The+Great+Gatsby+&+Paper+Towns

= Pairing Project, Part One = Erin Koren Emily Stockwell Nicole McLaughlin Kerry DeGraaf Caitlin Rykse

= __The Great Gatsby__ = Fitzgerald, F. Scott. //The Great Gatsby//. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925. Print.
 * Basics: **


 * Links ** :

The Great Gatsby (Epub) The Great Gatsby(Ebook)

**Possible Connections**:

Firstly, we believe it would be difficult to determine at this point what the topic of conversation between the two books would be because we are only familiar with // The Great Gatsby // and not // Paper Towns //. However, major themes in // The Great Gatsby // include: the search for the American Dream, being seduced by an unknown place, and the shallow nature of the extremely wealthy. If //The Great Gatsby// could talk, it would criticize the hollow nature of greed, lust, and the frivolous nature of the upper society. As we read //Paper Towns// we will try to determine what it may contribute to this conversation about the nature of the characters involved.

When reading //The Great Gatsby,// we picked up on the differentiation between 'new money' and 'old money'. This distinction is represented in the stark contrast between West Egg, where Gatsby lives, and East Egg, where Daisy and Tom live. Even though both men are extremely wealthy, there is still a social distinction between the two; Gatsby has risen in the ranks and come about money relatively recently and through dubious methods. Tom, on the other hand, is part of the social elite who have inherited money that has mostly likely been passed down for multiple generations. For a young high school reader, this subtle difference might not be picked up as readily--especially considering that our current society is one which, for the most part, tends to value social mobility and consider 'making it rich' to be even more admirable than being born into wealth. We are hoping that by bringing in a young adult work we can make the topic of social class tension more accessible to the students by providing them with a plot that takes place in their own era.

As is well known, socioeconomic standing in a society can determine what advantages, privileges, and company a person may or may not have access to. We don’t all get to have dinner with the president, and Gatsby does not have the ability to access Daisy in the way that he seeks. As a learning tool within the secondary education setting, this reveals a prime opportunity to get students in personal relation to the text and to think critically about what the text is or isn't saying. What tangible or intangible things do they (the students) value? What characters represent those same values, or what characters are in opposition to this? In reference to Gatsby’s acquisition of his wealth, do the ends justify the means? Is vigilante justice such as in //Paper Towns// a privilege for the 'haves', or do things like fate exact their own justice as with the car accident in Gatsby? Taking these themes and questions and making them congruent with the young adult novel of //Paper Towns// gives students the opportunity to think about these values both personally and socially in the context of time. Do things and people really change over time or is it only circumstances?

In //The Great Gatsby//, there are very negative portrayals of the female characters, especially the main one Daisy. From reading multiple synopses of //Paper Towns//, it seems that the main female character, Margo, is not a negative character and is actually the story's main protagonist. In both books, however, the story would not be able to progress without either of those main female characters so that would be a great connection to bring up to students and ask them to talk about/do a project or short essay on how they think the story would have been different without those characters or if those characters had acted differently, etc. I feel as though this might remedy some of the issues with the female characters in //The Great Gatsby//. A difference that I saw was that in //The Great Gatsby//, Jay seems to be chasing Daisy but she is pretty oblivious for the most part; in contrast, it seems as if in //Paper Towns//, Margo seeks out Quentin and entices him on an incredible 21st century adventure (aka the American Dream from //Gatsby//). = Research Focus: Pairing Classics with Young Adult Works =

Bryer, Jackson R., and Nancy P. VanArsdale. //Approaches to Teaching Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby//. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2009. Print.

This was a very informative text describing several successful methods and approaches to teaching //The Great Gatsby// in the classroom. The text is divided into two parts. The first presents a variety of scholarly resources such as a survey of scholarship, useful web sites, and a history of the composition and publication for teachers to utilize related to //The Great Gatsby.// In the second half of the text, instructors from throughout North America present the teaching approaches they have implemented into their classes. The second half is neatly organized into three broad categories - cultural and historical contexts, narrative structure and style, and strategies and resources. Within each of these categories, there are multiple articles from teachers describing their specific approach to teaching //The Great Gatsby.//

Young Adult Literature and the Common Core: A Surprisingly Good Fit Ostenson, Jonathan, and Rachel Wadham. "Young Adult Literature and the Common Core: A Surprisingly Good Fit." //American Secondary Education// 41.1 (2012): 4-13. //ProQuest.// Web. 15 Sep. 2014.

This article discusses the standardization of the English curriculum to the Common Core State Standards and how teachers can utilize young adult literature in their classrooms while still adhering to the standards set in the Common Core. The article opens with a review of what comprises young adult literature and both its potential advantages and drawbacks within the classroom. The authors then provide their argument, proposing that young adult literature is a good fit in the classroom because it meets both qualitative and quantitative measures for text complexity while simultaneously meeting the needs of the readers and the tasks in which they must engage. The authors then provide evidence for their argument that includes specific young adult texts and how they are indeed matches to the Common Core. They conclude by stating the tremendous potential young adult literature has to provide students with highly necessary literacy skills they might not otherwise receive.

