Critically Thinking about “The Mighty” -Discussion 1
Getting caught outside when a sudden brainstorm hits is the most wonderful place to be
for a critical thinker. I strongly suggest you read this slowly more than once. Truly read it closely and carefully. Read it critically if you will.
You may have realized from your initial blog interaction that critical thinking is more than just accepting things as they are. It is looking under the surface.
Thinking for a critical thinker begins with actively paying attention to exactly where you are when you are there; it begins by living in the moment. The critical thinker begins by recognizing what is real.
Life gains depth for a critical thinker when s/he looks beyond what is evident. The critical thinker asks questions; any and all questions that arise. Critical thinking is allowing new ideas and new perspectives to occur and counting them as valuable.
You are an individual and as a critical thinker your personal perspective is very important. For critical thinking, however, you must be willing to accept that your perspective, your view of the world, can and should change. In fact, critical thinking requires change as often as it can happen. For a critical thinker change equals growth – most of the time.
You must be willing to grow, and growth requires that you be openminded: Openminded to share your thoughts, openminded to accept others’ thoughts, and openminded to change your own when the opportunity presents itself.
While watching the movie excerpt, a critical thinker did not just watch. Here are questions & thoughts that occured for me while I watched the film excerpt, and where those thoguhts went after I began to include them in this blog:
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I asked questions and those questions prompted more and I recorded my thoughts while viewing, and they led to whereever I would allow them to lead:
Gandolfini – the Sopranos – I don’t watch it. Too violent for my taste and too superficial.
What’s an ornithopter? Huh? Sounds like something I’d hear on Stargate – makes me think of space travel and the theory of black holes. . . I remember seeing the Disney movie “The Black Hole” when I was very young. They only thought that black holes could possibly exist back then, now they have evidence of them. My! How the world changes (why would I think that I should not change if the world changes so frequently?)What did Kevin mean when he asked, “What’s the matter? Never seen a robot before?” Robots are real things – when i was young though they weren’t.
Why does Kevin, “Freak”, value the legend of King Arthur so much?
—-NOT ALL OF MY QUESTIONS NEED TO BE ANSWERED NOW. I CAN LEAVE THEM SOME OPEN AND BEGGING FOR ANSWERS TOO. I CAN GET ANSWERS OR EXPLORE QUESTIONS AS I SEE FIT. IN SELECTING WAHT QUESTIONS I WANT TO EXPLORE, I MAKE THE PROCESS OF CRITICAL THINKING PERSONAL AND SELF-DISCIPLINED. I GROW IN THE DIRECTION I WILL ALLOW MYSELF TO GROW IN, AND IN DOING THAT I BECOME TRULY AN INDIVIDUAL.—-
What is Max keeping bottled up inside?
Where is Max’s dad, and how did he get wherever he is?
Where is Max’s mom, and how did she get wherever she is?
Where is Kevin’s dad?
—-AS A CRITICAL THINKER I CAME UP WITH IDEAS – SOMETIMES IDEAS THAT ULTIMATELY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE BOOK/FILM.—-
seeing eye dog – are they allowed in schools?
LD – learning disabled – Max said, “reading for dummies” – Is Max right about this? Are “LD” kids actually “dummies” like Max said, or is there more to it than that? I think there must more to it…and so I think about this…What can I do to find out more about this?a knife!!!!- how could I defend myself, I could run, I could disarm the kid. I could try to avoid situations like this. Since I’ve been teaching I have caught three kids with weapons. and I know of ten instances of weapons being found on campus. what should be done about kids who bring weapons to school? Is there an appropriate time to use a weapon? Not for me. But that is just for me. I could go on and on with this topic.
—-THE CRITICAL THINKER SEARCHES AND SEARCHES FOR MORE AND MORE INFORMATION . . . . AND THEN MORE!- QUESTION, FIND ANSWERS AND THEN FORM NEW QUESTIONS. REPEAT THIS PROCESS AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE. THAT’S CRITICAL THINKING.—-
AND THAT IS THE END OF MY EXAMPLE
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So the critical thinker wonders, “How do I take the stuff I simply read in a book, see in a film, and use it to grow? What do I think about the world? And why? Yes why? HOW HAVE I BECOME WHO I AM?
