W10, #10: THE BYSTANDER CHOICE

Who: All periods

Set-Up: Many would agree that Samneric is the most interesting character (or characters) on the island because they seem to resemble the typical human choice:  fit into the crowd so you don’t get hurt for trying to be a hero/leader.

Challenge:

• Take a look at Matt Langdon’s “Hero Workshop” blog where he wrote an interesting story (link to his “Please Don’t Be A Bystander” entry) about an 85 year old man in England who single-handedly stopped 2 sledgehammer-wielding thieves from breaking into a store.
• Write a reaction to the man’s own quoted explanation of why he got involved, as well as why you think he made a choice that nobody else on that sidewalk did.

Length: 7+ sentences

P.S. for Periods 1, 2, & 3 only:

Mr. Long was proud to see that that Matt wrote a greatt reaction to having a Skype video chat with you guys last week.  I think you’ll appreciate it, too.

Feel free to also leave a comment on his blog (although this is not for credit; do it if you’re simply appreciative of how impressed he was by you and your follow-up blog comments).

W9, #4: SKYPE CHAT REFLECTIONS

Who: Periods 1, 2, & 3 only

Set-Up: After completing Lord of the Flies and being introduced to the Stanford Prison Experiment in class before midterm exams, we’ve begun to consider ‘human nature’ as being a complex mixture of good/evil.  Clearly the average person will never be  as ‘good’ as Simon or as ‘evil’ as Roger, yet we tend to use such literary extremes to consider human instincts/behavior.

During our Skype video conference with Matt Langdon — the founder of The Hero Workshop — on Tuesday, we’ll be discussing 3 things:

• His knowledge of Stanford University professor emeritus Phil Zimbardo – the creator of the Stanford Prison Experiment — a gentleman that Matt Langdon is now working with on an international ‘hero’-based project.
• Considering the Simon vs. Roger question:  exploring whether this is the right way to look at human instincts in terms of decisions made in difficult times.
• How ‘average’ people can do ‘heroic’ things in little ways, day after day.

Challenge: Simply offer a thoughtful, detailed reflection on the Skype conversation.

Please note: Matt will read all of your replies.  Understandably, he’ll be very interested in your ideas and reactions.

W8, #4: WHAT WOULD CAMPBELL THINK OF THE ISLAND?

Set-Up: We spent time recently talking about Joseph Campbell’s “hero stages” with an attempt to see how filmmakers and writes might employ these ideas to help craft a logical adventure.

Challenge: Using any 10 of the 17 stages we covered, prove that William Golding instinctively uses Campbell’s “hero stages” in Lord of the Flies.  See below for the stages:

Chap 1: Departure The Call to Adventure (1/17) | Refusal of the Call (2/17) | Supernatural Aid (3/17) | The Crossing of the First Threshold (4/17) | Rebirth (aka “The Belly of the Whale”) (5/17) Chap 2: Initiation The Road of Trials (6/17) | Marriage (aka “The Meeting with the Goddess”) (7/17) | Woman as the Temptress (8/17) | Atonement with the Father (9/17) | Apotheosis (10/17) | The Ultimate Boon (11/17) Chap 3: Return Refusal of the Return (12/17) | The Magic Flight (13/17) | Rescue from Without (14/17) | The Crossing of the Return Threshold (15/17) | Master of the Two Worlds (16/17) | Freedom to Live (17/17)

Length: 1+ sentence for each of the 10 stages as to prove how they work in this story.

Note: Mr. Long will NOT publish any entries until the deadline is reached (for all blog entries this week).  He wants to see how individual students solve this on their own.

W6, #7: CAN HEROES TRUST JOSEPH CAMPBELL?

Set-Up: We’ve just begun to explore Joseph Campbell’s concept of the “hero’s journey” in class this week as a way to better understand the universal elements that all ’story’ heroes — regardless of culture, language, plot, medium, etc. — seem to have in common.

Over time, we’ll see that this extends beyond literature/movies to include ‘real’ people from history, entertainment, etc. Yes, pop culture fans: even Britney. [wink]

With that said, I’m curious if you can find a single book or movie that has a majority of Campbell’s “hero’s journey” stages in it.  More importantly, I’m curious if you can creatively analyze a book or movie to find these even if there is no actual ‘knock on the door’ or ‘phone call’ (so to speak).

