Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Green Lights

We've only just begun reading Gatsby but today's class was pretty good if I do say so myself.  I came across this article from The New York Times.  Kids read through it after a pretty insightful discussion of the American Dream, which, by the way, is still in their consciousness.  I wasn't sure, to be honest, what their concepts would be about this elusive element but it boiled down to money, family, home, and education.  A pretty good list for today's teens.

Once we read the article and discussed its relevance, kids made quick lists of their dreams and goals - anything from passing a test in class today to career plans in the future.  Then they wrote one on a green lightbulb and posted it on our bulletin board.  I must say I was impressed with the variety of dreams and aspirations. The idea is that the green light, in the novel, symbolizes Jay Gatsby's dream of having Daisy and her lavish lifestyle and for the students symbolizes a dream as well.  Maybe a little cheesy but I think it worked!






8 comments:

  1. My favorite green light is just the fanciness of the words "quite smoking". It always leaves an impression upon me, I am almost breathless. It really enhances the feel of New York in the 1920's.
    -Aurora L.

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  2. My favorite green light is the Happiness light. It is my favorite because no matter what you do in life, you want to be happy while your doing it. There is no point in getting a career in a field you do not enjoy.

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  3. Everyone has their own American Dream. Some people have the dream to save lives, some have the dream to start a family, some just live in the moment and take whatever is thrown at them. In my opinion, if you dont have a dream then you dont have anything.

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  4. My favorite green light is the one that says "Pass drivers test". I could relate to that because I never wanted to take my drivers test, I was so nervous. After I finally took it, I realized that it wasn't that hard.

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  5. I liked the idea of the green lights because it had people really think on a goal, dream, ect. i like the happiness one because everybody wants to be happy. happiness is a big key of life , if your depressed you don't want to do anything , when your happy you look for more things to be happy about. it's great to walk into a room and see smiles all around which reinsures you that people are happy and believe it or not if other people are smiling and happy it motivates you to want the same feeling. if you have happiness in your life it will get you very far. if your happy with you life you'll be happy with your career, your family, your living lifestyle and more. happiness makes you feel good, it makes you wiser, stronger, improve your health & ect. you get what you look for, and when you look for something that makes you happy your willing to get up every morning for that career or whatever it is that you found that makes you happy.

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  6. My favorite green light is "Get a job that I love". I like that one the best because if you dont get a job that you love then there is no point in keeping that that job. Your suppose to love your job. Brandon M.

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  7. My favorite light bulb was happiness, because i feel like that is what Jay Gatsby wants. All he wants is to be with Daisy and to make her happy. I think it really relates with Gatsby. It also was good because you want to be happy with whatever career you want to do.

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  8. I thought it was interesting seeing everybody's goals in their lives. Some of them could have been related to Gatsby's goals in some way but most were a little more personal and directly focused on their future.

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