Prepare for Dead Poets

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Prepare for Dead Poets Society

• Keyword preparation
• Romanticism
• Realism
• Walt Whitman
• Henry David Thoreau
• Ralph Waldo Emerson

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• Pre-watch questions
• What does CARPE DIEM mean?
• Have you ever heard of Walt Whitman? What do you
  know about him?
• Do you know anything about Romanticism? And
  Realism?
• What do you know about Thoreau and Emerson? What
  do you know about their philosophy?
• Read and try to understand the theme of the poems
  from the movie. Can you guess the theme of the
  movie from the poems you read?
• Read Krutch, J. W.,e.d. Walden and Other
  Writings by Henry David Thoreau, Bantam Books,
  1981

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Who are they?
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(No Transcript)
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• Task 1 Pre-watch preparation
• Read the articles and try to answer the
  following questions
• 1. What does CARPE DIEM (Latin) mean?
• 2. Have you ever heard of Walt Whitman? What do
  you know about him?
• 3. Do you know anything about Romanticism? And
  Realism? What about Thoreau and Emerson? What do
  you know about their philosophy?
• 4. Read and try to understand the theme of the
  poems from the movie. Can you guess the theme of
  the movie from the poems you read?
• 5. Reading Krutch, J. W.,e.d. Walden and Other
  Writings by Henry David Thoreau, Bantam Books,
  1981

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• Preparation steps for Dead Poets Society
• 1. Download the folder named "DPS"from the
  following ftp sites (24 hours)
• 202.200.225.207
• 2. Read the WORD and PDF files named 1 poems,
  2 romanticism, 3 transcendentalism (the other
  3 files are supplementary references) and answer
  the following questions as a check for
  understanding
• a) Read and try to understand the theme of the
  poems from the movie. Can you guess the theme
  of the movie from the poems you read?
• b) What do you know about Walt Whitman?
• c) Do you know anything about Romanticism? And
  Realism? What about Thoreau and Emerson? What do
  you know about their philosophy?
• 3. Watch the movie
• 4. Watch the movie again and take notes of the
  points you don't understand
• 5. Refer to the files named 5 notes for DPS and
  6 Dead Poet Society (completefinal) as a help
  to your listening comprehension.

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Characters in DPSNeil Perry, Todd Anderson,
Charlie Dalton (aka Nwanda), Knox Overstreet
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Steven Meeks, Gerard Pitts, Chris Noel,
Richard Cameron
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John Keating, McAllistar, Mr. Nolan, Mr.
Perry
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• Task 2 Post-watch Qs
• 1. What do you get about the characters in the
  movie? (Keating, Neil, Todd, Charlie, Knox, ,
  their family background, their personalities,
  etc) Who would you classify as Romanticists, and
  who Realists? Illustrate your points. (Who do you
  like best? And why?)
• 2. What are the ideas Mr. Keating tries to
  advocate to the students? (What are the purposes
  of Mr. Keatings unusual classroom activities?)
  How do the student react to them? What do you
  think of them?(e.g. which of the ideas have
  impressed you most?)
• 3. What is so special about Mr. Keatings
  teaching method? How is his method different from
  other teachers?
• 4. How have the students changed with Keatings
  influence? Who do you think has changed most
  under Keatings influence? (Who is really the
  bravest of Keating's boys? Give your reasons.)

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• 5. Why exactly did Neil take his own life? Could
  Neil have found another way out of his
  predicament? Was suicide his only answer? Who
  really was to blame for Neil's death? Would Neil
  still have eventually committed suicide if Mr.
  Keating had never come into his life?
• 6. Whats your understanding of sucking the
  marrow out of life?
• 7. Compare the education you have gotten with the
  two approaches presented in the film (the strict,
  disciplined structure of the boys school as
  opposed to the freer carpe diem attitude of their
  teacher). Which do you find most effective for
  yourself?
• 8. Another theme of the movie was the
  relationship between a teacher and a pupil. How
  close and informal, do you think, should such a
  relationship be? Is there any potentially
  dangerous nature of the relationship?