-Now, take out the sheet of paper you used in class while viewing the first part of “The
Mighty“.
-Look at what you wrote down.
-Remember, do not read other’s comments until you have posted your own. This is very important if you are to grow in your own direction.
-Open the comments and begin to enter your comment.
- Name: Enter your First Name and Period #- DO NOT ENTER YOUR FULL NAME!!!
- E-mail Address: Enter an alternate e-mail address – DO NOT ENTER YOUR MAIN ONE.
- COMMENTS: Begin by typing in what you have on your page from class today.
Then go in and extend your ideas. Let the thoughts grow and let your ideas
find a direction for anything you feel like writing further on. Explore things you have written down. You don’t have to extend every idea, only the ones you want to extend.
AFTER you have posted your own comments you may go ahead and respond/discuss with others their thoughts.
You are welcome to comment on my own example.
Remember to be polite and respectful.
Do not think of yourself as better than anybody.
You are not the spell checker (I am).
Share your thoughts.
Do not judge one another!
At first, I thought that the setting took place in New York, or Chicago. But later on in the movie I found out that it takes place in Cinncinatti. I dont think that’s how you spell that city. Anyway, I cant believe Max is so old and is still in what, the 7 or 8 grade. I feel sorry for Kevin handicaped position, but on the other hand feel good that he is very intelligent. I look foward at looking at the movie later on, some day in class.
i think the movie was cool… but i need to see the rest of it to get a real opinion. freak really smart and MOST of the time knew what to do. the time he didnt was when he called blade a “creten” (dont know if its spelled right)and thought that max could take him blade and his friends. Max was not that smart but always tried to do the right thing and always ended up listening to freak. in all the movie was pretty fun to watch.
The movie was pretty SWEET! I want to see the rest of the movie. Kevin had some real will power. That was pretty cool of him to do. I liked how he never gave up. Sometimes he did need to give up. Like when he tried to start a fight with the bigger,stronger kids. A.K.A BULLIES. Max was pretty cool too. He was very quiet but still big and kind of shy. He would rather get in trouble than rat out the real kids that throught the ball at “FREAK”. He was his own person depite of what his grandpa thought how he would be just like his father. I still can’t figure out why his dad went to jail. But who knows maybe we’ll get to watch the rest of the movie. Woooo! GO FREAK THE MIGHTY!!
The parts of Freak the mighty we got to see seemed intresting though it did leave me wondering how he got crippled, why the other kid cant read, what happened to his parents etc etc and i’m not exactly sure but when in the movie freak and max stop the man from hurting that women…was he suposed to be a pimp or something? Anyone have any ideas?
I have a few questions to ask:
1. What happened to Max’s parents?
2. Who was that lady that they retured the purse to?
3. Who was the guy she was with?
4. Why did Max get angry when she started to talk about his dad?
5. Who is Freak’s dad and where is he?
– the msic reminded me of the music from the renisance fair
-the flying thing looked alot like a bird
-the fireworks reminded me of disney
-the way freak called out the firework’s names reminded me of my friend daniel who loves fireworks
-Q: how come blade wasm stuck in the water??
-Q: whose purse did the kid shove down the drain??
When I read the blog, it made me think more about the book then I have done while reading the pages. While I was watching the movie my mind had alot of questions, some very silly, some that other people might have asked, and some that was answered…
1)How old is the narrator
2)How old is the narrator since he lives with his grandparents
3)The doghouse boys are very mean
4)I go into places in my mind, too.
5)The narrator has low self-esteem
5)Are the two boys going to become friends
6)The leader of the gang like cruel humor
7)The robot boy is very smart for his age
8)Does the smart boy have a hump
9)What kind of gang name is Doghouse boys
10) The robot boy’s mouth gets him into trouble
11)The robot boy talks like a farietale and a dictionary
12) I can’t believe the robot boy didn’t hit his head on the door frame when he was on the other boy’s shoulders
13) The robot boy act like he doesn’t know the difference from a farietale and realality
To tell you the truth this book can teach you many morals and lessons. It may not be as obvious to the human eye but if you dig deep into the story you’ll see what i mean!!!!
