Reflection:

While reading the book we began to realize that we were often returning to the same questions of how do we balance an appreciation for the text with it’s at times blatant moments of misogyny and racism. After discussion the themes of the East of Eden, some that we understood to be intentional and others that seemed accidental we wanted to come up with our own ideas for what it means to teach and learn a classic. We have found that classics such as East of Eden are often read with little or no critical analysis of the problems of the text. At the same time, we don’t regret our experience reading the text and have found value not only in the strengths of the work but also in its failures.  In our final poster, we came to the conclusion that the best way to balance the pitfalls and strengths of a book like East of Eden is to read it critically, compassionately and with the current context of its place and setting.

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Project by: Theodora (Bay) Dotson (11th Grade), Layne Friedman (11th Grade)
Project Advisor: Arturo Acevedo
Student(s)’s Advisor(s): Karyn and Arturo

Please write a description of the project you are proposing. Why do you want to take this on, and what do you hope to learn?

We are planning to read East of Eden by John Steinbeck with Arturo. None of us have read the book before and are looking forward to reading it together and being able to discuss as we go. We will read the first part over break, and have divided the rest up into weekly readings.

Critical thinking, creativity, citizenship and courage are essential LREI learning values. Explain how you’ll draw on at least one of these values to complete your proposed project?

We will bring critical thinking into our analysis of the text as well as creativity in what we decide for our final project.

What is your proposed outcome? How will you be able to demonstrate successful completion of this Project? How do you plan to share your learnings with the larger LREI community (e.g., exhibit of work, poster of learnings, performance, etc.)?

We will complete the book, and while we have not yet determined what our final product will be, we believe that this will happen once we have a better understanding of the text itself. Possible outcomes could be a book report or a visual project that communicates the themes that we will uncover.

Please provide a general outline that indicates your work plan for the trimester? What are some of the key project benchmarks (i.e., goals that will help to ensure that you finish the project)?

We have already mapped out the reading deadlines on our calendars.

When do you plan on meeting?
one lunch a week