Introduction to Into the Wild Literature Project

For the next month, we will be reading and discussing a very exciting survival novel based on a true story about a young man named Christopher McCandless.  The novel is called Into the Wild and it is written by Jon Krakauer.  Recently, the novel was made into a major motion picture.  The movie version is excellent, but the novel is different and better in many ways.  As we read the novel in and out of class, you will create your own Into the Wild blog project with written blogs and creative gadgets.  Enjoy the adventure!

Go to the link below for an overview of the novel before getting started.  Create your own blog project on Blogger and give it a name that has to do with the book title, your first name, and English project.  Select an image to post on the introduction.  Also, give a brief overview of the novel that you are about to read based on Wikipedia.  Put the summary into your own words and invite other teen readers to join you on this literary adventure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Wild

Author Biography

Find a trusted source using one of the John Carroll databases or one of the Harford County Library databases about Jon Krakauer.  Read the article and write a one-paragraph biography in your own words that gives the highlights of Jon Krakauer's life and writing career.  Also, find an image of Jon Krakauer and add it to your blog.

A Place in the United States that You Want to See and Experience

Write a creative journal about a place in the United States that you have never been, but would really like to visit and experience for a sojourn.  Before you can write about this place, you may need to look up some travel information about this destination.  How would you get there, what is this place known for, what is the weather like and what would you need to take for this experience?  Then, write about your expectations of your experience while you are there.  Lastly, add some images of this special place in the U.S.

A Desired Adventure

The United States is so diverse, and we only have so much free time to explore, but if I were planning my next vacation, I would like to visit Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California.  This would be so much more of an adventure than a relaxing vacation, but that is what makes it desirable.  I am most inspired to visit Yosemite after seeing a photo exhibit a few years ago of one of America's greatest photographers, Ansel Adams.  You know his work.  He shot black and white photographs of many scenic landscapes in the western United States during the early 1900's.  If you click on the link below, you will read that Ansel Adams, a troubled student and sickly young teen, was inspired to become a landscape photographer after reading about Yosemite National Park.  According to Ansel Adams' experts: " When photographer Ansel Adams looked through his camera lens, he saw more than Yosemite’s rocks, trees, and rivers. He saw art. Hues of wildness surfaced in this great American photographer’s stunning black-and-white prints. And for most of his life, Yosemite National Park was Adams’ chief source of inspiration."  
http://www.nps.gov/yose/historyculture/ansel-adams.htm.


Now, what would I like to do in Yosemite National Park, how would I get there, what would I need for my trip?  

Favorite Famous Quotes in The Novel

Writers Referenced in the Novel and Their Importance to Christopher McCandless

As you read the novel Into the Wild, create a list of well-known writers that Christopher McCandless references or Jon Krakauer references at the beginning of each chapter throughout Chris's journey. Some examples might include Leo Tolstoy, Jack London, etc.  You can use any of the author names after the epigrams at the beginning of the chapters.

You must have at least three authors in your chart or organized list of your choice. Your list should  include the following information:

• The writer’s name

• The books that the author is famous for (google it)

• Favorite line(s) in the quotation by the writer from in Into the Wild with page number from the chapter

• How this author and quotation connects to Christopher McCandless and his outlook on life

• A favorite quotation of yours and why? What might Chris think about your quote? Would he “get it”?  (google inspirational quotations)

• Lastly, when you post your chart  or list on your English blog, add images of the three writers with source information.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=thoreau

Student Sample of Travel Powerpoint

Check this travel powerpoint out!!!

