Handouts, assignments, schedules, etc.
Goals for Reading, Discussing and Writing about The Chosen
1. Students will learn about others by listening to them and asking them questions about their thinking
2. Students will learn how texts operate, how they shape our thought and manipulate our emotions
3. Students will learn about cultures and societies, their varying concepts of the “good life,” of love and hate, justice and revenge, good and evil, and other significant issues of human experience
4. Students should learn how context shapes meaning
5. Students should learn about the processes by which they make meaning (by thinking about literary texts or about life experiences)
Handouts
Reading Schedule
Study Guide Questions
Time article about Freud
Worksheet: questions about Freud articleCompanion Poems
How has Judaism contributed to Human Rights?
Anchor Texts
“Facebook Users Get Worse Grades” - Reflect on this article together with Chapter 14 of the Chosen
Posted by Michael L Umphrey on 09/02 at 09:02 AM
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Contemporary •Advanced English 11: D’Arcy McNickle
Wind From An Enemy SkyClass Wiki for Wind from an Enemy Sky
Fri March 6 Chap 1-2 (1-25)
Mon, March 9 Chap 3-4 (26-39)
Tues, Mar 10 Chap 5-6 (40-52)
Wed, Mar 11 Chap 7-8 (53-65)
Thurs, Mar 12 Chap 9-10 (66-85)
Fri, Mar 13 Chap 11-12 (86-100)Mon, Mar 16 Chap 13-14 (101-111)
Tues, Mar 17 Chap 15-16 (112 - 128)
Wed, Mar 18 Chap 17-18 (129-151)
Thurs, Mar 19 Chap 19-20 (152-173)
Fri, Mar 20 Chap 21-22 (174-187)Mon, Mar 23 Chap 23-24 (188-198)
Tues, Mar 24 Chap 25-26 (199-215)
Wed, Mar 25 Chap 27-28 (216-226)
Thurs, Mar 26 Chap 29-30 (227-241)
Fri, Mar 27 Chap 31-32 (242-258)Discussion Leader Guidelines
Summarizer Guidelines
Passage_Master Guidelines
Word_Reporter GuidelinesPosted by Michael L Umphrey on 03/03 at 11:14 AM
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Advanced Placement • Contemporary •McNickle: Student resources - handouts, assignments, etc.
Wind from an Enemy SkyMay 19 Hand out books, read first 2 chapters
May 20 Chap 1-2 (1-25)
May 21 Chap 3-4 (26-39)
May 22 Chap 5-6 (40-52)
May 23 Chap 7-8 (53-65)May 26 Memorial Day No School
May 27 Chap 9-10 (66-85)
May 28 Chap 11-12 (86-100)
May 29 Chap 13-14 (101-111)
May 30 Chap 15-16 (112 - 128)June 2 Chap 17-18 (129-151)
June 3 Chap 18-20 (152-173)
June 4 Chap 21-22 (174-187)
June 5 Chap 23-24 (188-198)
June 6 Chap 25-26 (199-215)June 9 Chap 27-28 (216-226)
June 10 Chap 29-30 (227-241)
June 11 Chap 31-32 (242-258) Quarter Final Exam (Chosen, River, Wind)
June 12 Last Day / CheckoutPosted by Michael L Umphrey on 05/09 at 01:45 PM
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Contemporary • Local Studies •The Chosen
Study GuidePrintable PDF Copy of Study Guide
BOOK ONE
Chapter One
Hasidic - the members of a sect of Jewish mystics that originated in Poland in the eighteenth century
samovars - metal urns used throughout Russia for boiling water for tea
Yiddish - a language spoken by many European Jews and their descendants
Michna service - afternoon services
Shabbat - the Sabbath, the day set apart in the fourth commandment of the Bible to be observed as a day of rest from all labor, originally the seventh day of the week, Saturday, the day on which God rested from the work of creation
Yeshiva - a school or college for Talmudic studies, combining religious and secular studies
Apikorism - Jews who are not Hasids; an extremely negative term
Shamashim - an official in synagogue
Jewish Orthodox - strictly observing the rites and traditions of Judaism as formulated in the Torah and Talmud
Talmud - the collection of writings constituting the Jewish civil and religious law. It consists of two parts
tzitzit (zitzit) - the fringes or tassels worn by orthodox Jewish men
Torah - the first five books of the Old Testament
momzer - a curse; a term of abuse1. Why do the Jewish parochial schools have competitive baseball leagues?
