Life of Pi - Day 15

Happy Friday!  OK, so I know yesterday was a bit of a mind blower...

But now it is time to figure out what your focus will be, and how you will use ideas and evidence from the book to write an 8-page essay about it.

Today you will be working individually to brainstorm a focus question and then an outline. Here are the two documents you need to complete:

• Developing questions
• Writing an outline

Note that you do not need to complete all of the first one - just the parts you find helpful. But you must submit whatever you have on it, plus the outline worksheet, to turnitin.com. Hopefully, you will be able to do that by the end of the period. I plan on responding to them on Saturday, so if you need to complete it later in the day or early Saturday, please be sure to get it to me.

The key here is to come up with a clear question, and with clear topics (sections) to help answer it. You will use sufficient evidence in each of those sections to support your ideas.

Here is a sample outline, without detailed evidence:

• Question: Who are Pi's teachers? In what ways does he learn from them? Which one(s) is the most effective? Why?
• Direct instruction
• Pi's father teaches him about fearing animals
• Religious leaders teach him about faith - Hinduism, Islam, Christianity
• Mr. Kumar (biology teacher) and Mr. Kumar (Muslim mystic)
• Indirect instruction
• Richard Parker - fear, survival, training
• God - faith, love
• Personal ingenuity / reflection
• Changing his name
• Combining multiple religions - just wants to love God
• Lifeboat and supplies - how to use them - be creative
• Plan for dealing with Richard Parker
• Wonder at the natural world
• Faith in God
• Telling his story
• Seeing "the better story" as more important than "dry, yeastless factuality"
• Thesis: Although Pi learns about animals and religion from a variety of sources, he is ultimately his own best (most effective) teacher due to his ability to see beyond facts and appreciate "the better story."

As you can see, this essay does everything it needs to do: it includes all parts of the book, it is organized into clear topics, and it makes an arguable assertion.

Now it is your turn!  Good luck with it! Please feel free to email me with your questions!

Life of Pi - Day 14

For today's final discussion, I'll give you a paper copy of this handout, but here is a link an electronic version of it.

• Handout for final discussion of Life of Pi

You'll develop a question that will serve as the basis for your essay - your essay will be an answer to this question.

• Developing question handout

For class tomorrow, here is a link to the outline assignment.

• Life of Pi outline assignment

Life of Pi - Day 13

Welcome back! I hope you had an excellent long weekend! By the way, you only have two more long weekends left!

Today we'll discuss the end of the book, including reading some of the final section out loud. We'll set up our work for the rest of the week, which includes:

• Final discussion and question proposal tomorrow
• Outline during class on Friday
• A work day on Tuesday
• The final version of your essay due on Wednesday

We will get into more detail about is, but here are the essentials of your assignment:

• Use one of the formats we used last semester - either a single-text analytic essay, an inter-textual essay (linked to one of the books we read last semester), or a personal-hybrid essay.
• You can choose any one of these, and you will have the same set of choices for our next book. 
• This will be an 8-page minimum essay - double-spaced, Times New Roman 12 point font, one inch margins.
• You will be submitting a question proposal (tomorrow in class) and an outline (Friday) before writing the actual essay.
• Your essay must answer your question by using the three parts of the book - the author's note is optional.
• Your essay must make original use of evidence and analysis. I've read the web sites and I can Google "Life of Pi essay" just like you. I look forward to your original interpretations, making use of all of the work we've done in class
• Writing about the author's note
• Comparing zoos and religion
• Writing about names / nicknames
• Discussing Pi's views on religion and animals
• Drawings about early impressions of part 2
• Haiku about part 2
• Survival game
• Writing about routines / rituals
• Written reflection on part 2 - be sure to read my comments in turnitin.com

Life of Pi - Day 12

Here is a link to the writing for today.

If we have a chance to get to it, here is a handout exploring potential ideas about chapter 92.

If you'd like to get a jump on things and start thinking about / working on your essay over the long weekend, here is a link to a handout about the essay, including ways to brainstorm your focus.

Life of Pi - Day 11

We'll watch this video about Indian food together. Then we will read chapters 90 and 91 out loud. Our conversation will explore what happens in these chapters and Pi's condition at this point in the narrative overall.

• Are the dialogues in chapter 90 real or imagined? In what ways can they not be real? Not be imagined? Are there other possibilities?
• What are these chapters saying about the distinction between animals and humans?
• What happens at the end of chapter 90 - and why?
• What role does blindness play in these chapters?
• What do you make of the "story" Pi tells?

Life of Pi - Day 10

Ok, so maybe you aren't singing Destiny's Child in your head when you are reading the book, but we do know that Pi will survive. Somehow.

