Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Wedensday, May 9th 2012

Hello everyone!!!! Today was the second day of presentations! Yay... Not everyone was able to go today, so on Friday you will be crunched for time, for those of you presenting on Friday.  You seniors that still have to go on Friday might have to take some time out of your Fun in the Sun day if the class lets out before you present. Everyone must present on Friday, no exceptions. Other than that, no homework other than practice your last lecture. Everyone who has gone so far has done a fantastic job!! So everyone who has not gone, I have no doubt you will all do well too! Good luck and see you all on Friday!

Conor McC

Kati Ansay

Sean F

Kylie L

Tyler

Mitchell B

Olivia

Ryan McConnell

Jeff Rasmussen

Friday, May 4, 2012

Friday, May 4th

Friday, May 4th 

Today we spent the class period working on our Last Lecture Presentations. Make sure you check that your backround for the presentation works on the computer in class. Everyone must present on assigned day. Bring your pink rubric to class on your day of presentation.

Monday 5/7:                                   Wednesday 5/9:                                      Friday 5/11:
1) Jack B                                         1) Jeff R                                                 1) Anna Q.  
2)Collin M                                        2) Ryan McConnell                                2) Andrew O.
3) Alexa Franks                                3) Kati Ansay                                         3) Madeline P.
4) Katy Roehrs                                 4) Olivia Batdheller                                 4) Jess S.
5) Joe Johnson                                  5) Mitch Boh                                          5) Conor McC.
6) Jake Palmer                                  6) Tyler Utsler                                         6) Sam M.
7) Conor McHugh                             7) Kylie Lemay                                       7) Ben B.
8) Jere Weliver                                   8) Sean Fritter                                        8) Jaden G.
9) Molly B.
Enjoy your last weekend of high school! Be safe and be prepared to finish strong the last week.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Wednesday, May 2nd.

Hello Everyone,

For todays PLC day we took our last quiz of the year on chapters 13-18. and we signed up for our lasst lecture presentations! The presentation dates are,

Monday 5/7:                                   Wednesday 5/9:                                      Friday 5/11:
1) Jack B                                         1) Jeff R                                                 1) Anna Q.  
2)Collin M                                        2) Ryan McConnell                                2) Andrew O.
3) Alexa Franks                                3) Kati Ansay                                         3) Madeline P.
4) Katy Roehrs                                 4) Olivia Batdheller                                 4) Jess S.
5) Joe Johnson                                  5) Mitch Boh                                          5) Conor McC.
6) Jake Palmer                                  6) Tyler Utsler                                         6) Sam M.
7) Conor McHugh                             7) Kylie Lemay                                       7) Ben B.
8) Jere Weliver                                   8) Sean Fritter                                        8) Jaden G.
9) Molly B.

Be ready to work on your last lecture on Friday since that is all we will be doing that day. Be sure to be well prepared for your Last Lecture Presentations!

Monday, April 30, 2012

Monday, April 30th

Hello everyone! Today in Smith's class, we discussed the final chapters of Brave New World. Before we began discussing, Smith handed us our Last Lecture rubric for the project. She also told us that the Last Lecture final will be going into the Writing category because it is the category that makes the final about 15% of our grade. For some of us, this is a great opportunity to raise our grade a bit! Hurray! Our homework for Wednesday is to review chapters 9-18 in Brave New World because we have a fairly large quiz on Wednesday. This will be the last grade to be put into the grade book until our final, so it is smart to do well on the quiz! Also, you should be working on your Last Lecture presentation. We will be given time after the quiz on Wednesday to work it and all of the class on Friday to work on it as well. Mrs. Smith said that if you need any help this weekend with your Last Lecture, that you should talk to her right away because her week this week is very hectic! She also said rehearsing before you present is a very good idea because we will only be given 5 minutes to present next week. If you go over 5 minutes you will be stopped in the middle of your presentation and lose points; you will not be able to finish your presentation. So aim for 4 to 5 minutes, in my opinion, just to be safe. Other than that, see you all Wednesday!

Friday, April 27, 2012

April 27, Friday

Hello everybody,
We are coming down to the last two weeks of class, but we have some big things left to do.

For Monday, you need to have the last chapters of Brave New World read and a summary response written for them. We will have a Socratic on Monday, so come with questions!
Wednesday, there will be a quiz over chapters 10-18. Remember, this quiz will be as hard as the last one, so make sure you have read all the chapters.

