Discussion Leader

STORY: Flowers for Algernon

NAME: Jihwan Park DATE: 2024.02.26

The Discussion Leader’s job is to …

CHAPTERS: report 1~8

“
• read the story twice, and prepare at least five general questions about it.
• ask one or two questions to start the Reading Circle discussion.

• make sure that everyone has a chance to speak and joins in the discussion.

• call on each member to present their prepared role information.

• guide the discussion and keep it going.

Usually the best discussion questions come from your own thoughts, feelings, and questions as
you read. (What surprised you, made you smile, made you feel sad?) Write down your questions
as soon as you have finished reading. It is best to use your own questions, but you can also use
some of the ideas at the bottom of this page.

Prepare three Discussion Leader questions

Q1. What do you think of Professor Nemur? Is he a good professor in terms of personality?
Ans1: Professor Nemurs is very worried about using Charlie, the main character, as a surgery. For
him, this surgery seems to be a very important part of his life. On the one hand, he worries about
Charlie, but he seems to be worried that the surgery will fail and that the shame will fall on him. I
expect that his personality is not on the good side.

Q2. Will Charlie ever be smart?

Ans2: In his later progress report, I could feel the frequency of the wrong words disappear. So I
think he will probably become smart through surgery. But it is questionable whether he will be
able to live smart forever.

Q3. What do you think will change his life after he became smart?
Ans3: Many changes are likely to come in daily life. He will be able to understand what people
say, and he will not need to receive the basic education he is currently receiving. He will also be
able to learn the bakery assistant work he wants to do.

Other general ideas:

• Questions about the characters (like / not like them, true to life / not true to life ...?)
• Questions about the theme (friendship, romance, parents/children, ghosts ...?)

• Questions about the ending (surprising, expected, liked it / did not like it ...?)

• Questions about what will happen next. (These can also be used for a longer story.)
Connector
STORY: CHAPTERS:
NAME: _______________ DATE: ________________

The Connector’s job is to …

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• read the story twice, and look for connections between the story and the world outside.
• make notes about at least two possible connections to your own experiences, or to the
experiences of friends and family, or to real-life events.
• tell the group about the connections and ask for their comments or questions.
• ask the group if they can think of any connections themselves.

These questions will help you think about connections while you are reading.
Events: Has anything similar ever happened to you, or to someone you know? Does anything in
the story remind you of events in the real world? For example, events you have read about in
newspapers, or heard about on television news programmes.
Characters: Do any of them remind you of people you know? How? Why? Have you ever had the
same thoughts or feelings as these characters have? Do you know anybody who thinks, feels,
behaves like that?

Prepare three Connector questions

Q1. Is it really effective to utilize subconsciousness, like starting learning before going to sleep,
like it's from a book?
Ans1: At first, I never thought that the subconscious would help me learn. However, research
shows that using the subconscious helps me remember things that I usually don't think of when I
look up the Internet.

Q2. Do you have any experience that helped you learn or remember through the use of your
subconscious?
Ans2: I once thought about a math problem that was not solved for a week. At first, I was holding
onto it all day, but then I had time to keep thinking about the solution before going to bed. I had
time to think before going to bed during the day, and a week later, I came up with a new solution.

Q3. Charlie, the main character, is receiving basic education. Although not as Charlie, it is said
that there are quite a few people with borderline intelligence in Korea. How should the government
respond to this?
Ans3: It is said that borderline intelligentsia are not diagnosed with intellectual disability and are
difficult to detect in the early stages. It is difficult to find a job when you become an adult without
early treatment, and even if you have a job, it is difficult to continue working due to
maladjustment. Therefore, there is a high possibility that borderline intelligence also has a
functioning field, and I think there is a need for a place to educate and support them to find those
things.
Word Master
STORY: CHAPTERS:
NAME: _______________ DATE: ________________
W
The Word Master’s job is to …

• read the story, and look for words or short phrases that are new or difficult to understand,
or that are important in the story.
• choose five words (only five) that you think are important for this story.
• explain the meanings of these five words in simple English to the group.

• tell the group why these words are important for understanding this story.

