Wednesday, September 10, 2014

09.10 - Rules and Values in Society

We started class today with everyone compiling a list of the rules they had observed in the first forty pages of The Giver. Everyone then started working with a partner to look at these rules and figure out the intention behind the rule. An example of this is that our society has rules around how fast you can drive on the roads in different areas. The intention of these rules is keep people safe by preventing crashes and to keep traffic flowing smoothly to prevent traffic jams.

After everyone had looked at the rules in this way, we looked at the rules overall to see what they told us about what the people of The Giver value. For example, speed limits show that our society values physical safety (by preventing crashes) and efficiency (by preventing traffic problems). We then discussed the values that people had observed through these rules. Some of the values we discussed were:

Family
Childhood
Trust
Preservation
Selflessness
Independence
Innocence
Equality / Conformity

At the end of class, everyone began brainstorming rules that our society follows. For homework, everyone should complete this brainstorm and should identify some of the values that it reveals about us.

Homework:

Complete your brainstorm list of rules we follow in our society. Identify values that this list of rules reveals about our society.

Read to page 120 in The Giver for Friday.

Complete revisions for your summer assignment essay on A Separate Peace (due Friday)

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