Today, we had a work day to do whatever you needed. You could catch up on reading, write your LL 3, or work on your LL presentation. We looked at the rubric that Smith will be using to grade us and talked about the requirements for the presentation. Here are just a few of the key points:
  • Dress professionally
    • This is worth 250 points. No jeans and t-shirts!
  • Use all three of the lectures you have written
    • You have to include all three of your essays in order to receive full credit. 
  • Be creative 
    • Don't make everyone fall asleep while listening to you
  • Clarity, Effectiveness, and Organization 
    •  Have one common theme tying everything together
 Here is a link to the rubric, but we will be getting a hard copy next week anyway:

http://arapahoe.littletonpublicschools.net/Portals/7/Language%20Arts/Smith/Last%20Lecture%20Presentation%20Rubric.doc

We will be presenting the LL's May 7, 9, and 11

Have a great weekend

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

April 25, 2012

Hey everybody!!
Happy donut Wednesday!


We had a socratic seminar this beautiful morning where the main themes were:
  • happiness
  • being content because your life is the only thing you know
  • power
  • conditioning- are we conditioned??
  • the parallel between the stark white world, and the colorful wild
  • two seperate worlds
  • Bernard vs. Carl Marx
  • true happiness vs. false happiness
  • sadness

Homework is to read 15-16, last lecture part 3, and last lecture presentation

Enjoy your day!

Monday, April 23, 2012

April 23, 2012 SCRIBE

Hello ladies and gents,
Well for starters Ms. Smith wasn't here! So Mr. Rosenberg was our sub. We were all very sleepy today since it was a Monday (yuck Mondays!) Today we listened to music that relates to Brave New World. We asked ourselves several questions... What is being satirized? What is being sacrificed? What connections can you make? We discussed each song as a class. I couldn't find a list of all the songs so here are some of them. Feel free to look up the lyrics on GOOGLE.

Money- Pink Floyd, A Great Day for Freedom- Pink Floyd, Breathe- Pink Floyd, Which Way to America- Living Colour, How to be a Millionaire, - ABC, Beverly Hills- Weezer, Grand Illusion- STYX, Subdivision- Rush.

Your Homework is...
Read BNW 13-14
Summary Response 7-12
Work on last lecture 3 and presentation
AND GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY!!!! ITS SOOO BEAUTIFUL!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

April 18

Hello everyone. Today in class we presented our montage assignments which were covering certain themes in chapter three such as family, role of women, manufacturing, and many more. They were all very good and interesting.
Remember we have a quiz over chapters 1-9. Know character names, what certain colors mean, and details from those chapters.
Homework: study for quiz, Last Lecture part 3, LL conference

Monday, April 16, 2012

Monday, April 16

In Class:
turned in S/R on Chapters 1-6
Socratic semminar


HW: Montage project is due on Wednesday, check to make sure it works on computer in class.( convert into mp3 file,Bring on a USB)
Read 7-8,
quiz on Friday 1-9
LL3

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Friday April 13th

It's Friday!!
Today we spent the class period with our groups for the Montage project on compiling our scripts. Now outside of class the groups need to get together to record their Montage to make an MP3 file to share to the class.

In class discussion over chapters 1-6 will be on MONDAY

Homework:
-Don't forget to conference with Smith over your last lectures and bring both parts to the meeting
-The Montage project will be due WEDNESDAY but be sure to test it out before presenting
-Summary/Response for ch. 1-6 due MONDAY
-Read Ch. 5 and 6
-Last Lecture 3

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

April 11, 2012

Happy Wednesday!!
Olivia brought in homemade cookies instead of donuts:) YUM
Today was mostly a work day.
It began by Smith assigning a montage project that is due NEXT WEDNESDAY!!
She suggests we get a copy of the book pages so we can highlight lines we want to use when we make the script on Friday.
We spent the rest of the class finishing the project we began on Monday involving the different rooms of the hatchery.
The posters were put on display and each group shared what theirs depicted.

