Monday, February 28th

1st half of class: Let's support the sophomores! MUN Exhibition in the Commons!

2nd half of class: Work Time on Essay!

QUESTIONS TO ASK OF YOUR THESIS.....

Critique your own thesis. AND have Jessica look at your thesis statement. (Write it on a whiteboard or post-it and have it out on the table so I can come around.)

• Is it interpretive? (Not summary!)
• Does it refer to multiple texts or create the conditions to make intertextual connections?
• Is it focused without being too narrow? Do several "subclaims" fall out of it?
• Does it allow you to draw on substantial evidence from your chosen texts?
• Does it avoid the first person? (I think, I believe, in my opinion, etc: veto these!)
• Is the work itself or the creator of the work the subject of the sentence?
• Does it use a verb that is more interesting than "is about"?
• Is it eloquently, clearly and concisely stated? (Read it out loud to check for clarity. )

INTEGRATING EVIDENCE

Brainstorm/plan which pieces of textual evidence you will use to support your claim.

Many of you need some support in setting up quotations.  Please review this document and ask for my help if you need it as you integrate direct quotes. 

DRAFT DUE TOMORROW FOR PEER CRITIQUE!

Thursday, February 24th

SMALL GROUPS: Review the essay description. Brainstorm a list of possible angles one might take on this assignment. 

SHARE OUT!

READ MODEL ESSAYS

• What is thesis?
• Identify topic sentences
• Identify Evidence and Analysis

DRAFT THESIS STATEMENT On whiteboard or post-it or table

Self-critique based on criteria...

The Thesis Statement (THE CLAIM)

1.  How does a thesis function in a literary analysis?  

• The thesis statement makes an interpretative claim about the work.

2. 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.

• Not summary, but interpretation.

• 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...."

• Often employs the title and/or author as the subject of the sentence

• And, as ever, good claims ....

• 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

Have Jessica come critique your thesis once you have revised.

GATHER EVIDENCE (see overview doc for links to resources)

OUTLINE/PLAN (due Sunday@ midnight)

DRAFT DUE TUESDAY 3/1 FOR CRITIQUE!

WRITING CONFERENCES Mon-Wed for my feedback!

2/22/22!!!!

Into the Wild Intertextual Analysis Essay

Film Screening: Into the Wild

AFTERNOON CLASS: Covid testing down the hall!

WEDNESDAY WORKBLOCK: Finish film and develop your thesis statement.

Thursday, February 17th

Starter: Do you have Netflix?

JOURNAL #12: KEIRAN/NICK JANS EXCHANGE

1. Was Chris McCandless on a transcendental odyssey? Do you agree more with Keiran or Nick Jans?

2. What wisdom might we glean from this communication about interpretation or intertextuality? OR What do you think about "Reader Response" theory that says that the audience of a text plays an active role in determining its meaning?

OPTIONAL JOURNAL 12b: READ NICK JANS piece that he sent to Keiran, “Going Alone” here!  Is he more “transcendentalist” than Chris? Add some thoughts of response to your journal entry.

LIT CIRCLE SELF-REFLECTION:

1. How well did you participate in the literature circle experience?  Were you prepared each time?  Did you participate fruitfully?  How did the analytical process go for your group?

2)  What did you get out of this experience?  Discuss the importance of the discussion groups in helping to form your interpretations of this novel.  Be specific.

FINAL LIT CIRCLE PROTOCOL

PREVIEW OF INTERTEXTUAL ANALYSIS ESSAY

Monday, February 14th and Tuesday February 15th

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Starter: Mary Oliver, “Of Love”

I have been in love more times than one,

thank the Lord. Sometimes it was lasting

whether active or not. Sometimes

it was all but ephemeral, maybe only

an afternoon, but not less real for that.

They stay in my mind, these beautiful people,

or anyway beautiful people to me, of which

there are so many. You, and you, and you,

whom I had the fortune to meet, or maybe

missed. Love, love, love, it was the

core of my life, from which, of course, comes

the word for the heart. And, oh, have I mentioned

that some of them were men and some were women

and some—now carry my revelation with you—

were trees. Or places. Or music flying above

the names of their makers. Or clouds, or the sun

which was the first, and the best, the most

loyal for certain, who looked so faithfully into

my eyes, every morning. So I imagine

such love of the world—its fervency, its shining, its

innocence and hunger to give of itself—I imagine

this is how it began.

