Chapter 1 The Chosen Sept. 8

Bellwrite #5: Do you ever lose perspective on life? When? What is it like? How do you gain perspective?

Students turned in their State of the World projects. A few students shared their PowerPoint presentations and speeches. We discussed our assessment of the state of the world and of the kingdom of God.

We discussed chapter 1 of The Chosen. First, we learned two vocabulary words from the novel: assimilate and zealous. We also noted how Chaim Potok helps the reader understand most of the Jewish terms in the novel (such as tzitzit or yeshiva) through context clues. Students are responsible to understand the words in the book. First, they should see if they can figure out the meaning of the word through context. Only if context is insufficient should they then turn to a dictionary or the Internet. Book annotations should include vocabulary definitions.  Advanced learners can also look up the roots of vocab words.

Next, we discussed the following:
What is the source of Reuven's anger towards Danny?
What was the turning point when baseball was no longer a game but rather a fight?
Why does Chaim Potok use so much battle imagery in describing the first chapter?
How did Reuven's anger limit his perspective?

I introduced the term microcosm and asked how the baseball game was a microcosm.

Homework:
Read and annotate Chapter 2 of The Chosen. Annotate vocabulary, questions, thoughts, important ideas, etc. The purpose of annotation is to enhance and focus understanding while reading.