Prompts for Oct. 27-31

This week, please write about at least one of the following:

• How is Socratic Seminar relevant to your future life? What will you have to "read" in your future career? How will being able to see from various points of view help you in your career?
• How do advances in technology affect warfare? How does warfare affect technology? What examples do you see in today's world?
• What do you make of Joan's claim that she has heard voices and seen visions? How do you evaluate the claims of people who say they have had spiritual experiences?
• Joan is one of the few women who traditionally receives much attention in world history textbooks. Is it wrong to write mostly about famous men?
  
• What did you learn about writing from composing a personal essay? What were the challenges of writing the essay? How is this type of writing different from other types of writing you are familiar with? How would you define a personal essay? Did you have any "aha!" moments as you were writing your essay?
  

The Origin of Heaven and Guilt

Ms. Evans was a guest speaker in my 7th period class this week. She spoke about the origins of some of the basic concepts of Western thought: Heaven, Guilt, History, and the Messianic Tradition. I am posting a summary of her lecture here for those who are interested. I think her thoughts are very helpful for understanding the Medieval period.

The deities (gods) of Mesopotamia and Greece are notably imperfect with very human characteristics. Reading their mythology is often like watching a soap opera on television. The gods were unpredictable, flawed, often times unjust, and subject to human passions. Their gods reflected the nature of day-to-day life. Life in Mesopotamia was turbulent, marked by frequent invasions and conquests. Even the physical world seemed chaotic. The Euphrates river would flood at irregular intervals, overflowing its banks. Sometimes the waters sustained the crops while other times they destroyed them.

Amidst this turmoil, a new civilization emerged which had a very different view of deity. The Hebrews (i.e., Jews), believed in a God who was very different. He was perfect, loving, just, unchanging, and predictable. Yet life for them was also full of misfortune and irrational suffering. The gap between their idea of a perfect God and the imperfections of the physical world led to the emergence of some of the key ideas that have shaped Western thought:

GUILT--If God was perfect and man imperfect, then man would have reason to feel guilty.
MESSIANIC TRADITION--To bridge the gap between fallen man and perfect God, a Messiah (Savior) was needed.
HISTORY--The Hebrews put the story in history. They saw human experiences as something that could be explained. If a person suffered, it was probably a just punishment for sin or a God-given test. This made history worth reading. Thus the Jews are the "people of the book."
HEAVEN--Mesopotamian and Greek perspectives on the afterlife are very dismal and limited. However, the Hebrew belief that earthly injustice would be recompensed in an afterlife created the idea of a heaven.

The Jews passed this belief system on to the Christians. Christianity was expressed as Catholicism during the Middle Ages. Medieval literature, arts, and music emphasizes the great rift between the corruption of this world and the perfection of a Heavenly realm. You see this in a stark polarization (separation) of the secular and the sacred. For example, the Canterbury Tales revels in it's baseness (bawdiness). In contrast, the Divine Comedy is obsessively attentive to structure and order, illustrating the divine order and justice of the afterlife.

Many thanks to Ms. Evans for sharing her insights with our class.

Blog Prompts Oct. 21-24

Write about at least one of these prompts this week:

• What is the value of reading the Canterbury Tales in class? Should Mr. Dye have his students read it again next year?
• Compare and contrast the Pardoner and the Wife of Bath. Compare both their characters and the stories they tell.
• Are the Wife of Bath and the Pardoner complex characters?
• Do the Canterbury Tales tell the truth about human experience?
• In the General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales, the host claims he has an obligation to report the truth about each of the pilgrims. He says, "When one repeats a tale told by a man, he must report, as nearly as he can, every least word, if he remember it, however rude it be, or how unfit; or else he may be telling what's untrue..." Should a writer always tell the truth exactly? If you were writing a book about life in a gang, would you repeat the words of the gang members exactly as they say them (with swear words and all)?

Blog Commandments

Blog Commandments:

1. Thou shalt use blogs to carry on meaningful dialogue outside of class.

2. Thou shalt make a minimum of one blog post each week. This post shall be at least three paragraphs long.

3. Thou shalt write a post about a topic from class (check Mr. Dye's blog for prompts).

4. Thou shalt make a minimum of two comments on other classmates' blogs each week. Comments must be substantive and at least one paragraph long.

