“Recycling the Gift.”  You should first read the information on the web page to get some background on the movie. Here is the link to the film.

https://vimeo.com/104907956 (Links to an external site.)

Here are links to the written transcripts of the movie.  You can pull quotes from these transcripts. 

https://seanchabot.blogspot.com/2014/09/recycling-gift-full-transcript-part-1.html (Links to an external site.)

https://seanchabot.blogspot.com/2014/09/recycling-gift-full-transcript-part-2.html (Links to an external site.)

This is a VERY dense and deep movie. It has a LOT of very challenging and important ideas in it. So it is important you really get immersed in this movie.

Before you begin to answer the questions below, you should really engage with the movie. Take notes,…watch it more than once…. pause it to think about  what you are watching, etc….

Below are sets of questions for you to address. There are several questions in each section.

Answer all the questions in each section. You should write 3 full paragraphs for each question in a section. 

1)    Direct Competition vs. Cooperation (2 pages)

Why do you think it is that Adam Smith and  Charles Darwin are commonly linked to Competition though their work actually talks about  Cooperation more? Which of these two narratives is found most in schools? What is the effect on students?

2)     Organic Learning & Creativity (2 pages)

When you hear the phrase “organic learning” what do you think of? In a classroom where organic learning is happening, what do you think the role is of the teacher?

3)     Monoculture & Memorization (2 pages)

A student said, “Classes teach you to behave as if in a monoculture. The school itself is a monoculture.” How would you respond to this claim? Why do you think classrooms are often so sterile looking and feeling, almost like a monoculture?

4)     Nature and Ecology Informing a Resilient Classroom (2 pages)

“Finding our humanness leads us back to nature,” says an interviewee, “and once there, we will likely want to care for it. But the opposite of this is if school treats us as robots, then we WON’T go back to nature.”  Is the educational institution therefore to blame in keeping us from doing better for the planet? In nature all the different systems seem to interact and blend into and serve each other. In the school  setting, the different disciplines seem to often exist in separate silos. Why do you think this is? What are consequences?

6)     K/R Selection, Nuturing Relationship vs. No relationship (1 page)

In nature, organisms that are R selection have a lot of offspring, with little contact and many of whom die–for example, fish. K selection means organisms have few offspring, a lot of contact and most offspring survive–for example, monkeys. Which metaphor most closely resembles the way in which our education system operates? What lessons in K/R selection are there for schools?

 

You should put quotes in each paragraph that you are writing. If you want to use outside sources, that is fine, but it is not mandatory. 

Here is a Link to discussion of how to do Rule of 3 (Links to an external site.)
https://seanchabot.blogspot.com/2014/01/rule-of-3.html

Here is a Link to discussion of how to do Typical Academic Paragraph. (Links to an external site.)
https://seanchabot.blogspot.com/2014/01/features-of-typical-academic-body.html

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