Collaborate literature circle (Thunder Cave)

         In humanities, we had a collaborative literature circle and my partner
was Harry Park. The book that we are reading for our literature circle
is "Thunder Cave" written by Roland Smith. I have blogged about this
book before.

1.The benefits of working with a classmate

Working with a classmate was a good experience. It is quite different
from class group discussions. Apart from sharing our ideas and
opinions with each other, we help each other choose passages to read
and how to write about the passages. We also work more closely
together and even edit each other's work. It makes doing a literature
circle assignment a lot easier.

Working with a classmate means I can concentrate better on my part of
the assignment. I have more time to think about my part of the
question because I only need to focus on one part while my partner
does the other part. Sharing an assignment lessens a lot of burden.

Having a partner also makes it possible for me to have a deeper
understanding of the passage I picked because I can spend more time
reading and understanding the passage. Having someone to discuss the
passage with makes it easier to get on with the work. Sometimes my
classmate has a different opinion on the passage and it gives me more
ideas to think about. For example it was interesting to see how Harry
did his assignment. We work very differently. Harry puts a lot of his
opinions into his writing. I usually refer a lot to the passage and
put a lot of quotations in my writing. In future I will put more of my
opinions in my writing.

Another benefit is that we check and edit each other's work before we
submit the work because if the classmate's work has grammatical errors
or if it doesn't make sense, it could affect my grades too.

So I think there are many benefits of working with a classmate.


2.Challenges / obstacles which you overcame (tried to overcome)

The challenges / obstacles I overcame was with the connection. I had
trouble thinking about a connection because the passage that I wrote
was where Jacob was learning how to camouflage himself to blend in
with the surroundings. Harry said that I should make it up, so I
thought to make one up like I camouflage myself to get out of survival
school because I hated it. Then when I was playing one of my games I
figured out that I could write about one of my games.

Another obstacle was that sometimes we couldn't agree on stuff like
the connection, questions and answers and sometimes he would change my
work and I would get upset about it. After working together for a
while, I came up with the idea of generating a few options and we
would choose one that we both agreed on. Even then we still sometimes
ended up with different opinions or ideas on how to write the answer.
I know that people sharing a lit circle don't always see things eye to
eye. But it is natural that we have our different opinions and the
important thing is to voice it out whether we agree with each other or
not is another issue. In the real world sometimes we may have to work
with people that have different communication skills. This can be hard sometimes but
somehow we have to work things out to accomplish our goals.


3.New understandings that you gained about the novel.

For the passage that Harry chose, at first I agreed with Harry's
opinion that the relationship between Supeet and Jacob was important
because Supeet taught Jacob how to survive in the savanna. Supeet was
like a teacher to Jacob and that was a very important point in the
passage. But when I read and re-read the passage that Harry had
chosen, I realized that what was more important was that Supeet had
saved Jacob from death and after that they formed a strong friendship.

Another new understanding I gained is that after meeting Supeet, Jacob
decides to not rush to find his father and instead take more time to
learn how to survive in the savanna from Supeet. As a Masai, Supeet
knows a lot about how to survive in the savanna like having a
different water purification method, how to borrow food from animals
and how to approach animals. Jacob asked Supeet to help him find his
father's camp. Why would Supeet agree to help Jacob, a stranger that
he had just met? I think it's because Supeet realized that he and
Jacob were alike and that they shared the same goals. At first their
relationship is like a teacher and student but later they become good
friends. I think that Jacob's friendship with Supeet gets stronger as
they keep traveling together and i think with this strong friendship,
they can accomplish anything together.

I enjoyed doing my assignment with a partner because having someone to
discuss things with makes the work easier and a lot more interesting.
Sharing a common burden of completing a task where we are graded
perhaps bonds us in a special way just like Jacob and Supeet. We are
dependent on each other to work towards a good grade. It's good to
know that ... I am not alone ...

Lit circle discussion for Thunder Cave

              Discussing the literature circle with my friends allowed me to understand the character Jacob and the story better. In our group dicussions, I am able to share my ideas and listen to my group's ideas too. Sharing ideas in a group gives me a better understanding of the story. The different opinions give me more and more ideas on how to write my literature circle. I think it's cool and interesting that different people can have different opinions and explanations about the same passage. I guess it's because we are from different parts of the world. We also shared our connections and see if they are connected to the passage that we picked. Hearing personal connections helps me to understand not only the story but my friends too. Having group dicussions like this is fun and at the same time we are able to learn from each other. It is also interesting that the same story has so many interpretations and I really enjoyed hearing my friends telling their version of the story.
              I thought our group connected very well. Some of us chose the same passage .Obviously we connected in the choice of passage but some of us chose it for the same reasons but others chose it for different reasons. We may not have had the same opinion all the time,but we were interested to hear what the others had to say. Through sharing I was sometimes influenced by some of my group's opinion. So some of us were connected in opinions after the discussions. I also found that some of our personal experiences that we shared were quite similar and so we were able to relate to each others' feelings and thoughts during the discussions. I think I might get a better understanding about my group with more of these discussions.
          
              I predict that Jacob will find his bicycle and probably blend in with a herd of zebras.I predict that the pendant Jacob found in his mother's room will help him one day. I also predict that Jacob will go back with his dad to get his mom's jewelery back. But I think it won't be easy or simple. There will be surprises for Jacob, like how his bike was stolen. I predict that Jacob will use his survival skills well. Therefore I think that this story will have a  happy ending!