We started the day with 20 minutes of independent reading time in the library.
Our Writer's Notebook entry today was a one-page response to this prompt: Never underestimate the power of a kind word.
We continued our exploration of kindness with a "Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley" skit from Saturday Night Live. Students then worked in groups to list as many motivational messages they could think of, from posters to greeting cards. After they created a list, I asked students to choose which of those messages they would like to receive when they were having a bad day. Students then anonymously wrote a message or two on an index card and turned them in. These will turn up again soon!
We shifted our discussion to philosophy. Students took time to discuss the topic in their groups, and I asked what the word meant and what people are famous for it. We learned that "philosophy" comes from the Greek words "philo" and "sophia," meaning "loving" and "wisdom or knowledge." While most philosophers we're familiar with are dead Greek guys like Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates, students also mentioned Confucius, Marx, and Nietzsche. Since wisdom and knowledge are derived from questions, students created a list of universal questions that we seek answers to. After about 4 minutes, I shared Dr. Jacob Needleman's list of 9 great philosophical questions. Many lists contained variations of most of the questions!
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| Needleman's 9 Questions |
We finished class with a quote from Linda Lantieri. We'll explore her ideas in more depth tomorrow. Students should bring their list of books read since 8/24 to class tomorrow.
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| Lantieri's quote on questioning |
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| Today's Board |
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