Homework:
Work on Last Lecture 3
read to chapter 6 for Friday
and begin working on the montage project

Monday, April 9, 2012

Monday, April 9th

  • Came into class with a new seating chart
  • Sign up for LL conference's with Smith (bring both LL's)
  • Brave New World project-
  • Poster on one of the seven rooms in the London Hatchery Center
  • Don't forget details!
  • We worked on our Brave New World projects for the majority of class
  • We'll have some time to finish before we present them on Wednesday
  • HW: Read chapters 3-4, LL3, Conferences

Monday, April 2, 2012

Monday, April 2nd

IN CLASS:
  • turned in Stranger than Fiction summary response
  • checked in The Picture of Dorian Gray
  • checked out Brave New World
  • discussed Stranger than Fiction vs. The Picture of Dorian Gray
  • The watch was destroyed, but it saved Harold's life vs. Dorian destroyed the painting and that took his life
  • Both creators have large responsibilities toward their creations
  • The creators look at their creations only as art to begin with, but soon realize there is much more to it
  • read "Onion satire articles" on Smith's webpage (groups of three were assigned one article to read and answer the questions at the top of the page)

We also discussed the differences between Horatian and Juvenalian satire to help better understand the satire project we will be doing.

HORATIAN
  • humorous
  • witty (smart humor)
  • light-hearted
  • laugh at your faults
  • describes faults to be tolerated
  • focuses on small details
JUVENALIAN
  • bitter
  • harsh
  • abrasive
  • pessimistic
  • ironic
  • mean
  • sarcasm (morbid sarcasm)
  • focuses on the big picture
  • exposes social injustices
Satire- purpose: to hold a mirror up to society and to make fun of the subject

HOMEWORK:
  • Last Lecture Part 2 due FRIDAY April 6th
  • Satire project due Friday April 6th

Friday, March 23, 2012

March 23, 2012

Hi everyone!
Today we began by watching the end of Stranger Than Fiction and reviewed the format of the Summary/Response due on April 2nd:

Remember this is formatted into 2 paragraphs: Summary and response.

In the summary (this should make up about 1/3 of your paper!):
-Begin with a topic sentence
-Focus only on the film Stranger Than Fiction
In the response (2/3 of paper):
-Respond to both the film and the book
-Connect to guiding questions
-to what extent does a creator have responsibility towards its creation
-at what point does a creation accept responsibility for its own actions
-Conclusion

Other important information:
Refer to the director when speaking of the film, this is Marc Forster
Refer to the author when speaking of the book, this is Oscar Wilde

Once again, this is due on April 2nd, the Monday after spring break! Remember to also continue working on the last lecture part 2 due April 6th!

Have a great spring break everybody!!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

3-21-12

Happy Wednesday folks!!



Today in class, we watched "Straner than fiction".


Our homework for today is to continue working on our last lecture part 2, and to write a summary response on "Stranger than Fiction". The topic of the response was: to what extent does a creator have responsibility torwards its creation? At what point, does a creation accept responsibility for its own actions?

Also, don't forget that Friday is the last day for money collection. If we earn 150$, I will bring in donuts. If we raise 250$, Mrs. Smith will bring a glorious feast of breakfast items.
Have a nice day!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Mon. 3-19-12

Happy Monday Everybody!!

Today, there was a quiz over the last chapters of Dorian Grey. Groups of 2-3 are accepted.

The homework of the day was: The summary responses over stranger than fiction, and last lecture part 2.
The topic of the summary response was: to what extent does a creator have responsibility torwards its creation? At what point, does a creation accept responsibility for its own actions.

Also, Don't forget to bring in money for the Warrior Week Donation Can!
150$ gets the class donuts!
250$ get the class a feast of breakfast items made by the wonderful Mrs. Smith herself!
See y'all on Wednesday!!

DG Fishbowl 17-20

Friday, March 16, 2012

Final Blog Question 17-20

Looking at the big picture, Wilde made beauty the biggest motif in the story. Now, let's relate this to our own lives, what in your life do you see as beautiful and what do you see as the sin of vanity?

March 16, 2012

Hello everybody!
We began today with a summary of chapters 17-20 and followed with the fishbowl.
Here are some of the questions that we discussed the most:
1.)Was Wilde's intention for Dorian to kill himself or just destroy the painting? What was Dorian's intention?
2.)Do colors matter in the book/ do colors have a universal definition or are we reading too much into the book?
3.) Does Dorian feel guilt at the end of the book? When does the guilt first begin or does it ever?
4.) Was Dorian "black and white" or multi-dimensional? Does his evolution throughout the play display growth or consistent hedonism?
5.) Why would Oscar Wilde want to be Dorian?
6.) Why did Dorian stab the painting with the same knife he used to kill Basil?

