Hey, ladies and gentlemen! Here's an example of what I would like your group to do for a blog post. This blog post is about 350 words. If this was a student example: stuff in blue shows me you read the chapter (it shows key events/details), stuff in red shows me you have examined/questioned what you read, and tried to make sense/build understanding of what you read, and what is underlined is the homework: which asks your classmates to make meaning from the text/react to the text/characters in some way based on what they read. You don't actually have to color your posts, but I just wanted to show you for the example how things should be balanced.
Example Post:
In chapter 2 of Catcher in the Rye (CITR) we meet a new character: Mr. Spencer. Mr. Spencer, who is Holden's History teacher, seems to be worried/upset about Holden's efforts in class. For example, Mr. Spencer tells Holden "Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules". He worries that Holden isn't actually living up to his potential and what he can actually achieve. However, even though he seems to be trying to help Holden, Holden doesn't want to listen. Maybe Holden isn't the nicest guy or the best student, or maybe he doesn't really like Mr. Spencer, which is why he isn't listening to him.
In fact, rather than listening to Mr. Spencer, Holden starts thinking about something else. He starts daydreaming about where the ducks near the "lagoon in Central Park" go when winter comes around. It seems such a strange thing to be thinking about when someone is trying to help you out. Maybe the ducks mean something to Holden? Maybe they are symbols of something bigger?
For homework, do the following:
Describe Holden in just six words.
Why do you think Holden starts thinking about the ducks? What do you believe the ducks mean to him? What might they represent?
A "commentator response" would be an answer the questions or complete the task(s) asked above by the posting group (in this case, do what is underlined). So a commentator response to this may be something like:
ReplyDeleteTo describe Holden in six words, I would say:
Holden is rude, learn to behave.
I would say this because Holden doesn't seem to be taking Mr. Spencer seriously, and Holden needs to learn to be a better student if he wants to stay in school.
For the ducks, I think maybe Holden misses home. He says his family is from NYC, and so maybe he keeps getting homesick which is why he thinks about the ducks so much. Maybe Holden is a bad student because he keeps thinking of home.
The point of a "heckler" in this blog is to critique others. This is an important skill to learn in the US. It is basically disagreeing with someone and providing a reason why. So for example, I clicked "reply" to the above post, and as a heckler I might say the following:
DeleteHolden isn't rude. If you notice, he actually talks to Mr. Spencer pretty nicely. It's only mentally (in his head) does he think rudely. So I think that Holden isn't rude, he's just misunderstood.
I don't know if he misses home. He hasn't said much about his family, but in the first chapter he seems to not get along well with his parents based on how he talks about them. So I'm not really sure if he is missing home, maybe there is another reason.
The point of a "philosopher" for this blog, is to ask bigger/deeper questions. It is meant to help your classmates and the commentators think differently about what they have written. For example, after clicking "reply" the the "commentator response" I might say the following if I am a philosopher:
DeleteWhy do you believe Holden misses his family if he is talking about the ducks? Does he maybe just miss New York City? He is in Pennsylvania, far away from New York City. Could there maybe be another symbol or reason behind why Holden thinks of the ducks? What do you think?