1/15/16 Friday Agenda

Review of how and why we use Socratic seminars to discuss what we read: Socratic Seminar Review

Everyone stands up and forms a gigantic circle please leave your belongings at your desk.

Choose 1-3 student questions to discuss.
10 mins

Have a Socratic seminar on "Godot and the Great Pumpkin" article.
15 mins

Collect three Level Three questions

In Class Assignment: (Due today before the end of class in group discussion)
15 mins

The process of waiting in the play was very boring.  However, when I thought the play reflected us, it gained meaning. For example, if we leave our works to do and look at our surroundings, we can see many examples like Vladimir and Estragon.  They were mostly us.  They did not make any important changes in their lives.  The only thing they did was just wait for the death, the hope or God.  While waiting, they filled their times with some insignificant things which were talking about boots, watching the dance of Lucky or imitating Pozzo and Lucky's roles.  They even thought about committing suicide by hanging themselves on the tree.  To reflect on our lives, we were born and we will die.  While waiting for death, we fill our lives with some enjoyments.  Like Vladimir and Estragon needed each other, we need somebody to talk, to enjoy or to die with together in our lives.  Like Vladimir and Estragon did not move even they said " I am going," we have some plans but if we do not make an effort, our plans stay just as words.

Discuss whether you agree or disagree with this existentialist view.  Be prepared to explain your answer in front of the class individually or as a group, depending on the discussion that takes place now.

Outside of Class Assignment: 
(Due on Tuesday 1/19/16 typed and double spaced 1 page minimum) 
10 min explanation and question session

Write a one page minimum analysis that must be typed and double spaced that answers the following questions (or part of them) in regards to your reading, discussion and understanding of "Waiting for Godot."   This analysis is due on Tuesday 1/19/16 (the day we return to school after MLK day).

What are some of the things we wait for, perhaps indefinitely?  What is our motivation for waiting? Does the waiting ever pay off or have meaning?  What does the play say about choice?  Do we have choices or only the illusion of choices?  Do our actions have meaning?  Do you agree with Beckett's ideas on this or not?  Does waiting define life or interfere with it?  What are we missing by waiting for something else?  Is it possible to both wait and live at the same time?  In what ways is communication meaningless or ineffective?  What to you think the play might be commenting on here?  Is true communication possible, or is something always lost when we try to express ourselves? What aspects of life are absurd?  What do we accept as normal or rational that an outsider might see as absurd?  Can life be absurd yet still have meaning and purpose?

The rubric that I will be using to grade your response paper is page 15 from this link: 
Smarter Balance Rubrics (see page 15)