November 5, 2007
Self-Starter: Follow the directions on the handout. Read -- Write -- Think.
Handout:
Read this:
The Utopian Novel
For thousands of years, writers and philosophers have been imagining how the world might be organized so people could live together more harmoniously.
In the sixteenth century (1500’s), just as the Europeans were discovering a New World in America, an Englishman named Thomas More wrote Utopia, a book about an ideal society. Utopia is a word More created from two Greek words – eu, which means “not,” and topia which means “place.” So, literally, utopia means “not a place.” The word eu can also mean “good.” More seems to be saying two things at once: this is a good place, but it is also no place – it doesn’t exist. Since the publication of More’s book, utopia has come to mean a place that is idea or perfect.
Write this:
On a sheet of lined binder paper (with no spirobits and with the holes not torn), write about the following:
Label it: My Utopia
• Think: Imagine you could create a perfect world.
• Think: How would it be different from the world you live in right now?
• Think: How would it be the same?
• Write: Imagine yourself living there and
describe what an ordinary day would be like.
Your written response to this will be filed in your binder under “Reading.”
You will need about sixteen (16) more pages of lined binder paper in that section for a reader’s journal you’ll use while reading The Giver.
Label the first “The Giver, Chapter 1”
Divide the page into about thirds, and label them (write only the underlined words):
1. Questions: You will record questions you come up with as you read.
2. Response (to one of the topics you’ll be given)
3. My Own Response (See the handout for Literature Response Journal and Group Discussion.)
You will individually read the rest of chapter one, filling out the paper you’ve just set up. Then you will participate in a group discussion with some of the other members of your house. See the back of the handout for Literature Response Journal and Group Discussion.
Receive assignment for "Collecting Memories." This is due by Friday the 9th. If you absolutely can't hand it in then, have it ready by Tuesday, the 13th. We will be going to the computer lab that day to type these up.