Your five words do not have to be new or unknown words. Look for words in the story that really
stand out in some way. These may be words that are:
• repeated often • used in an unusual way • important to the meaning of the story

1. MY WORDS: secretary (secertery -> secretary)

Passage where the word occurs in the book: What happind is I went to Prof Nemurs office on my lunch time like they said and
his secertery took me to a place that said psych dept on the door with a long hall and a lot of littlel rooms with onley a desk and
chares.
Meaning of the word: a person who carries out records
Reason for choosing the word: Because I didn’t know the meaning of the word.
Make your own sentence with the word: The secretary must not record any distorted information.

2. MY WORDS: thematic apperception test

Passage where the word occurs in the book: The nice lady who give it to me tolld me the name and I asked her how do you
spell it so I can put it down rite in my progis riport. THEMATIC APPERCEPTON TEST.
Meaning of the word: a projection test to identify unconscious needs, motivations, personalities, etc
Reason for choosing the word: Because I didn’t know the meaning of the word.
Make your own sentence with the word: Thematic Apperception Test is an unstructured test that projects the unconscious
psychology of the inner human body.

3. MY WORDS: operation
Passage where the word occurs in the book: They found my sister Norma who lives with my mother in Brooklin and she gave
permissen for the operashun.
Meaning of the word: It has same meaning as surgery.
Reason for choosing the word: I only knew the word "surgery," and I didn't know that the word "operation" meant surgery.
Make your own sentence with the word: Will the operation leave a scar?

4. MY WORDS: progress report

Passage where the word occurs in the book: I dont know how because I dint see bu there was bandiges on my eyes and my
head for 3 days so – I couldnt make no PROGRESS REPORT.
Meaning of the word: It is a report that records progress.
Reason for choosing the word: I think it's an important word in the novel because it's evidence indirectly that his memory has
improved.
Make your own sentence with the word: The patient's professor had the patient fill out a progress report every day.

5. MY WORDS: tamper
Passage where the word occurs in the book: And mabey Prof Nemur and Dr Strauss was tampiring with things they got no rite
to tampir with.
Meaning of the word: put one's nose in another's business without direct involvement
Reason for choosing the word: Because I didn’t know the meaning of the word.
Make your own sentence with the word: It’s not good to tamper in other people’s business.
Culture Collector
STORY: CHAPTERS:
NAME: _______________ DATE: ________________

The Culture Collector’s job is to …

• read the story, and look for both differences and similarities between your own culture and the culture
found in the story.
• make notes about two or three passages that show these cultural points.
• read each passage to the group, or ask another group member to read it.

• ask the group some questions about these, and any other cultural points in the story.

Here are some questions to help you think about cultural differences.
Theme: What is the theme of this story (for example, getting married, meeting a ghost, murder, unhappy
children)? Is this an important theme in your own culture? Do people think about this theme in the same
way, or differently?
People: Do characters in this story say or do things that people never say or do in your culture?
Do they say or do some things that everybody in the world says or does?

MY CULTURAL COLLECTION (differences and similarities):

1. page 17 fifth paragraph (March 26)
Differences
A long time ago once I asked Joe Carp how he lerned to read and if I coud lern to read to. He laffed
like he always done when I say something funny and he says to me Charlie why waste your time they
cant put any branes in where there aint none. But Fanny Birden herd me and she askd her cusin who
is a collidge studint at Beekman and she told me about the adult center for retarded pepul at the
Beekman collidge.
2. page 9 second paragraph (March 8)
Similarities
Joe Carp from the bakery brot me a chokilat cake from Mr Donner and the folks at the bakery and
they hope I get better soon. At the bakery they think Im sick becaus thats what Prof Nemur said I
shoud tell them and nothing about an operashun for getting smart. Thats a secrit until after in case it
dont werk or something goes wrong.
Then Miss Kinnian came to see me and she brout me some magizenes to reed, and she lookd kind of
nervus and skared. She fixd up the flowres on my tabel and put evrything nice and neet not messd up
like I made it. And she fixd the pilow under my hed. She likes me alot becaus I try very hard to Tern
evrything not like some of the pepul at the adult center who dont reely care.
MY CULTURAL QUESTIONS:
1. How do different countries have different ideas about mental illness?
2. What does your culture think about buying food when you visit a patient?
3. Is the topic of intellectual disability considered important in your culture?