-Mary Oliver, from Red Bird (Beacon Press, 2008).

Could LOVE be the meaning of life?

FOUR CORNERS

Time in nature can lead to spiritual awakening.

In order to live our best lives, we should live simply with fewer material possessions.

TRANSCENDENTALISM

LESSON: American Transcendentalism

READ: Excerpts from Walden

OPTIONAL: Leaves of Grass

NOTES/RESPONSE: Transcendentalism and Walden

JOURNAL #11:  How does transcendentalism speak to you personally?  Which pieces resonate and which do you reject?  Why?  Choose at least one quote from the Thoreau reading OR the Powerpoint lesson and react to it in the context of your response.

Thursday, February 11th

Starter: Ashley survey

Gratitude as a source of happiness and meaning?

TED Talk: Want to be happy? Be grateful.

Gratefulness brainstorm on post-its:

Make a good size list of things you are grateful for. Try to go beyond the obvious things. EVERY BRILLIANT THING!!!

TELL THE PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE THAT YOU APPRECIATE THEM!!!!

Write some postcards or letters to express gratitude to other humans that add value to your life. Get specific and lift their spirits! In doing so, the idea is that your own spirit gets lifted as well!

Journal #10:

Respond to the TED talk. What are you taking away from these ideas? Do you buy the concept that gratefulness yields happiness and not the other way around? Is there a place for any of this in your own personal philosophy of Happiness and Meaning?

AND/OR

Reflect on your own relationship with gratitude. How does gratefulness impact your own life and your own happiness?

WORK TIME

Read Into the Wild (next lit circle February 17)

Read ahead on Transcendentalism” Excerpts from Walden (due Tuesday, February 15th)

Monday/Tuesday February 7th-8th

 Harold and Maude Socratic Seminar

1. Is Harold and Maude an existentialist film?  

2. What are the roots of Harold’s angst and alienation?  How do his ideas about happiness and meaning evolve as a result of his relationship with Maude?  How does his character change?  

3. Has Maude achieved Eudaimonia at the end of her life (deathbed question)?  Would Aristotle see her as having cultivated virtue and the Golden Mean?  Or do you see her as more of an existentialist? Or something else? 

4. What message is this movie trying to transmit?  What might it be trying to teach us about Happiness and Meaning?  How does it impact you personally?  

5. Identify 2-3 impactful quotes from the film and explain their literary significance.

6. Generate 2-3 questions to bring to the Socratic seminar.

1. 
   

Friday, February 4th

 LIT CIRCLE #2

LIT CIRCLE GROUPS

DEBRIEF LIT CIRCLE, DISCUSS QUESTIONS

NEXT WEEK…Harold and Maude Seminar Preview

SELF-ASSESSMENT

Tuesday, February 1st

LECTURE:  Aristotle’s Philosophy of Happiness and Meaning

JOURNAL #8: How are Aristotle’s ideas on Happiness and a Meaningful Life resonating with you?  What do you reject?  What questions does it raise for you?

JOURNAL 9: Virtue Reflection

Identify some of the ways you are exercising virtue in your life, using the table of Virtues and Vices and/or the 24 Character Strengths from Positive Psychology. Use artistic representations to illustrate your thoughts and annotate your drawings.

1. Choose 3 strengths that you feel guide you or are inextricably bound to your personal moral code. How does each add happiness/meaning to your life?

2. Choose 3 you wish to improve in, in order to live a more happy and meaningful life. Explain how strengthening these attributes could lead to a more fulfilled sense of being.

WORK TIME: 

Exhibition Prep

OR: Read Into the Wild and work on pre-write for Lit Circle #2 

OR:  (optional): Do additional research on positive psychology and how it might play a role in helping us lead a happier and more meaningful life

OR: Honors NHD

OR: Conference with Jessica