Today, we are exploring the theme of failure in life and in our novel, The Absolute Value of Mike. We are watching a speech given by famed writer J.K. Rowling, author of the widely popular and mesmerizing Harry Potter novels. (Here is the link in case you want to watch it again or are out from school today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHGqp8lz36c).
In Mike, we see that failure seems to be a part of his life, too. He isn't quite able to master math, to have a good relationship with his dad, or to feel intrinsically valued for anything about himself--until Do(n)over. Then, things begin to change.
Today, we are chatting about failure as J.K. Rowling defines it, and tomorrow we will explore Mike Frost's experiences with failure in closer detail.
Our word of the day today is INTRINSIC, an adjective which means of or relating to an inner value or inner ability or goal.
Our homework for tonight is to read Chapter 19 in Mike, pp. 154 - 161.
Peace!
Mr. R
Showing posts with label Success. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Success. Show all posts
Monday, November 2, 2015
Thursday, October 23, 2014
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.
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.
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