Homework tonight is to work on last lecture part 2, post an answer to the blog question, and study for our 16-20 quiz on Monday!
Have a good weekend!

Fishbowl 17-20

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

March 12, 2012

Hello everyone,

Fun fact of the day: The average American will eat about 11.9 pounds of cereal per year.

We begin by taking a quiz. It was hard.
Then we begun to read chapter 19 and finished!!!

Our homework: Read chapters 20 and start your last lecture part 2.

Monday, March 12, 2012

March 12, 2012

Hello everyone, today we had our fishbowl over the chapters 13-16. Here are the main topics of our discussion.
  • The creator vs. the creation. Has the creation become more powerful over the creator? Does the creator have control over the creation anymore?
  • Which 7 Deadly Sins have been expressed in the book so far?  Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride, Vain/glory
  • The way that Dorian disposed of the body of Basil.
  • Is Dorian trying to numb himself even more with the use of opium?
  • Will Dorian ever be able to escape Basil?
  • Was murdering Basil Dorian's worse sin that he has committed?
  • Is guilt the main reason that the portrait has changed and Dorian's life has changed?


Homework: Last Lecture part 2, Read 17-18, Blog Question
Throughout the novel we have seen many changes in Dorian, of these changes, how have his emotions changed toward his friends and how have his feelings changed toward others?

DG Fishbowl 13-16

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Fishbowl 5?

Throughout the novel we have seen many Changes in Dorian, of these changes How have his emotions have change toward his friends and his feeling for others?

Friday, March 9, 2012

Friday March 9th

Today in class we read the poems Helas and The Harlot’s House which were both written by Oscar Wilde in groups of 2-4. After reading the poems we discussed the given guiding questions first in our groups then we came together as a class and further discussed the questions. Next we read The Picture of Dorian Grey chapters 15 and 16.

The homework due for Monday is to read chapters 15 and 16 of The Picture of Dorian Grey and prepare for the fishbowl over chapters 13-16 on Monday. Also continue to work on the second part of your Last Lecture.

Monday, March 5, 2012

DG Fishbowl 9-12

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Chapters 9-12 Blog Question

If Wilde says that Dorian's character is whom he wants to be, what makes Dorian appealing? From what we have read, Dorian appears to be easily manipulated and influenced by Lord Henry, the character most readers suspect of representing Wilde.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Monday, February 27th

Hello all! Welcome to Monday. Booo Monday, but on the upside it is a four-day week!

Today we started with turning in our yellow packet of 16 quotes from chapters 4-7. The packet was helpful as a reference in the fishbowl, and I'm sure will be helpful in other discussions.

After that we started on our aquarium style fishbowl (we just tried this one out today) over chapters 5-8.
During the discussion we talked about:
-how art influences life, or if life influences art.
-the portrait Dorian Gray became such good friends with and how maybe the portrait took Dorian's soul. We discussed ideas on if Dorian was even living and whether or not he is immortal. Some people talked about how maybe the image wasn't physically changing, but that the change took place in Dorian's perception of himself, aka in his mind.
-some people started to see contradictions in the story such as Lord Henry saying women are practical while earlier in the story he said women are just a decorative sex.

The outer circle did great and had some awesome blog-cussion, I'll just call it that...

Homework for Wednesday:
- Read ch. 9-10 of The Picture of Dorian Gray
- Don't forget about the second part of that Last Lecture, the due date will come quicker than you imagine.
- Blog question for fishbowl over ch. 5-8 (i'm assuming if you're on here then you can get that done, or have already got that done)

Have a wonderful four day week! I can't wait for donuts.

Blog Question: The Picture of Dorian Gray Ch. 5-8

What role does art play in The Picture of Dorian Gray? What are each of the three main characters' attitudes towards art?

DG Fishbowl 5-8

Sunday, February 26, 2012

2-24-12

Discussed the blog question over chapters 1-4 from fish bowl:  We've talked about how Oscar Wilde writes himself into the story; which character do you think he wrote himself in as?               
The seminaries between all three characters and how Oscar shows traits in all three characters was discussed.
Fish bowl:  The fish bowls on Wednesday how was it? 
·         To quite
·         Not enough focus on the discussion and “to much on the online blog”
Monday is going to be an aquarium style fish bowl.
Quiz on chapters 3-5
Shared Portrait Project.
HW:  LL conference, read chapters 7-8, LL part 2, and quotes work sheet chapter 4-7

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Blog Question: The Picture of Dorian Gray Chapters 1-4

We've talked about how Oscar Wilde writes himself into the story; which character do you think he wrote himself in as?

