Week 3 - Analyzing Transcendental Arguments & Laughing at Satirical Realism

Those cray cray Transcendentalists. Always trying to live differently and get back to nature and stuff. What are they thinking?

Well, we're looking at that this week, and we will also look at how other types of minds--Realist minds, particularly those that use

to make fun of their societies--see the world and interact with it in their writing. Is there only one way to be an individual? Which approach to life and lifestyle do you prefer as a way to live? Which literary era makes more sense to you and your understanding of the world?

So, Monday: We began reading and analyzing "Self-Reliance" and "Civil Disobedience" for argument, then synthesizing that information with other content we have explored. We also found out this week's vocabulary words via Memrise.com (course: "Krakauer - Into the Wild - set 2").

Tuesday: We finished analyzing "Self-Reliance" and "Civil Disobedience" for argument, then synthesizing that information with other content we have explored. HW: Read your assigned chapter in Into the Wild.

Wednesday: One chapter of reading is due - we will work with it a little in class but moreso on Friday, when a second chapter is due. Today, we will also explore the Devil's Dictionary and complete our own class dictionary of satirical definitions, like Bierce (a Realist, not a Transcendentalist) did. Each student will be given one letter to explore and will need to explain the satire in five dictionary entries, then recreate them for our class set.

Thursday: Watch and collect informaiton form the 20/20 special on Alexander Supertramp in prepration for tomorrow's ACT/SAT/Coollege entrance practice essay. Complete class Satirists's Dictionary. Read Into the Wild.

Friday: Silent discussion of critical questions for each chapter; SAT/ACT/College essay practice. Click here to see the new ACT Writing rubric!

Next week: More Realist satire to explore: "The Invalid's Story" by Mark Twain is a goodie. We will delineate the humor and irony of the characters' situation to determine what societal problem Twain is satirizing. Why does he make fun of society this way? How is that different than the Transcendental approach to presenting societal ills?

Next week: A quiz on all this stuff we've been talking about: the vocab, satire, irony, diction, quote format, argument analysis, differences between Transcendentalism and Realism. After the journal and quiz, we will work in moving groups to generate lists of good discussion questions for each chapter of Into the Wild.

***This just in: If you want to watch the movie in class, please get this parent permission form signed by Tuesday of next week***