Monday, December 1, 2014

How Do We Find the Truth?

Welcome back from the November break! A new month greets us today, and so does a new class novel. This month, we will explore the key question: how do we find the truth? When there are multiple versions of an event, and multiple points of view, how do we discern what "really" happened?

In other words: put on your ultra-forceful, deep-sea diving suits because we are heading to the bottom of the iceberg. On the surface of of new novel, a ninth-grader named Phillip Malloy is just singing along the the National Anthem in his homeroom class in a public high school in Harrison, New Hampshire. His homeroom teacher, Miss Narwin, and the Assistant Principal, Dr. Palleni, discipline Phillip and ultimately suspend him from school.

What!? What happened!?

If you are asking those questions, then it's a great place to begin our reading of Nothing But the Truth, by Avi.

What else is going on below the surface? What motivates each of the characters? How do we find the truth?

Tonight, be sure to read through page 30 of the novel. Afterwards, share your response to this question: Do you think most people are quick to make judgments and assume they know the truth? Or do you think most people look at all sides and perspectives? Why or why not?

Our word of the day today is IRONY, which means: when expressed words do not match the real meaning of what is being said; OR when an audience (or reader) knows more than the performers (or characters); OR when a result or event is at great odds with the expected result or outcome. An example is: The fact that Fiddlesticks was floating on an ocean of water, yet was dying of thirst, was deeply ironic--and incredibly tragic. 

Our previous two words of the day were: IMPERTINENT (which means rude) and LOQUACIOUS (which means talkative).

55 comments:

  1. I think people just guess when they think they know the truth. They will say anything during that moment.

    -David Sampson

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  2. Most people will probably make a quick assumption and stand by what they said, even if they were wrong. Some people, however, will look at all perspectives, but not very many.
    -Collin Burns

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  3. I think most people just assume they know the truth. In the heat of an argument, people don't take the time to look at the problems from a different perspective.
    --Grace Acton

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  4. I think people are quick to pick sides because they may favor themselves and there friends first to try to be the best.

    -Thomas Hart

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  5. question: Do you think most people are quick to make judgments and assume they know the truth? Or do you think most people look at all sides and perspectives? Why or why not?

    As i learned in second step yes they just think about one part of someone or something.

    --Sean McNamara

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  6. i do think that people make quick judgements without looking at all sides and perspectives
    --Robert Arellano

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  7. I think that most people are quick to make their decisions, and don't take the time to stop and look at all sides of the story.
    - Lwiza AitDowd

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  8. most people will make a quick assumption and stick with it even if its wrong

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  9. I believe people are quick to make judgments because they usually don't go deeper into the details of what happened.
    --Emily Rypinski

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  10. I think that most people will assume that they know the truth and in a situation/argument both sides will think that they are completely right and are confident that they are, but when people sit down and tell their side of the story they will " dig deeper" based on eve dance and see that there is really only one truth.Lastly, I saw and article that said that when someone becomes mad and stressed their brain goes into an instinctive mode (the back of your head) and all this part of your brain does is reacts quickly to defend itself. This is very common, everyone does it at one point or another. Overall, most of the time people will naturally make quick judgments to prove their case as right and truthful
    ~Caroline Mara

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  11. I think that most people are quick to judge and make judgments and also assume thingsbbecause they are to lazy to find out more information.

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  12. i think most humans make assumptions because if you take time look at the problem you sometimes realize you're wrong so I believe that when humans make assumptions assuming they're true do this to let themselves feel a brief moment of them feeling correct, saying they are never wrong.
    ----------Lucy Bodtman

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  13. i think everyone would make quick judgements and say that the person who first said is the true one, and the one who is most popular.

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  14. I think that it depends on the question asked. If the question involves the person in anyway, then he or she might think deeper about it so it benefits them. In the same way, if the question is important to them, then they might look at all perspectives before answering. Otherwise, I think most people don't look at all sides.