2. Briefly describe Mr. Galanter. What is his baseball philosophy?
3. What painful thing does Reuven do just before the start of a game?
4. Contrast the uniforms of the opposing team with the way Reuven’s team is dressed.
5. What does the first confrontation between the two coaches signify?
6. Briefly describe Danny Saunders. Why is Reuven angry when Danny calls the team apikorism?
7. As the game continues, why does Reuven find himself more and more angry at the opposing team?
8. For what reasons does Mr. Galanter put Reuven in as the pitcher for the last inning of the game?
9. List two possible reasons Reuven decides to throw a fastball to Danny for the last strike.
10. Briefly describe Reuven’s injuries. Why does Mr. Galanter go to call a cab after his team loses the game?Chapter Two
kosher - food which is considered fit to eat by Jewish law
abba - father
tefillin - an assist and reminder used in Jewish prayer1. Describe a few things which occur at the very beginning of Reuven’s hospital stay.
2. Briefly describe Mr. Savo, Billy, and Reuven’s father.
3. How does Reuven feel about Danny Saunders? What does his father think about his son’s attitude toward Danny? State a theme for this story based on Mr. Malter’s advice to Reuven that he should listen when someone wants to talk to him.
4. Why is Reuven worried about his eye? What insight does Reuven gain about life while worrying about his eye?
5. What does Reuven’s father do for a living?
6. Could Reuven’s thoughts about blindness also serve as a theme? If so, what?Chapter Three
phylacteries - a leather box which holds passages from the Torah, worn during prayers
rabbi - the Jewish religious leader, similar to a priest or minister
blatt - a section of reading from the Talmad1. What is happening in Europe that is exciting to the patients in the ward?
2. Why does Reuven need to ask the nurse for permission to pray during his phylactery?
3. Why does Reuven say to Danny, “. . .you can go to hell, and take your whole snooty bunch of Hasidism along with you!”? (pg. 63) In what way is Reuven being unfair to Danny and his team?
4. What rule from the Talmud does Reuven violate when he sends Danny home?
5. While talking to Danny in the hospital, why does Reuven have “the feeling that everything around [him] was out of focus”? (pg. 67)
6. How does Danny learn “two blatt” of Talmud each day?
7. Why is Danny surprised Reuven wants to be a Rabbi? What does Danny want to be?
8. In what way is Reuven partly responsible for his own injury?
9. Why does Reb Saunders not like to write? What does he mean when he says “he wishes everyone could talk in silence”?
10. What is ironic about Danny’s answer that his father is “quite a man”? (pg. 22)Chapter Four
1. State a theme for this story based on the following passage from this chapter:
“I wish I was outside now,” I said. “I envy them being able to walk around like that. They don’t know how lucky they are.”
“No one knows he is fortunate until he becomes unfortunate,” my father said quietyly. “That is the way the world is.”2. State another theme for this story based on Mr. Malter’s reaction to Reuven’s story of Danny Saunders’ visit.
3. What two things does the Talmud say a person must do for himself? How does Mr. Malter define friendship? Why do you think he wants Reuven and Danny to be friends?
4. State why you agree or disagree with the following statement made by Mr. Savo when he is warning Reuven to be careful about making friends with Danny:
“You’re a good kid. So I’m telling you, watch out for those fanatics. They’re the worse cloppers around.” (pg. 76)
5. What, according to Danny’s father, is a Jew’s mission in life? Why is Danny confused by this idea?
6. Why is Reuven confused about Danny?
7. In what way is Danny’s life similar to Billy’s?
8. How does Danny feel when he first realizes Mr. Malter is the same man who has been suggesting books for him to read in the library? What happens to make Danny comfortable again?BOOK TWO
Chapter Five
1. Briefly describe Manya.
2. What does the following passage from the novel tell the reader about how Reuven’s experience during the last five days have changed his life?
“I felt I had crossed into another world, that little pieces of my old self had been left behind on the black asphalt floor of the school yard alongside the shattered lens of my glasses. . .I lay very still on the lounge chair and thought a long time about Danny.” (pg. 96)Chapter Six
shofar - a wind instrument made from a ram’s horn
tallit - a shawl for prayer
kabbalah - a book of Jewish mysticism
mitnaged - a sect which opposed the Hasids1. Briefly describe the relationship between the Jewish people and the nobles of Poland. In what way did the Jews act as a buffer between the nobles and the serfs? How did this position lead to the destruction of the great Jewish community in Poland?
2. What happened to the faith of the Jewish people after the Chmielnicki uprising?
3. Briefly summarize Israel’s (Besht’s) teachings, known as Hasidism.
4. Reuven’s father tells him the story of the evolution of the Hasids. Who is the tzaddik of the Hasidic community? How does the Hasidic movement begin to degenerate? Which kind of Hasidic sect does Danny belong to?
