+ The Bluest Eye Kelly Butterfly Sackley

+ Todays Awesome Goals To better prepare student for a changing world by making sure they graduate with the flexible skills they need to be leaders in our communities and better able to deal with a state and country that are more culturally diverse To learn to make real-life ethical choices To practice replacing fear and greed with love, tolerance, compassion, and the sympathetic imagination To practice tolerance for diversity of personality types and races/ethnic groups

+ Todays Awesome Topic Racism and judging by appearance

+ Todays Awesome Blogs Amy Importance of empowerment and being heard Claudia is powerless because shes a child and a minority Not powerless to determine own definition of beauty Everybody is beautiful in his or her own way Andrew Emotional response: depression, worthlessness, hopelessness Characters are resigned to their situations Children can be empathetic listeners Bevin There is a common standard of beauty Being thin is a big deal Thinks infatuation with Barbies when she was little skewed her views of beauty Brooks Feels guilty; like he is part of the cause of the problem Racist values play a large role in identification of beauty for women Pecola accepts it, Claudia does not Eric Nature turned on the town Retrospective look at her impact Made him reevaluate life Grace Sister cut her hair off when she was little because of jealously Has skinny white girl guilt Study shows that African American kids still choose the white doll Ian Pathos most important rhetorical device Didnt read emotional lit in high school All kids should read stuff like this because it changes opinions Janie Self-conscious as a kid because she had freckles and gapped teeth Made her able to empathize with Pecola Feels guilty that Pecola prayed for blue eyes because nobody should feel inadequate because of their appearance Carson Feels guilty for having blue eyes Shame and fear that caused the feeling of ugliness in the characters Morrison makes situation real

+ More Awesome Blogs Megan Relates the topic to the AMAZING poetry slam some of us went to on Tuesday, and everyone should go to next week Beauty shouldnt refer to color or physical attributes Self-respect will lessen the effects of societys ridiculous view on beauty Paige Theres more important things than beauty Standard of beauty in society is not realistic Our culture rejects so many different types of beauty and thats sad, but beauty shouldnt matter so much Priya Pecolas vs. Claudias feelings toward little white girl dolls Beauty is such a skewed concept Worked for Girls Empowerment Network (super cool!) Rachel Understood racism through Toni Morrisons writing in a way she hadnt before Will never fully understand how racism feels because has never been a target of it Compared to Shirley Temple as a kid Tatum Every person in the world succumbs in some way to societys wishes Pecola vs. Claudias ideas of beauty Need to eliminate racism within ourselves by accepting and appreciating our own beauty Tori Toni Morrisons writing allows you to really experience racism and its effects The metaphors she uses break stereotypes by connecting the readers to the people Professor Bump Need to redefine beauty Mothers respond more to pretty babies, babies respond better to pretty mothers Attractiveness is a stronger predictor of evaluations and behavioral attributes than ethnicity Kendall Whites used vague Thing to claim they were superior to blacks Eventually black people began to believe they actually were inferior Blacks began to build identity around this role which many of them accepted like Pecola Kian Every being has a purpose Physical bodies are temporary, spirit is constant Plastic surgery and materialism represent yearning for some deeper experience

+ Todays Awesome Questions Was there ever a time when you perceived that you were being judged because of your appearance? Do you feel that you gained new insight into the effects of racism? Do you feel you are able to relate better to victims of discrimination after reading? How did the part about Claudia and her baby doll make you feel about her and about white people in general? Who do you think is the most sympathetic character and why? How do you feel about the way society sees beauty today? How do you think the Dick and Jane story relates to the The Bluest Eye? Why do you think it sped up?

+ More Awesome Questions How would you explain Pecolas low self-esteem? What role does social class play in the novel? What does the foreshadowing suggest will happen as the novel progresses to you? What all does Shirley Temple represent to Pecola? To Claudia? What do you think Toni Morrisons view of beauty is as opposed to societys view?

+ END!!!!!