Day 1..Ben Franklin Gets a Bad Wrap

Today, April 3rd marks the first full 24 hour day that I have worn my letter.  Most of my interactions with people have been in the school setting, and I have gotten a variety of different responses.  It is interesting to hear my students and how they feel.  Mostly people think my P stands for the Phillies, but it definitely does not; it stands for Procrastinator.  When I tell people, some don't believe me.  That makes me feel even worse!  If I worked at what i believe to be my full capability, I bet I could be at the top of my game in every aspect of my life.  I hope that my students are learning as much as I am from this.  I care about them applying themes from the Scarlet Letter; but moreover, I just hope that they learn something about themselves.

Yesterday, a few 10th graders came to me to ask if they could make their own letters.  I think that they believed that the scarlet emblems were just a cute way to show everyone your initials, so I explained the purpose of the assignment.  I told them that the letter is not necessarily something that you should be proud of, but rather something that you recognize needs to change in your life.  A symbol for a sin or crime you have committed which has negatively affected your life.  Their opinions changed and they not longer "wanted to put their business out there".  I thought, there are a lot of people that don't want their business put out there, but through others judgements, it gets put out there, and on a pedestal nonetheless!

Ben Franklin gets a bad wrap from many people, and there are certainly reasons for that.  It is a place in which violence is commonplace and understanding can be sometimes secondary; however, I feel that so many people have embraced the challenge involved in this project.  My students seem to be complying with the rules and they are providing excellent feedback.  I hope that they learn a bit of humility and tolerance from their letters!!

Hey students!? What does judgement really feel like?

Through this experiment, you will (hopefully) obtain a greater understanding of what experiences Hester Prynne went through in the new colony of Boston, 1640.
The Scarlet Letter Final Project

Objective: To understand and relate to the characters in SL in through social experimentation.

Essential Questions:

1. Is society, and it’s members, more or less judgemental today than in the Puritan society of 1640? Why or why not?

2. How would the experiment change if you were assigned a letter vs. choosing your own?

3. Does the symbolism of the letter begin to change to you or those around you after some time?

4. Is it possible for our shame to also be a source of our empowerment?

5. Does today’s society isolate “different” as punishment?  If so why? If not, what other methods are used?

Explanation of Experiment:

1. You will get your juices flowing by having a class discussion about different “crimes or sins” prevalent in today’s society

*http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/pictures/celebrity-scandals-and-meltdowns-2013-20131112/34554

2. You will look inward, you will answer a few personal questions:

* What are some “crimes or sins” you have committed yourself? (ps- in this case, failing a class or letting your   brother eat ice cream for dinner work as crimes/sins)

*Are there any crimes you have gotten away with which haunt or leave you with lingering guilt?

* What was your motivation for committing said crimes? (anger, jealousy, fear, selfishness)

3. You will then choose a letter to serve as a symbol of your crime/sin

* You don’t have to share with others what your letter means, but you do have to share it with me during your summary/analysis

*Examples could be B for bullying, G for gossiping, C for cheating, S for selfishness, etc

4. You will create and wear your letter for 3 full days, in school and in life

*Part of this experiment is how school peers treat you, but also neighbors, family, and even strangers

5. You will then use your blogger app in your gmail to blog about your experiences wearing your letter. You will use the essential questions to help you along
*Each day, you must log on to your blog and write a minimum of 2 paragraphs about your reaction to other 
people, their reaction to you, and/or your reaction to the experiment. Remember judgement can come from 
within as much as from external sources
*Each blog will have the Day number and an overall title for the day

6. The final piece will be to write a 5 paragraph essay about your experiences and lessons you learned from this experiment. The essay will be due on Monday, April 7th