Lesson 1

We will introduce the Central Questions for this unit and consider this question in light of quotations from authors we will read in the unit about life, virtue, and guiding compasses. In this context, we will preview what we will learn, read, and do as we move toward writing a reflective narrative about our lives and the compasses we might carry.

Lesson Goals

Can I establish purpose for reading assigned and self-selected text about living a life well-lived throughout the unit?
Can I make connections among quotations and my personal experiences?
Can I interact with quotations in meaningful ways such as annotating and freewriting?

Texts

Core

- Quotations Handout, Odell Education

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

What Does It Mean to Live a Life Well-Lived?: Section 1 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Discuss – Write

We will consider the Central Question for this unit: what does it mean to live a life well-lived? we will discuss these questions, then examine some quotations about life virtue and compasses to live by.

Step 1

As a class, discuss what you will be doing and learning in this Foundation Unit, which forms a base for what you will be doing and learning this year. In this unit, you will learn how to read closely, pay attention to ideas and supporting details in texts, form claims based on textual evidence, participate in meaningful text-centered discussions, and extend your learning through inquiry and research. You will also have an opportunity to develop and communicate your own understanding of your place in the world and how you will live a meaningful life.

Consider the topic and Central Question that you will be investigating:

What does it mean to live a life well-lived?

As a class, discuss the many connotations you might bring to the descriptive phrase "well-lived." Make a class list of all the things you might associate with "a life well-lived."

Examine the rest of the question, noting that it is asking you to think about what something means, which may have many answers, depending on one’s perspective. In this unit, you will be examining meaning: the meaning of ideas, messages, themes, and language in texts you will read—and the meaning you personally come to associate with "a life well-lived."

The texts you will be reading will all address in some way the topics of a meaningful life, human qualities or virtues that people might value and develop, and the "compasses" that can guide a life’s journey. The many perspectives on the unit question and these topics should help you develop and express your own sense of what living a life well-lived means to you—which you will express in a final lyrical piece of writing, a personal essay, a narrative, or another form of expressive work.

Step 2

Begin your study of what it means to live a meaningful life by examining a quotation by a woman named Bessie Allen Stanley, who entered an essay contest in 1905 in response to the question "What constitutes success?" This and other quotes can be accessed on the Quotations Handout.

The man is a success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had. (Bessie Allen Stanley, The Lincoln Sentinel, 1905)

Follow along as your teacher introduces and demonstrates the process of annotating a text by highlighting key words and making notes about their meaning in response to a guiding question such as the following:

What patterns do you notice in how this sentence is constructed?

Step 3

You might have noted that this statement about a person "who has lived well" is made up of six clauses that all begin with the pronoun who and are separated and linked by semicolons.

With a partner, discuss the meaning of the phrases that follow "who" and describe the qualities of success:

"has lived well, laughed often, and loved much"
"has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of children"
"has filled his niche and accomplished his task"
"leaves the world better than he found it"
"never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it"
"looked for the best in others and gave the best he had"

Step 4

In your Learning Log, in which you will take and make notes and do informal writing throughout the course, set up a page with the Central Question at the top and record Stanley’s sentence, with the annotations you did as a class and notes you made in your partner discussion.

Focus on a "who" clause that has meaning for you. Write several sentences in which you explain why you find that description and quality to be important and how you might try to live your life in that way.

Then write your own sentence that follows the pattern of Stanley’s mentor sentence:

begins with "The person is a success who has lived well and…"
uses a series of clauses that start with the pronoun "who" and are separated by semicolons
Identifies and describes qualities you currently associate with success and a life well-lived.

Step 5

Read through the other quotes about a life worth living found on the Quotations Handout. Identify a quote that you find interesting or meaningful and copy it into your Learning Log. Write several sentences about the quote in which you explain why you find its idea to be interesting or important and how you might try to live your life in relation to that idea.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss – Write

We will consider and discuss additional quotes related to the unit’s Central Question, now focused on what it means to be virtuous and to have a central compass that guides a life journey. We will again reflect on the meaning of these quotes within our own lives.

Step 1

With a discussion partner, begin by discussing a famous philosopher’s quote about life from the Quotations Handout:

The unexamined life is not worth living. (Socrates)

Focus on the phrase "unexamined life" and what that might mean. Discuss this question:

What are some aspects of life a person might examine?

Make a list of your responses to this question. Then meet with another discussion pair and compare the lists you have made and your thoughts about how people might "examine" their life.

Step 2

As a class, discuss the various meanings of the word virtue. Make a list of human characteristics that are often listed as virtues.

