RACE AND IDENTITY IN US LITERATURE
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Class Agendas for Tuesday 1/19 and Wednesday 1/20

1/19/2021

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First Week of Class! Welcome Aboard!

1/2/2021

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Here is the powerpoint for the agenda for class on Tuesday and Wednesday!  

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Advisory 9/14

9/13/2016

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Watch this sweet video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL0rbxB9Lqg

Circle question from today's leaders

Get snack

Review our brainstorm of various activities we could do and vote on it and then do it!

Add to our brainstorm list


Close with another circle check-in
How are electives? How can we make Project Applications supportive and effective? What stressors are you feeling? What are you excited about for this week or this year?
​
Check in on what advisees are doing outside of school in their extracurricular activities, with an eye toward the Osprey Student Activity Fair, which will be in one week, on Wednesday 9/21--do a go around and have each advisee share outside activities; encourage those who are leaders in activities to help others learn more about how to get involved, describe how to begin a student club at AHS, encourage advisees to think about resumes for LINK and college applications--what will make you stand out?  what are your passions? how can you create community around them?




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Monday, April 27th

4/26/2015

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Last Week of Class: Schedule
Monday:  Class discussion
Tuesday: Required only for students who haven't finished their essays
Thursday: Keagan, Allie, Rachel Student-led Seminar
Friday:  Attendance Optional -Class debrief, feedback on the course, suggestions for future, etc...


Today's Discussion 
Ruth Ozeki takes on existential questions in her book and seeks to provide some answers through an exploration of existentialism, Buddhism, metaphysics, catastrophic world events (WW2, 9/11, Tsunami) and instances of individual human suffering (bullying, job loss, etc...).  She raises questions about morality (can we teach human conscience and if so, what is right and wrong) and about human nature (are we innately violent or peaceful?).    To that end, we will discuss the following question and perhaps seek to link some of the above elements in our responses.

Guiding Questions: How does Nao and her dad struggle with and ultimately choose to live in the face of suffering? What guidance do Jiko and Haruki offer in that process? Is their guidance useful in your own struggle to respond to suffering and live life fully? 


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Monday, April 20th

4/19/2015

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AGENDA
1. Participation self-assessment (add a blurb explaining why you deserve the grade you do if you think you need to defend it)

2. Show Ashley annotations if you're trying to boost your participation grade

3. Class discussion

Goal: Trace the development of a theme from Ozeki's initial reference to its appearance in several scenes to form an interpretation based on evidence.


Today's Driving Question: How can an understanding of both existentialism and Buddhist tenants as expressed in the novel help provide some insight onto what the title of this novel, A Tale for the Time Being means.
  • Review of existentialism and concept of the Absurd hero (is Oliver an absurd hero?)
  • Review of Buddhism's concept of formlessness and detachment 
  • Introductory poem, page 1
  • Ruth's dream (122-3)
  • Disappearance of the article by Jiko (172-3)
  • Instructions for sitting Zazen (182-3)
  • Bullying a wave, up/down same thing (192-194, 206)
  • Le Mal de Vivre (214, 220)
  • Page 230: How do you explain Ruth's dream? Premonition/fate or randomness? Do you take a spiritual/religious view, absurdist view or metaphysical view? (Scene from interstellar about 4th dimension)
  • If we are only here for a time being, how do we find our "raison d'etre" (reason for being? purpose?) Is it in the completion of tangible tasks like writing a book, building a house, getting into college, or in something else?  What is Ozeki suggesting thus far? 
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Monday, 4/13

4/12/2015

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Agenda
1. Announcements:
  • Read to page 204 by Friday for this week's Student-Led Seminar
  • Please come up with 1-2 questions you'd like to ask Ruth Ozeki about her novel.  My stepmom is seeing her speak this week and will try to ask a couple of your questions!
  • Write your question(s) HERE

2. Discuss pages 108-141
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Tuesday, 4/7

4/7/2015

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Class Biz:
Reading schedule for Tale for Time Being and Student-Led Seminar Requirements

This week's Schedule
Tuesday: Class discussion on pages 1-53 ish
Thursday: Reading time and SLS prep time for group #1
Friday: Student-led seminar. Don't miss this,  please!

