Your Beast: childhood fears and Lord of the Flies

A motif in this text is the beast.  Often, people ask what this beast really is as, for many chapters, we don't find out.  Let's use this writing response to consider what this motif represents and to frontload our reading..

Respond to the questions below in 1 cohesive paragraph.  Employ effective writing skills, beginning with a topic sentence, supoprting your thinking, etc.

• When you were little, what irrational fears did you have?
• Where did this fear come from?
• How did that irrantional fear look?  For example, if it was amonster under your bed, when you closed your eyes, how did you imagine that monster looking?
• What fears have replaced it?  Why?

I'll start.

When I was little, I had an irrational fear of sharks in the ocean because I lived by the shore.  Particularly, I used to dream of my house filling with water, and sharks who swam to the Jaws theme song travelled up my stairs in into my bedroom in herd, chomping at me as I helplessly clung to my covers in the hopes they'd save me. 
Now that I've gotten older, I hold on to this fear of sharks and have added some other fears as well.  I am still terrified of the ocean, and won't swim in deep water.  I would say, though, that my most pervasive fear is something happening to someone I love.  Every time my husband is out without me, I'm worried he'll get in a car accident on the way home.  Every time a family member feels sick or go to the doctor, I'm afraid they have cancer.  Though I know some of these fears are a result of my personal experiences, others are inexplicable; I have been lucky enough, for example, to not have known anyone who died in a car crash. I think they simply come from shifting values.

Happy Posting!

Final Discussion of Anthem

Use the prompt on the overhead to begin your discussion.  After you've made your first post, use your classmates' questions to generate further discussion. 

Questions over chapter 1 of Anthem

We will take the first 15 minutes of class to pose and respond to questions chapter 1 of Anthem inspired for you.  Everyone needs to participate AT LEAST ONCE.  You have 2 options of participation:

1.  To pose questions you were left with having finished the first chapter.
2.  To help your classmates improve their understanding by responding to the questions posed.

Keep in mind this is a formal, academic assignment.  Be sure, then, to punctuate your response correctly, to use correct capitalization and grammar, etc. 

Personal Interaction Wheel

As we discussed yesterday, The Odyssey is, at its essence, a story about a family separated.  In addition to focusing on Odysseus's adventures, we learn about the hardships Penelope and Telemachus have endured in their husband/ father's absence.  Given this fact, as we read The Odyssey, we'll be talking a lot about family, yours and that of Odysseus.  So let's do some thinking about what our personal interaction wheels reveal. 

Answer at least one of the following questions or craft a free response that captures what your wheel helped you learn about your relationships with your family. 

• How much time do you spend with your family?  Would you like to spend more, or less time, with them?
• What role does your family have in making you the person you are today?  In other words, what part do they serve in all those memories and personality traits you wrote about?
• What effect do they have on you?  Mostly positive or mostly negative?
• Why do you think this is?
• Is one of your family members a person to whom you consider yourself the closest?

I'll start...
As I look at my personal interaction wheel, I realize that my family is often the group that I spend the least amount of time with but whom I'd like to spend more.  Particularly in my day-to-day life during the school year, most of my time is spent with students and colleagues as opposed to my family .  I am at school for at least 50 hours a week, and only see my parents, for example, every couple weeks for a meal.  This was a valuable insight to me and helped me realize that I should be sure my time is spent on what I most value.  Regardless of the time spent, however, I realize that my family is the unit that makes the biggest difference in who I am as a person and they are always my best friends, and the people who I most trust, whether that time is spent or not. 

Testing 1,2 3