1 under "READING SCHEDULE"
  6. Decide which role each of you will play on the assigned days
  • Fill in your role for each day on the blank lines under "READING SCHEDULE".
  • Fill in the master schedule on page 2 under "LITERATURE CIRCLE SCHEDULE"

Research your book and then discuss these prompts:
Resources on your book can be found HERE
 (please add any good resources you find to this document throughout our lit circle time)
  • Read the introduction/preface/reviews in the front of the book as relevant
  • Learn about the author. When were they born? Where? What was their life like? What experiences may have influenced this book?
  • When was the book published and/or when does the book take place? What important historical/social/political events were occurring then that may influence the plot/themes, etc..?
  • What important themes stick out in this book?

Time to read and prepare for meeting #1 (which is tomorrow!)
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The Stranger Seminar

2/7/2017

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NO STARTER: Today is The Stranger seminar day!

CLASS BIZ
  1. SLC's are March 1st!  Heads up that you won't have to attend SLC's IF you have a C or higher in all your classes AND if you have secured a mentor for LINK the FRIDAY before SLC's.   Otherwise you'll need to attend SLC's with your parent(s).
  2. Email me your seminar prep!
  3. I need to dial groups for lit circles-- let's look the current groups I have.

While you are NOT seminaring, please do the following: 
1. Read "Shades" by Boleslaw Prus 
(I recommend reading it at least twice) and form an interpretation of the story!  Annotate your thoughts, questions, and confusions in the margins.  Your goal will be to write about these two questions after reading:
  1. What could the author be suggesting about the #meaningoflife?
  2. Any intertextual connections you're making as you read it??

*A note about interpreting literature:  There is not ONE right answer that we are looking for when we analyze literature.  There are many theories about how to approach literary criticism ("deconstruction" is one, in fact), but for now, open yourself up to whatever the lit might be saying to you, rather than trying to find some predetermined, absolute meaning.  The same can be said about your interpretations of The Stranger for tomorrow's seminar. 

2. Formulate your interpretation of "Shades" in your starter google doc.  Again, try to answer these two questions and use evidence from the story to support your claims:
  1. What could the author be suggesting about the #meaningoflife? 
  2. Any intertextual connections you're making as you read it??
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Monday: Stranger Seminar Prep for tomorrow's seminar!

2/6/2017

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STARTER (15 minutes)
"Killing an Arab" by The Cure
Listen to the above linked song and follow along with the lyrics. Then Interpret the song and react.  What intellectual and/or emotional impact do the lyrics and music have on you? (philosophically speaking…)  How does this song develop/advance/confuse your own understanding of the scene in The Stranger? Of the "Absurd"?  Of Existentialism??

"Standing on the beach
With a gun in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring down the barrel
At the Arab on the ground
I can see his open mouth 
But I hear no sound 

I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an Arab

I can turn 
And walk away
Or I can fire the gun
Staring at the sky
Staring at the sun
Whichever I chose
It amounts to the same
Absolutely nothing

I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an Arab

I feel the steel butt jump 
Smooth in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring at myself
Reflected in the eyes
Of the dead man on the beach
The dead man on the beach

I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an Arab"

CLASS BIZ
  1. Seminar tomorrow!
  2. Honors seminar reflection from Cat's Cradle due today!
  3. Snack jar contributions?
  4. Tomorrow's seminar groups:
    Round 1:  Courtney, Kaitlyn, Holden, Lyric, Will, Claire, Ben, Cairo, Ashley, Morgan
    Round 2: Destiny, Teddy, Caity, Toree, Rollin, Dylan, Lilah, Elle, Hannah, Kaden,  Kelsie

AGENDA
1. Share out starter responses
2. Some humor to ease the transition into deep thinking for seminar prep work time: Does studying existentialism sometimes make you want to scream like these guys?
3. Individual seminar prep work time!  (remainder of class)
​

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Friday, 2/3: Seminar Prep and more literary interpretations!!

2/3/2017

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STARTER Journal for 10 minutes in response to the following poem.  Or write a poem back.  Or just react.  In light of everything we have been studying lately, where does this poem hit you?

Mary Oliver, The Summer Day
 Who made the world?
 Who made the swan, and the black bear?
 Who made the grasshopper?
 This grasshopper, I mean--
 the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
 the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
 who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down--
 who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
 Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
 Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
 I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
 I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
 into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
 how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
 which is what I have been doing all day.
 Tell me, what else should I have done?
 Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
 Tell me, what is it you plan to do
 with your one wild and precious life?

Mini-workshop on making interpretive claims about literature
Make an interpretive claim about the Mary Oliver poem.  BUT FIRST, I'll go over guidelines for interpretative claims then you'll come up with one on your own and write it on the whiteboard.

