Starter: Read Keiran's email exchange


Lit Circle Meeting #4.  Make a copy of these questions and scribe the basic points of your conversation.  Share doc with me!

1. 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?
2. What can we learn from this story about the human quest for happiness and meaning?
3. What does it mean to live deliberately?  What does it mean to be self-reliant? Does Chris achieve his goals of self-reliance and deliberate living despite his death?
4. How can the path toward meaning be shaped by BOTH the natural world AND by our civilization? How was Chris' path shaped by both? What life lessons do you imagined he had learned from his experience about happiness and meaning?

After break.....

Keely and Summer's Survey

Lit Circle Post-write (Do this in class!)

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.

Synthesis Paragraphs

Make an interpretive claim about Into the Wild.  Think about how your reading of the novel answers 1 or more of the essential questions.  You could also answer a different question or make your own claim based on what has come up for you during the reading.  Write 2-3 robust TEA paragraphs, supporting your claim with evidence from the text.  Connect your evidence explicitly to the claims you are making (#analysis).

OPTIONAL HOMEWORK: Optional Reading from Nick Jans: "Going Alone"

Honors:  lunch check-in on Cat's Cradle 

1. 5 minutes of silent contemplation....

2. Lit Circle Meeting #3

3.  WORK TIME:  

• Finish Into the Wild!
• Brainstorm project ideas!

Welcome, Arnold Clifford!

Take it in, kids!


HOMEWORK:  Journal 2.18
Reflect on what you learned today from our guest speaker.  How does the philosophy of hózhó resonate with you personally?  Do you see any similarities between Navajo philosophy and other philosophies, religions, or belief systems you have studied?  What wisdom are you taking away from it?

Announcements

• Sorry about the typo!  Lit circle meeting tomorrow (2/18) and Monday (final meeting: 2/22)
• Honors: check in about Cat's Cradle during lunch tomorrow
• Today is SLC deadline!  If you have to do SLC's, here are the guidelines
• New idea for starting class....what do you think?  Should we start today?

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

• 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.  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 2.17:  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?

WORK TIME

Prepare for tomorrow's lit circle:  Get through at least Chapter 15 (p.156)!  Prepare Pre-write

READ Into the Wild and/or Cat's Cradle

Begin brainstorming/drafting project

SIT WITH YOUR GROUPS!
Lit Circle Meeting #2:  Copy protocol with new Jessica prompts


Do you want to shuffle groups?  TAKE SURVEY!
AM CLASS
PM CLASS


FINAL PROJECT GUIDELINES AND RUBRIC
Dig in to some of the rubric language.  With the people at your table, answer the following ON PAPER:
1.  What does thoughtful mean in the context of our project?
2.  What does authentic mean in the context of this project?
3.  What does it mean for a piece of writing and a creative visual to "work together cohesively"?
4.  What does it mean when a project is "refined to exhibition standards"
5.  What does it mean to "exemplify beautiful work"?

JOURNAL 2.11:  PROJECT BRAINSTORM FREEWRITE
What ideas do you have for the project?  What personal philosophy might you express?  What writing genre might you use?  What artistic form might you express yourself in?

WEEKEND HOMEWORK:  Study up on Navajo culture, history, and Hózhó (the beauty way).  Come next Wednesday with at least 5 facts and 1 question.  Guest speaker next week!

GET READY FOR NEXT WEEK's Lit Circle Meeting

WORK TIME
READ!  Lit Circle #3 on Wednesday! (Do we want to shuffle?)
Catch up any missing comp book entries!
Think about and/or start your H&M project?

Sherry Turkle's TED Talk:  Connected But Alone 
During talk, write down ideas/phrases/words/concepts that stands out to you.  Write down at least one question you would like to ask this researcher, or that this talk sparked for you.

PAIR SHARE an idea/phrase/word/concept that stood out to you
Discuss: What was the thesis of this talk?  What, ultimately, is she trying to say about our use of technology?



A different perspective: "Technology Made Us Humans":
1. Do you agree with the narrator in the Shots of Awe video we watched today that, "Technology is the real skin of our species?" Why or why not?
2. Are there fundamental differences between technological tools like an ax to chop wood and technological devices like smartphones? If so what are those differences especially in terms of the ways the two types of tools shape/help/impact us?



FOUR CORNERS

• Sherry Turkle is right.  Our devices and "connected" habits are robbing us of important pieces of our humanity and we need to intervene intentionally.
• Our social media-based digital lives are making us happier.

JOURNAL 2.10:  TECHNOLOGY AND HAPPINESS/MEANING
Optional:   The Innovation of Loneliness
What role does technology play in your own happiness and meaning?  What role does social media play in defining your life?    Is it an extension of your authentic self or is the opposite true?  How do you feel that our digital technology is impacting humans as a whole?




WORK TIME/HOMEWORK
READING TIME:  Into the Wild and/or Cat's Cradle
LIT CIRCLE TOMORROW:  Please come prepared with pre-write ready to cut and paste!
If you were absent yesterday, see me about making up lit circle meeting.
HONORS:  Check-in meeting next Thursday to clarify questions (Meanwhile, see me with questions!)  Cat's Cradle seminar will be Friday, February 26

SIT WITH YOUR GROUPS!!
Lit Circle Meeting Protocol
Lit Circle Groups



Synthesis Discussion:  Thoreau and Lit Circle Questions
Intertextuality:  What counts as a text?



JOURNAL 2.9:
Read this article from Outside Magazine
Optional:  Watch this video
 React to the content of the article and relate it to some of the themes we have been studying.
-OR-
Tell a story about an experience that you had in nature that had healing powers.


READING TIME:  Into the Wild or Cat's Cradle