Wednesday, October 22, 2014

All Boys, All Blogged: October 22, 2014

Focus: How can we use good questions to lead us to a deeper understanding of The Kite Runner?

1. Warming up with your inner and outer circle triumphs from yesterday (as well as a few suggestions from Ms. Leclaire)

  1. On page 42, Hassan defends Amir from Assef by threatening to blind Assef, and yet Amir doesn't think of Hassan as a friend. What does that say about Amir and Hassan's relationship?
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    1. I think Amir and Hassan have a very bad relationship because the relationship is affected by their social standing and Amirs jealousy.
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    2. This shows that Amir probably takes advantage of their relationship, and he might not realize how special his relationship with Hassan is. Also, he might feel a little embarrassed by Hassan because he is lower than he is.
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  2. What does winter mean in the story? Winter is cold and dark. Does that mean the story is going to turn cold and dark?
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    1. I think the change is foreshadowing something bad that is going to happen soon.
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2. Trying out a different role in fishbowl discussion for practice

3. Playing Scattergories to review the Kite Runner vocabulary for Chapters 1-6

Round 1

1. Something you might find in an affluent household.
2. An unscrupulous celebrity.
3. A food you disdain
4. An example of unruly behavior in the classroom
5. A trend that is fleeting

Round 2

1. A store where an impeccably dressed person might shop
2. Something you might implore your parents to buy for you
3. Something you would say to feign happiness
4. An animal that makes you feel trepidation
5. A viable excuse for missing curfew

HW:
1. Start studying for Friday's vocabulary quiz; remember that repetition is key (which is why I'm a big fan of having quizlet on your phone).

2. Read Chapters 7 and 8 for Thursday.  It's going to be a rough read.  Very sad.  Please prepare five annotations for this reading assignment (journal entries or sticky notes).

3. If you'd like to read another independent reading book, please bring it to class on Friday.

69 comments:

  1. What might the fight with the bully foreshadow? what does it say about the relationship between Amir and Hassan.

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    1. It shows the underlying disrespect between theses two. it shows that Amir has "superiority" over Hassan.

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    2. Their relationship show a little bit of ignorance and sides because Amir doesn't realize how good of a friend Hassan is and Hassan doesn't realize how ungrateful Amir is.

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    3. I don't agree with that. I think really Hassan is "superior" to Amir. Hassan was the one that kept Amir from getting hit, "Hassan held the slingshot pointed directly at Assef's face" (pg 42), yet Amir considers Hassan only as his "servant" as he says on page 41. Also, sometimes Baba seems more proud of Hassan than he ever is of Amir. Amir is jealous of Hassan, and I predict that this jealousy will lead him to do something that he regrets.

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  2. "Why does Baba not want to interact with Amir?" Why do we not let go of grudges that we have harbored for so long, and why do we even create grudges for no reason?

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    1. Baba is either very embarrassed of Amir or he wants Amir to grow up and start becoming independent.

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    2. Baba has a hard time interacting with Amir bacause of how Amris mother dies. Amir reminds his dad of a lot of sadness and his mothers death, also they dont have much in common. Baba says that they are so different, this makes it harder for them to be any closer.

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    3. Baba has never been fond of Amir. Baba blames Amir for the death of his beloved wife. In fact Baba's grudge with Amir is so strong he tells Rahim, "If I hadn't seen the doctor pull him out of my wife with my own eyes, I'd never believe he's my son". Grudges like these aren't designed to have no purpose or reason. A grudge like this between Amir and Baba could lead Amir to triumph over his fear, hatred, and pain, one little step at a time.

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  3. How do you think Hassan is so good at knowing where the kites are going to land?

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  4. “In the winter of 1975, I saw Hassan run a kite for the last time.” page 55. Is there foreshadowing in this sentence? What happens that would stop Hassan completely from running kites?

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    1. I think it might be foreshadowing the death of Hassan.