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  15. I think most people in the world we live in are quick to judge. It is easier to quickly judge someone than to get to know them. You don't have to spend the time, or listen to what their dealing with right now. But, you see, that's the problem. It is easier but at the same time you're making a huge mistake by not exploring the iceberg. I mean Lewis and Clark didn't take the easy way out when they traveled west. They really got to know their surroundings. But nowadays people quickly judge others. I mean, look at cop shows on the television. Cops are always arresting the wrong people due to quickly judging. But that doesn't mean all people are quick to judge. Some do take the time to look at all the perspectives. Those are the people that can truly benefit in life.

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  16. I think that MOST people assume they know the truth even if they know very little. This is a bad habit that humans just do without looking at other people's perspectives.

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  17. I think most people are quick to make judgments and assume they know the truth because this society doesn’t take the effort or time to look at the problems from different outlooks or perspectives. But I am not saying everyone makes these judgments and assumes they know the truth but most people do. And an example that might happen is if someone makes a judgment and assumes they know the truth without looking at the problems from different outlooks or perspectives then when they realize they were wrong or something, then they still might try to back up their first judgments because they might not want to look bad or sound dumb or anything like that.
    -Alondra Pacheco-Flores

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  18. I do think that people jump to conclusions and make unnecessary judgments too quickly. For example, in our everyday lives we look at people, and instantly judge them; "We jump at each others throats when we see a speck in another's eyes, without knowing the beam in our own."
    ~Magnus Miller

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  19. I think that someone that doesn't like someone else will make judgments quicker than someone that does like that person. It all depends on the kind of person.
    ~~Charlie Carbonell~~
    #new book in town

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  20. I think that most people are quick to make judgements without thinking things through and looking at multiple different perspectives. Whenever you are in an argument, you always think you are right and the other person is wrong but sometimes, if you look at the other person's perspective, you can come to an agreement easier.
    --Emmalyn Mirarchi

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  21. People are quick to make judgments because they always think they're write and everyone else doesn't know anything.

    Clayton Hanlon

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  22. I think that people make quick assumptions and jump to conclusions. When people are upset, they tend to not take time to think. Once people have calmed down, sometimes they will realize that it isn't right to make quick judgements.
    --Anna Shlimak

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  23. In the book, I think that some people look at only one side, and never make an attempt to look at all sides before jumping to conclusions. I think this is true in real life. Look at the state of Missouri and all the violence that is happening there. What I would do is look at all sides, and perspectives, and then decide wether I should be with them or not.
    --Tommy Wacek

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  24. I think people make quick judgments as it is part of the human nature. Perhaps some more than others depending on the person. Humans tend to think that they are right without checking all the facts first. If they think something happened based on one fact then they will assume that they are right and nobody else is. That is why I think that people are quick to make judgments.

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  25. I think it depends on who you are as a person. I was taught to get to know people before judging and not judge a book by it's cover.
    -Jacob Elliott

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  26. I think most people assume they know the truth because all they see is their perspective and since their perspective proves what they want to think, they don't see a need to look at it any other way.
    -Tessa

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  27. I think that most people will make quick judgments because they want to be the one who is correct and not proven wrong. Also during a heated argument one may be very angry during this conflict that they may not be aware of the other persons argument so they will not get all of the information leading to a wrong answer because of the fact the they will not look at all sides and perspectives of the argument.
    -Christopher Pickreign

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  28. I think it depends on the person. some people will Quickly jump to conclusions, while others look at all sides

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  29. I think when people make quick decisions and then thick about what they did and wish they did it differently.

    --Mark Goldsher

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  30. I think people just suppose that they know the truth, and try to prove that they know it, but actually don't even know it. They don't look at all the sides and perspectives, which they are supposed to do.
    -Pasha Sahin

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  31. I think people just suppose that they know the truth, and try to prove that they know it, but actually don't even know it. They don't look at all the sides and perspectives, which they are supposed to do.
    -Pasha Sahin

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  32. I think people usually make quick judgements and assume they know the truth because whatever they think makes sense in their head and even if something isn't true they make facts line up or emotion makes their thinking biased.
    Liza Toll

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  33. I think that when in an argument most people make quick judgements and assume they know the truth. Although when peoples thoughts aren't clouded by strong emotions they can more easily look at all sides of a situation.
    Fiona Morrison

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  34. I think that most people make very quick judgments and assume that they know the truth but many times, you really don't.

