Socratic Seminar Discussion

-- It's a necessary part of life for people to learn from their own mistakes, so they need to forge their own path.
-- Taught to prepare for tests in school….not always a good judgement of what we know
-- Don't be forced into doing things you don't want to…."Your life is your life."


     In high school, it is a requirement by law for you to attend school.  Whether you are home schooled or attend a private school, or whatever it may be, you have to get an education.  When you attend a university, you are paying to attend the institution, so there is a certain level of motivation behind you attending school.  You're no longer focusing on what school you're trying to get in to.  Your main focus is to do your best in the now.
     Memorization is the possibly the toughest task I have had to deal with my entire high school career, especially in this class.  Someone brought up the quote in our discussion about loving what you do, and doing what you love.  When a student was called on to recite our most recent memorization, he nailed it, and it was evident that he truly loved what he was doing.  He may not have been thrilled to memorize a fifty line speech, but he was successful and has developed a skill that will aide him in the long run.
     The video we watched demonstrated that the internet is a major tool in forms of global communication.  The table of one hundred questions that is being organized showed how the internet can bring people together to expand understanding and knowledge.  This is motivating because it gives what we are trying to accomplish with our blogs hope for success.

Article notes: The Serious Need for Play

-- Childhood play is crucial for social, emotional, and cognitive development.

-- "Free play" is the most essential type of play.

-- A shooting by an engineering student at the University of Texas was attributed to his abusive past and not being able to play as a kid.

-- A lack of opportunity for unstructured play can keep children from becoming happy, well-adjusted adults.

-- "Free play" helps cope with stress.  Today it may be losing its standing as a staple for youth.  Concerned about getting their kids into college, parents have sacrificed playtime for structured activities

-- The International Play Association of Denmark was founded to protect and promote fundamental free-time for children.

-- Free play should have no clear goal…..imaginative

-- Play appears to help develop strong social skills; lack of play should impede social development.  It promotes neural development in "higher" brain areas involved in emotional reactions and social learning

play helps kids work through anxiety and stress.

-- Parents should let children be children

Video notes: What is "dropping knowledge?"

-- Internet allows both globalization, localization, and re-localization.
-- "We need to use the internet to talk to each other, to understand each other, encompass other religions, and other views of the world."
-- How do you perceive the world around you?  Something strange and unfamiliar, or something with which you can identify yourself with?  What kind, what form of resistance is effective?  Do you think that increased personal choice for each individual actually leads to more happiness?
-- Every effort to change the world starts with people asking questions, asking why this is so.
-- The round table sought to answer 100 questions:
Are brands more powerful than governments? Some brands are and some brands are governments.
Why are African states less developed than western states? This question deals with power relations around the world and how they are structured.
What does the future you want look like?


If you had one piece of knowledge to give to the world, what would it be?
http://www.droppingknowledge.org/bin/home/home.page

Who was the best rapper? Shakespeare of course!

Remix the Textbook (I): Analyzing Sonnets

Sonnet 69

Pablo Neruda

Translated by Stephan Tapscott

1.  The speaker is a young male, speaking about a young female.  The poem takes place in olden times.  The speaker is confessing his undying love, stating that he is nothing without her.

2.  The sonnet is written in two complete sentences.  It is a romantic sonnet about love, so all of the pieces flow together quite nicely.

3.  The theme is undoubtedly love.  The speaker notes at the end, "and through love I will be, you will be, we'll be."  It is about two people that cannot live without the presence of the other.

4.  The meaning behind the grammar of the sonnet is meant to invoke feelings of romanticism.  There is a part that reads, "…without the light you carry in your hand, golden, which maybe others will not see."  The meaning behind these two lines is to show that they are soul-mates for one another.

5.  The sonnet begins with the line, "maybe nothingness is to be without your presence."  This figure of speech likens how the speaker would feel without the presence of his love.

6.  The diction is related to words associated with love.  For example, when I think of a red rose (as talked about in the second stanza), I automatically associate that item with love.

7.  The tone verges on desperation.  The speaker continually mentions that he has to have this person in his life, stating that he would be nothing without her.

8.  Imagery and similes are the two literary devices predominantly used.  The second half of the first stanza reads, "like a blue flower, without you walking later through the fog and the cobbles.

9.  Although the structure fits together nicely, the prosidy is rushed, making me think that this sonnet was written as an apology.  I think that the speaker is worried that he will not be able to get his love back, and so is pleading for her forgiveness by quickly stating how much she truly means to him.

Sonnet 18

Francesco Petrarch

      Translated by Noti

1. The dramatic situation is that the speaker cannot convey how beautiful a woman is and how much she means to him through ryhme.  Her beauty cannot be conveyed through mere words.

2. Structure in the poem includes quatrains, and couplets.  There is alos many commas and semi-colons, which is when one thought switches to the next.

3. The theme is beauty.  He is so enthralled in her beauty that he believes it is indescribable. "But no fit polish can my verse attain."

4. Grammar is long, lenghty thoughts. They all are connected to eachother, however.

5. There is much imagery in the poem.  He uses good action verbs which help readers visualize the situation.

6. The diction is romantic, formal language.  There are no colloquilisms.

7. The tone is admiring. He is constantly complimenting the woman.

8. There is a rhetorical question in the poem. "But say what muse can dare so bold a flight?"

9. The procity is a well flowing poem.  The commas and semi- colons help emphasize at the right times.

Sonnet 28

Francesco Petrarch

Anonymous Translator

1.      Dramatic Situation: It is through a female perspective of how to deal with the loss of a lover; first person.  She wants to shut herself from the rest of the world and hide away with her woes for the rest of her life.

2.      Structure:  Sonnet; ABBA rhyming scheme; broken up with commas and semi-colons.

3.      Theme:  The effects of losing a loved one.  She is so depressed she cannot not go on with life; with the end of her love’s life, her life ended as well.

