The Masks We Wear

I read an article in the NY Times today that gave me an idea for a Lesson Plan. The article talked about Halsman-a photographer who caught several notable people on film jumping. He called it jumpology. He said that when people are thinking about jumping --actually jumping--they let their mask down and he is able to capture who they really are.

I thought it would be fun for students to design a mask that hides who they are--maybe a hidden face behind the mask, and then write a paper about who they are, what they mask, and why they mask this, and ultimately is it a good thing to mask. Because there are very good reasons to present ourselves in appropriate ways to the several communities we belong to. Where did we learn to hide? What would happen if we wore no masks. This could lead to a much deeper conversation about societies claims on us. Example, the repercussions of wearing sketcher shapers in CA is completely different than wearing them in Utah. This can lead to how communities actually define themselves--what the expectations are.

A follow-up activity could be making a mask for a parent or close relative--how the student perceives the public and private person and what they think about it.

We could start the lesson by reviewing some of halsman work. Perhaps even the 6 Q’s About the News. Take some pictures and see what we get and then move into the mask assignment.

If you command the language, you command the ideas

"If you command the language, you command the ideas." If you command the language of your discipline, you command the ideas of that discipline.

Learning From Harriet the Spy

If we only listen to one person's opinion, we may never get anywhere new.







Glee's Mr. Schuester said, "I just want you guys to listen critically and know that what he is saying is just one of many opinions."

The Danish and The Jews during the Holocaust

Denmark managed to save almost all of their Jewish citizens from death during the Holocaust.
How'd they do that? And why didn't more countries follow suit? And was Sweden able to stay neutral only because of its geography.

Culture

This opening quote in Cultura crystallized my thoughts on cross-culture relations,

"The Greatest Distance between people is not distance but culture."

I think this sentence hits the nail on the head. I really thought in my innocence that people of different cultural backgrounds could get along. However, even though I still think this is true, I now know that it is a very complicated issue.

The most recent thing in the news discussing this ongoing conflict is a law Arizona passed that bans ethnic studies programs in high schools.

The Flood

antediluvian

I think this word is a super fun.
ante-means before
diluv-means wash away
So, 'antediluvian means' "before the flood"--the biblical one.



I was reading an email from Oprah's Book Club, and after clicking on a few links found myself reading an article by Jodi Picoult. I have heard of her but haven't read any of her books, now, however, after reading her thoughts on the reader's relationship with the text and seeing a few of the books she recommends (and why she likes them) I may read one of hers in the near future.
This is part of what she had to say (The dark blue bits are the bits I liked the most, and can be a good lead in to discussing with students their ever present questions about why; why are we reading this?):

I think we have stories because they help us understand who we are. But there's a tendency to assume that a story must be ingested in a certain way, that it must mean one thing. So readers are always trying to ferret out the truth. I want to argue that this idea is a raging and utter lie. The reader brings as much to the book as the writer does: You're bringing your past, you're bringing your thoughts, you're bringing your future.

It's my job as a writer to tell you a story that's going to take you away from whatever you're doing—your laundry, your kids, whatever—but that, to me, is the least important part. When I sit down to write a book, my goal is to make you ask yourself, "Why are my opinions what they are?" I'm not going to make you change them necessarily. You might if I've done a good job, but at the very least, you're going to ask yourself where you stand on a given issue. To me, the mark of a great book is that it can move a variety of people, even though each person is connecting in a different way. The purpose of a story is to be a crowbar that slides under your skin and, with luck, cracks your mind wide open.
http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Jodi-Picoults-Books-That-Made-a-Difference