Thursday, January 17, 2008

Siddhartha in the 21st Century

Each year I read Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha with my World Literature 12th grade students. While a few of them are quick to understand the concepts and deeper insights into how one should go about living life, most need the themes and ideas driven home through curriculum supplements.

This year I utilized readings from The Way of Chaung Tzu by Thomas Merton to help elucidate key concepts. I also called on YouTube for a visual assist, and found a great three-part Siddhartha series created by high school students.

Today we watched videos one and two. Tomorrow we'll watch the finale before beginning work on the culminating activity for the unit, an essay entitled Siddhartha Comes to America!

Below are the three student-produced Siddhartha videos. I hope you enjoy them as much as my students and I did.




3 comments:

Healthy Teacher said...

Is it okay to post pictures of your students on your blog? I took my kids on a field trip today, and I live in CA. I'm paranoid of getting in trouble. Did you get permission slips?

Mr. B-G said...

I don't have pictures of my students on my blog. These videos are hosted at YouTube, and weren't created by anyone at my school.

Before I did any blogging with students, I notified their parents and had them sign permission slips. I told students not to use their full names, put personally identifying information on their blogs, or post pictures of themselves.

It all depends on the nature of the online publication and its affiliation with the school. Because of FERPA, schools need permission to post student images and names online. However, an online scholastic newspaper would not. Blogs fall more into the latter category.

However, I'm not a lawyer, so check with your school, and remember to always keep parents informed of what you're doing.

act prep classes columbus ohio said...

This was one of my favorite books as a youngster. Glad to see you are doing such creative work with it.