5. Thou shalt disagree agreeably. Deal with ideas and do not make personal attacks.

6. Thou shalt use proper grammar conventions. Do not reinforce bad writing habits by practicing incorrectly.

7. Thou shalt not advocate drug usage, violence, or other illegal activities.

8. Thou shalt not use sexually suggestive language or images.

9. Thou shalt not post information that allows others to identify you (phone, address, age, school name, etc.).

10. Thou shalt not use Socratic blogs for socializing.

Selling Yourself

A line from The Canterbury Tales caught my attention this morning. The Wife of Bath said, "And therefore to all men this tale I tell, let gain who may, for everything's to sell." She sold her virtue to get her way with her husbands. I was wondering about the things we sell ourselves for.

For example, I recall a time in college when a boy tried to befriend me. He was socially backward and I knew befriending him would make me less popular. Since I was only a freshman, I thought I could not afford to be his friend, so I gave him a cold shoulder. When I could not avoid running into him in the hallways, I gave short, clipped responses to his greetings. Coldly polite. A while later I reflected on my behavior and realized I had sold myself. I had felt I should befriend this boy, but I had sold that sense of what was right for what I thought would bring me popular acceptance.

In the long run, I realized I had had purchased a forfeit.

I wonder what other things I have sold myself for: momentary pleasure, indulgence in anger, selfishness, self-aggrandizement, entertainment, laziness.

I don't think I've sold myself for money. I remember another occasion when I was faced with a decision. In high school I taught piano lessons. It was a pretty decent, lucrative job for a teenager. The day came when income taxes were due, and I realized that technically I was self employed and should have to pay taxes on the money I had made teaching piano. I also realized that realistically, no one would ever punish me if I did not pay them. The IRS certainly was not going to waste its time following up on a teenager to see if I had paid my taxes. The general consensus of those I knew was that I could just forget about it. For me, however, this was a test. What would I sell my integrity for? The price was high. The tax rate for people who are self-employed is higher than for teens who have a regular employer. Nonetheless, I was not willing to compromise. I paid the price.

It is easy to look back on that event and pat myself on the back. However, I see that on a daily basis I sell myself in less obvious ways. Last night I stayed up reading a book when I should have been sleeping. Yesterday I got frustrated with my daughter when she wouldn't let me concentrate. This morning I skimped on my personal prayer time to get in a few more prep minutes for class. Why am I so willing to sell myself when the price is so much lower?

Maybe the price is not lower. Maybe I just value things other than money more than I should. If I look at the things I am willing to sell myself for, maybe those choices will reveal some of my acting values. What did I sell myself for yesterday and today? Entertainment, getting things done, being recognized for my work. These acting values conflict with my professed values: health and well-being, family and fatherhood, and spirituality. I suppose in life we are constantly trying to bring our acting values into alignment with our professed values.

I wonder what the Wife of Bath was revealing about her acting values when she sold herself. What was it that she really wanted? What was it that she professed to want?

A perfect society?

Today in class we discussed what it takes to have a perfect society. This week you may want to blog about the following questions:

• What is your idea of a perfect society?
• Are there any examples from history or literature of perfect societies? What do we learn from them?
• Does it include economic equality? Is there money? Is there private ownership of property?
• Does it require individual people to have particular qualities? Do the members of a perfect society have to be perfect?
• What is the role of government or law in a perfect society?
• Is a perfection a product or a process?
• How would you build a perfect society?
• What do you gain or lose when you create a perfect society?

What did you think of the community of Carthusian monks that we observed in class? How does silence help this community reach for their ideals of perfection?

Posting Ideas for the Week of Sept. 29

Respond to Ali Baba. What stood out to you? What aspects of Islamic civilization did the story highlight? Did the story remind you of Aladdin? What was the role of women in the story? Why is it significant that the maid, a woman, was the one who detected the thieves?

What did you learn about China while watching the 2008 Beijing Olympics? What do you think the role of China is going to be in the future world?

What is your personal dao? Have you noticed moments this week when you have either gone with or fought against your dao?

Do you agree or disagree with the idea of filial piety? Should children defer to their parent's judgment?

Which Chinese invention was the most important to human history--the printing press or gunpowder? Why?