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0ASU7kqI4cp99ZGR6ZDV3OWRfNTI2ems4cGdn&hl=en&authkey=CMqJn5gC

Keeping Characterization Notes on Christopher McCandless/Alex Supertramp

Characterization Notes on Christopher McCandless

(a.k.a. Alex Supertramp)

Assignment Directions: As you read Into the Wild, take notes on direct and indirect characterization traits about Christopher McCandless. For each chapter, pick out 2-3 descriptions about Chris that really stand out to you. This could be direct descriptions about what Christopher looks like or indirect descriptions about how Chris acts, what he says, how others view him, how he treats others, and anything about Chris that helps you form an opinion about him by the end of the novel. Keep in mind that by the end of the book, you will write an essay that gives your opinion on either side of the following argument presented in the “Author’s Note”:
“Some readers admired the boy immensely for his courage and noble ideals; others fulminated that he was a reckless idiot, a wacko, a narcissist who perished out of arrogance and stupidity – and was undeserving of the considerable media attention he received.”


Create your own chart or go to Class Handouts and open the "Into the Wild" folder.  Download the document called "Characterization Notes on Christopher McCandless"  Fill out the chart as you read and post on your blog when the chart is completed. Mrs. Z. will check your chart on your laptop periodically to see that you are adding notes and keeping up with the character chart as we read.

Mrs. Z.'s Direct and Indirect Characterization Notes on Christopher McCandless

 (Alex Supertramp)

Headings of your chart should be:  Chapter and page #  / Description/quote from novel  / What impression you get about Chris with this character trait or description?

Example for your chart: 
Chapter 1, page 4
Description/quote from book: “Five feet seven or eight with a wiry build, he claimed to be 24 years old and said he was from South Dakota. He explained that he wanted a ride as far as the edge of Denali National Park, where he intended to walk deep into the bush and ‘live off the land for a few months.’”

My impression of Chris:  Chris is not physically fit for walking into such a dangerous environment. He seems a little crazy.

Student Chapter Discussions

Into the Wild Student Chapter Discussions

As a way to get students talking to other students about the novel, you and a partner will take one or two chapters of the novel and hold a meaningful and interesting discussion on those chapters with your class mates. The criteria for your student discussion include the following points:

• A brief summary of any new developments in Christopher’s journey. This might include new places, new people, new hardships, etc., that Christopher encounters in that part of the book.


• A discussion of some of the most important reading questions and vocabulary from the assigned homework.


• A sharing of something in the chapter that is really interesting to you and your partner that we might not have thought about while reading.


• Some visual image that fits the events or themes of your chapter(s).


Your discussion needs to be organized, rehearsed, and include a powerpoint slide(s) for Mrs. Z. to display while you hold your discussion. The discussion should take at least 1 mod.
Grade point value is 100 points.

Chapter Assignments ( 2 people per assignment)

• Chapters 1-3 We will work on as a whole class

• Chapter 4

• Chapter 5

• Chapter 6

• Chapter 7

• Chapter 8

• Chapters 9-11

• Chapters 12-13

• Chapters 14-15

• Chapters 16-17

• Mrs. Zurkowski will wrap up with chapters 18 to the end.

Chapter Discussions by Student Groups

Into the Wild


Student Chapter Discussions



As a way to get students talking to other students about the novel, you and a partner will take one or two chapters of the novel and hold a meaningful and interesting discussion on those chapters with your class mates. The criteria for your student discussion include the following points:



• A brief summary of any new developments in Christopher’s journey. This might include new places, new people, new hardships, etc., that Christopher encounters in that part of the book.

• A discussion of some of the most important reading questions and vocabulary from the assigned homework.

• A sharing of something in the chapter that is really interesting to you and your partner that we might not have thought about while reading.

• Some visual image that fits the events or themes of your chapter(s).



Your discussion needs to be organized, rehearsed, and include a powerpoint slide(s) for Mrs. Z. to display while you hold your discussion. The discussion should take at least 1 mod.



Grade point value is 100 points.







Chapter Assignments ( 2 people per assignment)

• Chapters 1-3 We will work on as a whole class

• Chapter 4

• Chapter 5

• Chapter 6

• Chapter 7

• Chapter 8

• Chapters 9-11

• Chapters 12-13

• Chapters 14-15

• Chapters 16-17

• Mrs. Zurkowski will wrap up with chapters 18 to the end.

