Thursday, February 23

“Happiness is only real when shared”?

THE QUESTION:  How do other humans give our lives meaning?

Starter 2.23:  In the scene with Ron Franz, Chris says to him: “You are wrong when you think the principal joy in life comes from human relationships.”  But then in Alaska, Chris notes in the margins of a book that “Happiness is only real when shared.”  What do you think?  Is our happiness inside of ourselves or does it depend on other people?  How do other humans shape our life’s purpose?  

TED Talk: "What Makes a Good Life: Lessons from the Longest Study on Happiness"

• During the talk, write down key ideas/phrases/words/concepts/questions

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION (take notes and submit to Jessica)

• What was the thesis of this talk?  Does it surprise you?  What, ultimately did the research reveal about what makes a good life?  Do you think the conclusions of this research apply to everyone?
• Do you think the results would be different if women were included in the study from the start?  Do you think both genders have the same trends in happiness?
• What are the cultural implications of this study?  Do you think our culture sets us up for happy and healthy lives?  How might the prevalence of social media impact these findings?
• Share your takeaways and relate this Chris McCandless' story and your answer to the starter.  Do we need other people to be happy or can we find happiness in our solitude?  Do you think Chris would agree with or reject the findings of this researcher?  

JOURNAL 2.23:  REFLECTION ON YOUR RELATIONSHIPS AS THEY CORRELATE TO YOUR HAPPINESS AND MEANING

• Reflect on the role that your relationships with other people play in defining your happiness and meaning.  What are the most important relationship in your life and in what ways do these relationship influence you and your well-being?  Your happiness and meaning?  How do these relationships define who you are and your life's purpose?

REVIEW: “Your Life on Earth” Personal Philosophy Project (note modified due dates)

Student Examples:

MAX POEM

CELIA SHORT FILM

Personal Philosophy Statement and Project Proposal

WORK TIME: Starting freewriting your personal philosophy statement (or another form of prewriting: outline? Cluster? Bullet list?)

PLEASE TURN IN INTO THE WILD

Tuesday-Wednesday Feb 21-22

Assignment/Skills Objective:

Make an intertextual claim about THE FILM and/or THE SOUNDTRACK and support it with TEA.  (An intertextual claim connects 2 or more works that you are analyzing.)  You will write 1-2 robust (8-10 sentence) paragraphs illuminating your claim with evidence from the film and the other text you are comparing or connecting.

Another claim, Jessica?!?

Yes, my dears, we may as well get good at this.  And this one MUST be intertextual.  The film is an entirely separate work from the book, and it deserves to be treated as such.  You may use this mini-analysis to compare the film and the book, comment on how the soundtrack helps illuminate the meaning of the film, or another angle that you wish to make a claim about.  

YOU WILL HAVE TIME IN CLASS TO WORK ON THIS AFTER WE FINISH THE MOVIE TOMORROW!!!

Soundtrack Resources

Lyrics from the soundtrack

See Genius as well:

Society

Guaranteed

Intertextual Claim (about literature/film)

1.  Connects multiple texts

Film

Soundtrack

Book

Thoreau

Nick Jans "Going Alone" (or his email, technically)

Texts quoted in book

Chris' graffiti or journal writing

Reviews of the film (google some?)

Other?

2. Subjects of claim

The work itself....

Film

Book

BOTH TEXTS

....or some element(s) of it....

ie. cinematography, editing, soundtrack, artistic liberties, performance, etc...

...or a person involved in the creation of the texts....

Sean Penn

Jon Krakauer

Emile Hirsch

Eddie Vedder

Chris himself

3.  Verb (colorful and active!)

( "TO BE" can be used but consider others...)

show

demonstrate

express

illuminate

reveal

render

illustrate

brings to life

etc...

Thursday, February 16

Last Lit Circle Meeting!  Simplified protocol: LC #4

Reflection and Synthesis Writing (Scroll to Page 2) Due Tuesday, February 21

• Need a review making literary claims?  See DP post from Jan 19

Honors: Let's check in during work time to review guidelines and dates.

