Tuesday: Group Presentations and Reflective Writing

Today each group presented their assigned story from a monotheistic culture.  Most groups did a wonderful job of covering the story, including details about character and plot, discussing theme, and addressing the cultural context of the selection.

Then, we looked at all of the titles of the text we have read so far this year and grouped them by monotheist/polytheist world views.  There was some discussion of how each text can reveal aspects of how religious world views can influence individuals or groups within the culture.  We worked with the example of government systems and how government systems may be a reflection of societal perceptions of God/gods.

Assignment: Answer the following three questions which you started answering in class today:

1. What effect does a polytheistic world view have on an individual?
2. What effect does a monotheistic world view have on an individual?
3. What does each system (monotheism or polytheism) reveal about the culture from which it comes?  Think of an area of life (family, schooling, gender roles) and use examples from the texts you have read to support your observation and conclusions.

Assignment: Work on your reading journal!!! 

Thursday: Starting Indian Myth

Today in class we went over the timeline for the remainder of the quarter: One week to go!  Friday next week will be a big day.  Be ready to:

• Turn in your reading journal with 9 new entries.
• Give your book talk by the end of class today.  You can find a helpful PP here: book-talk
• Take a quiz over how to avoid plagiarism– you will need to prove that you can summarize, paraphrase, and make a direct quotation from a sample text.
• Take a quiz over the readings we have completed from AFTER the Egyptian selections up through the end of day Wednesday with Indian Myths. — You should be looking for traits of the epic hero and if the main characters fit these guidelines.

Then, we looked at one selection “Creation Hymn” from the ancient Indian Tradition. We had some class discussion about this, and “Burial Hymn” and then we moved on to a selection from the “Mahabharata”.

Assignment: Read pages 122-125. Answer questions on page 126 #3, 4, 5, 6.

Assignment: Finish reading your book and prepare for your book talk next week.  Please tell me if you want to go Monday.  

WARNING: If every member of class gives their book talk on Friday, this will decrease the time you have to complete the quiz.  Please go on Monday or Wednesday if you can to ensure that everyone gets the maximum time possible for the quiz next Friday.