What Matters: Meeting Content Goals through Teaching Cognitive Reading Strategies with Canonical Texts Styslinger, Mary E., et al. "What Matters: Meeting Content Goals through Teaching Cognitive Reading Strategies with Canonical Texts." //English Journal// 103.4 (2014): 53-61. //ProQuest.// Web. 16 Sep. 2014.

This article was chosen because while it is important to consider the actual pairing of //Paper Towns// to //The Great Gatsby//, it is also necessary to consider how we would approach teaching //The Great Gatsby// effectively in order to best facilitate a comparison betwixt the two. Hence, the authors' discussion on comprehension-orientated cognitive reading strategies was enlightening.They open their article presenting scholarship on meta-cognitive strategies, such as self-monitoring and self-regulating behaviors that focus on the processes and products of reading, as well as cognitive strategies that increase comprehension such as rereading and teaching background knowledge. Furthermore, they provide comprehension orientated cognitive strategies such as generating questions during reading and summarizing the meanings in texts. The authors then discuss their action research utilized in their classrooms as they searched for best practices with teaching the canonical texts. This part was most helpful because one of the authors - Jesse - taught //The Great Gatsby//, and his methods are discussed and outlined providing a reference from which we can work. The authors' then analyze their findings and ultimately summarize that integration of comprehension-oriented cognitive reading strategies is effective in meeting content goals. = **Process** = Looking ahead in the schedule, our group plans to complete //Paper Towns// with at least two weeks to spare before Part 2 is due. We all plan to read the text critically, looking for passages and ideas that may pertain to themes we identified in //The Great Gatsby// such as the "American dream", tensions surrounding socioeconomic status, possible male/female character portrayals, and longing for an unattainable dream. After our critical reading of the text, we plan to discuss the connections between our canonical text and //Paper Towns//, and then proceed to incorporate the connections into our wiki page after our discussion. Each group member will be responsible for this collaboration and incorporation of ideas into the wiki as we will be working together to enhance our mini-unit's effectiveness. Caitlin will be in charge of finding at least three scholarly sources that will help us design our mini-unit. She will share her findings with the group by the 6th in order to best utilize our time and again enhance the effectiveness of our mini-unit for our students.

= Pairing Project, Part Two =

Erin Koren Emily Stockwell Nicole McLaughlin Kerry DeGraaf Caitlin Rykse

= __Paper Towns__ =

Green, John. //Paper Towns//. New York: Dutton Books, 2008. Print.

= Points of Connection: = There is an obvious change in the female characters from //The Great Gatsby// to //Paper Towns.// While Fitzgerald's female characters were lacking in obvious depth, Green seems to over-emphasize the strength of the main female character, Margo. Throughout the book she is the one pulling the strings and causing the action to happen, and without her, the book would not be able to progress. One possible way to bring this up to students would be to ask them to compare and contrast the two female leads, Daisy and Margo, and ask them why one is a better female character over the other. Or perhaps, are they both good female characters for the plot of their own stories, respectively? The possibilities with making these comparisons are endless.

One of the themes throughout both the text of Fitzgerald’s //The Great Gatsby// and John Greene’s //Paper Towns// is the contrasting idea of the outward facade that one puts forth to the world, and in some cases even those closest to them, versus the reality of how a person or character inwardly feels and perceives things. In the case of //The Great Gatsby// we can see examples of this in the character of Gatsby himself, as well as many of the supporting characters such as Daisy and Tom. By all rights it would appear that Daisy and Tom should have an idyllic life with a happy marriage and family. However, the reality is that inwardly both of them are very unhappy and convey a deep seated discontentment with their lives. While Gatsby seems to be having fun hosting parties surrounded by hundreds of people, the reader cannot help get a sense of a profound loneliness from him. It alludes back to questions about socioeconomic status. If money can’t buy it, then how do you attain a contented happy life?

The question of money versus happiness is poignant to young adults because they will soon come face to face with choices about careers they will chose to pursue in their college years, and thus what salaries they will receive as a result of their career choice. Though the theme may be concurrent, the presentation of it in //Paper Towns// is in a context that students in secondary education would find more easily relatable. We can see the difference in what a character like Quentin values in life compared to the character of Margo. Quentin has a facade of being meek and even fearful at times, yet he is surrounded by people who truly care about him and value his happiness as a person. In contrast to timid Quentin lies the popular, self-assured, and fearless Margo. However, even with her perceived social stability and confidence, Margo is surrounded by betrayal from those who should love her, and people who demonstrate apathy for her inner well-being. Are the values depicted within the stories the same but with different approaches, or do the characters truly value different things? What drives each character to make different choices for themselves and others? To stretch the students' thinking further, we could then compare the characters of Gatsby and Margo. Are they driven by similar motives? If so, how can one explain and reconcile the contrast in choice of outcomes (one pursuing wealth while the other lives out of her car)?

