Hinduism Terms Due Friday, Oct. 26

On Friday, October 26, you must have a definition for each of the Hindu terms listed below in your notebook. You can find those definitions by exploring the World Lit student blogs linked to the right. Also, your notebook needs to have one sentence for each term that connects the term to the novel Siddhartha. While you are exploring the Hindu student blogs to find your definitions, you might want to comment on their blog since you need to comment on each blog created for your class.

Hindu terms found in Siddhartha:

meditation
Dharma
Brahmin
Karma
Samsara
Moksha
The Vedas
Om
Atman

Blog Comments Due Monday, Oct. 29

You must make at least one blog comment on each of your classmates' blogs by Monday, Oct. 29. This weekend as I am doing the final assessments of the blogs, I expect to see a lot of student comments.

Comment away!

Science and Religion

In honor of the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded this week, we will read a piece written by a past Nobel Peace Prize winner--Jimmy Carter--on a topic timely for discussion this unit.

For a final word discussion next Tuesday, October 16, students will read a chapter from Jimmy Carter's book Our Endangered Values entitled "No Conflict Between Science and Religion."

Students will annotate the chapter as homework prior to the final word discussion. If you had trouble talking for your entire minute or two minute time frame during the last final word discussion, you may wish to annotate even more this time.

Here are some possible tasks that you might decide to do in the margins of the text while annotating the Carter chapter to ensure that you can speak intelligently for your given time.

1. TPCASTT Carter's poem in the chapter
2. clarify Carter's points
3. State why you agree with certain points that Carter raises
4. State why you disagree with certain points that Carter raises
5. Connect the selection back to Huxley and Brave New World
6. Connect the selection forward to the religion that you are researching

World Masterpieces and Religion

The class textbook, World Masterpieces, contains a vast array of nonfiction selections on the five major religions of the world as well as a collection of sacred texts. We will read not only the nonfiction selections to give you a better understanding of the five religions, but also some of the sacred texts. We will examine literary devices used in those texts, including character, setting, symbol, tone and theme.

Here is a list of the nonfiction sections of World Masterpieces that everyone in the class will read:

• Hinduism: “Religious Thought” and “Language” pp. 149-150; “The Rig Veda” pp. 152-153; “Upanishads” p. 160; “Religion in India” pp. 164-165; “Hindu dharma” p. 167.
• Buddhism: p. 217, p. 229, “Religious Traditions” p. 263
• Judaism: “Hebrews” p. 10; “Hebrew Literature” p. 38
• Christianity: “Christian Humanism and Reformation” p. 662-663
• Islam: “Persian and Arabic Lit” pp. 77-84; “Koran” pp. 106-107; “Sufism” p. 111.

Making a Blog and Group Roles

This 50-point assignment is as much as a unit final essay, so plan your work ethic accordingly.

All members of the group should equally contribute to the content of your group's blog. The teacher will be able to tell that people are equally contributing by the "posted by" that appears at the end of each blog post.

Your group should assign the following four roles so that one member of the group is an expert in each area:

Blog Administrator: This computer savvy student sets up the blog and makes sure it's graphically appealing and engaging. Perhaps the blog will include helpful links, a poll, and labels for posts to ease searching. The blog administrator for your group needs to set up a blog. It's easy in blogger. Just follow the instructions from Edina English teacher Jim Hatten by clicking here.

Textbook Reader: This strong reader signs out a Patterns of Religion textbook and reviews it for relevant information regarding history, beliefs, and practices. Since this book is a teacher-selected and school board approved book, information paraphrased from here does not have to be analyzed for credibility.

Copy Editor and Citation Cop: This strong writer proofreads all the group's blog entries for mechanical errors and to make sure all information is appropriately paraphrased or quoted directly. The citation cop also makes sure that all information and graphics are cited.

Internet Fact Checker/Evaluator: This strong evaluator reviews the websites being cited on your group's blog to determine credibility. Although authors will be determining if an Internet site is credible, the evaluator will double check the site's credibility by following the evaluation flow map for each site.

Religion Blog and Presentation Schedule

During this project students will study the five major religions of the world. Remember that the Supreme Court has ruled that studying religion in an academic manner is not a violation of church and state laws (Engel v. Vitale, 1962, 370 U.S. 421.). However, students need to be sensitive to others, and remember that preaching and praying are not allowed in public schools. Keep it academic, and all of us will benefit by increasing our cultural literacy.

Monday, Oct. 8

• Determine which religions you would be interested in studying on an academic level.
• Submit a ranked list of your top three “religions to study” choices.
• Your submission sheet may also include information about class members that you would like to work with and why.
  

Tuesday, Oct. 9

• Meet group members and determine blog administrator (although every member needs to post information and keep track of sources used).
• Discuss what you already know about the history, beliefs and practices of the religion that you were assigned. Record this information on a tree map in your notebook.
• Review the possible terms to research. You do not need to define and/or discuss every term. Every student will be making a tree map of history, beliefs, and practices during your presentation, so let that framework be your guide.
• Review your tree map and decide where to begin your research. For credibility and academic pursuits, you need to find sources for information that you already know.
  

