Underworld Travel Brochure Project

Socratic Seminar 10

Introduction: For this assignment, I am asking you to reflect upon your own value system. It does not matter if you believe in an actual place called “Hell.” It does not matter whether you believe in eternal punishment. Simply assume the existence of both. It does matter that you think long and hard about the nature of how certain evils should be punished.

History: In Italy, around 1300, lived a man who began exploring his own value system. Dante Alighieri was then 35 years old. What did he really believe? What seemed to him truly good, truly evil? He pondered, examined his conscience, and then wrote The Divine Comedy, one of the finest poems in world literature.

The first section of the poem is entitled “The Inferno.” Dante presents himself as a character within the poem. He travels through nine circles of Hell, watching with horror at the experience of each sinner assigned to each circle. It is a graded hell, with the lesser sins punished near the surface, and the “greater” sins punished in the bottom of the pit. As with most Europeans in the year 1300, Dante was a Roman Catholic, but his hell reflected his value system, not that of the church. As we look at Dante's “Inferno,” notice that each group of sinners are assigned an appropriate and symbolic punishment for their “crime,” and that Dante alludes to the Greek underworld on several occasions.

That is exactly what you are being asked to do for this assignment: create your own underworld! The underworld that you create will reflect your value system.

Dante's Inferno

l Circle One: Here are the good pagans. Individuals that lived benevolent lives, but chose not to believe in Christ. They suffer no physical punishment, but a spiritual one, as they did not know god now they are forever deprived of the sight of him.

l Circle Two: Here we have the carnal sinners and those who lust—those who sinned through passion...the illicit lovers...the unfaithful husbands and wives. Their punishment, of course, fits the crime: as they permitted themselves to be tossed by the storms of passion on earth, now in hell they are tossed by actual winds and gales.

l Circle Three: The gluttonous wallow in mud and dirty slush. As they enjoyed eating delicacies on earth, now they live in the muck, while they await Cerberus to eat them.

l Circle Four: In circle four we find those that wasted their time. In life they worked without meaning, now they work without meaning in death, pushing huge boulders against each other.

At this point in “The Inferno,” Dante pauses, for this is the end of

Upper Hell. The next

circles are Lower Hell. From here on, Dante looks at

the sinners with loathing, for each

sinner in Lower Hell, according to Dante, represents a serious and heinous evil.

l Circle Five: Home of the wrathful. They were punished by constantly fighting and biting each other, while the slothful (those who procrastinate and don't do things quickly) are punished by remaining stuck under the murky water of the river Styx.

l Circle Six: This is the home of the arch-heretics, or people who denied the existence of God. Their punishment was to be able to see the far future but were unable to know current events.

l Circle Seven: This is the home of the violent. Those that murdered, committed suicide, and the blasphemers. Those that were violent against themselves, those that committed suicide, are turned into trees because their human form was not valuable to them while they lived.

l Circle Eight: This “circle” is slightly different. It is divided into five ditches. In each ditch lies a particular sinner, but all five are guilty of fraudulence and hence were despicable to Dante. In descending order, the sinners are seducers, fortune-tellers, thieves, lawyers, and hypocrites. Their punishments vary, but always the punishments are relevant. The fortune-tellers, for example, have their heads on backwards, as they tend to see ahead, now they can only look behind themselves. The falsifiers are disfigured by disease, as their lies disfigured the world.

l Circle Nine: The final circle is reserved for those sinners who are guilty of treason. Here, too, the sinners are ranked according to their guilt. First, the treasonous against family, then the treasonous against country, then the treasonous against guests and hosts, and finally the treasonous against their masters. All are embedded within ice, as their cold hearts suggest they should be.

Sins of the flesh seem minor to him; carnal sin, gluttony, anger—these deserve hell, but only Upper Hell. Sins of violence were more severe; sins of fraud even more severl, for fraud is violence against the mind and the heart. Sins of treason were the most important of all....for they are a violence against all that is best in humanity.

Your Assignment: As an individual living in the 21^st century, you may disagree with Dante's value system. You may not consider gluttony a sin at all. You may be unconcerned with blasphemy or anger, but for your underworld you may want to include other sinners such as those guilty of prejudice, of selling drugs, of leading nations to war, etc...

It is time now to explore your value system. Who will “reside” in your first circle, in the fifth, in the ninth? Which sin, in your eyes, is the worst? Think carefully and well. Devise, too, suitable punishments just as Dante has done.

After you have planned out your own version of the underworld, you will present your ideas in a travel brochure. Your brochure will be used by mortals residing on Earth who may need a tour of the underworld to help them prepare for the afterlife. Your tour brochure should include nine different paragraphs, each one focusing on the nine sins you choose as the basis for your underworld. Your sins need to be ranked appropriately from lesser to greater. You must also include relevant and symbolic punishments. You cannot punish the sin with the sin! Your punishments are not to be sadistic or demonic. You are also to include a valid reason for why you consider your “sins” to be given such a title. “I hate abortion” is not a thorough enough response.