5. Why is the story of Solomon Maimon sad? How is he similar to Danny?
6. The character of Reuven’s father is frequently the author’s voice, stating the themes of the book. He often finishes a statement clarifying a theme with the words, “That is the way the world is.” Find a similar quotation at the end of the chapter. What theme is he summarizing for the reader?Chapter Seven
shtibblach - the name for the house of worship in a Hasidic sect
shul - school
ark - an enclosure in a synagogue or temple for the scrolls of the Torah
caftan - a long garment like a jacket
kaddish - a prayer for someone who has died
challah - type of bread
amalek - heathen
b’kuit - simple interpretations of the Talmud
nu - “good," “well,” “continue;” the word has many different connotions; similar to “so”
gematriya - a mystical method of interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures based upon the numerical value of the letters in the words.
Havdalah - a brief service at the end of Shabbat1. Why is Danny’s uncle, his father’s older brother, not inherit the rabbinical position? How did Reb Saunders save his Hasidic community?
2. Why, according to Danny, did the devotees of Reb Saunders all follow him to America? What is Reuven’s opinion of that?
3. What is the author saying about Danny by using this extended metaphor to compare him to a blind soldier?
“I began to hear, distinctly, the tapping sounds of Danny’s metal-capped shoes. . .and I remembered the old man I often saw walking along Lee Avenue, moving carefully through the busy street and tapping, tapping, his metal-capped cane, which served him for the eyes he had lost in a First World trench during a German gas attack.” (pg. 116)
4. What is “number one on [the Hasidic community’s] catechism? How does the community react when Rabbi Saunders enters the synagogue? What is symbolic about his appearance?
5. Reb Saunders shakes hands with Reuven twice in this chapter. How is the second time different from the first?
6. Briefly describe Danny’s little brother. How does he behave during the service?
7. Who is the Master of the Universe Reb Saunders refers to when he speaks? How can the Master of the Universe fulfill a man’s wishes?
8. List two parts of Reb Saunders’ service that Danny disagrees with?
9. What ritual does Danny endure each week?
10. List one way Reb Saunders approves and one he disapproves of Mr. Malter.
11. Who is Rav Gershenson?
12. In what way does David Malter defend Reb Saunders’ practice of publicly arguing the Talmud with Danny?
13. Find a passage in this chapter where the character of Mr. Malter, while discussing Danny’s training, restates a theme for this novel.
14. What is David Malter’s opinion of Reb Saunders as a leader for his community?Chapter Eight
goy - a non-Jew
1. Why is Danny bothered by the history he reads concerning Drov Baer, a man is father considers to be almost a saint?
2. State a theme for this story using the following passage from the novel.
“Your father said I should read a Jewish history. He said the first important step in anyone’s education is to know your own people.” (pg. 147)
3. Cite a passage from this chapter to support or refute the following statement: Not everything you read is true; it is important to understand the biases and limitations of the author.
4. How does Mr. Malter justify his decision to suggest books for Danny without Reb Saunders’ knowledge?
5. List the two ways Rabbincal literature can be studied. Which way does Reuven’s father prefer? In what way is Reuven’s knowledge of the Talmud equal to Danny’s?
6. One of the overall themes in this story is the theme of true friendship. What do you think of Reuven’s decision to answer Reb Saunders’ questions about Danny’s reading? Is he being disloyal? What information about Danny does Reuven not tell Reb Saunders?
7. Find a clue in this chapter that might help the reader understand why Reb Saunders believes in silence.
8. In what way is Reuven a buffer between Reb Saunders and Danny? What lesson from Jewish history lets the reader know that Reuven in in a dangerous position when he becomes a way between Danny and his father?Chapter Nine
1. Find the extended metaphor in this chapter about the spider and the fly. How does it relate to Billy, his blindness, and his unsuccessful operation? What does Reuven learn about life from Billy’s situation?
Chapter Ten
kashruth - the laws applying to food preparation
1. Danny is having difficulties understanding Freud written in its original German. How does he solve his problems with the writings. In what ways might studying Freud contribute to Danny’s reluctance to be his father’s replacement?
2. How does Reuven try to add balance to the new world of knowledge Danny discovers in the library?Chapter Eleven
1. What is wrong with Danny’s eyes?
2. What major figure dies?
3. How do Danny’s father and Reuven’s father react to the news from Europe that six million Jewish people have been killed in the concentration camps? How does this tragedy help the reader understand their differing opinions on how God wants them to conduct their lives?
