It’s been a strange few weeks here at Pentucket, as we have only been in school for five of the last fifteen school days, then we had February vacation, so I don’t have much to report regarding third quarter. I hope to post students’ new topics and perhaps an example from a new blog next week. For now, I thought I’d take a bit of time to reflect on some of the outstanding projects that students produced for their midterm. If you’ve been reading the blog, you saw the assignment in my previous post. Last year I assigned a similar project to my College Preparation American Literature classes, so many of these students had grappled with a similar assignment before. I enjoyed what they came up with last year, and many of the students did their best work. However, understandably, the investment wasn’t as high in that situation as it was simply one project, based on any book that they wanted. Because of the nature of Topics in Literature and that these students have spent an entire quarter studying something about which they feel genuine passion, I had higher expectations for these projects, and the students did, too!
So, here are some highlights.
After studying J.R.R. Tolkien for a
quarter, Eric decided that he wanted to create a “hobbit hole.” He got permission from his parents to refurbish
a room in his house, and the results were dramatic! Here he is talking about his project. I’ve also included a couple pictures that he
uploaded to his blog.
Before I elaborate
into the blueprints of the space, I would like to explain the motivation behind
the entire mission. Why on earth would I
build a hobbit-hole? Will I gain anything
out of this? Is this idea completely
ridiculous? All of these are questions I
asked myself when the thought of building a hobbit-hole traversed my mind, but
I knew that the task would prove to be meaningful. My fascination with hobbits is not entirely
based on cinematic obsession, but rather the lifestyle of the Tolkien-created
hobbits themselves. In both the movies
and the books, the most peaceful, content creatures to exist are hobbits. I
have always admired the simple-mindedness of the halflings because I believe
wisdom resides in simplicity. As I appreciate
the lifestyle of hobbits, so does their creator. While discussing the content
of his books to an interviewer, J.R.R. Tolkien said, “I am in fact a Hobbit in
all but size. I like gardens, trees, and
unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, and like good plain food (unrefrigerated),
but detest French cooking; I like, and even dare to wear in these dull days,
ornamental waistcoats. I am fond of mushrooms
(out of a field); have a very simple sense of humor (which even my appreciative
critics find tiresome; I go to bed late and get up late (when possible). I do
not travel much.” The lifestyle of hobbits
is not impracticable. Rather, it is
completely attainable. I desire the
simplicity of Hobbits. What does one
need more than good nourishment, a quaint home, and friendly merriment? I
desired a place that would include all the joys of living and at the same time
be absent of wealth and opulence.
Inevitably, I asked myself, “why not create this dream and bring it to
life?” Now that I have completed construction, I have no regrets.
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I know several
people who have been on Eric’s blog and been absolutely astounded by his work. What a cool idea, and how great that his parents
were in on it as well! That’s the kind of thing I hope will happen more and
more.
Next, Jess decided, unsurprisingly,
to create a painting in homage to one of the artists that she studied first
quarter. Here’s part of what she had to
say about it and the final version of the piece.
For my midterm project,
which requires 8-10 hours of work on something relating to my topic, I chose to
make a painting. Because one of Frida
Kahlo’s biggest values was individual expression, I made a mixed media piece
that allows for just that. The piece is
a square canvas featuring a bust in the center and two small books on either
side. The bust’s face is obscured by
mirror fragments, but the simple features are recognizably Frida’s. I was intending for the viewer to look at the
piece and see themselves alongside the famous artist because Frida valued her
art just as much as everyone else’s.
This piece translates one of Frida’s self-portraits into a universal “self-portrait”
that the viewer can relate to.
I think that Frida would have been
happy with this piece if I showed it to her.
Since she valued individuality so much, she would have enjoyed the
meaning behind this work, found not only in the attachment that other people
have to the symbols but the attachment I have with the painting itself. I spent a lot of time on this, and although
it’s certainly not my finest piece, I enjoyed working on it and I hope that
this will lead into a further understanding of other artists’ work.
I really hope
that Jess becomes an art teacher. What
great experimentation, and how inspiring for her future students that she was
willing to take such a risk!
Lastly, I want to highlight Mike’s
project. Like Eric and Jess, Mike was
also in one of my classes last year, the first class that I introduced to this
project. I’m sure he’ll admit that he
has not been reaching his true potential in that class until that point. However, the project really turned something
around for him. Mike’s project on
organic food was the best work that he did for me and some of the best work in the
class. I designed Topics in Literature
with him, and students like him, in mind, and I’m so happy I did. Here’s the quote from The Last American
Man that inspired Mike’s project, and here’s what he decided to do.
