Wednesday, February 8

Happy Wednesday, my students!  Work hard and be your best selves!  Do the following today:

1. Transcendentalist Principles and Response to Walden

You can confer on parts of this, but everyone should do their own work.  Turn it in to basket when you are finished.

2. Read Into the Wild and work on pre-write for Monday's literature circle.  (Guidelines)

3. Catch up on starters and journals if you have missed any.  (Table of Contents)

4. Optional:  Write philosophical poetry AND/OR do an art piece to process your thoughts.

Tuesday, February 7

SLC Announcement: SLC’s (March 1) will only be required if you have a C- or lower in any class and do not yet have an internship lined up.

Starter 2.7: Write a haiku that attempts to capture one thought snapshot of your personal relationship with nature or another philosophical perspective.

(5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables)

Maybe next lifetime

I could be a butterfly

Who glides through this fog

Discuss: What are our takeaways from the forest bathing article and the lit circle questions? What are humans getting out of their time in nature?  How might our culture impact our personal relationships with nature?  How does this play out with Chris?

Lesson:  Transcendentalism

Reading Assignment: Excerpts from Walden

JOURNAL 2.7 Thoughts on Transcendentalism:  
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.

Monday, February 6

Starter 2.6:  What might human beings find in the wild that they do not find in civilization?  (Relate your answer to the assigned chapters and/or to your own personal outdoor experiences.)

Into the Wild Literature circle meeting #2

Start a fresh document:  Make a copy of the protocol, share with all group members and Jessica.

GROUPS

For next Monday: pp.103-171 (Ch. 11-16)

The Human Connection to Nature: Spiritual or Scientific?

1. Watch this video

2. Read "Take Two Hours of Pine Forest and Call me in the Morning"

(Printable version, hard copies in my room)

3. Journal 2.6

React to the content of the article and relate it to the bigger questions of our project and/or your own personal experience and/or philosophies.  What connections might you see between the scientific worldview and spiritual belief systems.

-OR-

Tell a story about an experience that you had in nature that had healing powers.

Friday, February 3

Starter 2.3: What is the difference between religion and spirituality?

In pairs:  Come up with a short list of phrases, words, sentences, quotes that you associate with each word:  RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Chalk talk

Read Vonnegut, "Yes, We Have no Nirvanas"
Meet Maharishi:)

JOURNAL 2.3:  "Yes, We Have no Nirvanas"

a. What do you think of the idea of Transcendental Meditation?

b. What is Kurt Vonnegut's take on it?  Make an interpretive claim.

WORK TIME/HOMEWORK:

Lit circle on Monday!  Read and do prewrite.

Thursday, February 2

Starter 2.2: Belief Quiz  

What were the results?  Did the quiz tell you what you already knew?  Did it surprise you at all?

5th hour: 10th grade exhibition!  Dooley’s room for 10-15 minutes.  Starting the film at 1:15.

Historical Context of the Religion/Science Struggle:  

BBC Documentary:  The End of God?  A Horizon Guide to Science and Religion

Take notes on the film.  Note major events in the historical ideological struggle between religion and science.  Jot down questions.  Think about where are now in this struggle as a species and where you are as an individual.

Journal 2.2:  Synthesize the content of the  film.  What did you find striking, interesting, disturbing, questionable?  What do you think about the bigger question the film is asking?

Wednesday, February 1

Starter 2.1 Thoughts on Religion and Science  

Philosophize:   Are religion and science compatible?  Can they work together to illuminate meaning in our lives?  Or do they contradict each other?

The Scientific World View:  What Makes Us Human?

In groups, make a T-chart.

Commonalities between Religion and Science

Areas where you see tension between them

SHARE OUT.

Stephen Jay Gould's "NOMA" Non-overlapping Magisteria

Read Gould's original article (linked) for more depth of information!

Non-overlapping magisteria (NOMA) is the view advocated by Stephen Jay Gould that science and religion each represent different areas of inquiry, fact vs. values, so there is a difference between the "nets" [1] over which they have "a legitimate magisterium, or domain of teaching authority," and the two domains do not overlap.[2] He suggests, with examples, that "NOMA enjoys strong and fully explicit support, even from the primary cultural stereotypes of hard-line traditionalism" and that it is "a sound position of general consensus, established by long struggle among people of goodwill in both magisteria."[1] Still, there continues to be disagreement over where the boundaries between the two magisteria should be.[3]

Quote from Gould:  "Our failure to discern a universal good does not record any lack of insight or ingenuity, but merely demonstrates that nature contains no moral messages framed in human terms. Morality is a subject for philosophers, theologians, students of the humanities, indeed for all thinking people. The answers will not be read passively from nature; they do not, and cannot, arise from the data of science. The factual state of the world does not teach us how we, with our powers for good and evil, should alter or preserve it in the most ethical manner"

READ: The Meaning of Life in a Formula

JOURNAL 2.1:  Response to NOMA and the “Skeptic”: React to the idea of “Non-overlapping Magisteria” and/or Michael Shermer’s article.  Identify a specific passage in the article and agree or disagree with it.

Finished early?  Read Into the Wild (don't forget pre-write!)

Tuesday, January 31

Starter 1.31:  How do religion and other forms of spirituality give meaning and purpose to human life?

Watch Rick Warren's TED Talk"A Life of Purpose"

1. How does his faith give him purpose?
2. Are his arguments convincing?
3. Even if you are not religious, what can we learn from his example?

JOURNAL 1.31 TED TALK EXPLORATION:  

Are You There God? Playlist

Explore 2-3 different talks (depending on length)

IN COMP BOOKS, for EACH talk:

1.  Briefly summarize the main points of the talk.

2.  REACT What stood out to you about this talk?  Did you agree or disagree?  Why?

(A-ha; Say What?; I wonder...)

SHARE OUT:  Speed dating

If you watched the same talk, discuss how you felt about it.

If you watched different ones, summarize and share take-aways.

Read: Into the Wild (plus prewrite for next meeting)