Summer SAVY Session 6, Day 1, Encounters and Experiences
Hello SAVY Families!
Today was a wonderful way to kick off SAVY Session 6: Encounters and Experiences, Archetypes in Literature. I was so impressed with the students’ hard work, inquisitive minds, and dedication to learning. They quickly showed me what a fun group of students they will be to work with this week!
We started the day by getting to know one another and setting expectations for our time together this week. Students worked with one another to come up with expectations including “treat others as you want to be treated” and “do not be afraid to share your thinking.” We discussed how this class has much to do with symbols and how YOU view the world, so two people may not be “wrong,” even if they view a situation entirely differently. One of our class favorite activities today was having to agree or disagree on statements such as “our strengths are our weaknesses” and then to share our thinking with the class. This was a great way to become comfortable with our ideas being neither “right” nor “wrong.”
Next, we took a unit pre-test to see what we already know about archetypes, and then jumped into learning about our first major concept of the week: encounters. We defined an encounter as an unplanned experience or meeting — when a person or character meets another person, character, circumstance, emotion, or idea — that brings about a small or big change. Next, we brainstormed the people we most frequently encounter and talked about how these people bring about a small or big change in our day-to-day selves. Next, we made four generalizations about encounters: Encounters allow for reflection and change, Encounters may lead to threats or opportunities, Encounters can result in positive or negative outcomes, and Encounters allow for prediction. We connected these generalizations to Cinderella from our pre-test and to the people we encounter daily.
After ORA, we took a personality test and grouped ourselves into lion, otter, golden retriever, or beaver. This activity launched us into learning about our next major vocabulary word for the week: archetype. An archetype is a very typical example of a person or thing, and was first introduced by psychologist Carl Jung. We used well known characters such as Olaf, Shrek, and the Incredibles to help us fully understand what an archetype is. The students were thrilled to know that they had a knowledge of archetypes well before learning what the word even means!
To end our day, we learned about different character archetypes. We started by looking at an optical illusion and discussed if we saw an old woman or a young lady. Next, we watched the short film Boundin, and analyzed the characters to make a list of different character archetypes. Finally, we read The Dog of Pompeii and filled out a literary analysis wheel with all of the archetypes we noted from the story.
Discussion Questions: What is an encounter? What is an archetype? What is a character archetype? What was your favorite SAVY activity today?
I look forward to learning with and from your brilliant students the rest of this week!
Sincerely,
Miss Gruchot :)