Challenge:

1. Review your “hero’s journey” notes from the slide show.
2. Optional: if you prefer, you can cleverly become really, really, really smart by doing a deeper dive into the “Heroes” page found on the class wiki [wink, wink; nudge, nudge] or by at least considering each of the stage links found down below [wink, wink; nudge, nudge again]
3. Identify 1 book or movie that definitely has a minimum of 8 of these stages.
4. Note: you may NOT use any of the following stories for your answer:  any Matrix, any Harry Potter, any Star Wars, any Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, or Beowulf.  All of these will be covered in class extensively over time so let’s see what else we can come up with together.
5. List the 8 stages you found; identify any scene(s)/situation(s) that prove each of the stages you selected.

Length: Varies

Links:

Ch 1: Departure

The Call to Adventure (1/17) | Refusal of the Call (2/17) | Supernatural Aid (3/17) | The Crossing of the First Threshold (4/17) | Rebirth (aka “The Belly of the Whale”) (5/17)

Ch 2: Initiation

The Road of Trials (6/17) | Marriage (aka “The Meeting with the Goddess”) (7/17) | Woman as the Temptress (8/17) | Atonement with the Father (9/17) | Apotheosis (10/17) | The Ultimate Boon (11/17)

Ch 3: Departure

Refusal of the Return (12/17) | The Magic Flight (13/17) | Rescue from Without (14/17) | The Crossing of the Return Threshold (15/17) | Master of the Two Worlds (16/17) | Freedom to Live (17/17)

W4, #6: OUR NEED FOR HEROES EVERYWHERE

Set-Up:  If I’m doing the math correctly, most of you were about about ready to enter Kindergarten or 1st grade in 1998.

This was the year — summer, actually — when the then-Cubs player Sammy Sosa and the then-Cardinals player Mark McGwire dueled it out all season to break the seemingly-unbreakable Major League Baseball single-season home run record.

To baseball fans, this was a big, big, big, big deal.  To non-baseball fans, this became a big, big, big, big deal.  It was about home runs.  Bigger than that, it was about one of the oldest ‘records’ in our culture on the verge of being broken…and everybody was drawn in.  Even bigger than that, it was a classic tale of 2 ‘heroes’ facing off.

Game after game after game as the entire country watched.  Held their breath.  Leaned forward.  Wondered.  Wondered.  Wondered.  Cheered…

…until something unthinkable happened after the record was broken.

Challenge:

• Read the following article — “Mark McGwire’s Summer of Love” — about that season, about that record, about those ‘heroes’, about what came next.
• Share with us what you noticed about the discussion of ‘heroes’ in this article.
• Suggest what this says about our need — as a culture — for heroes and what happens when our heroes let us down.
• Optional:  suggest what you think this might have to do with our discussions the rest of the year in terms of heroes and audiences — good, bad, and mysterious.

Length: 7+ sentences

W4, #2: A STORY OF A PASSIONATE LIFE

Set-Up: Ever heard of Ben Dunlap?

Well, Mr. Dunlap — the President of Woffard College — tells the story of Sandor Teszler, a Hungarian man he met at Wofford College years ago, a man who has much to teach all of us about justice…and what it truly means to be a lifelong learner.

If you have 20 minutes, watch this video. What is it about?

Well, I’m going to let you discover that out on your own.

Challenge:

• Watch the video. You’ll need about 20 minutes.
• Share your reaction to the story of Sandor Teszler.

Length: 5+ sentences

Additional: Want to learn more about other speakers — like Mr. Dunlap — who speak every year at the world famous TED Conference held in California each early spring? Try this link. I think you’ll find some amazing voices, stories, and ideas, many that you may never be able to forget once you see/hear them.

My only request?

If you find another TED video that you love, share it with me. Thanks!

W3, #7: SOUNDTRACK for BEOWULF

Set-Up: Obviously any film that tries to put a story like Beowulf in front of an audience has to think seriously about the sound track. Pick the right music and the film will cleverly manipulate the audience into a wide range of emotions and reactions, not to mention make a bit of a bonus profit as fans go buy the CD/MP3s after the fact.

Challenge: What would your Beowulf film soundtrack sound like?