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

DG 1-4 Fishbowl

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Wednesday February 15th

Today was a late start day so Smith got us started quickly so that we could start on Chapter 3.

Homework:

Chapter 3 of The Picture of Dorian Gray

Last Lecture Part 2

-Start working on your Last Lecture Part 2 but hold off until you have met with Smith because she will help you figure out the direction you need to go.

Self Portrait project:

-This will be due on Wednesday February 22nd

-there is a yellow sheet that thoroughly describes the project

-you are to make two self portraits, one is how you see yourself and the second how you believe others see you

-examples are drawings, collages, poems, song lyrics, or narrative writing

-the point is to be creative and have a project that reflects the work you put into it

Fish Bowls for The Picture of Dorian Gray

-fish bowls will have an inner circle of discussers that will only get points for speaking and an outer circle where the rest of the class will live blog

-presenters will need to come to class will all of their material prepared.

In class we took a quiz over the background of Oscar Wilde and chapters 1-2 of The Picture of Dorian Gray in groups of three.

We finished off by beginning chapter 3 for homework.

Have a great four days of no school!

Monday, February 13, 2012

Monday, Monday, Monday February 13th

"Hello class!" said Smith with incredible enthusiasm.

Actually I really don't know if that happened, I was late.

New seats were chosen today! I hope you don't expect me to tell you where you sit. After new seats we all got our Last Lectures back, with great, sloppy advice from Smith written all over them.
REMINDER: Don't forget about Last Lecture pt.1 conferences with Smith during the next two weeks.

After that we got to sign up for discussion and presentation dates for fishbowling on The Picture of Dorian Gray. We then went over the background reading on Oscar Wilde, the author of the Picture of Dorian Gray.
-Oscar Wilde was convicted for being a heretic. He believed the Victorian Era and its inhabitants had it all wrong.
-Victorian Era had very strict classes and was not okay with homosexuality.
- Wilde's wife was the man in the relationship, meaning she had all the money, and therefore the power.
- when Oscar had a relationship with another male it was outrageous, not only because of this fact but because of the Victorian beliefs. Some wonder if he was homosexual on purpose.
-Oscar was a self-absorbed man that fully believed in individualism.
- words to describe Oscar Wilde
-defiant
- individualist
- intelligent
- Wilde is famous for his use of epigrams or aphirisms
- one liners that capture the essence of what he's trying to get across

We then read the preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray, which basically told us that Oscar contradicted himself. He said art was useless in this world, but then later said art was a beautiful creation.
Smith gave us the great question that we derived from the preface of,
Is society just black and white, or is it gray (the picture of dorian gray...)?
We were then assigned to read Ch.1-2 with the guiding questions of:
- Who is the creator in this piece (there could be 3 or 4)?
- Who or waht is the creation?
- What is the role of beauty?
- Connect to guiding question (to what extent does the creator have responsibility for its creation? when does the creation assume responsibility?)

Then ended with the in-class reading of most of Ch. 1.

I hope you all have a great 4-day week.

Friday, February 10, 2012

"Been caught stealing..."

If you could do something without getting caught, would you?  Why/Why not? 

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Wednesday, February 8th

IN CLASS:
  • Discuss following questions
  • What does Frankenstein want to do when he first meets his creation again?
  • Frankenstein wants to kill his creation.
  • What does the creature ask Frankenstein to do initially?
  • The creature asks Frankenstein to listen to the story of how he learned to talk and the observations he made, before deciding his fate.
  • After being driven from the village, where did the creature finally settle?
  • He settled in a hovel next to a cottage occupied by a young brother and sister and their old, blind father.
  • Name one thing the creature did to secretly help the cottagers.
  • The creature gathered wood at night time and set it by the front door so Felix could spend time doing other things around the house like helping his father and fixing things.
We read chapter 15 in class
  • Is there a connection between the creature and Adam or Satan?
HOMEWORK:
  • read chapter 15 and 16
  • prepare for in-class essay/fishbowl (those who do not want to participate in the fishbowl discussion can write an in-class essay instead)
  • LAST LECTURE PART ONE DUE FRIDAY! NO EXCEPTIONS!!
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND FOR FISHBOWL/IN-CLASS ESSAY
  • beauty
  • pride
  • abandonment of creation is the only way for the creation to truly learn on its own?
  • free will
  • creation becomes manifestation of the evils of the creator?