You might do some quick research into lists of virtues associated with Christianity and the Bible, other Western or Eastern religious traditions, classic Greek or Roman thought, or historical and modern philosophers. The Wikipedia page for "Virtue" summarizes the word’s meanings.

Step 3

With your discussion partner, consider and discuss this quote about virtue attributed to an Eastern thinker, Confucius:

The superior man thinks always of virtue; the common man thinks of comfort. (Confucius)

Discuss the dichotomy and distinction expressed in this quotation between virtue and comfort.

How might the qualities of virtue and comfort be seen as opposites?
What does the quotation imply about the differences between a person who is superior and one who is common?

Step 4

Read through the other quotes about a virtue found on the Quotations Handout. Identify a quote that you find interesting or meaningful and copy it into your Learning Log. Write several sentences about the quote in which you explain why you find its idea to be interesting or important and how you might try to live your life in reference to that idea.

Activity 3: Read – Discuss

We will learn about text-specific questions, how to use them to guide reading, and how to respond to them in ways that are thoughtful and complete.

Step 1

Access the Responding to Questions Handout in the unit’s materials folder.

Discuss the first two sentences in the Concept section of this resource. Notice that text-specific questions should guide your reading and lead to a thoughtful response rather than cause you to look for a single right answer. Depending on the type and nature of the question, there may be a number of well-supported responses, as long as they are based on relevant textual evidence.

Note that you want to develop a good, strategic process for responding thoughtfully and completely to any text-specific question you encounter. Read through and discuss the steps outlined in Phase 1 of the Process section of the Responding to Questions Handout.

Step 2

Return to some of the questions you have considered in this lesson, and discuss what type of question each is:

What are some aspects of life a person might examine?
1. When connected to the Socrates quotation, this can be seen as a text-specific question.
What patterns do you notice in how this sentence is constructed?
1. This question is text-specific because it refers to a specific sentence. However, it is a general guiding question that might be used with any text or sentence, and it is an open-ended question that could be answered in many ways depending on what a reader notices in the sentence and its structure.
How might the qualities of virtue and comfort be seen as opposites?
What does the quotation imply about the differences between a person who is superior and one who is common?
1. These two questions, considered in relation to the Confucius quotation, are text-specific, in that they refer to specific words or ideas from a specific text. The first question involves literal comprehension of the meaning of two words in the quotation, as well as some interpretation of the relationship between virtue and comfort.
2. The second question involves a deeper reading and requires that a reader infer what the quotation is saying about people who choose to live a life based on virtue as opposed to those who live a life based only on comfort.

Step 3

Follow the Process steps outlined in the handout as you annotate Question 3. Think about what you might look for in the text. Discuss what a good response might focus on and include.

Now consider Question 4. Discuss what a good response to that question might focus on.

Compare the two questions and their possible responses, thinking about how your reading of the text might be different depending on which question you focused on.

Step 4

Preview and briefly discuss the Criteria for Success at the bottom of the handout. You will return to and consider these criteria later, when you are developing responses to questions.

Activity 4: Discuss – Read – Write

We will think about the metaphor of a compass and how various compasses might guide us as we journey through life.

Step 1

For this activity, you will begin to use a Vocabulary Journal, which you will maintain for the entire school year. In your journal, you will record new words or concepts you encounter, with short definitions and examples. To determine a word’s definition, you might use a Vocabulary in Context Tool for words you can decipher from the text; for others, you might use morphology to decipher the meaning, or a reference resource to check if your meaning is accurate. For some words, your teacher might present you with definitions.

As you record the words and definitions in your Vocabulary Journal, consider identifying the vocabulary strategy (e.g., context, morphology, reference resource) you used to determine the meaning of each word.

Step 2

As a class, discuss the meaning and connotations associated with the word compass, both as a device used in direction-finding and as a metaphor for anything that guides a person. Discuss the meaning of the literary concept of a metaphor and add metaphor to your Vocabulary Journal.

Consider the term moral compass, which is often used to describe a guiding principle that a person might use to make moral decisions. Add the phrase moral compass to your Vocabulary Journal.

Step 3

With your discussion partner, consider this quote, attributed to American frontier philosopher Daniel Boone:

Having an exciting destination is like setting a needle in your compass. From then on, the compass knows only one point - its ideal. And it will faithfully guide you there through the darkest nights and fiercest storms. (Daniel Boone)

Discuss what you see as "exciting destinations" in your own lives, then some possible "darkest nights" or "fiercest storms" you might face. Together, use the Responding to Questions Handout to consider and develop a response to this question:

Considering Boone’s metaphor of "setting a needle in your compass." What might it mean for a person to determine and use their own compass as a guide in living a meaningful life?