• Pick 5 different events (or parts of chapters) from the epic poem detailing Beowulf’s life.  These can be tiny transitional moments or long scenes/conversations; it is entirely your choice.
• Select one song that you think is a great match for each event (or part of a chapter).  Music can be instrumental or have lyrics.  All music styles/genres are acceptable.
• Identify the song and the artist/group that performed the version you think is a good match.
• In 1+ sentences, explain why you made each choice.
• Optional:  provide a link to an Internet version of the song (MP3 — iTunes; video — YouTube, etc) so that I can listen/watch as I’m reading.  Thanks in advance…but this is purely optional if you have time and can find the link(s).

W3, #5: HOOK ‘EM EARLY

Set-Up: Playing off our collective need — as Honors English II students — to (rigorously) improve our ability to:

• grab our reader’s attention with a unique argument (the moment they start reading our essays)
• analyze new literature from many perspectives (without being bogged down by plot summary)

…let’s take on the following writing challenge:

Challenge:

• Write a compelling movie ‘trailer’ (a.k.a. television advertisement) that will inspire someone to want to read Beowulf (or at least go see the movie of said text).
• Focus on the first 5 chapters (from “The Monster Grendel” to “The Monster’s Mother”).
• Use actual text — i.e. real quotations, my lovely friends — from the story.

Length:

• 3-4 sentences.  You may go for 5+, but only if every word truly matters.
• # of Quotations:  2 minimum, 3 is slightly better, 4 is crazy great!
• Keep in mind:  you do not need to use the entire line/sentence as a quotation.  Just use the key phrases/lines.  And make sure that you use quote marks.

Hint: While plot matters, you do not have time to waste in plot-summary-land in this short piece of writing.  Instead, use what you know about the story — tone, underlying ideas, metaphors, etc — to ’sell’ the story.

W3, #4: KNOCKING ON HEROT’S DOOR

Set-Up: We have — like Beowulf and his men — just knocked on Herot’s door. In other words, we’re ‘entering’ the story from a very basic level of understanding.  [note:  hopefully you picked up on the Herot reference!]

Sure, we grasp the basics of the story:  there is a bad guy/creature, a king and his men who are in trouble, a hero that arrives to save the proverbial day, an epic battle that is about to begin, etc.  Likewise, we diligently begin to note various character’s names and lineage-oriented relationships, figure out the basic plot structure, and wrestle with a bit of language (or epic poetic structure) that takes some early effort for us to ‘translate’ now that summer is over.

At the same time, we quickly begin to realize — as Honors students [note: pat yourselves on the back at this point] – that something deeper and more complicated is going on in this story of swords, warriors and kings running from creepy head-smashing monster-critters.  Some of these may include:

• historical/societal connections
• language, syntax, diction, connotations
• literary allusions
• character psychology
• metaphors, similes, symbols
• and this quirky thing that Mr. Long keeps subtly bringing up over and over and over and over…

Challenge:

Part 1:  Point out one utterly cool/intriguing thing that you noticed in each of the following sections that goes beyond plot summary:

1. “The Monster Grendel”
2. “The Arrival of the Hero”
3. “Unferth’s Challenge”
4. “The Battle with Grendel”
5. “The Monster’s Mother”

Part 2:  Explain — in 3+ sentences — one of the 5 things that caught your attention.  Even if you don’t fully get it, take some time exploring the ideas/possibilities.  We’ll learn from each other along the way.

W2, #6: DEFINING A “HERO”

Set-Up: Throughout the year, we’ll be looking at every story in terms of the “hero”.  For some, this simply means the “protagonist” — or central/main character of the story — but over time we will begin to understand that the “hero” is a very complicated, multi-tiered concept.

Challenge:

1. Identify — in your opinion — the best example of a “hero” in any movie or TV show you’ve ever seen. Explain why you believe this person/being is the ‘best’ example.
2. Identify — in your opinion — the best example of a “hero” in any book or story you’ve ever read.  Explain why you believe this character is the ‘best’ example.
3. Identify — in your opinion — the best real life human being that has acted in a “heroic” manner during your lifetime.  The person can be someone you know or someone you’ve heard about on the news, etc.

Length: Min of 2 sentences for each of the 3 characters/people.