Your work must be typed and formatted in an appealing way. You should include visual images of your underworld. You may copy and paste these from the Internet or draw them yourself. Use headings to help your readers differentiate between the different circles of your underworld.

Have fun and be creative with this assignment. In addition to the nine paragraphs describing the circles of your underworld, you may include other information for travelers (e.g., restaurants, what to bring, places to see celebrities, best times to travel, testimonials).

Due date: Friday, Sept. 2

100 Points

Extra credit: Can you find the problem with subject-verb agreement in this document?

2011-12 Disclosure Document

10th Grade Socratic Seminar: Making Connections

Mr. Dye, 2011-2012

Welcome to Socratic Seminar. This course will be one of the most fun, challenging, and memorable parts of your Maeser experience. You will have a deep love for learning in this class and develop the ability to think CRITICALLY, CREATIVELY, and PRECISELY.

The name Socratic Seminar comes from the Greek philosopher Socrates. He was known for helping his students learn by asking them questions that probed their thinking. He compared himself to a midwife who helped his students give birth to the ideas within them. Likewise, in this class you are expected to think for yourself. In class you will participate by engaging in three thinking processes:

1) Discussing

2) Writing

3) Reading

You are expected to engage in thoughtful discussion of the literature we read. This may require you to come out of your comfort zone for a while. (Fortunately, coming out of your comfort zone expands your comfort zone!) Please, come to class each day prepared to set aside other concerns and engage in a dialogue with us.

Objectives

By the end of this class, you should be able to:

· Demonstrate a positive attitude toward Language Arts skills and processes

· Demonstrate familiarity with the ideas and facts of world history from the Renaissance through the 20^th century

· Use written and oral language creatively, persuasively, and responsibly

· Read competently and critically

· Develop the skills to gather, comprehend, evaluate, and apply new ideas and information

· Participate as an active member within a community of learners

Curriculum

In this class we will strive to master the Utah State Core for Language Arts and World Civilizations. We will do this by studying great works of literature in a historical context. The following is a tentative list and sequence of the units and literature we will study.

Italian Renaissance Divine Comedy (Dante) The Prince (Machiavelli) various pieces of artwork Petrarch sonnets Reformation Man for All Seasons (Bolt) various translations of the Bible writings of the reformers Northern Renaissance/Emerging Modern Europe Shakespeare sonnets Hamlet (Shakespeare) Age of Exploration Letters by Columbus, Cortes Night Face Up (Cortzar) Scientific Revolution Paradise Lost (Milton) Excerpts from Frankenstein (Shelley) Enlightenment Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Locke) The Spirit of the Laws (Montesquieu) A Vindication of the Rights of Women (Wollstonecraft) Social Contract (Rousseau) The Wealth of Nations (Smith) A Modest Proposal (Swift) Effects of Enlightenment (Seven Year’s War and French Revolution) Preamble and Declaration of Independence (Jefferson) Les Miserables (Hugo) Terror Justified (Robespierre)

Industrial & Agricultural Revolutions Excerpts from Dickens Pride and Prejudice (Austen) Reader’s theater on factory workers The Metamorphosis (Kafka) Imperialism Things Fall Apart (Achebe) Excerpts from Heart of Darkness (Conrad) Ghandi (Attenborough) White Man’s Burden (Kipling) World Wars and Depression All’s Quiet on the Western Front (Remarque) Treaty of Versailles & responses Maus (Spiegelman) Life is Beautiful (Benigni) The Eternal Jew (Nazi propaganda) Communist Revolutions (Chinese and Russian) Excerpts from Red Scarf Girl (Jiang) The Communist Manifesto (Marx) Russian short story, poetry, essay TBA Cold War Speeches by Kennedy and Khrushchev Korean and Vietnam Images & Poetry Martian Chronicles (Bradbury) War on Terror and Modern Islam video clips from Gulf War 9/11 Footage Paradise Now (Abu-Assad) Bin Laden speech & Atta

Materials

By the end of the first week of class, you will need to purchase the following supplies. You must have them with you in class each day.

1) A composition notebook (9.25" X 7.5")

2) Pencils and black pens

3) Loose-leafed, lined college-ruled paper (Do NOT use lined paper from a bound notepad.)

4) A three-ring binder with tab dividers/separators

5) One box of colored pencils

6) 3 standard-sized Post-it notepads

7) One textbook cover

Home Computer Use

Students need to be able to use a computer at home with Internet access. Students must also have access to a working printer. Writing assignments must be typed and printed. “My printer is out of ink” is not a valid excuse.

Students need to have access to a gmail account. Students in this class will use Google docs to submit and receive feedback on writing assignments. Students will also post comments on a class writing blog. Parents should ensure that students use safe and appropriate practices when using the Internet.