Compare your responses to this question with the responses of other students in the class. Discuss how the metaphor of finding and using a compass relates to the second Central Question of the unit:

What compass might you carry as you undertake your journey in the world?

Step 4

Read through the other quotes about life’s compasses found on the Quotations Handout. Identify a quote that you find interesting or meaningful and copy it into your Learning Log. Write several sentences about the quote in which you explain why you find its idea to be interesting or important and how you might try to live your life in reference to that idea.

Activity 5: Read – Write

We will individually examine a set of quotations drawn from authors we will read in this unit. We will select an interesting quote that might serve as a compass while we think about how to live a life well-lived.

Step 1

In the Quotations Handout, go to the section titled "Quotations from Texts and Authors in This Unit." Read through the quotations, looking for one that seems particularly interesting or meaningful to you.

After selecting a meaningful quotation, annotate it and study its language in response to these text-specific questions:

What do you first notice about this quotation, the words it uses, and its ideas?
What perspective on life and its meaning is suggested by the specific words of the quotation?
How might this quotation (and the text from which it comes) be seen as a possible compass to guide a person’s journey through life and the world?

Step 2

Use the steps in the Responding to Questions Handout as you consider the three questions:

Carefully read and annotate the text of the question.
Determine what type of question it is.
Determine what kinds of textual details you might pay specific attention to.
Skim the text to find the parts you should read closely in response to the question.
Closely read and take note of places and details in the text that correspond to the specific cues in the question.
Think about connections or relationships among the details you identify.
Individually think about responses to the question that are supported by the specific evidence from the text you have found.

Step 3

In your Learning Log, write a short reflective paragraph discussing what you have thought about and learned so far about living a life well lived, living an examined life, valuing one or more virtues, and finding a compass to guide your journey.

Using your analysis of the quotation from one of the unit’s authors, discuss the perspective it suggests and how it might be seen as a possible compass for you and others.

Activity 6: Read – Discuss

We will further consider the Central Question and examine the Culminating Task for this unit, to preview the various options for pathway investigations open to us.

Step 1

Access and review the Culminating Task Checklist for this unit, which describes what you will do to demonstrate what you have learned about the meaning of living a life well-lived for you, by writing a personal essay, narrative, or some other expression of meaning in your life.

Begin by reconsidering the unit’s Central Questions and then considering the specific task questions for the Culminating Task:

Central Questions

What does it mean to live a life well-lived?
What compass might you carry as you undertake your journey in the world?

Task Questions

What have you discovered about living a life well-lived from the stories, metaphors, and potential compasses you have encountered in this unit?
How might you express your discoveries through personal writing?

In a seminar format, beginning in Section 2, you will be doing extended reading and research about one or more aspects of life and guiding compasses that emerge for you during the reading in this unit. Then, you will synthesize what you have discovered, individually and as a team, in response to the unit’s Central Questions and task questions.

Step 2

Do a first reading of the task itself:

Write a personal response to the reading, thinking, and discussion you have done in the unit. Use elements like storytelling and metaphor to express discoveries you have made about living a life well-lived. Identify the human experiences, qualities, or virtues that might guide you as you undertake your journey in the world.

Note that you will have several options about what type of writing you will do. You will learn more about these options later, and you will have several opportunities to practice and get feedback.

Activity 7: Read – Discuss

We will study the text list for this unit to get a better sense of what we will read to understand various perspectives on living a life worth living, as well as the texts we might read or view as we continue our personal and team investigations. We will also consider what we might read independently during this unit.

Step 1

Access and review the Unit Text List. Note the information that is included about each text. These texts are also listed in the activities in which they appear, under the Materials and Texts tabs. Each text has an icon by it; these indicate where the text is located, which corresponds to the Location column in the Unit Text List.

Text locations:

Tradebook: These texts are full-length novels or nonfiction books you will most likely have copies of.
Digital Access: You can find these texts online. Use the information provided in the Unit Text List or on the Texts tab for the activity to conduct a web search for the resource. Digital Access resources include online articles, videos, podcasts, and other web sources.
PDF Texts: These are formatted PDFs of texts that are available for download on the Materials tab.
CD/DVD: This material is available on a CD or DVD. These materials might also be available through online content providers.

Step 2

Review the Independent Reading Text Options. Here, you will find suggested options for independent reading related to the unit.

Activity 8: Read

We will learn about this unit and how it relates to the rest of the year.

The Foundation Unit prepares you for the rest of the year. Review the Course Overview to understand what you will do and learn this year.