Looking Ahead:"Your Life on Earth" Philosophy Project

• Review Project Description:  Time to start brainstorming what this project might look like for you!
• Due Monday, February 27: Philosophy Project Proposal

Wednesday, February 15

Starter 2.15: What is the ethic described in Chief Seattle’s Treaty Oration?  How does it differ from the traditional paradigm of Western Civilization?  How does it resonate with you personally?

Four Corners

• Chief Seattle: “All things are connected like the blood which unites one family.  All things are connected.”

Part 3 of Humans and Planet Earth

Everything is Connected:  Listen to the first segment

JOURNAL 2.15: What is your reaction to the ideas of this podcast and the concept of the Gaia hypothesis?  How does this connect to environmental ethics?  How does it resonate with your own worldview?

Optional: Listen to the rest of the TED Radio episode on interconnectedness.

Reading Time:  Last Lit Circle for Into the Wild tomorrow.  Pre-write MODIFIED...just answer the essential questions:

• What can we learn from Chris McCandless’ story about the human quest for happiness and meaning?
• What does it mean to live deliberately?  What does it mean to be self-reliant?  (Relate to Into the Wild!)
• How can the path toward meaning be shaped by BOTH the natural world AND by our civilization?

Tuesday, February 14

Starter 2.14: How does Rachel Carson answer this week’s question?  (How does she characterize the human relationship with Earth and its other species and resources?) Quote the reading in your response.

Part 2 of Humans and Planet Earth

Environmental Ethics Vocab

• Instrumental and Intrinsic Value
• Anthropocentrism
• Preservation
• Conservation
• Sustainability
• Environmental Justice
• Innovation as an ETHIC
• Interconnectedness and the Gaia principle

Journal 2.14: What are your thoughts on the human relationship with Planet Earth? Which, if any, of these concepts from environmental ethics resonates most with you? Which do you think humankind should embrace? (anthropocentrism, conservation, preservation, innovation, sustainability, environmental justice)

Reading: Chief Seattle’s Treaty Oration (1854)

Read and annotate with attention to the land ethic that this text describes.  THINK: How does the indigenous land ethic differ from the anthropocentrism that has been the dominant paradigm in Western Civilization?

Monday, February 13

Announcements

• Honors: Let’s meet this Thursday.  If you have not done so, please grab a copy of A Tale for the Time Being. Book Club meeting scheduled for March 2.
• Honors: Turn in The Stranger!!!
• Slight Change….Lit Circle on Thursday 2.16: Let’s finish this thing!  You will not have to do the usual pre-write, but instead just answer the three essential questions on the study of this book:

1. What can we learn from Chris McCandless’ story about the human quest for happiness and meaning? 
2. What does it mean to live deliberately?  What does it mean to be self-reliant?  (Relate to Into the Wild!)
3. How can the path toward meaning be shaped by BOTH the natural world AND by our civilization?

Literature Circle Meeting #3: Start a new document!

• Groups: A little shaken up

The Questions:  Humans and Planet Earth

• How do we characterize the human relationship with Earth and its other species and resources?
• How do you characterize your (ethical) relationship with the Earth and its other species and resources?

Journal 2.13:  How would you answer either or both of these questions at this point?

Environmental Ethics:  the discipline in philosophy that studies the moral relationship of human beings to, and also the value and moral status of, the environment and its nonhuman content…”(From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Watch: The Overview Effect

Rachel Carson “Man and the Stream of Time”

Read and annotate with this question in mind: How does Rachel Carson answer this week’s question?  (How does she characterize the human relationship with Earth and its other species and resources?)

Thursday, February 9th

4th/5th

Welcome, Jess Adams, to college counsel y’all!

2nd/6th

 WORK TIME: Journal 2.9 and Read Into the Wild (plus pre-write for Monday’s Lit Circle)

JOURNAL 2.9: CHRIS AS TRANSCENDENTALIST?

Read Keiran Eagen’s intertextual email exchange with Nick Jans

*Note: Nick Jans is the author in Chapter 8 (p.71-72) who criticized Chris and Krakauer’s coverage of him.

Reader Response: Do you agree with Keiran or with Nick Jans?  Was Chris McCandless less competent than a boy scout?  Or was he on a transcendental path that is worthy of our study?


HONORS: A Tale for the Time Being