Wednesday, Oct 10 and Thursday, Oct. 11

• Your class will meet in the media center for research and blogging.
• Also explore books on the religions. Picture books are a great way to get a quick, visual overview of a religion.
• Give the teacher the group’s URL for linking your blog to http://www.mrsroehl.blogspot.com/.
  For academic credibility, use the flow map in your notebook to evaluate all web sites used.
• For academic credibility, information on the blog needs to be cited. Links to the web site used from the relevant blog post are sufficient. Refer to MLA format for books.
• Images also need to be cited.
  

Friday, Oct. 12

• We are back in the classroom to synthesis information that you have already gathered on your religion.
• You will complete a “word inquisition” on your religion and add to your tree map. Those tasks will help your group determine what work still needs to be done.
• Silent reading of religion background selections that are found in World Masterpieces.
  

Monday, Oct. 15

• In media center for blogging.
• At this time the blog posts should be becoming visual.
  

Tuesday, Oct. 16 and Wednesday, Oct. 17

• Reading activities in the classroom.

Monday, Oct. 22

• Begin Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse.

Tuesday, Oct. 23

• Groups use their blogs as visual aids during a class presentation on the history, beliefs and practices of their assigned religion. The presentation needs to be at least five minutes long.
• Audience members create a tree map for each presentation in their notebooks. The tree maps list details learned about the history, beliefs, and practices of each religion.
• Students need to review their classmates’ blogs this week and post comments to give feedback. The blogs will be linked to http://www.mrsroehl.blogspot.com/.
  

Religious Terms: Islam

Your blog and presentation needs to discuss the history, beliefs, and practices of your assigned religion. You may wish to consider reporting on some of the terms in this blog post.

The words below were found in E.D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy.

Allah
jihad
Koran
Mecca
Mohammad
monotheism
mosque
Muslims
prayer rug
predestination
Ramadan
Shi’ite
Sunni

Terms that World Literature students studied in the past that were not found in Hirsch's Cultural Literacy:

Five Pillars
Six Articles

Religious Terms: Christianity

Your blog and presentation needs to discuss the history, beliefs, and practices of your assigned religion. You may wish to consider reporting on some of the terms in this blog post.

The words below were found in E.D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy.

Eastern Orthodox

advent
Ash Wednesday
baptism
Bible
canonization
Christ
Christmas
Communion
confession
Easter
free will
Good Friday
Lent
Messiah
monotheism
original sin
Palm Sunday
priest
sacrament
saint
salvation
schism
sign of the cross
Trinity

Roman Catholic

advent
Ash Wednesday
Augustine
baptism
Bible
canonization
cardinals
Christmas
Communion
confession
Counter Reformation
Easter
encyclical
free will
Good Friday
infallibility, papal
Jesuits
Lent
limbo
Messiah
monotheism
mortal sin/venal sin
original sin
Palm Sunday
priest
purgatory
rosary
sacrament
saint
salvation
schism
sign of the cross
transubstantiation
Trinity

Protestant

advent
Amish
Ash Wednesday
baptism
Baptists
Bible
born-again Christian
Calvin, John
Christ
Christmas
Church of England
Communion
Easter
free will
Good Friday
Lent
Luther, Martin
Mennonites
Messiah
minister
monotheism
original sin
Palm Sunday
predestination
Presbyterian Church
sacrament
saint
salvation
Trinity
Wesley, John
Work ethic

Religious Terms: Judaism

Your blog and presentation needs to discuss the history, beliefs, and practices of your assigned religion. You may wish to consider reporting on some of the terms in this blog post.

The words below were found in E.D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy.

bar mitzvah
Conservative Judaism
Day of Atonement
Hanukkah
Hasidism
kosher
matzo
menorah
Messiah
monotheism
Orthodox Judaism Passover
Purim
rabbi
Reform Judaism
Rosh Hashanah
synagogue
Talmud
Torah
yarmulke
Yom Kippur

Terms that World Literature students studied in the past that were not found in Hirsch's Cultural Literacy:

Bat Mitzvah
Sabbath
Shavout
Sukkoth
Holocaust
Abraham

Religious Terms: Buddhism

Your blog and presentation needs to discuss the history, beliefs, and practices of your assigned religion. You may wish to consider reporting on some of the terms in this blog post.

The words below were found in E.D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy.

Buddha
lama
monks
nirvana
prayer wheel
reincarnation
Zen

Terms that World Literature students studied in the past that were not found in Hirsch's Cultural Literacy:

Dharma
Anatta
Karma
The Four Nobel Truths
The Eightfold Noble Path
Koan

Religious Terms: Hinduism

Your blog and presentation needs to discuss the history, beliefs, and practices of your assigned religion. You may wish to consider reporting on some of the terms in this blog post.

The words below were found in E.D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy.

asceticism
avatar
Bhagavad Gita
Brahmins
guru
reincarnation
Upanishads
Vishnu
yoga

Terms that World Literature students studied in the past that were not found in Hirsch's Cultural Literacy:

Caste system
Untouchables
Dharma
ashrama
karma
samsara
moksha
atman
Brahman
Samskaras
Vedas
Shiva