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  35. I think that most people are very quick to jump to conclusions and only look at one side or perspective of the argument. I think that often people will immediately make judgements that they never forget, or judge a book by it's cover.

    --Shea Oldham :)

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  36. I think that people just assume that they know the truth but the don't have any good evidence they just hope that they are right.

    --Natalie L'Ecuyer

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  37. I believe people jump to conclusions without considering the other side of the story when a conflict heavily involves them. However, when put into a situation where they are forced to evaluate the situation, they end up looking at both sides.

    Nick Joe Lewis

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  38. I think most people will make asumptions when they think know the truth but they may not have every part of the story. People shouldnt make asumptions but they do.

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  39. I think that people just jump to conclusions. People assume things about others depending on something they said or wore or other things that may effect how someone looks at you.
    -- Brianna Schmoyer

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  40. I think that the majority of people would just assume they knew the truth. Usually when the time of the truth or an argument comes into play, its almost careless and don't think about different perspectives other than there own.

    --Anna Laursen

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  41. I think most people will be quick to make judgements and assume they know the truth, because that's just a normal human being's natural judgement. They always think what they do is right, and expect everyone else to follow them, kind of like the lead lion of his pride. Although not everyone necessarily needs to agree with that person…
    --Shreya Kumar

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  42. I think people make quick judgments and assume they know the truth because when in an argument or tight situation you do not think before saying because you are rushed or you say something without really thinking about the other person
    - Rachel Shrives

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  43. I think that most people jump to conclusions. I think that most people don't even realize that they are when they jump to conclusions. Nobody really stops to think about the situation from the other persons point of view.

    --Meili Stanten

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  44. I think that most people jump to conclusions. They only look at something the way they see it but we never really stop to think and look from another point of view. We always seem to think that what we think is true is correct, until proven wrong and even then, we may not express it, but we still might not agree.

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  45. I think that most people jump to conclusions. I think for most people that way is the easiest way. You don't have to think about other people or you, or what might result when assuming something.
    --Kellie Sundeen

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  46. I think people normally just jump to conclusions because, for one thing, if everyone always looked at all perspectives you would never hear the fraise "don't judge a book by it's cover". Also people normally look at someone or hear about someone and instantly make a judgment, it's hard not to, but it happens.
    - Gwyneth Smedley

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  47. I think most people make quick assumptions because it seems like the most reasonable answer to them. People look at the evidence they have and not knowing what actually happened they make an assumption they can easily prove.

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  48. j. mitch(cool guy emoji)December 1, 2014 at 10:28 PM

    i think that most people sadly jump to conclusions and really dont think, sometimes it could be for better or worse. but when better people think about the whole truth it makes everyones struggle a little less torturous

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  49. Yes, I think most people are quick to make judgments and assume they know the truth. Unfortunately, when people jump to conclusions their assumption is often wrong. I believe it’s because people are too busy and don’t take the time to get to know the truth.

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  50. We sometimes are too lazy to find the true facts and in our place, we just make judgements. -Ted justicz

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  51. I think that a lot of people will jump to conclusions because its a way to avoid being in doubt and not knowing things
    -- Isaac Noble

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  52. People do jump to conclusions and its a very sad thing to see because people never hear the full story and think of someone else being the bad guy. And then they get into trouble or someone else gets away with something that they did.
    -Ainsley Jones

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  53. I think people jump to conclusion because it usually happens when someones mad, and if their mad they might just blame the first person who could be a possibility to have done whatever made the first person mad.

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  54. I think that people jump to conclusions eminently! No one stays long enough to figure out what is really going on, or never asks enough questions to figure it out them selves.
    --Brianna

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  55. People jump to conclusions because people like me don't think before they speak and just spout random things and reasons that pop in their head without thinking about them

    - Max T

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