P.O.T.S #3

You and your family are in imminent danger. There has been an emergency broadcast informing citizen to take refuge north 25 miles beyond the limits of the city of Orange. You have three minutes to prepare an emergency pack. There is no public transportation available and other resources are limited. How many people are you traveling with - who are they and ages? What will you take with you and why? Write your first journal entry to chronicle your thoughts and concerns for what might be a long displacement.

P.O.T.S #2

An important issue in this novel is how well people know one another and when and how to trust people. Lauren struggles between her love for Curtis and her concern that he might not understand or accept both her hyperempathy or her Earthseed ideas. She tells Harry Balter about her hyperempathy, and he worries that he can't trust her because he feels like he doesn't really know her.

How do you learn to trust? How much do you have to know about a person in order to trust that person? what sort of lessons about trust do you think this novel holds for us? Do you think that it is easier or harder to trust people in our current social situation? (Be sure to answer the question completly and thoroughly)

P.O.T.S # 1

Chapter 9 of Parable of the Sower (P.O.T.S) opens, "All struggles/Are essentially/power struggles./Who wil rule,/Who will lead,/Who will define,/refine,/confine,/design, who will dominate./All struggles/Are essentially/power struggles,/And most/are no more intellectual/than two rams/knocking their heads together." - EARTHSEED: THE BOOK OF THE LIVING (page 94)
Explain what Lauren, the main character, means by this statement. How is it relevant to human existence and interaction? Use examples for life experience, literature and various reading to express your points.

Black History Month Independent Reading

Based on the novel you chose for independent reading, choose a quote and explain the historical significance of the book. Or, discuss an inspirational character or part of the book. Please be sure to give the title of the book and pages you are referencing.

Opinion #3

Student Opinion

The Learning Network Blog

Who Inspires You?

By HOLLY EPSTEIN OJALVO

Do you look to a basketball player like Jeremy Lin or another high-profile person as a source of pride and inspiration?

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/who-inspires-you/?nl=learning&emc=learninga3

Student Opinion #2

Should the Dropout Age Be Raised?

By DANIEL E. SLOTNIK

Student Opinion | Do you think that students across the country should be required to attend school until they turn 18?

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/should-the-dropout-age-be-raised/?nl=learning&emc=learninga3

Student Opinion #1

Should home-schoolers be allowed to play public school sports? Below is a link to the article from the New York TImes.

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/should-home-schoolers-be-allowed-to-play-public-school-sports/?nl=learning&emc=learninga3

Walden Journey #7

Thoreau makes an interesting point when confronted with the opinion that the ancient men were more intelligent than contemporary  American men. He says that while this may be true. "a living dog is better than a dead lion." He goes on to say that people should try to be all that they can be, regardless of whether they can ever live up to the success of others who came before them. Do you agre? why or why not? Respose is minimally 16 sentences

Walden Journey #6

In Essay 13 "House-Warming", Thoreau writes "You can always see a face in the fire." Read the passage on page 164, prior to the poem, to get a contextual understanding of the statement. Interpret what Thoreau is saying and whether you agree or disagree. (Minimal response should be 16 sentences.)

Walden Journey #5

Choose one sentence from the conclusion (write sentence and page #) and give an example of something in your life that supports the truth in the sentence. Your response should be no less than 16 sentences.

Walden Journey # 4

The crux of this book is explained in the following the passage: "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,...and to see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." Why do you think Thoreau believes that living in nature is the only way to truely "live"? (response must be a minimum of 16 sentences)

Walden Journey #3

Thoreau continuously discusses the "Economy." Explain what Thoreau means by the following statement: "The student who secures his coveted leisure and retirement by systematically shrinking any labor necessary to man obtains but an ignoble and unprofitable leisure, defrauding himself of the experience which alone can make leisure fruitful." (page 33) response minimally 16 sentences.

Walden Journey # 2

On page 20 Thoreau asks, "Would the savage be wise to exchange his wigwam for a palace on these terms?" What do you think his answer might be? On another note, in what manner is Thoreau using rhetorical questions throughout Walden thus far? (respond to both questions in separate paragraphs with a minimum of 16 sentences between the two)

Walden Journey #1

Thoreau says it is an interesting question "how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes."Why do people need to tell others their rank simply by thier clothing? Do ideas such wearing uniforms help curtail some of the snobbery? (RESPONSE MUST BE MINIMUM OF 16 SENTENCES- SHORT ISN'T ALWAYS MOST EFFECTIVE)