I can't believe we only have 2 weeks left! I have really enjoyed this class and have learned so much. Suzanne Collins is a genius.
Week 9, March 19
We discussed the Singing Revolution and started discussing Catching Fire.
Week 10, March 26
We discussed Catching Fire and mapped out the plot.
Week 11, April 9
We had a fabulous discussion on Mockingjay.
Week 12, April 16
On the 16 We made a map using clues in the book of where we thought the districts were located in Panem. It wasn't too serious of a class time, but we had fun. We then compared our map with those found online.
Week 13, April 23
We discussed the significance of The Hanging Tree song, assigned a bunch of archetypes to all the main characters, and mapped the plot.
Week 14, April 30
We read the Captivity of Ignorance written by Eliza DeMille and assigned the paper of which Hunger Games character(s) are they most like. Papers are due on the 14th. We finished the time reading the meaning of the names of the characters in Mockingjay.
Last 2 weeks:
Week 15, May 7
We will read the horrible short story called the Lottery and discuss it. We will wrap up discussion questions and map the hero journey of the series.
Week 16, May 14
We will play an awesome game of Jeopardy to see how much they remember about what we have covered. There will be trivia, theme, vocab, symbol, name, district, and literary device questions.
As I covered what we plan to do for the last two weeks, this will be the last post for this class. Have a fantastic summer and, oh, dear, I have to say it, may the odds be ever in your favor!
Monday, May 4, 2015
Friday, March 13, 2015
Last 3 weeks summary
Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favor!
Week 6- February 26
We had a great discussion. Once of the questions that we spent a lot of time on was, "How does Panem resemble the US today?"
A question that no one could really answer was, "When is violence entertainment, and when is it just violence?" I don't know what to think of the lack of discussion on that one. Perhaps, you could discuss it as a family.
I posed a rhetorical question, "What would you do all day without having to spend all your time on survival?"
Week 7-8 March 5 and 12
I had to leave town unexpectedly for a family emergency, so I moved up the movie day. I had intended this 1 1/2 hr movie to take up one class time and all of lunch, but it got a late start so we finished it the following week. The movie is a documentary called the Singing Revolution and is about how the Baltic States, particularly, Estonia, took back it's independence from the USSR in the late 80's and early 90's.
We will discuss it next week and start discussing Catching Fire.
Monday, February 23, 2015
Catching Up
Week 1
The first class we went over the syllabus ( as mentioned in the last post ) and requirements to get the literature award(s). I also summarized Theseus and the Minotaur, as that myth heavily influenced The Hunger Games series. I handed out study questions and tried to inspire them to make annotations and take special notes on 3 of the characters. I asked them to look up the meaning of the main characters names, promising that their minds would be blown.
Week 2
We watched several interviews with Suzanne Collins. As a girl she loved reading mythology, and the story of Theseus especially haunted her. She was horrified that a conquering king would remind them that he was in control by feeding them to the minotaur. Killing children as punishment makes a significant impact. We also read Oliver DeMill'es paper about Hunger Games being a new freedom classic and talked about it.
Week 3 and 4
The first book, The Hunger Games was hopefully read or reread by this class. We discussed the meaning of the names, talked about how the Capital keeps control and the use of propaganda. I tried to inspire them again to annotate and take notes on the characters by sharing some of the things I wrote down. I kept track of every reference to how the Capital kept control and the first signs of rebellion. I looked for themes and symbols like references to birds. I showed them my notes on the characters, so I could watch how characters and relationships evolve. I asked if they noticed how strange it was for Suzanne Collins to mention that Katniss's birthday is May 8th (take note of 1933 and 1945 and that the astrological sign is a bull. Yup. Get it?) and what the deal was with the moth. There wasn't a ton of discussion on week 4.
Week 5
We had some great discussions this week. I asked how does Panem resemble America today. We talked more about the symbolism and if Cinna was the one who used Katniss to start a rebellion. I handed out study questions for Catching Fire and encouraged them to continue to take character notes and make annotations.
Feb 26- This week we will do the literary analysis, map the plot, hero cycle and assign archetypes.
Catching Fire should be read or reread by March 5.
The first class we went over the syllabus ( as mentioned in the last post ) and requirements to get the literature award(s). I also summarized Theseus and the Minotaur, as that myth heavily influenced The Hunger Games series. I handed out study questions and tried to inspire them to make annotations and take special notes on 3 of the characters. I asked them to look up the meaning of the main characters names, promising that their minds would be blown.
Week 2
We watched several interviews with Suzanne Collins. As a girl she loved reading mythology, and the story of Theseus especially haunted her. She was horrified that a conquering king would remind them that he was in control by feeding them to the minotaur. Killing children as punishment makes a significant impact. We also read Oliver DeMill'es paper about Hunger Games being a new freedom classic and talked about it.
Week 3 and 4
The first book, The Hunger Games was hopefully read or reread by this class. We discussed the meaning of the names, talked about how the Capital keeps control and the use of propaganda. I tried to inspire them again to annotate and take notes on the characters by sharing some of the things I wrote down. I kept track of every reference to how the Capital kept control and the first signs of rebellion. I looked for themes and symbols like references to birds. I showed them my notes on the characters, so I could watch how characters and relationships evolve. I asked if they noticed how strange it was for Suzanne Collins to mention that Katniss's birthday is May 8th (take note of 1933 and 1945 and that the astrological sign is a bull. Yup. Get it?) and what the deal was with the moth. There wasn't a ton of discussion on week 4.
Week 5
We had some great discussions this week. I asked how does Panem resemble America today. We talked more about the symbolism and if Cinna was the one who used Katniss to start a rebellion. I handed out study questions for Catching Fire and encouraged them to continue to take character notes and make annotations.
Feb 26- This week we will do the literary analysis, map the plot, hero cycle and assign archetypes.
Catching Fire should be read or reread by March 5.
Monday, January 26, 2015
Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor!
Last week we reviewed the class syllabus. Scholars will need to read or reread the books for this class. I gave a list of study questions and things to look up to consider as they read. They also can take character notes and watch for the plot outline. The first book needs to be read by Feb 5. Catching Fire by the first class in March, and Mockingjay by the first class in April.
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