Homework

Students will receive homework every night. Assignments should take approximately 50 minutes for this class. Homework assignments will be written on the upper left-hand corner of the whiteboard and posted in PowerSchool. Students are responsible for writing down their assignment each day.

Late Work

Each academic quarter will be subdivided into two-week long sprints. No late assignments will be accepted after the end of each sprint. If the student is absent the last day of the sprint, he/she must make arrangements with the teacher for submitting the work.

Absences

Please avoid unnecessary absences. When you miss class, you miss out on the discussion and questioning that are the essence of the Socratic Seminar. I value each minute of class as an opportunity to learn. You will be responsible for what took place in class, whether or not you attend.

If you know you will have to miss a class, please discuss the absence in advance with the instructor. If an emergency arises and you must miss class, you must meet with the teacher during lunch or after school the following school day.

Grading

Because of the nature of Socratic Seminar, the grade you earn will appear on your official transcript for two different courses: Language Arts and World Civilizations. Reading assignments, quizzes, exams, projects, and writing assignments will factor into the quarter grade. It is your responsibility to track your grades in PowerSchool and to seek help when you need it.

Normal assignments will be entered into PowerSchool by each Friday; however, longer written assignments and projects may require more time to grade and may be marked simply as “collected” in PowerSchool until grading is complete. I will do my best to give timely feedback so students can use it to improve.

We will follow Maeser's grade scale:

A 93-100%	B+ 86-89.99%	C+ 74-77.99%	F <66%
A- 90-92.99%	B 82-85.99%	C 70-74.99%	No D grades awarded
	B- 80-81.99%	C- 66-69.99%

School Uniforms

The school uniform policy will be carefully enforced in Socratic Seminar classes. Wearing uniforms helps students choose daily to honorably keep their commitments.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is using anyone's ideas in your own writing without giving that person credit. The way to avoid plagiarism is to learn proper MLA citation style. This is something we will practice in class. Plagiarism is a serious problem. Violations will be subject to consequences as stated in school policy. Parents, please help your students do their own work. Students, if you are having problems with a writing assignment, please talk with me rather than submit work that is not your own. We will work out a solution together so that you do not have to tarnish your integrity.

The Parent's Role

1. Help your student track assignments.
2. Help your student be in class ON TIME and avoid unnecessary absences.
3. Allow your student to do his/her own thinking on all homework assignments. Ask questions, offer suggestions, but let their work reflect their personal best effort.
4. Encourage your student to try challenging things.
5. Communicate with the instructor about concerns.

Other Policies

School-wide policies on tardies, academic honesty, electronic devices, and hall passes will be enforced.

About Your Teacher

Mr. Dye has enjoyed teaching Socratic Seminar at Maeser since its founding. He also enjoys working with the student council. He earned a Masters degree from BYU in Instructional Psychology and Technology (i.e., how people learn and using technology to enhance learning). He also has a B.A. in Humanities with an emphasis in Philosophy and a minor in Spanish (He served an LDS mission to Colombia). He is particularly interested in nature writing, meditation, world religions, learning sciences, art history, and foreign film. When not teaching, he can be found playing in the sandbox with his three children, exploring with his Varsity scouts, tinkering in his garden, fixing up his house (built in 1937), and running with his wife. He loves mentoring students and is passionate about lifelong learning.

The best way to contact Mr. Dye is by email at the following address:

brigham.dye@maeserprep.org

You may also call the school during his preparation periods (5^th and 6^th): 801-235-9000.

Please complete and return this page by tomorrow.

Student Name: _____________________________________

Parent(s) Name(s): _____________________________________

_____________________________________

Parent email address: ________________________________________________

Student gmail address: _______________________________________________

Parent phone(s): ____________________________________________________

Parents, please check the appropriate circle for the following statements.

Yes No

c c I have an area of expertise on which I would be willing to present.

c c I will ensure that my student has the required materials for this course by the end of the first week.

c c I will ensure that my student has access to a computer, the Internet, and a working printer.

c c I would be interested in accompanying the class on a field trip.

c c I am qualified to substitute teach English and History and would be interested in doing so occasionally.

Comments:

Content Advisory

I understand that Socratic Seminar students will explore a variety of topics and themes, including politics, religion, curriculum-appropriate sexuality (e.g., the infidelity of King Henry VIII or a picture of Michelangelo’s David), mental health, social problems, and other moral and ethical values. The teacher will be sensitive to the family’s role in shaping individual students’ values and will treat these subjects with a respectful, balanced, academic approach. Individual students in the class may share their own beliefs, insomuch as they are respectful of other students’ beliefs as well as those held by other members of the community at large. I understand that teachers have opinions too that occasionally may be voiced as such. If at any time I am uncomfortable with something that has been discussed in class, I will bring this to the attention of the teacher and respectfully seek mutual understanding.

_______________________________________ _________________

Parent Signature Date