4/16 B Block: Read the Job background (attached below) and given the set up for the story that I gave you, I am going to ask you to read the final 5 chapters of the book of Job (38-42). These are God’s answer to Job’s call for an explanation and the storyteller’s answer to the question: why do bad things happen to good people. On the front of the notecard: write down five of God’s rhetorical flourishes that particularly strike you (because they are forceful, because they sound cool or obnoxious or on point, etc.) On the back of the notecard: reflect on the story, on God’s character and his actions.
A Block: Let’s jigsaw Daniel: chapters 1,3,5, 6 one person in each group read a chapter (if you only have 3 people, everyone read chapter 6): Remember that Daniel is a cross between a hero and a prophet. As you read, get down the “plot” of your chapter, then look for ways to connect what you have read about Daniel to his two roles. Talk together (share the plot summaries and your ideas). Pull together a group list that makes connection between the prophetic and the heroic characters we have already seen.
4/15: We read Esther today. Focus as you read on plot, on hero connection and on the idea(s) that follow your color card for Jonah (turn the Jonah card in to me): white: Esther’s character (Mordecai’s). Yellow: Jewish identity -Mordecai as a symbol of this (Jews as a target) Blue: literary elements: folktale and irony (Esther as hero), Pink: hatred and revenge (the leadership or lack thereof of the king), Green: God’s role -or lack thereof- - in the story (what does this story have to say to us now?).
4/14: Reading Jonah: Jonah is a reluctant prophet. Most people think they know the story (Jonah swallowed by a whale…) but there is much more to it than that. As you read today, pay close attention to language and word choice and to the structure of the story. On the front of the notecard, jot down notes and ideas that strike you as important: plot points, but also (and especially) what you notice in terms of characterization, word choice, structure, etc. On the back of the notecard, reflect on one of the following (the one that matches your card color): White – Jonah as a character, and a prophet (especially given what we have already seen in terms of prophets). How is he like them, how does he differ, why might that matter? Yellow – this story is often part of the reading for Yom Kipper (high holy day in Judaism). It is a Day of Atonement – a day set aside for one to examine one’s sins and atone for them. Why is this an appropriate reading? Blue – look at the literary elements here: look for patterns, repetitions, think about this story as it compares to folktales that you know (stories like Paul Bunyon, Johnny Appleseed, etc. ) and look for folktale-like elements (think in terms of featuring common people, elements of exaggeration, signs of traditions important to a people, a moral or teaching or explanation, etc). Pink – focus on repentance (Jonah’s, the Ninevites) and why it matters. Green – The view of God in the story, how he fits into what we’ve seen, how he is different and why that matters.
4/10: B Block (in class): 1 and 2 Kings: Spend a few minutes thinking about the stories in this section: Elijah and Elisha, miracles, interventions and challenges, Ba’al and the challenges (both Elijah’s smackdown and Jezebel’s devotion), Jezebel and Ahab, Navot’s garden, Jehu as hired assassin.On the front of the notecard: make a list of the ideas that strike you as most important in this section (for the light they shed on Israel, on the role of the prophets, on the stresses of the people, etc.) – list questions/confusions as well. On the back of the notecard: Reflect on the role of the prophets and the changes that makes in the lives of the people. What is the prophet’s role as you see it, given these prominent prophets? How does this change God’s relationship with the people and/or their relationship with him? Why use prophets? What does God gain? What do the Israelites gain, etc.? To receive credit, show me why you think what you do by using examples from the reading. Fill the back of the card.
4/6: I need to change the schedule - by 4/7, everyone should have read 2 Sam 11-14, 18 and 1 Kings 1-3. In case you missed it, Happy Opening Day! Let's celebrate with a Bible - inspired baseball song. You'll find the lyrics below ("The First Baseball Game").
4/1: Please read the Bible Poetry Critique handout below. Make sure to read 1Sam 1-3, 8-10, 13-18 and 20 for tomorrow.
3/30: Judith cards and art (see below). We also worked on "Samson" by Regina Spektor and "Stilleto" as a soundtrack example (see "resources for portfolio"). If you were out (A Block): On a notecard (one side for each piece of art), label with artwork name (either Judith 1 or Judith 5 attached below). Describe what you see then analyze - ask yourself how the artist portrays Judith's character, how s/he is reshaping the character and WHY, how the artist portrays Judith's actions and why (what does s/he gain?), etc.
3/26: Judges and Ruth (see the notes below as guide).
3/25: Work on the poems ("Judges poems" attached below).
3/17: Preparing for test (3/19). See "Exodus Assessment Prep" below.
3/13: See "Prince of Egypt + commandments" below. There is also a commandment commentary section attached below to use if you were absent (all other students have their own commentary packets.)
3/10: Homework: Reading Exodus 8-12: Keep in mind all that we’ve discussed in class, including the threads, as you read: on the front of the notecard, react to the plague stories, paying particular attention to the focus listed below for your card. Fill the front of the notecard with specific ideas about what you read and about your particular topic. Save the back. Yellow = God’s character and his plan, Green = Moses’ character and his growth, Purple = the plagues themselves , what you notice where they are directed, why the order, etc. Blue = Darkness, supernatural and WHY, White = the relationship between God and Moses, Pink = repetition, its purpose, how serves the storyteller
In class (both A and B): Look at the Frida Kahlo painting of Moses' birth. In your blue book, describe what you see (write for 4 minutes), then reflect - how is Kahlo portraying the story? What view of Moses and his legacy does she have, etc. (write for another 5 minutes).
A Block: In your blue books, react to the story you read for today - write about what was new to you, what concerned you, what you were thinking about, etc. Then, revisit the text and look for examples of one of the following threads: 1) New revelations about God and his character: ways he is different from the Genesis God. 2) Ironies – ways in which people behave, events unfold, setting responds differently than expected. 3) Moses’ character – traits he possesses and why these might matter. 4) Darkness, spookiness, hints of magic, feats that are supernatural, etc
3/9: We read and talked about Genesis 50 - the end of Joseph's story and its implications. We also read Charles Blow's Op-Ed (attached below "Race + Selma") and examined the similarities between the history of race in this culture and the struggle in Exodus. Tonight, read 1-7. If you are in B Block, take notes for your bullet in your blue book (see "Exodus 1-7…" below).
3/9: Reading schedule is posted below. Make sure to look for your block.