Ok through further reading and investigating the pages i found Where max’s dad is. Hes in jail although it hadn’t said why yet i can’t wait to find out. Keven and max’s mothers both where pregnant at the time and knew eachother. Why was the father holding max’s mom back from her friends. Did he murder max’s mom or somethng, im so confused. Also i found all the words but mym dictionarys don’t have sentences for the critical thinking words. Can i use the class set?
After reading chapters 4-6 I found out how they used bulkhead in the story, but found out what it meant from the vocabulary assignment given to us. Max uses it as another word for his “door”! I also found some words that I didnt understand, like postulated. When I say the word I think of “something having to do with your posture”. Like maybe you have a back problem or you have bad posture. I found out what opiate means, which mean a drug. Thats a pretty cool word to use for such an un-cool thing.But that means to be drwn to, like its addictive. Last but not least, I found the word “spastic”, but I dont know what that means? Can anyone help me?
seany read my comment i was thinking kind of the same way you were
when I saw the movie many questions went through my head like why doesnt max beat up the doghouse boys and stick up for himself. and how did kevin become crippled. I cant wait to see the rest of the movie
Why didnt they tell ua why freak is so handicaped. And where are his parents And who is the killer i think its blade.
after watching some of the movie, i realized that Max is very unsecure about himself because of something that happened to his parents. I asked myself questions like are they in New York? why are they called the “doghouse” boys?HOw did he become crippled?and, is max the same boy from Home Alone (kevin’s mean brother, Bud?)I cant wait to see the rest of the movie.
“The Mighty” was a fairly good movie. It raised alot of questions, but the one that bothered me the most was what happened to send Max’s father to jail? Was it bad enough to be sentanced to death? Did the jailing of his father somehow also effect what happened to his mother? Perhaps he killed her and was sent to jail. This would explain why the father’s gone, why the mother’s gone, and why Max’s grandparents hate the father so much. Of course, knowing the tendency of story plots, if this is true, the dad was probably innocent and instead trying to protect Max’s mom, only to wind up framed. Most likely by someone related to the Doghouse Gang. Of course, this is all just spectulation…
In the comment above i forgot to put the period i was in. I’m very sorry about that.
I didnt really have any questions about the movie, except for why were Kevin/Freak and Max always comparing their real life situations to that of King Arthur’s? I had some connections between the character’s situations and my my life. When the robotic bird got stuck in the tree, it made me think of how my bird once flew away. It’s funny how other people’s situations can relate to yours. If you think about it we all aren’t that different.
As I was watching the movie I started to think about the main charcters. Are they really that much different? To me they are the same. They both have disibilties, maybe not to the ame extent, but they definitly are both dealy with issues in there life. Now that they are together though it’s like they have joined into one person. Both contributing something to one another . Uses each of their skills to make a “super person”. I feel like the story of King Arthur does go well with the movie. The way they use King Arthur in their adventures really makes it a fun movie. I also thought to myself can this type of story happen in the world today? To me I think this bullying and finding real friends that face the same problem happens everyday. Another question I asked myself was where is Max’s parents at? what is making speak so little? Maybe something from his past. I think so. Something must of happened to force him to live with his grandparents. Well I guess we will find out more when we watch the rest of this great movie. Can’t wait!
So far, I like the movie way more than the book. I don’t really like the book. In the book, Freak is really mean and he wasn’t like that in the movie. I can’t wait to see the rest of the movie.
Scary Movie 4
Meat Loaf is a food not a person’s name.
The movie looks like it was made in the 80’s.
Freak is a little kid named Kevin.
Why doesn’t Max speak his mind?
Max sort of reminds me of myself because he doesn’t like to cause trouble.
Max is kind hearted
Was he drowning?
What happened to Max’s father ?
This movie is funny and has intelligant jokes.
Why do those boys treat people the way they do?
Those were my thoghts durinr “The Mighty”
Tiffany, Kevin is obsessed with knights because to him a knight has no fear and are like role models for him.You see in the movie how he does good things even with his disability,so to him that`s how a gentlemen should be.Brave,righteous,
and nice.
The bridge and smokestacks in the beginning of the movie led me to think he lived in a big city… and i was right. South Cincinnatti.