Yesterday we made a list of the different ways in which fear plays a role during his ordeal at sea - fear of being killed by Richard Parker, fear of not being found and dying of starvation or dehydration, fear of being lonely and not seeing his family again, fear of the ocean and the elements, and fear of the unknown. But we also noted what he does in response to this fear - he accepts his situation and keeps himself busy, mentally, physically, and spiritually.

As we read through the next sections of the book, continue to think about Pi and his situation - what else is happening to him out there? What are the physical, mental, and spiritual factors in this story?

Lastly, we'll write about rituals and routines by looking at chapters 63,74, and 75. What different types of rituals and routines is Pi engaging in here? Why? What is the value / role / importance of those routines?

Life of Pi - Day 9

We'll start the day by writing and sharing haiku. Remember how to write them?

• Write three short lines. Edit all superfluous words. Pare the lines down to their verb and noun roots. Question whether the adjectives and adverbs are necessary. Do you need every article (“a” or “the”)?   
• The essence of Haiku is not descriptive; instead, it presents the reader with a series of images that, when connected with the reader’s imagination, yield a wealth of associations, visions, and emotions.
• A cutting word is the break in a line such as the hyphen before the word mountain that occurred when this poet saw a mountain castle rather than the moon in the sky.  
• Looking for the moon
  In a lonely autumn sky
  - mountain castle lights
• Keep the poem simple; try not to distract the reader with simile, metaphor or rhyme, unless it is necessary to convey the image you see.
• Requirements
• 3-short lines
• 17 syllables: 5 in the first line, 7 in the second, 5 in the third
• You will write two haiku this morning. Start by choosing two phrases / sentences from your reading over the weekend. Those words will appear in your haiku, mixed in with your own words.
• Post your haiku into the document for your class, and be sure to include your name
• First period
• Second period

We'll have a chance for everyone to read one of their poems aloud. We'll also save some time to discuss what we notice in these poems. Lots of them were about fear and its many forms we've seen in the book up to this point.

Life of Pi - Day 8

Today we will start in groups to play a survival game - an imagined scenario in which you need to figure out how to use different items to help your group survive a challenging situation. Then we will read chapters 49-52 to see how Pi's time at sea is going, and how he makes use of the supplies he finds.

Life of Pi - Day 7

Happy Wednesday! Today we will be - drawing! We'll use colored pencils and crayons to create a collage of images from the opening chapters of part 2. Start with images from chapters 37-41, then add one for each of chapters 42-48 as you read.

Life of Pi - Day 6

Yesterday we spoke about the idea of a "leap of faith" - here's a version of it from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade:


Today you will have time to read chapters 30-36, finishing part 1 of the novel. While you are reading, please select a line from either that reading or last night's section (24-29). Choose a line that would be the basis of an interesting discussion - one you will lead with your small group. Copy that line into your notebook for now, and I'll give more instructions later.

After a discussion about the one line you select, you'll work together to name some ideas about what you think this book is about so far. We're at the end of Part 1, so doing this gives us a chance to get our head around it all. We'll list these on the board, and then take a few minutes to do some personal reflecting on one of those ideas - something engaging your interest.

Life of Pi - Day 5

Atheism: an absence of beliefs in the existence of deities; a rejection of beliefs that deities exist; the position that there are no deities

Agnosticism: the existence of God is unknown and is unknowable; the view that human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist

• What happens when religions clash? 
• Can one believe in multiple religions? 
• Who gets to decide? Why? 

Today you will read chapters 21-25 and respond to the questions in bold in your journal. We will have time for a discussion afterwards.

Life of Pi - Day 4

Today we will continue talking about religion. We'll read chapter 15, which happens after Pi's "story that will make us believe in God," when the author visits him at home. We'll talk about the different ritual objects he sees there and the different religions they represent. Then we'll turn our attention to chapter 16 and discuss the different ways in which Pi defines religion - on one side are the object, rituals, and sense associations (smells, tastes, sounds), and on the other are the values and beliefs. We'll finish with a writing about how we balance these in our own lives.

Life of Pi - Day 3

Here is a link to your work for the first part of class today.

Here is a link to the second chart you'll work on today.

		Screen
Windows	Sara Eliana Casey Eddie		Halle Bella Caitlin Eli James
	Kat Lizzie Becky Josh Zach	Nicole Ilana Hannah Jacob Matt	Maddie Erin Tyler Garret

		Screen
Windows	Kylie Caitlin Alan David Conor		Missy Claire Justin L Judd Jacob
	Ellie Camille Maddy Josh Dan	Erika Skyler Aiden Justin G Cam	Marli Audrey Michael Adam Harry