Eluding School? No Way!

Thanks for a wonderful Day # 2 today!

We had the chance to practice eye contact and speaking with confidence today, we you all paired up and tried to hold eye contact while having a conversation. We talked about how eye contact and presence lead to confidence as speakers, and you all did a GREAT job with a tough (and awkward) activity. Thank you!

We also explored our class blog a little bit, to get to know it and see what is here.

Our word of the day today is ELUDE, a verb which means to avoid or escape.

An example of our word in a sentence is: When I was in the 7th grade, rather than talk to my crush, I always tried to elude her in the hallways!

Our quotes of the day is from poet Theodore Roethke: "I learn by going where I have to go."

Our homework for tomorrow is to bring in all of your art and lines associated with our summer reading, The Outsiders.

Peace,

Mr. R

Finding (and Being) Our True Selves

Today in class, we explored the characters of Gladys, Mike, and Poppy. We discussed whether these characters feel confident, and whether or not they are able to show others who they truly are. Each character feels fear in certain relationships--and we wondered what it will take for these characters to show their true (intrinsic!) nature.

We watched a fascinating talk by research Amy Cuddy, and then compared and contrasted Cuddy's ideas with what we see in the characters' from our novel, and in ourselves. Here is the talk in case you were absent or would like to watch it again:

Our word for the day from today was INTRINSIC, which is an adjective meaning inner; belonging to the essential nature; deeply natural. Here is an example of the word in a sentence: Mike's intrinsic sense of self is all about using his hands and his heart to create, but his father doesn't (yet) recognize this.

Over the weekend, we are reading Chapter 20 in The Absolute Value of Mike. After reading, share your reflection, below, about this question: What do you think inspires people more: intrinsic or extrinsic motivation? Why? 

Have an awesome evening and a wonderful weekend!