4. Why does Reuven go to live with Danny’s family?Chapter Twelve
1. In what way does Freud contradict the teaching of the Talmud?
2. What ironic element seems to be occurring in the book?
3. Define Zionism.Why is Reb Saunders against the idea of Palestine becoming the homeland for the Jewish people?
4. Why is Danny really concerned about his brother’s health.
5. How does Danny feel about his father?BOOK THREE
Chapter Thirteen
1. What two pieces of advice does Reuven offer Danny to help him deal with his frustration at college?
2. In what way is Mr. Malter’s method of teaching Reuven the Talmud similar to Professor Appleman’s method of teaching psychology?
3. What is the Irgun? Why does Reuven’s father have mixed feelings about its activities?
4. What is Reuven’s father saying when he tells his son,
“I learned a long time ago, Reuven, that a blink of an eye is in itself nothing. But the eye that blinks, that is something.” (pg. 204)
5. One of the overall themes of this story is friendship. Find a statement in this chapter where Reuven’s father tells his son that good friends can disagree and still remain friends.
6. Why does Danny decide to learn experimental psychology?
7. How does Danny feel about Zionism? Why does he not voice his opinion?
8. Why is Danny not allowed to be seen with Reuven anymore?Chapter Fourteen
rebbes - plural of rabbi
mishna - written rabbinical law
inyan - a Talmudic passage1. What is the only contact Reuven has with Danny at the beginning of their second year of college? In what way is this contact ironic?
2. Explain the Partition Plan of the United States.Why is Reuven glad he restrains the anger he feels toward the anti-Zionist Hasidic students after this plan is adopted by the United Nations?
3. List the two methods Reuven uses to prepare a passage of the Talmud for Rav Gershenson’s class.
4. Why does Rav Gershenson ask Reuven never to use his father’s method of studying the Talmud in his classroom?Chapter Fifteen
1. After the establishment of the Jewish state, what happens to end the anti-Zionist activities inside the school?
Chapter Sixteen
1. How does Reuven feel about Reb Saunders when he meets him again after the ban on his friendship with Danny is lifted? What does Reb Saunders want from Reuven?
Chapter Seventeen
1. How does Danny’s understanding of silence change since the last chapter?
2. Why is it important that Danny anticipate the questions Reb Saunders will ask him when he tells his father he wants to be a psychologist?
3. What does Mr. Malter say about “silence” as a method of raising children?
4. Why does Danny not tell his father about the plan to be a psychologist?
5. For what reason is Reuven’s father angry with his son at the end of this chapter?Chapter Eighteen
1. Discuss Reb Saunders reasons for raising Danny in silence. What is ironic about his methods? Are the methods cruel, or correct for a person like Danny?
2. What is the “tortured victory” referred to in the following passage:
“Reb Saunders sat back slowly in his chair. And from his lips came a soft, tremulous sigh. He was silent for a moment, his eyes wide, dark, brooding, gazing upon his son. He nodded his head once, as if in final acknowledgment of his tortured victory.”
3. Why is the following passage ironic:
Reb Saunders looked at me and smiled feebly, nodding his head. “My son, my Daniel, has also become a man. It is a great joy for a father to see his son suddenly become a man.”
Danny stirred faintly in his chair, then was still.
“What will you do after your graduation?” Reb Saunders asked quietly.
“I have another year to student for my smicha.”
“And then what?”
“I am going to the rabbinate.” (pg. 262)4. In what ways is this novel a coming-of-age, rite-of-passage experience for both Reuven and Danny?
5. Another important theme in this novel is the theme of the importance of the father-son relationship. Compare and contrast the two father-son relationships in this story. Do you believe both fathers have raised their sons to the best of their abilities? How much influence does Reuven’s father have over the kind of man Danny becomes and how much influence does Reb Saunders have over Reuven’s development?
6. Cite incidents from the story to support or refute the following statement: Danny and Reuven will remain life-long friends despite their differences.
