Updated Prompts for Your Nonfiction Pieces!

Here are the prompts I posted in class if you are feeling stuck.  Remember, you have a polished piece due this coming Friday, October 18th.  Here is the information on that.

Write a history of your life through… (pick one)

• Your favorite books growing up
• Important sports games or tournaments
• Your favorite songs growing up
• Games (video, board, both, etc.) growing up
• Homework assignments you didn’t do
• Your most memorable classes
• TV shows or favorite movies
• Another idea?

Write a "How To" manual that tells us something about who you are, what you believe, what you care about, how you view the world, what teenagers are like etc.

• How to ask someone out…
• How to master Minecraft…
• How to deal with loss…
• How to be you…
• How to trick your teacher into thinking you did a good job on your homework…

Write a response to the "Worrier vs. Warrior" article

• Are you a worrier or a warrior? Somewhere in between?
• Tell a (true) story (or stories) about yourself that demonstrate(s) your inner worrier, inner warrior, or inner inbetweener.
• Write an essay in which you refute the worrier/warrior concept altogether.
• Write about members of your family as worriers or warriors: where you do think you get your traits from?
• Write about the effect of testing or grades on you:  think of SPECIFIC anecdotes/stories that show the reader how you felt, rather than just telling us about it.
• Tell the story about a moment when you overcame anxiety.
• Tell the story about a moment when you were overwhelmed by anxiety and couldn’t make something happen (think stage fright, test anxiety etc.).

Write a response to the ideas we've discussed this week (Rousseau, Hobbes, SPE, Milgram, etc.)

• How do you think you would you have acted had you been a participant in the Milgram or SP experiments? 
• How would you explain the results of the SP and Milgram experiments?  Why did people do what they did?
• How does civilization affect humanity?  Are we better off with it?  Worse off?  Both?  Neither?
• Why do “good” people do “bad” things?
• Just react to what we’ve been talking about this week:  freewrite about your responses, thoughts, questions, confusions, critiques, conclusions… 

Write a response to Nietzsche's concept of the "Will to Power":

• What do people most want in the world?  Is there one essential thing that we all want?
• What do teenagers most want?  Adults?  Kids?  Is there a difference?  
• What do girls most want in life? Boys?  Is there a difference?
• Analyze how, if at all, money and power are related.

Class Booklet and Milgram

If you misplaced your class booklet, here is a digital copy.  Please download it and print it (if you don't have your original copy) so that you can refer to it in class.

Here is the link to the Milgram Experiment video.

Study Questions for this Friday's Quiz

Make sure you have the following questions answered in your notebook.  This is what you should study from for your Quiz on Friday.

There will be extra help at lunch on Thursday if you are feeling... unnerved by the quiz!

Thomas Hobbes

1. Why does Hobbes believe that mental and physical equality lead to conflicts between people? 
2. According to Hobbes, what are the three causes of quarrels between people?  Do NOT just use the same exact words he does: make sure you explain what each means. Give an example of each from modern day life.
3. Why does the state of war keep people from making progress?  
4. What are your overall thoughts on Hobbes’ ideas?  Do you agree?  Disagree?  Somewhere in between?  Explain!

Philip Zimbardo (Stanford Prison Experiment)

1. Describe Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo’s famous “Stanford Prison Experiment”:
2. Why did the guards become “sadistic” or “evil,” according to Zimbardo?
3. What is Zimbardo’s argument about human behavior AND what evidence does he use to prove this?
4. According to Zimbardo, how is it possible for us to change our inclination towards sadistic behavior?
5. What are your thoughts on Zimbardo’s work and findings?  This can be directly related or anything else that comes up for you.  Write at least 3-4 sentences:

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

1. According to Rousseau, in what ways are humans and animals similar?  In what ways are they different? 
2. According to the author, what problems have humans brought on themselves? 
3. Describe how Rousseau views the natural state of humanity.  
4. According to Rousseau, where or how did inequality between people begin?
5. What is Rousseau’s overall view of human nature/behavior?
6. Compare Rousseau’s view to Hobbes’ and Zimbardo’s

Stanley Milgram (Milgram Experiment)

1. Describe the Milgram experiment.
2. What does the Milgram experiment apparently demonstrate about human nature and behavior?
3. Explain how Milgram’s experiment fits in with Hobbes, Rousseau, and Zimbardo?  
4. What is your view of Milgram’s work?  Does this experiment tell the “real story” of human behavior, or are his conclusions flawed or misleading in any way?  Explain.

Vocabulary on Friday's Quiz

The quiz this Friday is 18 questions and multiple-choice/matching.

You are allowed to create a "cheat sheet" for the quiz: just write the 5 words you are having the most trouble with and their definitions on an index card.  You may use that index card on the quiz.

acclimate:  adapt or get used to
accountable: held responsible for something, having to explain or justify something
adrift: lacking aim or direction
antidote: a remedy (a cure for a poison, but also metaphorically something that can fix a situation).
buffer: a shield or cushion used as protection

emerge: to come into existence or arise

ill suited: inappropriate, not correct

ingrained: firmly fixed or established

inoculate:  to protect someone from a disease by introducing it into his system (metaphorically, to protect someone from harm by getting them used to something little by little)

lackadaisical: without interest, lazy, indolent

manifestation: an outward indication, expression, or symptom of something

optimal: most favorable, BEST

physiological: having to do with the physical body (chemical and biological processes)

predisposed: having a prior inclination or tendency

proliferate: to increase and spread (often excessively)

propensity: an inclination or tendency

recurring: happening over and over again

underwhelming: making no positive impact, disappointing

unflappable: not easily upset or confused; imperturbable; calm in crisis

unnerved: deprived of courage, strength, determination

concur (v.): to agree with
to endeavor (v.): to attempt to do something
solitary (a.): lacking companionship, alone
brutish (a.): beastly, animalistic
idle (a.):  (1) not active (2) pointless
savage (n.): member of an uncivilized people
diffidence (n.): lack of self-confidence
awe (n.): feeling of great respect mixed with fear or wonder
sentiment (n.): feeling or emotion
subsist (v.): to support oneself at a very basic level
affliction (n.): state of great suffering
perpetual (a.): never ending
excess (a.): exceeding the necessary amount of something (too much)

Syllabus

If you misplaced your syllabus (which should be signed by tomorrow, Wednesday 9/18), you can find it here.  This is also where the list of supplies is (and supplies are also due tomorrow!).

Student Survey

Please fill out this student survey by the end of this week.  NOTE:  This is the same survey as the one on Eboard/for Ms. Cinquegrana's class, so if you already did this once, don't to it again.  Thanks!

National Press for Class of 2013's Book!

The class of 2013's book, Halfway to Infinity, was featured in this month's newsletter from the U.S. Department of Education.  Check it out!

STUDENT WRITING INSPIRES

Age 13 and Published

Recently a New York City public school teacher, Vanessa Snowden, wrote to Arne Duncan, "If you give teachers the space we need to cultivate a context for the standards that speak to students, you will see all the ways in which we can create success." As evidence, she sent him a book, the product created when Snowden gave her students the room "to be people." The results are powerful: Halfway to Infinity is an anthology crafted and published entirely by students, from cover to contents, and its 305 pages exhibit a compelling array of literary forays. Each entry offers insight into the complexity and depth of the human experience from the remarkably sophisticated perspective of eighth graders. A few of our favorites (among the many) include "Easy and Completely Accurate Stereotyping: Bigotry for Simpletons"; "A Synopsis of the Modern World in Under Two Hundred Words"; "#thatawkwardmoment When You Can Relate to a Dog"; and "Our Nature Shoved in a Poem."