“I lived in nature where
everything is connected, circular. The
seasons are circular. The planet is circular,
and so is the planet around the sun. The
course of water over the earth is circular coming down from the sky and circulating
through the world to spread life and then evaporating up again. I live in a circular teepee and build my fire
in a circle. The life cycles of plants
and animals are circular. I live outside
where I can see this. The ancient people
understood that our world is a circle, but we modern people have lost sight of
that. I don’t live inside buildings
because buildings are dead places where nothing grows, where water doesn’t flow,
and where life stops. I don’t want to
live in a dead place. People say that I
don’t live in a real world, but its modern Americans who live in a fake world, because
they have stepped outside the natural circle of life. Do people live in circles today? No. They live
in boxes. They wake up every morning in
a box of their bedrooms because a box next to them started making beeping
noises to tell them it was time to get up.
They eat their breakfast out of a box and then they throw that box away
into another box. Then they leave the
box where they live and get into another box with wheels and drive to work,
sitting and staring at the computer boxes in front of them. When the day is
over, everyone gets into the box with wheels again and goes home to the house
boxes and spends the evening staring at the television boxes for entertainment. They get their music from a box, they get
their food from a box, they keep their clothing in a box, they live their lives
in a box.”
For my midterm project this year, I
used my second quarter topic of nature and transcendentalism, as I felt I could
really do something unusually cool with it.
I learned a lot about nature and the connection to it many of us in
today’s world lack. It really was an eye
opening experience being able to read many books written or based on men who
explain to us not only their personal connection with nature, yet how we can further
develop ours…
This was certainly a new angle to
look at while thinking about modern society and how we spend our time. We are all buried in our phone, computers, and
TVs, and so this was the first motivator for my project. I knew that I wanted to do something
outside,, independent of technology, and to do with my hands. I figured a teepee would be too simple so I
decided to build a sort of circular tree house, and spend hours on it
outside. In order to do this I first put
my phone away, grabbed an old radio and found a tree with my dad. We figured we would need around 10 2X4s, some
plywood for the base, metal joints for support, and a couple boxes of screws.
Once we had started by joining the 2X4s to the tree for initial support, the
rest of it was actually enjoyable. It
took around a weekend to complete, 4 hours on Saturday and Sunday. What I didn’t expect to have happen from the project
was too actually enjoy building it however. Listening to some country music and
just talking to my dad had been something that really made this project for
me. It was amazing to just be able to
put all stresses to the side for a little and have some fun, making jokes, and
just spending time with my dad, which I don’t get to do too often anymore with
sports and school in way. Before I
started the action for this project, I knew it was going to be cool, but I didn’t
know exactly where I was taking it or in what ways I was going to connect it to
nature and my topic. This was really
neat because it ended up with me realizing exactly what the quote meant, and
more so experiencing it than analyzing it as I have done this year on
blogger. Being able to just hangout, enjoy
the crisp weather with a cup of coffee, and relax while working on this project
is something that I believe Eustace would see as a step in the right direction
for me. In the end, I feel the project
ended up being less about the tree house and more about me connecting and
experiencing nature in a way I hadn’t been able to before. I would consider this a complete success, where
my tree house not only ended up working out, but there was a deeper lesson
learned in working on it. Over this
quarter it has become more and more apparent that everyone gets caught up in
the everyday stresses of life. Eustace
often goes back to speak about past times, years ago when all we needed was
basics to survive and be happy. After
putting technology away and basically having fun hanging out with my dad, I
completely understand what he had meant by this. I feel that this also can relate to a psych class
I took last semester. Many people resort
to medication and therapy, in which they pay for, and further more go on to sit
in another box (dead object) in order to deal with their problems. I really believe that these “man-made/discovered”
options can be easily avoided and replaced with something different. If people could see what losing yourself in
beautiful weather, nature, and a stress-free environment can do for our minds,
bodies, and overall well-being, I think that this could be absolutely
revolutionizing and positive. Unfortunately,
this may be seen as too “time-consuming,” which really is sad because nature
and our natural connection to it from birth has so much more to offer to our
well-being than meets the eye.
Mike is a sweet kid who is just starting
to grow into his potential. I honestly
loved not just his project but his reflection on it. Seeing him talk about his dad and his
experience in nature made me proud to be his teacher and excited to see what
kinds of connections he will make in the coming semester.
I can’t
highlight all of the projects here, but suffice it to say that there were many,
many cool ones. Students interviewed
veterans, went on hunts for local, historical landmarks, job shadowed, and
wrote fiction. They considered aspects
of their lifestyles that they might want to change, and they were engaged and
articulate. I’m so happy that they threw
themselves into these projects in the way that they did. As I quoted E.M. Forster in my first ever
post for this class, “One person with passion is better than forty people
merely interested.”
More from third
quarter next week! J
CJF
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