New Blogging Ideas

Here are some ideas for blogging this week:

• Describe an experience you have had with religious intolerance.
• Should religion ever be used as a reason for war? In the Bible, the Israelites kill the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, believing they were doing the will of God. Was this justified?
• Report on your Islam project: what did you do, who did you teach, what did you learn?
• Compare and contrast your own beliefs with Islam.
• Reflect on what you learned about writing by creating a twisted fairy tale. How will this change how you approach writing in the future?
• Why are some books considered holy while others are not? What does it take for a book to be considered scripture? Can some books be considered inspired, even if a particular religion has not adopted them as scripture? Should some of Shakespeare's writings be considered scripture?
• Write a color poem. Use the five senses to describe a color without describing anything that is that color.
• Write a "book review" for one of your favorite books or for a book you have recently read.
• Chapter 6 of your history textbook discusses Islamic culture. Which of the achievements of Islamic civilization do you consider most impressive or important?
• Do a little online research about some current events that involve the Middle Eastern world. Briefly report on what you learned.

Disney movies immoral?

We had an interesting discussion during periods 1& 2 this week about what makes a book/movie moral or immoral. It is difficult to make rules about what is moral or immoral. Once you start drawing lines, you find exceptions. For example, if we say a book/movie is immoral if it includes violence or sexual immorality, then we rule out most books and movies of importance. For example, the Bible is full of violence and examples of sexual immorality (consider the story of David and Bathsheba). Nonetheless, many people in the world hold the Bible to be a sacred book that teaches morality. Shakespeare would definitely be ruled out by this standard.

How are we to judge, then, which books/movies are appropriate for us? Is Beowulf appropriate? After all, it does portray a great deal of violence. It seems that we have to ask ourselves, what is the effect or reading/viewing this violence on me as a reader/audience? Does it create in me violent or dark feelings? Does it promote violent behavior?

Perhaps even more important, we should ask ourselves if the portrayal of human experience in the book/movie is truthful. By truthful I mean:

• it shows that actions have consequences
• it shows that liberty is interlinked with responsibility
• it shows human beings as complex individuals

Does Beowulf glorify violence? Does it show the consequences of violent behavior?
Does the Bible show the consequences of David's affair with Bathsheba?
Does Shakespeare show individual humans as complex?

Using these standards, it would be interesting to evaluate the morality of Disney movies. Many Disney movies show individual characters as either all good or all bad. In real life, people are mostly good with some bad tendencies mixed in. Real human beings are much too complex to pigeonhole as either a hero or a villian. In this sense, Disney could be charged with telling lies. When we see our fellow man as either all good or all bad, doesn't it tend to make us prone to prejudice and bigotry? (Please don't take me too seriously--I like many Disney films and hold no grudges. Please accept the illustration as just that, an illustration.)

I offer these thoughts in the hopes that they will help us be more careful consumers of literature, movies, music, artwork, etc. These ideas are not intended to replace any personal standards you may hold. Rather, they are intended to make you even more critical of what you choose to watch/read within your standards. For example, I know that many in our community choose not to watch rated R movies. Even if you choose not to watch rated R movies, you will still need to decide which PG-13 or PG movies are appropriate for you. I hope that as you make these decisions, you will reflect on these questions:

• How does this affect me?
• Does it tell me the truth?

Note: I will not show rated R materials in my class, ever. Furthermore, I will be highly selective about the materials I present in class.

Ideas for Blogging

If you have any ideas for what to blog about, comment here.

For example:

thinking about ideas like free will vs. determinism
thoughts on a book you are reading
creative writing (poem, short story)
a strange dream
a question about class
What stood out to you the most from class this week?

What is dialogue?

Brainstorm as many responses to the following questions as you can.

1. What is NOT dialogue?
2. What are the characteristics of GOOD dialogue?
3. What habits have I had in the past that will help and/or hinder effective dialogue in Socratic Seminar?

Why bother with Socratic Seminar? A few ideas...

Why bother with world history?

• History helps us solve our problems. I have problems in my personal life for which I might find solutions. Our school, community, nation, society, and global world also has problems that can be enlightened by examining the past.
• The past is prologue. Where we are today is a result of where we have come from. One of the most important things we can do is figure out where we really are NOW. How can we possibly do that without knowing about where we are coming from? Imagine you are in a shopping mall trying to get to Aeropostal. How do you get there? It doesn't matter until you know where you are right NOW. You need to locate the "You are here" star on the mall map. Where is your "You are here" star?
• History helps us deal with change. The world is changing very quickly; just look at what is happening with the price of gas and food, with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with global warming, with natural disasters--like the earthquake in China, Hurricane Katrina, and the tsunami in Southeast Asia. How can we know how to respond to change? One way is to look at how humanity has responded to change in the past. How do churches, governments, schools, families, and other groups respond to change? What have the consequences been?
• The flattening of the world. There is a book called The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman that explains how the world is becoming a level playing field where all nations can compete economically. You can see this happening--just think about the historic opening of China signaled by the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Not only is China changing, but so is India. Remember the old idea that people thought the world was flat until someone came along and told them it was round? This required a major shift in the way people thought about themselves. Well, guess what, now that the world is getting flat, metaphorically, we have to learn to shift our thinking again. History will enable us to do that.
• History is stories about people. Not only are stories just plain fun, they also help us understand ourselves better. They help us look in the mirror and see what we value and what we think.
  