And when Blade pulled out his knife, it had reminded me of a book i read, The Outsiders, which was a prety violent story. And by this time i was thinking about the movie The Outsiders and i completely forgot about The Mighty.
I also wondered what ever happened to both Max and Kevin’s fathers.
I heard the word Pacifist somewhere in the movie…. i thought it was a funny word.
some of the very rare thoughts going through my head during the movie was:
1)why is max still in 7th grade?
2)it was based on a book?
3)king aurthor
4)round table
5)why didnt he read the chapter the next day?
6)music reminded me of the 1600’s
7)why black coffee?
8) how did he get out of the lake?
9)eww max went into the sewage. eww
ok its time for me to compare what ive read to the movie . Ive noticed that in the book, on the cover freak doesnt have all that metal on his head pushing him down.Max sounds way more aggressive and not as shy ,as in the movie. Your right the movie is way different. Ecept freak is still pretty smart with all his large vocabulary i may have to look up. I don’t know why but he seemed way shorter in the book to me, well at least when i saw the cover. Why did the bird feel like plastic i thought it was some sort of metal contraption when i saw the movie.Oh well these are the questions that haunt me. Well i’ll just have to read more.
Was it me… or in the book did Kevin seem like… REALLY… I don’t know… like… rude? In the movie he made the little robot comment, but seemed to do it out of pure humor. I’m sure he knew what he looked like from someone else’s point of view with all that equipment on his head. But in the book (I just started chapter 5) it sounded like he was being really… serious about the “die earthling” comment. Well, his voice being serious, anyway. He also sounded more like a fidgety (did I spell that right?) little kid to me. Well, his use of vocabulary wasn’t so childish, but the way he acted reminded me of a younger kid.
Along with Kevin seeming… weirder… Max used to KNOW Kevin. That’s different than the movie, isn’t it?
Things that were floating around in my head as I was watching the movie were…
The music at the beginning of the movie reminded me of Irish music being played on a windpipe.
When they were talking about King Arthur and the round table i thought the movie was going to take place in the medevil times, but as the movie went on, it didn’t.
Questions that were in my mind were…
Does sleeping really destroy brain cells?
If the doghouse “leader person” was stuck in the mud in the water of the lake, how did he walk back to shore?
Where do they live? I know it’s a northern place because I could see their breath when they breathed.
Was Kevin born handicapped or did something happen to him?
Another thing I forgot to add that ponderd my mine was what happened to Max’s story? Why does he live with his grand parents? What is his background story?Are hisparents in jail or did they pass away?? Iguess the only way to find out the answers to all my questions is to read
***My oppinion of the movie so far is, ” Wow!”
*Chapter 1: “Dinosaur Brain”
—At first when Max was on the bus and all the gang kids came up to him I kept on thinking, “How mean”… I felt sorry for Max.
—That brings me to the question why are people so mean to others at school they do not even know what that person goes through. I mean does it really matter what people wear or how old they are?
—Oh, and another thing why did they call max “Killer King”? I wonder what happened to Max that makes him so angry and all to himself. Why did he sleep UNDER the bed in the beggining?
—Why does Kevin always refer to the story of King Arthur and tell Max “A naive ….” What does that even mean?
—What happened to Kevin that made him disabled I find it so mean that they call him the “FREAK”. Just because someone is different than you that does not mean you have the right to make fun of them.
— Another thing how is it that even though Max and Kevin were basically neighbors that they did not know each other and if they did how come they did not speak to each other?
—I found it funny and odd that the little guy (kevin) was not afraid to defend hisself and Max the “King” was. I think it was so nice of Max to lift Kevin up to see the fireworks, plus carry him around.
—How did the cops find out about the violence at the “Fair” and know to come?
—When Max’s grandparents found out that he saved Kevin and the cops told them that he was a hero, I found it just wrong, that is when they started being nice to him.
*Chapter 2: “Walking High Above the World”
— What were the gang kids putting in the sewages?
***That was pretty much all our class saw up to, it was right at the part when the gang caught Kevin and Max with the purse and it seemed as though a fight was about to start.
I can’t wait to see more of the movie!
***
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* To Mr. Moshe’s question about “KNIVES?” and weapons, they should enforce more strict rules in school for that, there is no reason for students to have them in school…and its a danger to others and themselves.
