Loyalty and Characters from the Text

1. Loyalty and Characters from the Text

2. Agenda • Group 1 and Group 2 • Choose Leader • Explain why that leader was chosen. • Practice trust falls. • Quiz on text. • Discussion • Writing to Argue.

3. Reflection • What were your concerns throughout the activity? • What habits did you learn to get by? • Is it possible to be too loyal? How so? What harm can come from extreme loyalty? • How do you practice loyalty in your relationships? What does loyalty look like? • How do the characters from our text practice loyalty? What does it look like to them? • 9th – How do Penelope and Odysseus’ scenarios relate to the loyalty you observed? • 10th – How does George’s loyalty to Lennie help or hinder him? How has Lennie’s loyalty to George helped or hindered him?

4. Writing to argue • Being loyal is considered a virtue and is not easy to hold onto. Most surveys show that people consider “loyalty” to be the most important quality a friend can have. Is this true?

5. Writing to argue Format • Claim • Explain • Evidence • Warrant • Evidence • Warrant • Counterargument • Red Bow Conclusion

6. Being loyal is considered a virtue and is not easy to hold onto. Most surveys show that people consider “loyalty” to be the most important quality a friend can have. Is this true? Writing to argue Format • Claim – Loyalty is a virtue, but it is not the best quality for a friend to have. • Explain – Meaning, undoubted trust and interest in someone else is not always beneficial. • Evidence – Textual (from the story) • Warrant (since my text says _____ it supports the idea ___). • Evidence – Witness Statement • Warrant (since _____ says _____ it supports the idea ___). • Counterargument (Some say that ____, Although _____ is believed). • Red Bow Conclusion

7. Being loyal is considered a virtue and is not easy to hold onto. Most surveys show that people consider “loyalty” to be the most important quality a friend can have. Is this true? Writing to argue Format • Claim – Loyalty is a virtue, but it is not the best quality for a friend to have. • Explain – Meaning, undoubted trust and interest in someone else is not always beneficial. • Evidence – Lennie, in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, for instance, is too loyal with his friend and mentor George. • Warrant – Lennie trusts George partially because of his mental disability and partially because of his extreme dependency on him over the years. But, ultimately, George ends up having to put Lennie down for his own sake and forgo all loyalty. • Evidence – Similarly, during a loyalty lesson students were prompted by their leaders to cheat on a test and then anonymously tell me, their teacher, if they did or did not cheat. • Warrant – Since most students turned on the trust I have in them, I’ve found that just having loyalty is not enough. • Counterargument – Although people find loyalty to be the most important quality in a friend, I have found that things like respect and being true to oneself and those closest to them is a more protective method. • Red Bow Conclusion Meaning, having a long-term friendship or connection may be more important than glimpses of loyalty to someone that is not as close.

8. Being loyal is considered a virtue and is not easy to hold onto. Most surveys show that people consider “loyalty” to be the most important quality a friend can have. Is this true? Odyssey Example • Claim – Loyalty is a virtue, but it is not the best quality for a friend to have. • Explain – Meaning, undoubted trust and interest in someone else is not always beneficial. • Evidence – In Homer’s Odyssey, the Son of Laertes, Odysseus is stranded away at sea from his family and home for 20 years. Over the course of these years, for instance, Odysseus cheats on his wife many times. • Warrant – Since, the hero Odysseus is consistently breaking the trust of his loved ones and they still take him back at the end of the epic, readers see that his other heroic traits like strength, valor, and cleverness allow for much more appreciation. • Evidence – During a loyalty lesson and test in class, several students broke their loyalty to friends in class. This broken loyalty causes minimal slashes in a friendship. • Warrant – When witnesses saw people turn on their own friends and break loyalty only glimpses of upset were witness, since only small damage was done, the virtue of loyalty is clearly surpassed by other needs. • Counterargument – Some people will say that without loyalty there cannot be a friendship. However, other qualities like love, compassion, and guidance can prove to be more valuable. • Red Bow – With so many experiences and qualities within a friendship, to say that one is more important than another only shows the truth: not all relationships have to be quixotic, nor should they be. There should be a healthy mix of admirable qualities.