Free Write About Escaping Society

Chapter 9 Meditation and Free Write

Blog Directions

 

          Do a free write about your reactions to this idea of escaping civilization to attain a higher degree of spiritual enlightenment.  Given the high physical and emotional price paid by Chris, Everett, and the others mentioned so far in the book, do you think their adventures were worth it?  Would you like to try a “wilderness retreat” from civilization similar to what these men did?  Respond to these questions in your free writing, and add anything else that is on your mind at this point of the story.  Some things to thing about in your free write blog is to describe all of the things that you might be “escaping” if you were to go “into the wild” for a period of time.  What would you miss or not miss about your day-to-day life? 

 

Please type directly into your Blog post.  Give it a creative title too.  Be ready to share voluntarily.  

 

 

What Symbolic Designs Would be on Your Belt?

In Chapter 6, Jon Krakauer describes the leather belt that Chris carved with Ron Franz.  Krakauer writes:  For his first project McCandless produced a tooled leather belt, on which he created an artful pictorial record of his wanderings.  ALEX inscribed at the belt's left end; then the intials C.J.M. (for Christopher Johnson McCandless) frame a skull and crossbones.  Across the strip of cowhide one sees a rendering of a two-lane blacktop, a NO U-TURN sign, a thunderstorm producing a flash flood that engulfs a car, a hitchhiker's thumb, an eagle, the Sierra Nevada, salmon cavorting in the Pacific Ocean, the Pacific Coast Highway from Oregon to Washington, the Rocky Mountains, Montana wheat fields, a South Dakota rattlesnake, Westerberg's house in Carthage, the Colorado River, a gale in the Gulf of California, a canoe beached beside a tent, Las Vegas, the initials T.C.D., Morro Bay, Astoria, and at the buckle end, finally, the letter N (presumably representing north). 


Now if you were going to design your own leather belt or some other creative object and carve or paint symbols on it about your life journey so far and in the near future, what eight symbols would best represent your journey and personality?  Describe your object and the symbols as they connect to you in one creative paragraph.  Add an appropriate image, if you can.  

Follow Chris McCandless on the Google Earth Trip

As a way to visually get a feel for the two-year journey that Christopher McCandless, a.k.a. Alex Supertramp, took across and around the United States until he reached his final destination in Alaska, you experienced an online Google Earth trip created by another high school student as a project.  As a way to spread the word about this cool tool online, post the website link for the Into the Wild Google Earth Trip and post your reflection about the experience as it relates to your reading of the novel.  Finally, as always, add an interesting image that has to do with a trip across the United States.  The image might be a map, scenery, etc.  Post the link of the image at the bottom of the blog post.

Your Final Impression of Chris McCandless

Print to OneNote and then read the highlighted areas of the article "The Cult of Chris McCandless" in class handouts under Into the Wild.  Answer the questions with each highlighted area as notes on the article.  Then as your blog, write a paragraph with your own final impression of Chris McCandless.  You may want to add some specific examples/quotations from the novel that support your opinion of Chris.  Are you one of his critics or admirers? Your next in-class assignment will be to expand your opinion of Chris McCandless into an editorial essay.

Getting to Know Chris McCandless through Direct and Indirect Characterization

Now that you have started reading the book and you are getting to know Christopher McCandless more and more, create a post in which you do the following for other readers:

1.  Define "Direct" and "Indirect Characterization."  Post it here for fellow readers.

2.  Then, type a list of 10 direct characterization examples with page numbers and 10 indirect characterization examples with page numbers.

3. At the end of the list write a few sentences, describe the impression that you are getting about Christopher based on these traits so far.

4. Add an appropriate image for visual appeal.

Wrapping up the Novel

If you are in the honors class, you will need to add your creative project as the last post of your blog.  If your project is something that will not load or cannot be attached to the blog, then write a summary of what you created and how it connects to the novel.  Add an image of yourself doing something outside, if you can, to show your connection to nature too.

If you are in the academics class, you will add your Outside magazine editorial essay here with an image of you doing something outside in nature.

Thank you for contributing and sharing your thoughts on Jon Krakauer's novel Into the Wild.