I throught the movie was pretty good,with many questions that was answered later on.At first I wonder who is Freak,why is Max’s dad in jail and his mother dead(which wasn’t answered yet),why did Max’s grandparents think he will “grow up just like his father”,and why were they picked on?
I felt sorry for Max and Kevin for getting picked on just because they were different.But I’m gald that they found each other and become friends(And what each other lacked; Kevin becomes Max’s “brain” and Max becomes Kevin’s legs)But i think Max is Kevins horse,when they imagion them as Knights.
the thing i wrote one when i was watching to movie was:
where is Max’s parents?
Why do they call Max Kane?
Why does Blade make fun of Max if max didn’t do any thing?
How did Kevin become crippled?
I like the movie so far and i thought that it was mean of you to stop it when someone cut the rope!!
I have noticed one difference so far between the book and the movie, and I’m only on the 5th chapter in the book. The difference is in the book, Max knows Kevin in pre school and then Kevin moves away, only to return years later. In the movie, Max didn’t know Kevin until he moved in. That’s the only major one so far.
When I first began watching this movie I had many questions in mind. For example who is the freak?, Why did kevins grandpa say he has seen this before,did his dad kill somebody maybe his mother thats why they are not in the picture. Why does blade have to be so mean is it that becuase the 3 months he was in jail. Why do people dont want to be Kevin’s freind? He might be tall but still he has a good heart. Why dose kevin never stick up for him self instead of getting punished for throwing a ball at max. Does this connect with something dealing with his dad or mom? I cant wait til we see the rest of the movie to find out the answers im seeking for.
I like the movie so far. The part that we got up to was when the boys became buddies and they went to the carnival and caused trouble. The boys seem to get along and help eachother with with their problems such as reading and walking.The movie has scenes which compare to king Aurthers times.
Here are some questions I had!!!
Why did he fail 7 grade?
Why do people always pick on him?
Why does he always lay under his bed?
As I was seeing this movie I was wondering why that school let the really bad kids in there. I mean to say, don’t they have records of the kids because i’m pretty sure that they have gone to jail more than once. And also I was wondering why freak is living his life according to the book. For example he does things the way the knights in the book will do it.
When first watching the movie, I was caught asking myself, “What is the Legeng of King Aruthur?” I have yet to find out the answer. At the fourth of July, why were there more Christmas lights than fireworks? And beside that, I am still posed with the question if sleeping destroys brains cells. For most questions that I have about “The Mighty”, they will be answered in due time. The others
will be left for me to answer based on my common sense.
I think that this movie is appealing in many ways. For starters, this max kid is disabled and his reading tutor is his next door neighbor which he calls “freak”. Isn’t that weird? How “disabled” is he so that he could have gotten held back TWICE?! There must be a reason for his dissability. What happened to his parents? Is that that one of the reasons or THE reason of his present state? I’m really looking forward to watching all of the movie.
This movie is very interesting, made me think alot…I still don’t get why the boy always starts something with those guys…
THE MOViE WAS PRETTY GOOD SO FAR. iT WAS ABOUT TWO BOYS. ONE WHO WANTED A BRAiN & ONE WHO WANTED LEGS. iT STARTED WHEN FREAK STARTED TO TOTURED MAX. THEY BECAME REALLY GOOD BUDDiES AND LEARNED ALOT ABOUT EACHOTHER. AND ALSO HELPED EACH OTHER. THE MOViE WAS BEiNG COMPARED TO KiNG AURTHURS TiME.
I thought the movie was going to be a happy movie, untill max and freak started getting picked on and thats when everything changed.King Arthur remindes me of fighting in the medevil times.Why didn’t max tell blades group to stop bothering him?Who cut the rope when Freak and Max were getting the womans purse?Was it Blade?
While watching the movie, in the beginning I felt like I was listening to a therapy cd or something like that. Also I kept on asking myself who is freak but then later found out that it was Kevin. Some other questions I had were:
What happened to Max’s parents?
Why did he fail the 7th grade twice?
Why does Max compare himself to godzilla?
How did Kevin become crippled?
(This may sound crazy) Why is Max afraid of rats?