Mon Feb 8

Today we read chapers 10-13 and descussed in class.

HW: Finish reading and be ready to discuss for wednesday

Monday, January 30, 2012

Monday, January 30th, 2012

1/30/2010

Scribe

Happy Monday!!

To start the day we received Frankenstein books from Mrs. Smith and turned in “The Fall of Satan, make sure you get one if you were absent!

Homework: Read Frankenstein vii-xxii, and work on Last Lecture Part one.

The class held a fishbowl with just one outside group (no inner circle). The topic of discussion was “To what extent does a creation have responsibility for his creation”? Think about this topic and see if you can conclude any arguments.

A lot of interesting topics were brought up in the discussion…

· Greed

· What is Success? Who defines it?

· Who is responsible for our actions? Why do we hold ourselves accountable for our actions and not god?

Friday, January 27, 2012

Friday January 27, 2012

Happy Friday!
Smith was gone today so Mr. Rosenberg was the substitute. We started out by turning in the Two Gallants packet, highlighted with the 7 deadly sins labeled. After that we had a really great discussion about today's blog question "what are some of the greatest wrongs that society can commit?" The responses included murder, greed, betrayal, faith vs. no faith and pride. We finally got to the packet and book work midway through class.

The homework for the weekend is to finish reading "Paradise Lost (pgs. 435-448) in the lit book, respond to the blog question "how does a good and just God allow evil to exist?" and work on the first part of your Last Lecture.

*Don't forget that the final discussion for the unit is on Monday! Come prepared with questions.

Good God

WHy does a just and good God allow evil to exist? How does this connect with Milton's belief about humans?

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Wednesday, January 25, 2012


Once again the usual Hello Class, oh Hello Smith was given.

Finished Reading Divine Comedy, Cantos 5 and Cantos 34

While reading we discussed about how eat sin that was mentioned were two sided, such as love and gluttony. Also, why was hell cold in Dante’s eyes? There is no love or hope that may bring light.

Dante’s Sins
1.       Limbo
2.       Lustful
3.       Gluttonous
4.       Avarice
5.       Wrathful
6.       Heretics
7.       Violent
8.       Fraud
9.       Betrayal

Started reading Two Gallants, highlighted examples of the seven deadly sins and labeled them.

HW: Finish reading Two Gallants-highlight examples of each of seven deadly sins and label. Blog Question, Hooray! What are the greatest wrongs society/individual can commit? And LL part 1

Seven Deadly Sins: Link on class calendar for further explanation on each sin
Wrath
Greed
Sloth
Pride
Lust
Envy
Gluttony

Greatest wrongs

What are some of the greatest wrongs society can commit? Why are they wrong?

Monday, January 23, 2012

Monday, January 23, 2012

Mrs. Smith gave the usual Hello class as always. 



Discussed creation stories: Genesis vs Q’ran

Genesis, just recapped some points 
Moment when they ate the forbidden fruit, don’t recall that whole part because we thought that both Adam and Eve ate the fruit not just Eve.
Interesting when they described god as a sole rather than a human being.
Were suppose to be made in God’s form, but Eve ate from the forbidden tree and that wasn’t the case.

Q’ran
 The same compared to the Genesis, with Adam and Eve are embarrassed to walk around with no clothes.
Allah created Earth in 7 days.
There are consequences for every action.

Discussed about the Guiding Question: 
“To what extent does a creator have responsibility for its creation? When does the creation assume responsibility for its own actions?”

Something to think about in terms of creators
GodàHumansàFreewill/Hope
SatanàSins (7 Deadly) àTemptation/Despair/Consequences

Read Part of the Divine Comedy, Cantos 1, 3, and the beginning of 5
Side Notes
Role of Guide?
Virgil represents reason and logic
Purpose of Cantos 1, set up where Dante is in the dark woods and where he is going next which is the Vestibule

HW: Keep working on LL Part 1

Friday, January 20, 2012

Friday January 20, 2012

It's Friday assembly day!

First we turned in our summary/response on Hell and the homework for the weekend is to read the part of the Quran and to work on the first part of your Last Lecture. Remember it's due February 10 so there are only three weeks left!