Why bother with literature?

• Literature makes you less selfish. Every person has a story. By learning to recognize this fact, you will become more patient, kind, and aware of the needs of other people. You will withhold judgment because you will know there are some stories that get hidden deep. Just think about someone who made judgments about you without knowing your story. Literature will help you be a better friend, sibling, son/daughter, etc.
  
• Literature is a time machine. Literature takes you places you could never go in this life. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel the world? How about travel through time? Literature written by REAL people living in foreign circumstances lets you go there.
  
• Literature is a window into what people care about. Think about the stories you read as a child. What values were they intended to teach? For example, what values does the story "The Little Red Hen" teach? More mature literature does not always have "a moral to the story." Some of the best literature raises questions and helps you think about what you value. Thus literature is not only a window but also a mirror.

Why bother with language arts (reading, writing, speaking, listening)?

• If you can't write, you can't think. If you can't think, then other people will do your thinking for you.
• I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say (--Flannery O'Connor).
• You need these skills to get a good job. What do you "want to be when you grow up"? I bet you can't do it well without reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
• You need these skills to
  
• Writing unleashes the imagination. Do you remember playing "make-believe" as a kid. Guess what? If you write, you can keep doing it as an adult.
  

Why bother with geography?

• Geography is like the setting of a story. Just think how the setting influences what happens in a story. What if Harry Potter was set in Washington DC instead of Hogwarts? How would that change the story? How would your life be different if you lived in Egypt?
  
• If the world is flattening, you could be doing business with someone in Kyrgyzstan in 5-10 years. Do you know where Kyrgyzstan is? Do you understand the culture of Kyrgyzstan to know how to advertise there? Do you know how to avoid offending someone there?
  
• Places help make us who we are. Places include climate, ecosystem, landforms, language, government, religion, and way of life. Studying geography will help us become more aware of who we are.
  

Why bother with Socratic Seminar?

List the reasons why:

• I should bother studying world history.
• I should bother studying literature.
• I should bother studying language arts.
• I should bother studying geography.

Teacher Censorship

This morning I was debating whether or not to edit out a paragraph from a particular reading I am going to give to my students this school year. The paragraph had some crude references, and I imagined how some parents might react. Scissors poised above photocopy I had just run, the voice of the mini-censorship devil (or angel--you decide) sitting on my shoulder said, "Stop! That's art. It's meaningful."
I was a little surprised at my own hesitation. Traditionally I have had no qualms about censoring art for the sake of saving innocent youthful souls from the Temptor's wiles. In fact, I have scorned the arguments put forth by groups that oppose the editing of movies because it "defaces the film which is a work of art and which belongs to the film producer as the artist." So what! I should be able to choose to watch or not watch what I want, and sometimes I want to be entertained by movies without having to endure "that one scene."
On my way back to my classroom from the copyroom, I ran into a colleague. I thought I'd ask his professional opinion about the passage. His response helped me reframe my thinking. The question I was asking him implicitly was, "Is this passage too crude for my students (i.e., their parents)." The question he answered was, "What does it mean to educate a student so he/she can be an independent consumer of literature (and media)?" His question framed students as agents; mine set them up as biological machines with pre-programmed stimulus-response patterns.
He suggested I keep the passage and use it as an opportunity to address the issue of literature/art consumerism. Ask the students, "What makes a piece of art/literature moral, immoral, or amoral?" And then have them apply their own rules to various examples to see how the rules fail. Have them see how their rules declare the Bible or Shakespeare as immoral. Then ask the students to consider how the work represents or misrepresents truth. Can truthfulness be a standard for judging the moral rightness of a work? How moral are Disney movies then? Help the students consider not just what the work is but what it does. What effect does the work have on me as a consumer?
I'm glad that little censorship devil intervened at the chopping block. I'm reminded that teaching is about helping others to make decisions.

Welcome

Welcome to Mr. Dye's Socratic Seminar blog. I look forward to learning with you this school year.