4.      Grammar:  Uses correct grammar, punctuation such as commas and semi-colon to separate the end of a sentence or end of a paragraph.

5.      Imagery:  There us a lot of usage of metaphors, similes and symbolism. She describes losing her love as “alone, and lost in thought, the desert glade…”

6.      Diction:  She uses depressing and sorrowful words such as lingering, shun, anxious, dreary.  They are powerful words that make the reader feel empathy for the woman in the poem.

7.      Tone: Sad and depressing; she has just lost the love of her life and so she expresses such loss through a disheartening tone.

8.      Rhetorical Devices: Pathos and ethos is something that the reader will feel when reading the woman’s loss.

9.      Procidy: All the words flow with one another, and there is a complete start and finish to the poem’s story.

How to Analyze a Poem

There are 9 important questions to answer when analyzing a poem.  Each of these will help the reader better understand the meaning and background of the piece.

1. Define the situation

• Who is the speaker?  Male/female?  Young/old?
• What are the circumstances?
• Where/when does the poem take place?
• Where is the speaker and when?

2. Structure

• How do the parts fit together? (i.e., punctuation, complete sentences, etc.)
• How does the poem get from one idea to another?
• Is there repetition?

3. Theme/Central Message

• What point is the author trying to get across to its readers?

4. Grammar and Meaning

• Are there sensory objects?

5. Are there any important images or figures of speech?

6. What type of diction does the author use?

• This can reflect the audience the author is aiming to reach

7. What is the author's tone?

• Can further help with understanding the theme of the poem

8. What literary or rhetorical devices are used?

9. What is the prosidy?

• Prosidy is the movement through a poem that hints to the deeper meaning of the poem
• 
  

A Thousand Splendid Suns

1.  Mariam was born a bastard child and soon grew to know her place in society.  When her mother who raised her died, she was sent to live with her estranged father, a very wealthy man who had never played a role in her life.  Her father's other wives would not let Mariam live with them, so it was arranged for her to marry a man by the name of Rasheed.  Rasheed had hopes of having a son to carry on his legacy, and upon finding out that Mariam was infertile, he was extremely unhappy and became abusive.  He then married a second wife by the name of Laila.  Her parents has recently been killed in a bombing by the Taliban, so Rasheed took her in as a sense of duty.  As her childhood love is found and comes to secretly visit Laila, she becomes impregnated with his child.  Rasheed believes it to be his child, and becomes happy and loving in hopes of having a boy.  However, when the child is born and he sees that it is a girl, he becomes the abusive spouse to both of his wives once again.  Shortly after Laila becomes pregnant once again, this time with Rasheed's child.  To his approval, this child is a boy.  As the novel goes on, the two women go from being enemies to the best of friends, realizing they have one common goal: to get away from Rasheed.

2.  There are many possible themes seen in this novel, including shame, oppression and hope, education of women, pregnancy and children, the strength of female bonds, and marriage vs love.  The one I am going to elaborate on is the strength of female bonds.  Mariam and Laila both marry into a loveless marriage, and to the same man.  In the beginning they act as if they are enemies, both competing to be the best wife.  However, as time goes on they grow closer as they realize they are both fighting against their abusive husband.  As their relationship grows, it shows that women can truly accomplish anything, despite cultural or religious beliefs.

3.  The novel is told through both Laila and Mariam's points of view, so the tone is constantly changing.

-In the beginning of the novel when Mariam is a child, the tone is sincere excitement when talking about her father.  She saw him very little in those days, so it was a treat whenever she got the chance.

• "Suspended in the air, Mariam would see Jalil's upturned face below her, his wide, crooked smile, his widow's peak, his cleft chin…..Mariam did not believe that Jalil would drop her.  She believed that she would always land safely into her father's clean, well-manicured hands."

-A little later in the novel as Mariam finds out she is infertile, the tone turns despairing.

• "The grief kept surprising Mariam.  All it took to unleash it was her thinking of the unfinished crib in the toolshed or the suede coat in Rasheed's closet…"

-One of the only pleasures in staying at home was the fact that the women had children to take care of, so at one point the tone turned hopeful, as the women hoped for a brighter future both for themselves, as well as for their children.

• "Of all the earthly pleasures, Laila's favorite was lying next to Aziza, her baby's face so close that she could watch her big pupils dilate and shrink.  Laila loved running her finger over Aziza's pleasing, soft skin…."

-During tough times, Rasheed declared that their daughter Aziza would be sent to an orphanage.  As this was Laila's pride and joy, the tone here switched to regret, as she regret ever having entered into this loveless marriage.  Women were not allowed outside without a male escort, so on Laila's trips to visiting her daughter, she was often beaten in the street.

• "She lay on her stomach, feeling like a stupid, pitiable animal, and hissed as Mariam arranged damp cloths across her bloodied back…."

4.  Literary elements found in the novel:

-Diction:  Arabic words such as "qurma," "mastawa,", "sofrah," etc. are used to get a better feel for the characters.

-Direct characterization was used when talking about characters.

• "They all wore too much cologne, and they all smoked.  They strutted around the neighborhood in groups, joking, laughing loudly, sometimes even calling after girls, with identical stupid, self-satisfied grins on their faces."

-Metaphors

• "She swallowed dry spit.  Shifted on her chair.  She had to steel herself.  If she didn't, she feared she would come unhinged."

-Flashback

• "Laila remembered Tariq's hands, soft but strong, the tortious, full veins on the backs of them, which she had always found so appealingly masculine."

-Imagery

• "Ouside, mockingbirds were singing blithely, and, once in a while, when the songsters took flight, Mariam could see their wings catching the phosphorescent blue of moonlight beaming through the clouds."