Touching Spirit Bear: Book Club #2

Marissa and I met again for book club about chapters 8-14:

We started off with some opinions, and went on to symbolism of the sparrows. At first Cole wanted them to die if he was dying, and then once they fell, he asked "you okay?" We talked about how the sparrows had their mom feeding him, and how he watched that and wished for that in his life. He later even pretended and pictured himself as a sparrow getting food from a mother bird.

We talked about how Cole is not not afraid of death because he almost died. I brought up that I had genuinely wondered how realistic it was that he changed so much and learned so much so quickly.

We then discussed the symbolism of how the blood from the spirit bears attack looked identical to when he attacked Peter. Marisa wrote the quote: "it reminded him of the bear's blood on the knife blade beside him. it also looked like the blood he had seen on the sidewalk after beating up peter. the blood looked identical" Peter felt guilt about Peter now that he knew what it felt like. Another one we talked about briefly was the storm coinciding with his weakness and helplessness.

We talked about the caterpillar he killed, even though was was also dying. Marisa brought up that he did feel bad about it later. This symbolism also connects to the sparrow symbol. He did not feel bad for the caterpillar, but he then felt bad for the sparrows.

Cole's whole deal with power then came up. He learned a lot when he learned that he is in fact in control of his life, and that changed him to actually wanting to live. This was what really turned Cole around.

We then talked about how he touched the spirit bear rather than spit on it. I said it allowed him to experienced trust immediately. Marisa brought up that it was a huge time for change for Cole, and that it was really important to the story, and also that that made him submissive to the bear.

Edwin is a character that we both cant really figure out. We dont really know why he has faith in Cole, because he does not really have a connection to Cole like Garvey does. We dont know much about his past, so we are predicting it has something to do with the tribe, and living on the island himself. I predicted that may Edwin was the one that sponsored Garvey when he was a kid.

For My Future Classroom

Below are ideas I want to remember for when I am a teacher:


http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/clever-classroom-tips-for-elementary-school-teachers#3bvjzei

Touching Spirit Bear: Book Club #1, Chapters 1-7

Marissa and I met for book club over facebook last night:

First we determined that we both are enjoying the overall plot so far. We talked a lot about Cole's character, how we feel about it, and why we think that he is that way. We then answered some of the questions that were in the back of the book. One of them was "Cole thinks his parents hate him. How do you think he feels about himself? Why?" We talked about this concept for a while, and about how Cole's parents actions will impact his future as a person and/or as a parent himself. We said that we feel bad for Cole, because he does not have much control over the life that was handed to him. Marisa brought up that Cole has the right to think his parents hate him, and that he probably hates himself too. I agreed. We discussed how Cole tried swimming to impress his dad, but he still wasnt good enough. I then brought up that if his dad doesnt think he is good enough, how can Cole have and confidence in thinking that he is good enough for himself. I also said, " if his dad doesnt care about his life that much how can he care about his life?" Marisa agreed. We then talked a bit about Spirit Bear and what he represents for Cole.

We then talked a bit about Garvey, and the foreshadowing of the fact that he might have gone through something similar to what Cole is going through. We said how Garvey doesnt actually believe Cole wants change, but he is hopeful that the island will work, we predicted that it probably changed Garvey, which is why he is sticking with and supporting Cole. 

We then discussed a couple unrealistic aspects of the novel, and how they bothered us a little, like how they would never actually send him to jail. For example, I said "if he doesnt care this much about his life why wouldnt he not care if he went to jail". Marisa added "...they should outline more of the key lessons of the story, for example, don't lie." I agreed. "I don't like how they glance at certain issues and keep going" Marisa continued. I also added "...they gave him schoolwork to do on the island, but they would know by now to stop giving him homework, and a kid just cant stop going to school for a year" These little things dont particularly matter for the plot or anything, and I dont think it would "bother" the readers from this grade level, but we still discussed it. i