Fourth quarter at Pentucket is always
short for seniors, but this year is especially so because we had to move third
quarter back a week. Therefore the
seniors are having an approximately six-week quarter, interrupted by various
senior activities and duties. This is
too bad because, of course, students are now really comfortable with the routines
of class, more adjusted to blogging, and their reading fluency has increased a
great deal. For this reason, I’m still
expecting them to read as close to 1,000 pages as possible in the time that
they have, but I know that most students will only have time for about eight
hundred.
Here’s what they’ve been studying:
Ben D.L. – adventure
Ben K. – exploration
Brayden – surfing
Chris – J.R.R. Tolkien
Colten – autism
Eric – Native Americans
Jak – overcoming childhood obstacles
Jess – hiking
John-Luc – navigation
Kelcy – alternate history
Lauren – autism
Luke – The Maze Runner series
Max – H.P. Lovecraft
Michaela – revealing masks, then inspirational stories
Mike – athletes with addiction problems
Nicolette – addiction
Riley – war
Sean – Manga
Yiannis – fantasy
Every quarter has seen an incredible
variety of topics, which has been one of my favorite aspects of this class. This quarter, though, not only are students
studying a multitude of topics, they are writing about them more eloquently
than ever. This makes sense as I expect
that they have written more this year than they have in the past, and each
quarter should show some improvement in the quality of their work. I have found that I could, theoretically,
take blurbs of multiple blogs each week to highlight here. Instead, though, I’ve chosen three students whose
work I have not yet displayed. I hope
this class has been a positive experience all around, but I think it’s
especially evident in these three excerpts.
Brayden has been writing very
consistently for the entire school year.
He was one of the first students to really seem comfortable keeping a
blog, and he’s been great about uploading pictures and videos to make his entries
more visually appealing. This quarter he
is reading and writing about surfing, which I admit to being a bit skeptical of
at first. However, his entries have been
so thoughtful, and he’s been making many connections, which I have really
enjoyed. Here he is talking about his
first book:
Early in the week I finished Cliffs of Insanity. It was
an interesting book that followed the lives of Irish surfers surfing in some of
the most treacherous waters in the world.
The underlying message Keith Duggan was trying to get across was to really
do what matters most to you in life. In
reading the book, I was reminded of a quote by Emerson, “Trust thyself; every
heart vibrates to that iron string.” In
order to be happy in life, we must all participate in activities that give us
the most enjoyment. We need to listen to
ourselves in the same way surfers such as Fergal Smith did. The last quote in the book further reminds us
to really get all we can out of life. “So
try and see them moving through one of those great eternal waves if you can,
and remember that they are, like all of us, just passing through” (Duggan
251). The cliffs in Ireland have been
around for years and will continue to be here long after we are gone. We really need to make the most of the time we
have and spend that time doing activities we really enjoy.
I’m excited for
Brayden’s surfing/clean-up project and to see what he learns about the effort that
it takes to keep these environments as pure as possible.
Next, Chris has been an inconsistent
blogger this year, but this quarter he has really picked it up during his study
of J.R.R. Tolkien. I have had several
students choose Tolkien books as their quarter topic over the course of the
year, but I’ve seen the most significant change in Chris’s work since he
did. His blogs have been incredibly
long, detailed, and very analytical.
Here is just a small excerpt.
This betrayal from Sam may seem insignificant at
first, but it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. From that point on, Gollum’s attitude towards
the hobbits, Sam in particular, becomes much more sinister and hateful. All the trust he had in Sam is gone, and
although he still at times is torn about killing Frodo, he seems to actively
want Sam dead after this incident. The
shame of it that I think had Sam show Gollum kindness in that moment, Gollum
may have been able to redeem himself before the end (though it is unlikely
either way that the ring would be destroyed without Gollum dying). This is another example of Tolkien’s emphasis
on kindness and mercy to even the lowliest of creatures.
I’m not sure if
Chris’ project is going to be Tolkien related or what he could do with that
(other than some creative writing himself), but I’ve been happy to see him work
to his potential.
Lastly, Sean is a student I’ve
taught for the past two years. He is a
bright kid who is genuinely curious about many things. However, he does not “play the game”
particularly well. In fact, he generally
refuses to play at all. He’ll read books
but not do homework, he’s great in discussion but only if he’s interested, he
prioritizes things other than grades.
Some of this is admirable, but it is frustrating to see someone who is
so capable earn grades below his potential.
This quarter, however, has been much better. He chose a topic that I know nothing about
and talks about it below:
For my fourth quarter of my Topics in Literature
class, I have chosen to read and blog about Manga, a Japanese style of
illustration and storytelling. I am
currently reading Naruto.
(SAHS-kay)= Sasuke
(Or-ROH-CHI-mah-roo)= Orochimaru
The main anti-hero of the story is Sasuke. He is originally the protagonist’s teammate,
reluctant friend, and fierce rival. Upon
the completion of the original “Naruto” series, Sasuke leaves the Hidden Leaf
Village in order to grow stronger and exact revenge on his brother. The story then takes a three year break while
Naruto travels and trains, and Sasuke does the same. When the story returns, however, Sasuke has
grown exponentially stronger than Naruto has.
While Naruto is doing things the traditional ways, with hard work and
determination, lacking natural skill, Sasuke has been training with the Legendary
Sanin named Orochimaru. This man
conducts medical experiments on humans, akin to those attributed to Nazi
scientists during WWII, in order to grow stronger. So, Sasuke has access to these experimental techniques
and will stop at no lengths to become more powerful, while Naruto is following
a more natural, regular progression.
I think this entire concept can be taken metaphorically
and applied to the world today. The contrast
between a genuinely nice person who wants only better in the world and
happiness for its people (Naruto), and the cutthroat tycoon who will stop at
nothing to earn another dollar. For whatever
reason it may be, that cutthroat man will treat business as if he were Sasuke
training for his final fight. He would
use a teacher for as long as he needed him, until he can surpass the teacher,
and then discard him and move on. Sasuke
does this with his teacher, Orochimaru, who he kills after the three years of
training. Orochimaru was previously
known as infinitely powerful. And then,
they get to the top, but it still doesn’t fell right. Because they have destroyed personal
relationships on the way, the throne is one of isolation as well, which is not success
at all in my eyes.
It’s easy to see
how thoughtful Sean is and how this topic brings together diverse interests. I hope that he draws/writes his own Manga for
his year-end project!
So that’s where we are for our
shortened fourth quarter. I’ll write
another post soon with project information and my end of the year reflections!
J
CJF
