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!

Redefining Success!

Today, we explored the question, WHAT IS SUCCESS?

You all wrote for a quick two minutes about what you think success is, and then we did a word splash (waves! water! words!) on the board as we shared our ideas about success.

IN the novel The Absolute Value of Mike, we have explored how Mike's father views success for him, and we've talked about homelessness and stereotypes about the homeless in society. We also applied the iceberg theory to characters in the novel--and to ourselves--as we've thought about what it means to be authentic and real.

Many of you shared definitions of success that connected to achievement, reaching a dream, or having what you want / desire.

Here was our board--with all of your ideas in purple, and all of what you shared after a brief film clip and discussion in black and blue.

We segued (remember our word of the day from yesterday?) into a brief clip from the 1992 400-Meter run at the Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Something fascinating occurred at that Olympic race that revealed a different vision of success.

Here is the footage of the race, which we watched in class and then discussed:

VIDEO OF 1992 OLYMPICS WITH DEREK REDMOND'S RACE

We then explored success using a more complex idea of what it might mean, and we connected this to our novel, and to ourselves.

Our word of the day was REDEMPTION, which means the process of winning or getting something back that was either lost or assumed gone. 

An example of our word in a sentence: By the end of the novel we hope that Mike and his father will find redemption in their relationship with one another.