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    2. Yes this foreshadows, because the author is reffering that some tragic event will happen, causing Hassan to not be able to participate in kite running. I think those bullies are going to come back, and pull something on Hassan while running for the kites.

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    3. This is foreshadowing, I think that the author is leading the reader and keeping the reader in the story by foreshadowing.

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    4. I believe there is foreshadowing in this sentence because the book has been leading up to something bad happening in the winter of 1975. This quote is inferring that it probably has something to do with running kites. The only thing that would stop Hassan from running kites is Baba.

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    5. This is definitely foreshadowing but I don't think that Hassan is going to die. I think he is going to suffer an injury that makes him crippled like his dad.

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  5. How do you think the father son relationship between Amir and Baba has been impacted by Hassan?

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    1. I think Amir wants to be better than Hassan but he still wants to be his friend/brother and because their is a rivalry he wants to prove his self worth to Baba.

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    2. I dont think that the relationship between baba and amir really did affect hassan, but the relationship between hassan and his father do affect amir, on page 35 amir is clearly envoius of the good relationship between hassan and his father.

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    3. I think Hassan has almost become a second son to Baba which to Amir is a bad thing. Amir looks at this as a negative because he is very selfish about his father's love and doesn't want to share, especially with someone that's a part of a lower societal class.

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    4. I think that Hassan is more of a son that Baba wanted than Amir. With Hassan always in the picture, I think it affects their relationship because Baba will refuse to accept how Amir is right now.

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  6. On page 38, the narrator mentions how he learned an English word of which there is no good equivalent in Farsi. That word was sociopath. What does this say about their society? Is it better since they have no need for a word like this?

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    1. This is telling us that their society is unstable. Many people believe different things and this causes conflict. Different thoughts on different situations is never a good mix.

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  7. On page 29 they are talking about a story and this line is in it- "After all, didn't all fathers in their secret hearts harbor a desire to kill their sons?" Does Baba harbor this desire?

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    1. I feel like Baba wouldn't kill Amir, but if he had the choice, he would take his wife over Amir.

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    2. Baba has probably thought of the desire to kill Amir but he will never do it. Amir is his son and he could have moments that would brighten the desire but no way it would happen.

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    3. I would have to agree that he would never do it because he would be a hypocrite killing Amir, well if you look at the theft conversation they had earlier, then he is a hypocrite.

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    4. I feel like Baba is waiting for Amir to do something that is impressive (like winning the kite running competition) other than writing stories. Once Amir does this then Baba will change his attitude towards him.

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  8. pg 56 Why does Amir think that Baba would like him better if he won the competitions?

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    1. In Amir's mind, if he were to win the competition, his father would then appreciate him more and treasure him rather than disrespecting and ignoring Amir.

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  9. "my mother was German, she should know better." This shows Assef's ignorance, it shows that he follows people for the wrong reasons. As Hitler was not German, this means that Assef only follows people for the dreams they have and not the reasons behind them. He only cares about the reward, with no regard for others. In short, Assef is one who covets.

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  10. Do you think if Amir wins the kite running competition, he will gain more affection from his father?

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    1. He will gain affection from his father because it shows he cares about his fathers feelings. Amir has to prove himself and he will.

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    2. I do think he would gain more affection from his father because his father has always wanted him to play sports and win them like he did, so if he wins his father would respect him more and be more proud of him.

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    3. Yes, because winning the competition gains respect not only from Baba but from most everyone in the town, so there is no way that Baba wouldn't be proud of Amir for winning

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  11. On page 41 why does Amir say bad things to his only friend who is Hassan, could it be because of the different class between the two, or is it because Amir wants to try to fit in with the other kids.

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  12. Will Baba's "Tough love" end up helping Amir, or will it end up hurting him?

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    1. Im going to say that it will end up helping him and strengthen him in the later half of the book because tough love usually works.

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    2. it is clear that the relationship has made amir angrier and more frustrated in his life. Amir really wants to please his father, which may get him into a lot of trouble later on. his father has strong opinions and if Amir supports them and is open about it he may get in trouble with some people.