Discussion for T4TB pages 1-53
A. What are your general impressions of the novel so far? What ideas stand out to you?
B. Some Context on the book:
  • Taisho Era Democracy: a period in the history of Japan dating from July 30, 1912, to December 25, 1926, coinciding with the reign of the Emperor Taishō.[1] The new emperor was a sickly man, which prompted the shift in political power from the old oligarchic group of elder statesmen (or genrō) to the Diet of Japan and the democratic parties. Thus, the era is considered the time of the liberal movement known as the "Taishō democracy" in Japan; it is usually distinguished from the preceding chaotic Meiji period and the following militarism-driven first part of the Shōwa period. (Wikipedia)
  • Bodhisattva: In Buddhism, a bodhisattva (Sanskrit: बोधिसत्त्व bodhisattva; Pali: बोधिसत्त bodhisatta) is an enlightened (bodhi) being (sattva). Traditionally, a bodhisattva is anyone who, motivated by great compassion, has generated bodhicitta, which is a spontaneous wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.[1] According to Tibetan Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is one of the four sublime states a human can achieve in lifeAppendix B: Quantum Mechanics page 409
  • Appendix F: Hugh Everett page 417
  • Einstein's Space Time Theory
  • About the theme of space/time In Search of a Lost Time (A la Recherche du temps perdu): Henri Bergson and his theories of time and space. Bergson believed that time was not necessarily a linear, clock-like, measure of fixed and unchangeable moments. Instead, he believed that time, or duration as he liked to call it, involved a "flowing together" of different moments and experiences so that one individual point in time was indistinguishable from any other. An excellent illustration of this conception of time is the famous Madeleine scene, in which an older Marcel is suddenly carried back to Combray by the simple remembrance of the taste of cake dipped in tea. Music, in its constant "flowing" together of notes, also represents a form of duration. Whenever Swann hears Vinteuil's sonata, he can think of nothing but the pleasant beginning of his love affair with Odette. In Remembrance of Things Past, the larger work of which Swann's Way is the first volume, Proust emphasizes the ability to reconstruct the past through memory, warning, however, that escaping to the past will never completely sooth one's suffering in the present.



3. DISCUSSION
  • Read the poem on page 1: How does this relate to what you know of the book thus far? (see also pages 1 and 23-24, 30-1)
  • Read aloud page 1: Intro Existentialism anc concept of time being
  • What do we learn about Nao in chapter 1?
  • What role does the Japan Tsunami of 2011 play in the novel thus far? (p. 12-14)
  • What do we learn about Old Jiko and her personality? What are some of your favorite Jiko-isms? (15, 17, Taisho Deocracy-19, 24-5)
  • What connection does Nao make to the title of Proust's novel? (22-23) How does this relate to existentialism? (25-26, 27)
  • What is the relationship between Oliver and Ruth like? (32)
  • What is significance of the elevator question and Ruth's dream about the old nun? (38-40)
  • What is a "ronin"? (41-42)
  • What do we learn about Nao, her parents and their family dynamic in pages 41-53? 

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Thursday, 4/2

4/2/2015

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Today's Goal:  Gain important context on T4TB

AGENDA
1. Finish Alexie Seminar
  • Essential Questions
  • Short story questions

2. Reading schedule for Tale for Time Being and Student-Led Seminar Requirements

3. General Impressions of TSoP and insights on Nao's character
What important historical and social context do you need to know to better understand this book?

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Tuesday, 3/31

3/31/2015

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Turn in your seminar prep

Seminar!
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Monday, March 30th

3/29/2015

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Announcements
  • No class Friday 
  • Seminar tomorrow (must have seminar prep completed as ticket in seminar- says Ashley the Deaconess of Carnie Folk)
  • Essay refinements due Tuesday, 4/7
  • We'll discuss your first impressions of Tale for Time Being on Thursday
  • Read to page 53 by Tuesday 4/7
  • Read to Part II by Friday, 4/10 for the first Student-Led Seminar
  • Really awesome podcast related to issues of race and education inequality

Reading schedule for Tale for Time Being and Student-Led Seminar Requirements

Agenda
  • Seminar Prep Work Time
  • Does everyone have a copy of A Tale for Time Being?




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    Ashley Carruth

    Amimas High School 
    12th grade Humanities 

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