A Transcendental Experience

Because the Transcendentalists are more philosophical than many of the authors we study, one learning objective I have for this unit, beyond exposing and helping you to understand its literature, is exploring that philosophy in the context of your own lives, contemplating to what extent you are a Transcendentalist or aspire to be one.  Part of this exploration includes our Transcendental experience, exploring the practice and pracality of this philosophy in our own lives.

With that objective in mind, capture your thinking about this experience.  Firstly, tell us what you did.  Next, explore your success or lack thereof:  how easy/ challenging was this experience for you?  Why?  Conclude, then, by addressing to what degree you find these ideas inspirational and/ or practical.  Will this be a practice you will continue to challenge yourself to incorporate in your day-to-day life?  Why/ why not?

Last fishbowl: "Where are you going..." block 6

Last fishbowl: "Where are you going..." block five

Fishbowl #5: "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" block 6

Fishbowl #5: "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" block 5

Fishbowl #4: "William Wilson" block 6

Fishbowl #4: "William Wilson" block 5

Fishbowl #3: "The Lottery" block 6

Fishbowl #3: "The Lottery" block 5

Much better job last time.  Most were very participatory throughout, thoughtfully directing questions toward the class and/or particular individuals.  Again, remember this is a formal written response and your grammar, punctuation, spelling, and mechanics should be indicative of this.

Happy posting!

Fishbowl #2: "The Minister's Black Veil" block 6

See the last post.

Fishbowl #2: Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil" block 5

A couple of things to keep in mind having read our last posts:

• This is an academic assignment.  It should be properly written and proofread rather than assuming the appearance of a text message.
• Keep up the good work addressing one another's posts by its author, i.e. @ Francesca
• Participate thoughtfully throughout the discussion.  If you wait to post until 20 minutes into our fishbowl or you post once and are dormant for 15 minutes, that indicates to me that you're not using your time thoughtfully.  If this is because you're a slow typist or perhaps you struggle with the muti-tasking nature of this method of capturing your thinking, choose another way to show your understanding of these stories.  If lack of focus continues to be a problem, you will be asked to hand-write a response to our next fishbowl or to verbally participate only.

Blog away!

Fishbowl #1 (sixth hour): Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher"

Please see directions under previous class's post.

Fishbowl #1: Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher"

If you are choosing to participate via comments on our class blog today, be sure you adhere to the same discussion expectations you would if you were in the inner circle:  respectfully challenging your classmates' thinking, basing your assertions on textual evidence, etc. 

There is not a finite number of times you need to contribute, but please be sure you thoughtfully participate throughout the course of the discussion.

Rationalism: take three

Do you make New Year's resolutions?  What are they?  Do you think making a resolution is a beneficial way to improve yourself? 

Rationalism: take two

Did you know self-help books and dieting programs gross 8 billion dollars a year?  Why do you think that's true?  What does this fact reveal about our society?

Rationalism: take one

Consider the following headlines that have recently appeared on msn.com.  What do they reveal about the needs, fears, and desires of our society?

• Downsize your thighs in 5 moves
• Dance your way to a flatter belly (that's what I'm doing as I type this post)
• Find a therapist
• Heart Attack Risk
• Test your stress lvel
• 16 ways to protect your identity
• Hwo to fight spam, junk and sales calls
• 10 snappy responses to questions while you zoned out
• Million-dollar salaries