Book Club Meeting Notes 1/16/2012

First off, congratulations to Jen for her job at Aurora Central High School! Woo!

The Hero's Journey

Joseph Campbell coined the term. Joseph helped to number the steps and provide summaries of each category -- the hero's journey is cyclical and may not always follow the steps

Emma read The Odyssey.

The hero's journey should be clarified by visuals. Students can make their own hero's journey (visually) and describe how the characters and plot fit each step. Students can make their own representation of the hero's journey about their favorite artist, musicians, parents, friends, family...e.c.t...

Some steps in The Odyssey are missing; another text can be used to fill in the "gaps".

But what about modern texts? How do they fit the hero's journey? 

A lot of times kids do not know what they're looking for; for this reason it is important to focus on specific things like steps of the Hero's journey.

Alex read The Hobbit J.R. Tolkien and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Interestingly, The Hobbit literally fits many steps of the hero's journey.

Sometimes it may seem difficult finding the hero's journey in books that are not obviously about a "hero" -- however, in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian Junior leaves the mundane word, enters a new world, meets new challenges and difficulties, and not only survives but gains new understanding by the end.

Gwen read Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. This book would be easily adaptable for middle schoolers and ninth graders. It is an exemplar of the hero's journey -- it has mystical creatures, archetypes of allies and villains (the names of characters match their personalities and traits). It is a quick read.

Brianne read Beowulf and admits that it may not be fit for high school students but could definitely be adapted for advanced students. Beowulf is similar to The Odyssey as far as matching the cycle of the hero's journey.

Tarayn read the last Hush Hush book called Finale (the 4th book of the series). Tarayn read it along with some of her previous students. It is a modern hero's journey, with a female perspective. It becomes a little "mushy" and the main character is male-dependent -- however many of the steps are followed.

With the modern hero's journey is another step standing up to society?

It is important to figure which books will attract which students -- some books will attract both genders but teachers must recognize the impact of choice books on students and how different genders will be attracted to different qualities in a book.


Thank you to everyone for coming!

Posted by Jamie Rogers

Hey Everyone,
Our next book club meeting is January 16th and I wanted to get a few ideas out there for discussion. The theme this month is "A Hero's Journey," and I felt I should clarify what that may mean. This idea has been around, well, forever. The ultimate tale is that of Beowulf, where, you have a main character that goes through certain hardships in life in order to acheive a fantastic goal.
Even though the storyline of the hero's journey dates back to some of the first novels, the first person to recognized the journey as a story pattern was Joseph Campbell in the 1940's. He wrote a novel called, The Hero with a Thousand Faces and called the actual journey a "Monomyth."
The term "monomyth" actual came from James Joyce in his novel, Finnegans Wake:

And then and too the trivials! And their bivouac!
And his monomyth! Ah ho! Say no more about it! I’m sorry!
I saw. I’m sorry! I’m sorry to say I saw!   (Joyce 575)
Now, from this passage you may wonder why Campbell chose the word monomyth at all? Finnegans Wake is, of course, a novel that some say is impossible to understand. However, if I were to guess, I would say that Campbell himself was sorry that he recongnized this storyline repitition. Because, once you understand the journey of the hero, you will realize that most classic and contemporary novels encompass this story line.

To better break down a hero's journey, there are diagrams that people have created. These diagrams work well in classrooms to give students a visual understand of the character's journey. .


This image can be found on www.thewritersjourney.com.

Discussion Questions for the Theme of Dystopian Novels

Here are a few questions I came up with. These could be used in class at the high school level. Most of them will need a brief background lecture before asking.

1. What makes a story a Dystopian tale?
-Describe the typical plot and story line.

2. How did these story lines start?
-Is there historical significance to the cause of these stories?

3. List some ways that people are controlled in these stories.
-Is one way better than the other?

4. Is there cause that you can think of to write a dystopian novel now? For example, any political happenings that could create such a society?

Book Club Meeting: November

Just a reminder, next book club meeting is:
Tomorrow, Thursday 29th
Backstage Coffee
6:00pm

We are reading:
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

If you don't have time to read the entire novel, come and talk with us about a short story or other novel you have read by Nathaniel Hawthorne or just come and give us some different ideas on how to teach the novel and Hawthorne as an author.

Links to Tarayn's Google Sites

Here are some links to Google Sites I have made for various purposes. Some of them are way more complete than others, but they are great for organizing lessons and tools we have learned at Metro! :o) Let me know if you need have any questions!
~Tarayn



Young Adult Literature: 
https://sites.google.com/a/mscd.edu/tms-young-adult-lit-project-2010/

Canon Literature: 
https://sites.google.com/a/mscd.edu/canon-literature/home

Lesson Planning Ideas: 
https://sites.google.com/a/mscd.edu/my-lesson-planning-ideas/

Shakespeare Works: 
https://sites.google.com/a/mscd.edu/shakespeare-guide/

BNW: Discussion Questions

Hello Again,
I prepared a few discussion questions for Brave New World. I tried to find and create questions that were geared towards the classroom. 

Brave New World Questions

1.       What is the significance of the title? How does Shakespeare hint at the novels intentions?

2.       What is the significance of the World State’s motto, “community, identity, stability? Isn’t “identity” ironic?

3.       The controller uses subliminal messages to create happy children. The messages are a way of getting rid of questioning. How does our society use the same approach?

Advertising and Media. Slogans for commercials.

4.       How real is the dystopian world that Huxley creates? What similarities do you see in our everyday life?

Soma: Prescription drugs

Amenities: happiness

Lack of religion

5.       What is the significance of the lighthouse?

Lighthouses are used to symbolize epiphanies and understanding of greater ideas.

6.       Why does John choose unhappiness and death over a fantasy world?

                                   

                               

Tonight is the night!

Finally guys and gals, the annual Metro State Book Club meeting is here.  Don't fret my pet, what you are reading is not a mirage or a figment of your imagination. The book club is really meeting tonight, I promise.

Speaking of reality or lack there of, how real are the dystopian worlds that our novels present to us? Hmm...I'm not sure. I think I will ask my book club members this question, and many others, tonight at 5:30 at Rooster and Moon. If you not there then you must have a good excuse. Only a fool would miss this opportunity.
See you all tonight and make sure to bring those very expensive, educated, Metro State thinking caps. You will need them!

5:30PM
Rooster and Moon (10th and Bannock)