Understand and begin to ask the big questions behind our next project, "Happiness and Meaning"
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. Interested in joining the Honors Book Club second semester? Mandatory Honors meeting lunch Thursday! Current students must also schedule individual conference with me about your Independent Study project.
2. Submit your DP links when your reflections are done. I will work on getting your videos to you this week. If you did not submit the self-assessment, you MUST do so before I give you a grade! Scroll back to last Thursday for guidelines.
3. Cool opportunity for extended learning about the river: Dan Olson's talk on February 10, "Are We Safe from Another Gold King Mine Spill?" For more info, check it out.
4. Please sign the thank you cards for Animas City Theater!
NEW PROJECT COMP BOOK RESET!
1. Start anew at the top of your Digital Comp Book. Space down all of the content from first semester so that it isn't battling for attention.
2. Create a header that says "Happiness and Meaning Starters/Journal" at the very top.
3. Work under this header for the duration of the project.
4. Continue to label starters and journals clearly as labeled on my DP. (Starters will always be signified with the date; journal entries will usually have the date plus a title or label.)
5. As before, see the link on my Resources/Links tab to catch up on starters and journal entries. I will try to highlight necessary entries in blue on my DP each day.
STARTER 1.19
Watch Alan Watts' "What do you desire?"
Thinking about this video and any insights that you gained from watching the film on Friday, write for 10 solid minutes on the following questions:
- What is the purpose of your existence?
- What gives your life meaning?
- How do you define happiness?
Review Happy
1. Add your 5 big questions to this Google Doc.
2. Discuss with a partner or a group of 3:
- What conclusions about happiness does the film draw?
- What are the factors that seem to correlate with happiness?
- Were there elements of the film that you disagree with?
3. Share out thoughts from starters and from film.
Happiness and Meaning: Project Overview
Questions? Feedback?
Stanford Research Reveals...
READ "The meaningful life is a road worth traveling"
In PAIRS, discuss and jot down some notes:
- Briefly summarize 3 different ways the researcher distinguishes between happiness and meaning
- Overall, how would the researcher, Jennifer Aaker, define happiness? How would she define meaning?
- According to her definition of these two concepts, which do you think is more important? Why?
4 CORNERS
- Pursuing meaning is more important than pursuing happiness.
- In order to be happier, we should focus on the "now."
- Do you agree with Aaker's classifications of happiness and meaning? In other words, are they as separate as Aaker makes them out to be? Can they exist without each other? Which do you feel is more dominant in guiding your choices and thoughts in your current phase of life? Explain your thoughts thoroughly and give examples. (These comp books are just between you and me!)
HOMEWORK
Read "Shades" by Boleslaw Prus
(I recommend reading it at least twice) Interpret the story! Annotate your thoughts, questions, and confusions in the margins. What could the author be suggesting about the #meaningoflife?
*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.