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  13. What does it really mean for Amir to win this Kite running competition for Baba, it seems that it really means a lot for Amir to win the competition.

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  14. it is clear that somthing bad is going to happen in the next chapeter, do you think that it may involve the guns that they heard, and the new president?

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    1. I think that Amir and Hassan will have another conflict with Assef because he said that he would have his revenge.

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  15. How do a parents views affect the views of their children, and do kids grow out of their parents "brain washing"?

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    1. Well when your growing up your parents have certain standards that they want you to follow. When your younger you follow them because of the lack of knowledge that you have. Over time as you grow up you learn for yourself what you think is right. Your parents view may still be there with a small influence but it is a lesser influence. I think Amir is at that point right now, starting to learn for himself what he thinks is right.

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  16. On Pg. 38-40 Assef was saying that Hitler was a good person but why? Assef stated that his mom was German, that's why he thinks Hitler is great is because he was taught from his mom that he was great, He also was stated to have blonde hair and blue eyes which could have to do with why he believes in Hitler.

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    1. Because Assef is one who covets. He seeks a goal, with no regard for others. He cares not for other peoples feelings or well being. As long as he can get what he wants.

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  17. What makes people feel superior? Or what makes people realize we are all equal?

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    1. Relating back to Assef, I think this shows that when someone believes in something more superior then they feel better than someone else. When we are all equal then we believe in most of the same thing and agree with one another.

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    2. I feel like people get most of their beliefs from parents or other family members. For example, Assef possibly got his feelings of superiority from his mother's side of the family, because her side is German and hold that feeling of Aryan superiority.

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  18. On the bottom of page 58 where Hassan quotes,"You know...I like where I live.", why does Amir ignore Hassan's statement and then mention Hassan losing again? Could this be foreshadowing?

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  19. "Baba would buy it for me-but then he'd buy it for Hasan too. Sometimes I wished he wouldn't do that. Wished he'd let me be the favorite.". Is Amir jealous of not being the favorite by Baba with Hassan?

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  20. Do you think that Assef really has the power to dictate the president's decisions?

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  21. "he smiled as he pummeled the poor kid" It is not unusual for people to smile in a fight, to a degree it becomes a sport. So what separates Assef from everyone else who does what he does?

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  22. Baba and Ali were friends as children much like Amir and Hassan. Do you think that Baba considered Ali his "servant" like Amir considers Hassan?

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  23. If Assef is just trying to intimidate Hassan and Amir than what does that prove about Assef's power, what does it truly describe him as?

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  24. The outer circle used quotes very well in questions. Helped add meaning to the questions.

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  25. I think that people asking lots of questions went well.

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  26. I think that the we asked good questions, but I think that as a group we need to answer more questions with evidence from the text.

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  27. I think the outer circle went well, there was good questions and responses.

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  28. One thing that went well was that there was a lot of questions but that also can be bad. There needs to be more responses.

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  29. We were really good at rattling off questions! However, it would behoove us all to reach for an even deeper level of thinking. Over all great blog!

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  30. One thing that went well for today's discussion was the good flow of questions and answer. They were easy to understand and we got to the point quick and thoroughly.

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  31. I think the overall flow of the inner and outer circles went really well, and I liked how some of the inner circle people drew questions from the outer circle and incorporated it into the discussion.

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  32. There were many great quality of questions asked.

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  33. I think that it was okay on the outer circle. There was a lot of good thinking in each comment, which made it easy for everyone to post a comment.

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  34. We had pretty well built questions, and we knew how to answer them well.

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  35. I think we had a pretty good amount of comments but I like how elaborate our questions were that everyone was asking.

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  36. Today's blog went slow for me. I had complications with google drive which prevented me from posting until it was fixed. However, today was filled with great posts as well as great discussions.

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  37. One thing that went well during this discussion was everybody participated and ask good questions. One thing that we can improve on is responding to more questions.

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