Friday, January 31st

Greetings, young philosophers! Please use the time today to set yourself up for NO HOMEWORK THIS WEEKEND!

TO-DO LIST

• Finish yesterday’s reading and journal entry (1.30)
• Finish Seminar Reflection/Post-write
• Turn in Seminar Prep if you haven't done so already.
• Catch up any missing starters and journals (Table of Contents)
• Keep reading Into the Wild: Final Lit Circle next Thursday!  Prewrite for ALL the remaining chapters!
• Read ahead to Walden excerpts (for Tuesday!)
• HONORS: If you are done with everything, ask James to sign out a copy of Cat's Cradle!

Thursday, January 30th

Starter 1.30: 

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.)

Lit circle meeting #2

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

GROUPS

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)

Journal 1.30

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.

Wednesday, January 29th

via GIPHY


TO-DO!

1. Harold and Maude Seminar Reflection/Synthesis
• Please turn in seminar prep if you did not do so already!
2. Get ready for Lit Circle #2 meeting.  Finish assigned chapters and work on the pre-write.  Do we want to change the plans to consolidate the last two lit circles into one? That would mean that you must read 70 pages in one week.
3. On Monday, we will look at transcendentalism.  If you want to get a jump on your weekend homework, read Excerpts from Walden, in your reader on pages 53-55. 
4. Catch up any assignments from comp book
5. HONORS: Are you ready for another book?
6. Conference with Jessica about your work in my class or your life on Earth:)

Tuesday, January 28th

SEMINAR: Harold and Maude

SEMINAR GROUPS

When you are not in seminar, work on your post-write and/or read Into the Wild and work on pre-write for Thursday’s lit circle #2 meeting.

TURN IN YOUR SEMINAR PREP!!!

Seminar Post-write (due Wednesday midnight)

1.  Reflection/Self-Assess

• Reflect on the outcome of the seminar.  Consider your own performance and the seminar overall.  How did you do personally and how did the group do collectively?   Based on the rubric, what grade do you deserve on the seminar?
• React to your peers’ ideas (be specific) and the meaning you all constructed together.  Was there anything that enlightened you? Something you particularly disagree with? How did your thinking about the film change as a result of this seminar?

2.  Synthesis

• Make an interpretive claim about the film and support it with evidence.  Your claim may be something you develop further from your seminar prep, or it may be a new idea that you acquired during the seminar.  Write 2-3 paragraphs in support of your claim.
• RESOURCES ON MAKINGS CLAIMS
• Handout
• Powerpoint

Here is a link to some movie quotes that you may want to integrate into your synthesis.

Monday, January 27th

Seminar document

Harold and Maude Seminar Preview

• Film meets philosophy:  Intertextuality!!!  
• The film is a cult classic from the 1970’s starring Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon with an original soundtrack by Cat Stevens.
• We will watch the film with attention to the philosophical lenses we have been studying: existentialism and Aristotle’s Eudaimonia.
• You will annotate the film and answer seminar prep questions before Wednesday’s seminar.
• After the seminar, you will write a reflection and a synthesis.  The synthesis entails several TEA paragraphs based on a literary claim drawn from the seminar themes.
• SEMINAR PREP: due at the beginning of class tomorrow.

Film Screening:  Harold and Maude

Harold and Maude Seminar Prep 

Think of a film as a text.  Annotate it as you watch, analyze, look for evidence.  Refer to the specifics of the film in seminar!

AFTER THE MOVIE….Prepare answers to some or all of the following questions, using evidence from the film to support your answers.  Print out your seminar prep and bring it with you to the 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 has 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 an existentialist?

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? Is it rhetorically effective for you?   

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

Friday, January 24

Starter 1.24:  
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?

VIRTUES: 24 Character Strengths from Positive Psychology

MISSION:  Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the strengths that enable individuals and communities to thrive. The field is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love, work, and play. 

(*The scholars who developed Positive Psychology have built upon Aristotle’s work!)

What “virtues” (character strengths) do we see on display from these people?

Journal 1.24: YOUR VIRTUOUS LIFE

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

• 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?
• 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.
• SHARE OUT WITH A PARTNER

WORK TIME: 
TURN IN YOUR COMP BOOK!

Read Into the Wild and work on pre-write for Lit Circle #2 (next Thursday)

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

Start Harold and Maude?? Would you guys rather watch it all at once on Monday?

Thursday, January 23rd

Starter 1.23: What is your personal definition of “a life well-lived”?  At the end of your life, what do you hope to be able to look back and say?

Solo or with a partner, answer the following questions on a piece of paper or a Google doc. Share the doc with Jessica and be sure both partners' names are on it.

1. Define "Eudaimonia."  Google it beyond this reading.  Does this Google search add to your definition?  How might Aristotle's definition of happiness differ from the way Stanford researcher Jennifer Aaker defined it in the very first reading we did in this project? (see JOURNAL 1.7  on "The meaningful life is a road worth traveling") 

2. According to Aristotle, what makes humans different than the other forms of nature?  What does this difference have to do with the purpose of our existence and our pursuit of happiness?

3. For Aristotle, how do we live a happy and meaningful life?  What might this involve? Give specifics.

4. Explain the Golden Mean.  Use the table on the last page of your reading to help you understand it.  Look up any words on the table that you don't already know; annotate the meaning and add it to your vocabulary!

5.  What might an existentialist say to Aristotle's theory of a meaningful life?

LECTURE:  Aristotle’s Philosophy of Happiness and Meaning