The Boys in the Boat  for any quotes or texts that you found especially important, interesting, confusing, and worthy of discussion.  Hopefully, you've been underlining, highlighting, or noting specific passages as you read.  Don't feel guilty about writing in your book; that's why you bought the darn thing!  Think of it as a journal of your thoughts on the words on the page.  Another thing you can do is make a list of new words, names, and phrases that you don't know and look them up in a dictionary.  Try to use these words in your vocabulary this week.

Directions for Post 1: For this week's seminar, think about some of the themes that you've noticed so far. Pick two quotes from Section 2 that further our understanding of some of the big ideas from the text, ideally not on the same paragraph or pages. Themes are overarching ideas that the writer returns to over and over throughout the book.  Some examples of the book so far include sportsmanship/teamwork, socio-economic class, individuality, propaganda, etc. Copy the quotes down word for word and give the (author's last name page #).  Explain each quote by focusing on these 3 aspects: summary, analysis, and synthesis.  Be sure to include the context for the quote along with the summary and mine the text for insights into the ideas as it relates to the book as well as connections to broader experiences.  Discuss how it helps us to better understand the theme(s) that you've noticed and consider asking a question and giving some possible answers. 

Directions for Post 2 (Make this a separate post from Post 1; don't just skip a line): 

We get a chance to understand better the economic, political, and environmental issues of the time through Brown's descriptions and narration technique of switching back and forth between the boys' stories and what is happening in Germany. Think about the questions you have about what it was like in the 30s as you read the text.  For example, I wondered how in the world 350 million tons of topsoil ends up getting swept up into the air, or what the difference is between fascism and totalitarianism.  You might be wondering whether the UW Shell House still exists or how Roosevelt's visit to Washington State went. For this post, please investigate further some different aspects of the historical context and background related to the book by reading through one or all of the following websites. (Most of these sites also link to other relevant subtopics that you can use for this post as well.)  If you have questions not answered by these websites, you may find another reputable source and want to use that instead, but please include the source and its URL in your post.
 

The Nazi Olympics (Links to an external site.)
The Great Depression in Washington State (Links to an external site.)
The Dust Bowl (Links to an external site.)
 

What were you initially interested in? What struck you as you read further?  What was something that you learned, was surprised by, or thought worthy of discussion?  Summarize the information from your source (include the title and full name of the author or source of the information), analyze what is important, then synthesize it by connecting it to The Boys in the Boat.  In what ways are things similar or different from today?