check out the new guy!

I'm always impressed when a student joins a new class, looks around, and realizes that there is a secret network within that class whose members decided to create it in the first place.

That has to be weird.

Can you imagine joining this happy freak show over halfway through the year and trying to figure things out as you go? 

We have a few new students, and they are making their way into the Open-Source Learning network.  Welcome to Valentina, Nelson, Pimo, and Angel (if I'm forgetting someone please comment to this post).  It reminds me of that great quote from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book: "The strength of the wolf is the pack, and the strength of the pack is the wolf." 

Please take a few moments today to check out your fellow wolves' blogs and encourage each other.  You can see Angel's blog by clicking HERE:

february 5

[Minute of Mindfulness/suggestion: What do you imagine will give you the freedom to really go for what you want in life?]

JOURNAL TOPIC: (today's tunes: "Green Light" by John Legend w Andre 3000; "Green Light" by Lorde)

Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby ends with Nick (our narrator) seeing Gatsby reach out toward a green light (the end of a dock?) across the water.  Take a guess: given what you know about green, and lights, what do you imagine this symbol can possibly mean?  Use the epigraph and anything else we've read/discussed so far to support your idea.

-AND-

Let's talk Gatsby!  What do you want to talk about today?  What did you read over the last two days that's worth writing about and/or asking questions about?


AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Gatsby plot, characters, and discussion topics
3. Fitzgerald's style/techniques
4. Checking in: are we on the same page?  Continue reading
5. Your Big Question
6. Our reading schedule

POST:
1. Today's Gatsby reading notes (title: Gatsby pp. _-_)

2. Make a list of three things you will do next regarding your Big Question (title: BQGSD; define this in your post :)

gatsby audio

Some of you have asked me about an audio recording of the book.  (Full disclosure: I haven't listened to this.  If it's good, please comment and let me know.  If it sucks, please comment and let me know.)

february 4

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "War" by Edwin Starr; "Give Peace A Chance" by The Plastic Ono Band]

[Minute of Mindfulness: Focus on a conflict-- within yourself, between yourself and someone else, or between other people-- and ask what it would take to resolve it.  *Or, as always, you can think about nothing.]

Ever since we read yesterday (and talked about the Rotary scholarship essay) I've been thinking about conflict.  Whatever else we learned from the exposition, the author definitely gave us the idea that some things don't seem to go together.  Like whoever Gatsby really is and the "great" version the epigraph recommends to anyone wanting the attention of a lover.  And what about the narrator?  He seems like he goes against his family's tradition to move to New York, where he doesn't fit in with the millionaires-- and he even got the idea when he came back from... World War I.  What do you think of these conflicts?  Do you think they will matter in the book?  Do you think they matter in life?  Please explain your answer. 

-OR-

Choose a character or a moment in the book and describe it like you’re telling a friend about something that happened at lunch.  This will tell me what gets your attention, what affects your mood as a reader, and what you remember. (Obviously, it will also tell me what you’ve read and understand.)  When it comes to the characters and their words and actions, be as judgmental as you want.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Keep reading (as a class, in groups, or by yourself) and taking notes
3. You should be posting to your blog EVERY DAY now as part of your routine. You can do this during the last part of the period if that makes it easier. Please post your notes (title: GATSBY pages xx-xx). (Don’t type “xx” — use the pages you/we read that day.)  You can also post about any Big Question work you’re doing and anything else you want to share with your readers.

gatsby narrator's relationship to daisy

On p. 10 of The Great Gatsby our narrator tells us that, "Daisy was my second cousin once removed."  Some of you asked me what that means -- and I've always had trouble remembering the specifics -- so here is a family tree diagram I found on Lifehacker.

basic essay structure

In case anyone needs a reminder about the basic structure of an essay, please have a look at the newest page on the course blog: Basic Essay Structure.

february 3

AGENDA:
1. We read! (Start The Great Gatsby together.)
2. We write! (Journal and begin writer/essay conferences.)
3. We win! (That's actually self-explanatory.)

JOURNAL TOPIC:

Sometimes when we start a book it's easy to get impatient with all the background information the author gives (on places, characters etc.) before something actually happens.  Why do we get all of this stuff first?  What did we learn in the first few pages of reading today?  How does it help to know these things when the action starts and the plot gets going?  What would we miss if The Great Gatsby started with a chase scene?