These were a few questions that I had but so far the movie has been good and I think the blog explained a little bit of it.
why is the boy called “freak”?Does he really consider himself a freak?How did “freak” get the way he is?What condition could he have?Why are Max’s grandparents so unhappy?How could sleeping destroy brain cells?I thought it would restore brain cells because of the fact that you get energy.Those are some of the questions that went through my mind while watching the movie.
hey if anyone is still wondering who or “what ” meat loaf is just click on the date next to my name and i put a website under the url bar thingy just copy it and then paste it on to the browser bar thingy or what ever it is called or just copy it from here
http://music.aol.com/artist/meat-loaf/4882/biography
ya there were alot of diffrences from he bookmax kind of seems more comfortable with himself in the book because the way the movie was going i dont think he would have kicked people he probably would have been to like nervous or something he seems shy and more lonerish (if thats even a word)
While I was watch ing Freak The Mighty I thought to myself these things. At first I said, “Gee I think that guy may be kind of slow”. 2nd I said why do the gang pick on everybody. Then i found it was just to make everyones life miserable. Last I thought that something was going to happen during the fireworks and it did. I don’t know if that’s just a coincidence but I don’t know.
While I was watching Freak The Mighty I thought of these questions
1.Where is the bridge located? I think the bridge is somewhere in Boston.
2Why does the doghouse gang like to pick on Freak and Max ? Doghouse gang likes to pick on them because Freak and Max are weird.
3.Why was Max called Mute Boy ?
He was called Mute Boy because when his dad went to jail.When He went up on testimony he didn’t say anything.
Those are some of the questions and answers I thought of.
Today while reading the book i read some things i didn’t see or here in the movie. like the part that said that he kicked people in day care,or that they called him kick, or that he new the kid with the crutches from day care years ago.another thing is that the boy with the cruthes didn’t have blond hair in the movie and his mom didn’t have brown hair.
Miramax – I’ve seen movies from this company
Ireland – reminds me of one of my favorite colors: green
Flutes – inspires calm
Drums – Sound strong
Martin Walsh – Can’t remeber where from, but I know of him
Violin – seems sad to me
King Arthur – reminds me of bedtime stories
Green Jacket Max was wearing – reminds me of my friend’s jacket who lets me borrow it all the time
His own world – reminds me of when I space out and share similiar thoughts to his
Max not having any/alot of friends – reminds me of how I used to be
Basketball – reminds me of how I was always made fun of when I tried playing
Reading class – my favorite class
Bullies – I was always picked on
Pacifist – one of my fav. to use words
Fireworks – reminds me of quality time with family
People in animal costumes – always scared me
The background music – I was positive I knew the band then Mr. Moshe told us it was Sting
Ok, now this blog was ALOT easier to comprehend, not as many big words. Hmm, I think it’s strange how all these small things can remind us of so much going on and going by in our lifes.
Kieran Culkin is a really inspiring actor, I watched him a movie called “the dangerous lives of Altar boys” he played a really good role in that movie too.
Im kinda of confused-I didnt really have any questions so i wrote down what certain things reminded me of….I also really didnt have any questions because I’ve read the book before and my first thought when it began was that I’ve read the book before……..still I thought it seemed different and there are somethings i dont really think i understand,but im not sure what they are……if that makes any sense.It was a nice movie though.
-Music reminds me of people in skirts
-Meat Loaf is the guy who sings “I’d do anything for love (except that)”
-I like the baby/girl at the beginning of the movie
-Why does Max call Kevin “Freak”?
-The painting Max describes reminds me of the one that was in the halls in my elementary school, I now know the name of that painting.
-I like how Max narrates the story.
-The protagonist was in the movie “Butterfly Effect” & “Lords of Dogtown” – I only saw Butterfly Effect, he played a good role in that movie too.
-I dislike them bullies or gang. They always ruin everything.
-Freak/Kevin amazes me, he is really smart.
-I never knew coaches/teachers could be so mean.
-Anvil is a big stone (reminds me of my friend Ducky)
-I wonder if Blade ever die?
-I’m so glad Max proved Grim wrong.
-I wish we were all like Max and Kevin, if we all could take what we had and give them to whoever was missing them maybe we would be better people.