We discussed the concept of paying for our decisions in the after-life versus paying the consequences now.  Kati brought up a good point that the way Dante put it, it was more of paying for your personality traits (lust, wrath etc.) instead of for your actions. Connor talked about maybe God has a plan for everyone and he puts you in situations that will help you learn life lessons and he wants to give you the opportunity to get to Heaven.  Molly talked about that the moment you deny God is when you will go to Hell and he gives you a lot of chances to prove yourself. We discussed forgiveness and how the line between Heaven and Hell depends on what you believe in. A question that was asked was how do people have an image of Hell even though no one has been to Hell and back?  We talked about why Satan has the image of red with horns and hooves.  There's also an interpretation of Hell being really cold and how Satan is frozen in ice.

Smith decided that we will not have a test over the Hell unit, instead we will have an "aquarium style" fishbowl where everyone is involved.

Next week we will start reading Dante and Milton.

In the Literature books we started reading the Creation story, Genesis.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Wednesday, January 18, 2012


Agenda:
We listened to four songs: (lyrics for these songs are on Smiths WEBPAGE)
·      Devil Went Down to Georgia- Charlie Daniels Band
·      Crossroads (Robert Johnson was the original artist) Eric Clapton
·      Highway to Hell (an interesting interpretation of sins and what it takes to get to hell)-ACDC
·      Hells Bells-ACDC
Watching pieces from two movies:
·      Bedazzled
·      Devil’s Advocate

Homework for tonight: SR: NO more than 1 ½ pages due Friday. LL Part 1 due Feb. 9. Also try to do the “Where do you fall on Dante’s 9 circles of hell?” quiz

The following table is just a list of all of the songs and movies we have looked at so far:
Songs
Movies
Sympathy for the Devil
Legend-Ridley Scott
Seven Deadly Sins-Flogging Molly
Satan’s Sweet 16-South Park
The Devil Went Down to Georgia- The Charlie Daniels Band
Bedazzled- Satan as a Female
Crossroads-Eric Clapton
Devil’s Advocate
Highway to Hell, Hells Bells-ACDC


The following are some notes and quotes from the two videos we watched today

Bedazzled: (Elizabeth Hurley, Brendan Fraser)
“I’m not all peaches and cream you know, I have a darker side too.” – The devil (Elizabeth Hurley) to Elliot (Brendan Fraser)

“If you commit one truly benevolent act it voids the contract.” (Hurley) Meaning if you make a selfless wish the contract that states Satan gets his souls is void.

“You don’t have to look very hard for heaven and Hell, They’re right here on earth.” (Hurley)

Devil’s Advocate: (Al Pacino, Keanu Reeves)
John Milton (Pacino) reveals his self to Kevin (Reeves) through an argument. Although he doesn’t flat out say “I am the Devil”. Pacino represents The Devil in human form.
Kevin shoots John but the bullets just bounce off. John sort of messes with Kevin’s mind by teasing him about his deceased wife. The following is a part of the conversation between John and Kevin:
“What are you?”
“Oh, I have so many names…”
“Satan?”
“Oh no, call me dad!”

“Guilt is like a bag of bricks, you just gotta set it down.” (Pacino)
In this version of hell vanity is the devil’s “favorite” sin.
“It’s better to Reign in hell than to serve in heaven.” (Pacino)

**Remember Dante’s Classification of Sins when you’re writing your SR
***Dante talks about hell being a frozen place rather than a hot place

There are THREE significant animals Dante meets. (Remember the lion, the witch and the wardrobe? Well what did Aslan represent? Aslan he represented God and the Witch represented the Devil)

Brainstorming About all of the things we have seen: **think about this question, how do these things relate to Dante? The Creator? Responsibility of the creator?
·      Satan
·      Hell/After Life
·      Sins
·      Redemption
·      Consequences
·      Responsibility of the Creator
·      Under Satan there is no “free will”
·      Satan is tangible, whereas God is not
·      Do we give into temptations
·      Creator vs. Creation
o   God is the Creator: He creates you one way and gives you the choice to do what you want but does not tempt you to do it his way (Selfless acts)
o   Satan as the Creator: he creates you one way and gives you the choice to do what you want but pressures you to do it his way, applies great temptation (Selfish)
Dante needed Virgil to lead him through hell because reason can only get you so far; Faith is the only thing that will get you to heaven
Think about the Seven Deadly Sins in your own life


GOOD LUCK WITH WRITING YOUR SUMMARY RESPONSE EVERYONE J