Posted by Michael L Umphrey on 04/07 at 10:48 AM
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Contemporary •Sand County Almanac Reading Schedule
Aldo LeopoldTuesday, May 15 Preface and Foreword pages xii - ix
Part I
Wednesday, May 16 pages 3-19
Thursday, May 17 pages 18-36
Friday, May 18 pages 37-58Monday May 21 pages 58-70
Tuesday, May 22 pages 70- 98Part II
Wednesday May 23 pages 101-119
Thursday May 24 pages 119-137
Friday May 25 pages 137-158Monday May 28 NO SCHOOL
Part III
Tuesday May 29 pages 158-173
Wednesday May 30 pages 177-188
Thursday May 31 pages 188-210
Friday June 1 pages 211-233Part IV
Monday June 4 pages 237-264
Tuesday June 5 pages 264-279
Wednesday June 6 pages 280-295
Thursday Final Essay
Friday: Semester TestPosted by Michael L Umphrey on 05/14 at 01:14 PM
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Contemporary •Land Man: Aldo Leopold
By VERLYN KLINKENBORGPublished: November 5, 2006
For most readers, Aldo Leopold is A Sand County Almanac.Ӕ We have a hard time remembering the life that led up to that book, a hard time thinking of it as a posthumous work or imagining what point it represented except the endpoint ח in the arc of Leopolds thought. In form, it is still an innovative book, a mix of field notes, meditations and a naturalistҒs credo. A Sand County AlmanacӔ often reads more like intuition than reasoning, and it embodies a wisdom that seems quite separate from the debris of even a conservationists busy working life. It is a summation instead of the transitional work it might have been if Leopold hadnҒt died of a heart attack in April 1948, at the age of 61.
Aldo Leopold
ALDO LEOPOLDS ODYSSEYBy Julianne Lutz Newton.
Illustrated. 483 pp. Island Press/Shearwater Books. $32.95.
In ғAldo Leopolds Odyssey,Ҕ her new study of Leopolds intellectual evolution, Julianne Lutz Newton makes us feel the loss of what might have followed ғA Sand County Almanac by showing us in authoritative detail what led up to it. The result is a biography of ideas, a map of how far Leopold had moved between 1909, when he began his Forest Service career in Arizona, and his death in rural Wisconsin 39 years later. The very pattern of LeopoldԒs life was the excitement of a new idea drawn from his reading or his hunting or his field research ח followed by the melancholy realization of what it implied. He brooded endlessly about the prospects for conservation in America. How far he got in his thinking can be summed up in these words, from a letter written in 1946: That the situation is hopeless should not prevent us from doing our best.Ӕ
Nearly everyone who reads A Sand County AlmanacӔ comes away moved by a sense of loss as well as a sense of beauty and conviction. This is partly because Leopold is mourning an earlier America, when wolves still roamed and motorized tourists were not so numerous. But its also because Leopold is tacitly acknowledging his own radicalism. ғIt is increasingly clear, he wrote in the early 1940Ԓs, that there is a basic antagonism between the philosophy of the industrial age and the philosophy of the conservationist.Ӕ For the conservationist,Ӕ read Leopold himself, of course. He phrases this sentence as if to include a general audience but also as if to conceal the antagonism he felt within himself.
Leopold spent his life talking and lecturing and writing for relatively specialized audiences, usually his professional colleagues. It was his great luck his great opportunity ח to develop his thoughts about land use, and especially his idea of a land ethic, with such inherently cautious audiences in mind, audiences who were not likely to take on faith his argument that we have a moral obligation to the land. But Leopolds final book was written for a general audience and with a radical new intention. In 1944 he confessed to a friend that he had come to a disarming realization җ that nothing could be done about conservation without creating a new kind of people.Ӕ A Sand County AlmanacӔ may not be an attempt to create that people. But it is the work of a gifted thinker who has got his public legs under him at last and who knows that his radicalism rooted, after all, in a profound vision of biological community ח is the only common sense worthy of the name.
The antagonisms that Leopold felt, we still feel, in spades. One of the many virtues of Newtons book is that it helps us understand how carefully Leopold worked out positions that sound self-evident to us now, thanks largely to ғA Sand County Almanac. We are still at a point, being human, where arguments are worth more than axioms. That is something Leopold grasped about his own field in the 1920Ԓs. It can be safely said,Ӕ he wrote, that when it comes to actual work on the ground, the objects of conservation are never axiomatic or obvious but always complex and usually conflicting.Ӕ
Aldo LeopoldӒs Odyssey has few flaws, but I must mention one. Newton is under the common impression that Leopold had ԓan unusual gift for lyrical prose. Sometimes she tries to emulate it, with unfortunate results. But what makes Leopold matter now is not his lyricism. That has dated almost as much as his occasional irony. Leopold still matters as a writer because of his clarity, his directness, even his simplicity, qualities in his prose that mirror the character and the care of his thinking. I would trade all of LeopoldԒs lyricism, such as it is, for a passage like this: Our tools are better than we are, and grow better faster than we do. They suffice to crack the atom, to command the tides. But they do not suffice for the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it.Ӕ
Verlyn Klinkenborg writes editorials for The New York Times. His most recent book is Timothy; Or, Notes of an Abject Reptile.ӔPosted by Michael L Umphrey on 02/19 at 01:14 AM
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Contemporary •Slideshow: Surviving a nuclear bomb
Sixties
Posted by Michael L Umphrey on 10/28 at 10:43 PM
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