Additionally, it would be interesting to compare and contrast the narrative voices of Nick Carraway in //Gatsby// with Quentin in //Paper Towns.// While reading //Paper Towns,// there are many instances where Quentin seems to be on the outside looking in. He observes the popular kids but is never directly involved with them. Similarly, Nick narrates that he feels like an outsider in his circle as well. They both are allowed to observe, but actual participation in the other, seemingly desired world, is severely limited.Both characters have a way of blending in with their surroundings due to their observant personalities. The two characters also have striking similarities in their willingness to go along with the risky plans and activities of their higher-socially standing peers, even when their actions go against their own level of comfort and morals.It would also be interesting to see how age plays into the differences in their narration, with Quentin being a senior in high school and Nick being a college graduate who has entered the workforce.

And finally, how can Gatsby and Quentin be compared? Both men have dreamed of and idolized their "soul mate", but through what lens have they been viewing these women? Gatsby's infatuation with Daisy stems from a desire to be accepted by the elite and having her as a partner would hopefully be the ultimate sign to Gatsby that he has finally achieved his dream of doing so. Similarly, Quentin has also done his fair share of idealization of the gorgeous and beyond her years Margo, but was Quentin's admiration for Margo the same as Gatsby's for Daisy? It would be a great discussion point to explore the ways in which idealization, especially with women, could come in to play for both male characters. Are Gatsby and Quentin similar in the way they both hold their female love interest in such an unrealistically high regard, or are the different?

[|Effective Online Instruction in Higher Education] Crawford-Ferre, Heather, and Lynda R. Wiest. "Effective Online Instruction in Higher Education.” Quarterly Review of Distance Education 13.1 (2012): 11-4. ProQuest. Web. 5 Oct. 2014 This article was extremely applicable due to the authors’ summation of effective practices in online instructional methods. They detailed some of the best practices for several categories including course design, interaction among course participants, and instructor preparation and support. For the first category, course design, they state helpful hints such as the benefits of online orientation to online-course features such as chat rooms, discussion forums, and working with PDFs. They also state that multiple methods of content exploration and transmission should be designed into online courses which would consist of compressed videos, presentation slides, video lectures, website viewing and the importance of multiple means of communication including chat rooms and web cam conversations. In regards to interaction among course participants, the authors underscored the importance of active class discussions as well as substantial instructor involvement and proper facilitation of discussion. The authors finished the article emphasizing the necessity of proper training and maintenance of informational literacy skills for instructors.
 * Research: Online Instruction **

[|Strategies for Online Educators] Motte, Kristy. "Strategies for Online Educators.” Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education (TOJDE) 14.2 (2013): 258-267. Education Research Complete. Web. 5 Oct. 2014 This author addresses and explores several viable strategies involved in teaching online courses in a very transparent manner. Her paper is divided into sub-topics and is very clearly organized via the use of subheadings – something that the paper mentions as vital for effective online instruction. The topics she specifically examines include training, organization of the course, proactive instructors, provision of regular and timely communication, maintenance of classroom presence, effective facilitation of discussion boards, scaffolding, and professional development and evaluation. Furthermore, within each of these topics, the author utilizes previous research to compose a concise presentation of the best strategies according to the research available. The overall message of this article underscores the importance of utilizing the available resources and research to best teach students online.

[|Themes and Strategies for Transformative Online Instruction: A Review of Literature and Practice] Mayes, Robert, et al. "Themes and Strategies for Transformative Online Instruction: A Review of Literature and Practice.” Quarterly Review of Distance Education 12.3 (2011): 151,166,221-222. ProQuest. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. This article discusses six themes inherent for high quality online learning as well as the recommendations of best practices for each theme. The themes the authors present are: learners and instructors, medium, community and discourse, pedagogy, assessment and content. The authors provide a table which displays these themes, their definitions, and indicators of high quality within the online course for each specific theme. This table captures the main message of the article, however, the recommendations themselves are most helpful and found within each individual section as numbered points. The recommendations are based off pre-existing literature and represent the best methods implemented by instructors as well as validated by students themselves.

[|Preferred Delivery Method for Online Instruction: Secondary Students' Perceptions] Crews, Tena B., and Jason Neill. "Preferred Delivery Method for Online Instruction: Secondary Students' Perceptions."Journal of Applied Research for Business Instruction 12.1 (2014): 1-6. ProQuest. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. This article presents the results of a study conducted for the online instruction of a business course. While it is business, the practices the researchers utilize for online instruction are applicable to any course. The article begins with discussing the definition of online learning and by providing a literature review of online technology and course implementation and its impact on the secondary level. In addition, this article was especially helpful because it described several specific methods for delivering instruction online and students’ responses to those methods. The students indicated they preferred “vodcasts” which are digital recordings with video and audio versus “podcasts” which are audio only. They also indicated they preferred when they could see their teacher’s “talking head” along with the audio/visual explanation. These findings present vital information for further research development as well as validation for the use of “vodcasts” as an effective teaching strategy for online instruction.

= Process = For part 3 of this project, we plan to use the connections we discovered and discussed to: create discussion questions pertaining to the individual books, as well as to both books, create three in-class activities surrounding our two books in order to engage the students in making meaningful connections to the books, and create at least one multimedia work to help explain the connection between the books. In addition, we plan to use at least 10 additional online resources for our mini-unit. Due to our busy and often conflicting schedules, we will collaborate via the use of Google docs and email if we cannot find a time in which we all can gather together.