Friday, August 8, 2014

Sept: Week 4--Imaginative Arts



WEEK 4: Imaginative Arts 
The week when we get to CREATE and EXPRESS OURSELVES using the arts of the beautiful lens, making what we learned a part of our lives forever….

 

*Each week, you need to meet with your parents or a mentor and review the material for the week so you can individually tailor it to your studies: powerful and necessary :).

MONTHLY FOCUS:  
 A look at Humility through the Imaginative Arts Lens

1. Review the poem and scripture for the month and consider what they can teach you about humility.  Come to class prepared to pass it off!

Image result for image of hiawatha2. Now, read another poem, this one about the wonderful Native American people who were present when the settlers first came to the American continent. Read the two selections from “Hiawatha” by Longfellow here: https://archive.org/details/childrenslongfel00long pgs 130-142  Highlight or otherwise note your favorite passages.

3. Read “Alone Yet Not Alone.”  Did the family’s faith and humility give them power?  What messages did this book send to you?  Were they all true? Write down at least three “messages” you heard in this book and use your “penetrating deception” exercise to find out if they are messages of godly truth.

Then please do one or more of the following:
- Write down your favorite quotes to share about the book.  Put them in your quote box.
-Look at the journey, time period, or location of the characters in the book, study more about them, and come prepared to teach us about them in some way.
-Do a character T-chart comparing the two sister’s, or two of any of the characters in the book.
-Do a brain map mapping connections between this book, your life, and what you have studied this month.
Do not read their “discussion questions” unless you want to...  They are silly  :).

4.  Do one or both of the following:
-Listen to, sing, or play the hymn “I need thee every hour” and ponder on what it teaches you about humility and trusting the Savior. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSQ-3TD7g_g  Think about when we need the Savior and about how we can reach for Him. Listen to it again.
-Listen to the 5th symphony http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4IRMYuE1hI : listen to it and notice when the song becomes prideful, when God chides it, when the song fights back and when it finally decides to submit and listen to what God has in store for it.
Think about how music has given you strength and reminds you to be humble.


TOOLS OF THE LENS
Using the Imaginative Arts to express ourselves and share our message

5.  What is “body language”?  Look it up or ask someone, and spend a few minutes looking in the mirror watching some of your own body language.  Ask a parent or trusted friend what they have noticed your body language saying to them.  Come prepared to participate in  "Performing Arts" activity to learn more!

6. Let’s look at the power of words and how they can transform us!
READ the Forward, Intro. and Chapter 1 of Aspire.
WRITE about one or more of the following:
  • How can having humility help me live the principle of Genshai?
  • Find a scripture/scripture story that teaches the principle of Genshai and write about it.
  • Tell about a person from this months study that demonstrates Genshai or who doesn't demonstrate Genshai. How did living or not living this principle effect their life.
  • Use the author's journaling on Genshai as inspiration and record in your journal your own unique thoughts and reflections on Genshai.
DO one of the following:
    Image result for image of genshai
  • Select someone whose behavior best reflects the principles of Genshai.  Write that persons name in your journal.  Reach out and teach that person the meaning of Genshai and explain why he or she personifies this word.  You could do this in person, letter or email.
  • Teach the word and what it means to your family in home evening.  
  • Think about your own life.  Do you practice Genshai?  How could you improve?  Could you be more kind to yourself, to others you know or meet?  Set a specific goal of how you will practice Genshai?  Record in your journal your goal and write down your successes.
  • Tape the word to your mirror and remind yourself each morning of your greatness and the greatness of others.
  • Write a poem that demonstrates Genshai or bring or draw a picture that shows Genshai

7. Come prepared to be messy as we explore the messages sent through lines and colors!  Check out the blog for a whole list of lines and their meaning.  Practice doing some before class if you’d like.

Finalize your month with a project!

8. PROJECT TIME!  Take what you have learned this week or any week throughout the month and figure out a way to communicate it through an artistic medium: acting, singing, drawing, sculpting, writing, poetry, etc.   (This can also be your Master Class project.)

If you have been working on a month-long project, now is the time to create something that describes your project, was a part of your project, or is your project and then come and share it with us.

Sept: Week 3--Eureka!




WEEK 3: Eureka! 
Seek and ask for explosions of light and truth to help us maintain the Title of Liberty

*Each week, you need to meet with your parents or a mentor and review the material for the week so you can individually tailor it to your studies: powerful and necessary :).

1. Read chapter 2 of Lead Like Jesus and write down a one paragraph summary or take-home message.  You can answer these questions in it if you would like to: What is the author teaching you?  Do you believe it?  If so, how do you feel you should apply it?  If not, why?
In order to lead like Jesus, we need to be able to see through the deceptions of the devil and the fallacies of the world around us.

2. Watch this and see how easy it is to twist truth!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnICFjDn97o
This week, try to see truths in the world around you as well as false messages (remember the Mysterious Benedict Society?)

3. Speaking of “messages,” did you know that every time you read or hear something, you are receiving messages? Read  this version of Jack and the Beanstalk (http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0328jack.html#jacobs) and write down at least three “messages” the story tells you, whether true or false.  Bring them to class to share in our “penetrating deception” activity!

(You can read this interesting article on Wikipedia about Jack and the Beanstalk: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_and_the_Beanstalk.  How much of it, do you wonder, is true?)

4. Learn how to look for symbols:
Write down and look up in the scriptures at least 3 different symbols and what they mean to you.

Think about these things:
--is there such a thing as absolute truths?
--how can we know if something is an absolute truth?
--how is the Liahona like a compass and how does it work? 
--does humility have anything to do with making the compass work properly?

and Write, Act Out, or Draw an answer to one or more of these questions!  For instance, write a one paragraph (3 sentences) about your answer to one or more of these questions; act out a skit that answers one or more of these questions; or create a piece of art--music, poetry, story, picture--that captures the answer or your feelings about one or more of these questions.

6. Spiritual compasses can guide us, even as compasses of old guided explorers.  Check out these sites and learn more about the compass!
 
Learn about how Christopher Columbus used a compass in travel:
 
7. Watch this: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2014?lang=eng and think about how the man’s humility allowed him to listen to his inner compass and allowed God to guide his life.

Or
Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPbDZnrxBLM (below) and identify what voices are out there and how to recognize the spirit.  Answer in your mind, what does this process of listening to the spirit have to do with humility?
Or
Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7inA98DRPU and think about what you would have done if you were in their shoes.

8. PROJECT TIME! Continue to work on your monthly project or do a weekly project of your own using one of the ideas below or coming up with one on your own that relates to what we are learning about or what you are humbly hearing God direct you to do.

--Construct your own orienteering course using a compass and teaching someone else to use it.  Put a treat at the end and teach them the symbolism you learned about the compass.

--Make an artistic representation of one of the concepts above and bring it to class to share with us.

--Spend a week looking for fallacies (falsehoods) and truths that you see in the media and in the world around you.  Seek the spirit to be able to discern the difference. (This can go along with the fallacy inspirements in Journeyman.)

--Apply yourself more diligently to your math this week thus developing your ability to reason and see patterns.

--Daily pray to seek for, listen to, and follow promptings of the Spirit for a pre-determined amount of time.  Record your experiences at the end of each day in your journal.

--Prepare and commit to going to Journeyman and Master Class this week by planning ahead and counseling with a mentor how to do it.