1. What makes for a good claim about  literature/film/art, etc?
  • It states your conclusions/interpretations about the work. Whatever the claim, you must be able to support it with evidence.
  • It doesn’t just state the obvious; it expresses an interpretation that reasonable people could disagree with.
  • It is specific and focused without being so narrow that there is insufficient evidence.
  • It generally expresses one main idea.  If compound ideas are stated in a thesis, the relationship between them is very clear.
  • Try to use sophisticated phrasings beyond "This poem is about...."
And, as ever, good claims ....
  • are debatable
  • are specific and focused
  • avoid stating the obvious
  • are clearly and eloquently stated
  • avoid the first person (AVOID “I think, I believe, My opinion is, etc.”)
  • can be supported with sufficient evidence
2.  Examples
  • “Slip of the Tongue” by Adriel Luis examines how minority women have been oppressed by society’s unrealistic expectations of feminine beauty.
  • In The Outsiders, Cherry Valance represents the obligation felt by some members of the upper class to help those less economically fortunate than themselves.
  • In “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” Walt Whitman uses structure and imagery to contrast the scientist’s perception of the night sky with his own poetic perception.
  • In Guernica, Picasso shows us the horrors and senselessness of the collateral damage brought about by indiscriminate bombing as a tactical strategy.
  • Montana 1948 is an allegory for America’s pursuit of its "manifest destiny"; it describes the way in which the Indian minority was exploited and abused in the process of America’s westward expansion (-Tucker Leavitt)

3. Now, write your interpretative claim on the whiteboard!

Individual Seminar Prep Work Time!
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Thursday, 2/2: Paradox of Choice and Seminar Prep

2/2/2017

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CLASS BIZ:  Choose your lit circle book preference!  
  1. Into the Wild
  2. A Tale for the Time Being
(Honors have to read both!)

​
STARTER
Transience: the state or fact of lasting only for a short time; transitory nature.
  • Watch this youtube video called, "Existential Bummer" about the transience of life
  • How does this video relate to Meursault?
  • Would rather take the path of least resistance like Meursault, and/or avoid emotional attachments, or would you rather dive right into life despite knowing that everything is temporary, and all things must end?

AGENDA
1. 
Watch TED Talk: Paradox of Choice 
*In many ways this relates to the idea of angst as caused by freedom of choice!  A more modern twist on the idea of choice!
Journal response in your starter doc, titled "Paradox of Choice"
  • Summarize the main points of the Ted Talk
  • In what ways have you experienced or do you think you could experience the paradox of (too many) choice in your own life? 
  • Do you think the increase in choices in today's world may lead to a greater likelihood of existential angst? Why or why not?
  • What other lines stood out in the talk to you? Why?

2. Group seminar prep (SHARE A COPY OF YOUR NOTES WITH ASHLEY!)

3. Begin Individual seminar prep​ (Due for TUESDAY's Seminar!)​

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Wednesday, 2/1: More Existentialism and the Stranger!

2/1/2017

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Objectives:
  • Understand all tenets of Existentialism
  • Apply the Absurd and Existentialism to The Stranger 

Starter
  • Watch this video by DanIsNotOnFire about existential crises
  • Did DanIsNotOnFire terrify you?  How are you feeling about studying this topic a bit?  Are you worried you might spill  milk all over the counter while making cereal one morning?  If so, there’s no use crying over spilt milk. 

CLASS BIZ

Individual seminar prep​ (Due for TUESDAY's Seminar!)
  • Remember to TYPE your individual seminar prep and email it to me by 10:15 TUESDAY am AND print it for seminar. 

AGENDA
Finish Existentialism Powerpoint

THE STRANGER Discussion 
  1. Read aloud pages 55-57: "Shoot or not shoot?" "Stay or go".   What do those statements have to do with existentialism (free will/angst; indifference of universe; immorality).  Do you agree that those things "really amount to the same thing" as Mersault suggests?
  2. 57-9: Why does Mersault always seek escape? What does he seem to be avoiding? Why would Mersault shoot 4 more times? 
  3. Once Mersault goes to jail, in what ways does he seem alienated from himself? Do you see any shifts in the ways in which he defines himself or comes to know himself?
  4. Page 66: Mersault wants to say to his lawyer, "I'm just like everybody else".  In what ways is he like everybody else and what does Camus mean by that?
  5. 67-70: Why does the Magistrate want to know WHY M did it? How does this scene relate to the Absurd?
  6. 75-6: Marie's visit:  Anything stand out here to y'all?  Why would Camus show us all these different scenes of visitors coming and going? 
  7. 79-81: What is the significance of the story about the Czech man?
  8. To what extent is prison like death?

Part 2, Chapter 3
  1. In what ways does Camus illustrate the concept of alienation during the trial? (p. 85)
  2. In what ways does Mersault change over the course of his prison time AND in particular during the trial?  (see for instance pages 90 and 97)
  3. FOOD FOR THOUGHT: What might the trial represent?  How so?


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    Ashley Carruth

    Humanities 11 Teacher at Animas High School

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