Lord of the Flies

November 27, 2019

For our second unit of learning, we read and studied ‘Lord of the Flies’.  I don’t usually enjoy reading books for school nearly as much as I did with this one.  The depth of the story, and opportunity for broad thinking really resonated with me.  Our driving question for this study was “What is the role of tribalism in our society?”, and I feel that all of the writing and studying that we did really answered that question, and the competencies set out to guide our learning.  For this unit we had four competencies, and seven milestones including a big project.  I feel that the milestone that helped the most, and really broadened my understanding of tribalism and society was Milestone Two; the response journals.  I also enjoyed Milestone Seven; the group project with Adlih, Luca J, and Lucas when we researched the Hell’s Angels and connected it to Lord of the Flies.

Competencies

Reading and Personal Text Response 
Read for enjoyment, to achieve personal goals, and to think, construct, and respond personally, critically, creatively, and reflectively to explore ideas within, between, and beyond texts to construct meaningful personal connection between self, text, and world.
The Writing Process 
Transform ideas and information, using appropriate features, forms, and genres, through the writing process to plan, create, assess, and refine original, engaging, and meaningful literary and informational texts for a variety of purposes, audiences, and messages while using an increasing repertoire of conventions (Canadian spelling, grammar, and punctuation) and appropriate citations for clarity, effectiveness, and impact.
Literary Identification and Analysis
Evaluate how text structures, literary elements, techniques, and devices enhance and shape meaning, including identifying bias, contradictions and distortions, and impact, considering social, political, historical, and literary contexts.
Understanding Language Construction and Intent 
Recognize and understand the role of personal, social, and cultural contexts, values, and perspectives in texts, including culture, gender, sexual orientation, and socio-economic factors and how language is used to construct personal, social, and cultural identity, including discerning nuances in the meanings of words, considering social, political, historical, and literary contexts.

Milestone 1 – Response Paragraph

Firstly, we began reading the book, then our first milestone of the unit was to write a response paragraph answering the question, “What is a tribe in society?”.  I feel that this was a great way to start off the unit with the competency Reading and Personal Text Response, this milestone shows that by allowing us to challenging our own thinking and forcing us to learn in our own terms what tribes mean in society.  In my response paragraph I talked about biological predispositions, definitions, my thoughts on why tribes form, and I compared two opposing tribes, the church and LGBT.

Milestone 2 – Response Journals

Over the course of the unit and reading the book we wrote four journal responses, answering the questions:

  • What makes a great leader?…
  • Are all children violent? Adults?…
  • How is power and control a part of tribes?…
  • Would ‘Lord of the Flies’ be different if it were all girls?…

I enjoyed these journals a lot because of the opportunity for thinking in any way I chose to towards the question asked and sharing a personal view and response to the topic, but also researching what professionals thought about the topics as well.  I’d say that the response journals were a  great example of The Writing Process and Understanding Language Construction and Intent.  Throughout this milestone which continued throughout the project, I feel that I learned much more about how to write properly and more effectively, and how to analyze texts beyond the words through looking at events that were going on at the time the book was written, and other factors that may have influence on the book.

Milestone 3 – Literary Analysis Test

When we did the literary analysis test it was a very intense moment for all of us in this unit because we were presenting our learning to the class the next day (the test was on Nov 14, the presentation was on Nov 15).  But though it was lots of studying and work to do, I felt that I gave it my very best shot and was pleased with the writing that I produced in the short amount of time.  I feel that this milestone really showcased the competency Literary Identification and Analysis, as we analyzed different quotes from the book without preparation, and went in depth into The meaning behind the quotes.  Differing from some of my classmates, I actually really enjoyed the experience of being put on the clock and being expected to do lots of work without any ‘real preparation’.  It felt very exhilarating and opened my eyes up to how much I could get done in such a short period of time.

Milestone 4 – Response Paragraph

This response paragraph was on the 29th of October, and the question we were asked was “How is language used in tribes?”.  I felt that in this paragraph I didn’t have as much inspiration as in the other ones because the question was a bit closed off, but I tried!  In this paragraph I talked about the importance of language in culture and how it represents the individuality of the tribe.  I wrote that language is very important in tribes as it is one of the main representations of the culture.   

Milestone 5 – Research Notes

This milestone was particularly tricky because it was the beginning of the project where my group (Lucas, Luca J, Adlih, and I) had to show the connection between Lord of the Flies and the Hell’s Angels (HA).  My task was to research why people joined the tribe which was more difficult than I anticipated.  Lots of tribes have obvious perks and reasons why one would join, but all I could find on Hell’s Angels was the basis of why anyone would join any tribe, to have a sense of belonging and purpose.  (After I explained this, I did do more in depth research on how someone becomes a HA member, the history of the gang, and what they do).  Thinking of the Hell’s Angels this way broadened our research and connections to LOTF.

Milestone 6 – Draft Presentation

For my part of the presentation I had to show what the role of tribalism is in our society, and how that is connected to LOTF and Hell’s Angels.  I used my research for my journal entries, and my research notes to write my part of the presentation.   At the beginning of our project we had some disagreements about which tribe we’d research because we felt that Hell’s Angels didn’t have enough information, but Ms. Maxwell challenged us to do Hell’s Angels.  I do think that in the end it was a good choice and we did our best with what we had.

Milestone 7 – Presentation of Learning

Lord of the Flies was a very informative and enjoyable unit, and I’m so happy we did it.  Learning about tribalism and diving deep into its role in society has been very interesting and not something I expected from this year.  I can’t wait for the rest of the year!

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