WHISL – Buddha Assignments

Due Dates

  • Due Fri 9/24 pgs 3-42
  • Due Tues 9/28 read pgs 45-85
  • Due Fri 10/1 read pgs 87-115
  • Due Tues 10/5 read pgs 117-152

The books that we love and that impact us are always books that we connect with on a personal level. For Buddha, I want you to choose a method to show your thoughts and deeper connections and understanding; you may choose to keep a journal, or annotate with sticky notes, or show your thoughts with some other creative expression. I don’t want a summary of the book (you may do this anyway if it helps you remember stuff) – but the part I will grade for each due date must include the items listed below. I want you to find parts of the book that impact you and affect you – parts that you can learn from. I don’t want your time in this class to be wasteful, so strive to connect with the book!

What I want to see in your journal or annotations or notes (you must have all of these):

  • Find several quotes that interests you – maybe they are philosophical, symbolic/archetypal, relevant to the character’s development, relevant to you, maybe they stir up questions.
  • Make sure you either annotate on that page or write the page # in your journal so you can find it easily when you want to reference it in class discussion or in the seminar.
  • Write several questions – this could be things you are curious about or don’t understand, but I would love for you to write deeper philosophical questions that we can ask the class during our discussions. Attempt to answer these questions. (See examples on the back of this handout).
  • Your own ruminations, reflections on the concepts in the text. Jot down what you agree/disagree with philosophically. Relate Siddhartha’s thoughts and experiences to your own.

What we will be doing in class and as a final assessment:

I will be focusing our class discussions on your homework, on symbols/archetypes and their deeper meanings, on Siddhartha’s worldview (using the questions I gave you), and on themes in the book. We will have days that we also focus on Chopra’s sentence structures and on vocabulary in the text.

As a final assessment for this book, we will have a Socratic seminar in your book groups. You will receive the two questions (and sub questions) before the seminar: they will focus on the concepts of wisdom vs. knowledge and enlightenment. You should also use your notes/journal/annotations during the seminar. If you are absent on the seminar day, you will have to make up the points by sharing your annotations or journal and discussing some questions with me then providing a written piece on the seminar questions.

The Seminar will be worth one 4pt grade.