2. Describe the peasant life in Italy prior to the emigration to the New World. 3. How did life in Pennsylvania resemble life in the Italian village?

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Clyde Parrish
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1 Outliers: Introduction 1. What is the definition of an outlier? 2. Describe the peasant life in Italy prior to the emigration to the New World. 3. How did life in Pennsylvania resemble life in the Italian village? 4. Who is Steward Wolf and what had he noticed about the health of those who lived in Roseto? 5. Was there anything particularly healthy about their diet? How do you know? 6. Was there anything particularly healthy about their genetics? 7.Was there anything particularly healthy about the location? 8. What did Wolf notice about the way of life in Roseto? Describe what made their lifestyle healthy. 9. "The Rosetans were healthy because of where they were from, because of the world they had created for themselves in their tiny town in the hills." What does this say about community and its affects? 10. What can we do to create a healthier community for ourselves?

2 Outliers: Chapter One: The Matthew Effect 1. Matthew 25:29 says, "For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away and even that which he hath." What are your thoughts about this verse? 2. In part one of chapter one, we hear all about the claim that Canadian hockey is a meritocracy. What is a meritocracy? (Look it up.) 3. It would seem that in a meritocracy, only the best of the best rise to the top, right? It all seems fair until you read part 2. What does part 2 reveal about the fairness/unfairness? Look for it. 3. In part 2, our author speaks of the common thinking of how grit, hard work, and determination result in success. We seem to believe that success is based solidly on an individual's efforts. But, our author seems to point to the fact that this is far from true. In fact, in the paragraph that starts with "In Outliers..." he tells us the purpose of this book. What is the purpose? 4. In part 3, we see a roster from the 2007 Medicine Hat Tigers. What is strange about that roster? 5. In part four, we begin to understand that it isn't all about hard work and grit. Those things are things that can be controlled. However, sometimes, it is beyond a person's control. We learn about the advantages of age in sports. An iron law of Canadian hockey: in any group of hockey players----the very best of the best----- % of the players will have been born between and, % between and, % between and, and % between and. 6. How does this information connect with the eligibility cut offs in Canada? 7. What benefits does this offer?

3 8. How do you feel about this? 9. Okay. I get it, this is true for sports; I can see the rosters and I understand it. It seems a bit unfair, but the proof is there. But, what if it is true that this path for success is similar in other areas? Our author points out that education is impacted by age cut offs as well. Think about this do you have a September birthday? Have you enjoyed any advantages of being more focused and mature? Do your teachers say encouraging words to you based on this? What advantages do these kids have? Or, what about those who have a late August birthday? Do they feel behind or slow? How do you fit in here? 10. "The teachers are confusing maturity with ability." What do you think of this statement? Is this a problem that you've seen in your classrooms? 11. "Success is the result of accumulative advantage." Do you agree? How does this impact you? 12. In speaking about soccer, our author states that the talent of half of the Czech Republic is not developed; in fact, it is like it is wasted simply because of an arbitrary birthday rule. If this is true, what are the negative consequences you see in this, especially if the rule applies to other areas like education?

4 13. The author suggests that we change the educational model to group students by birthdate. Do you think that this is a reasonable suggestion? A good one? Just terrible? Why? Chapter Two: The 10,000 Hour Rule Part 1: 1. University of Michigan 1971: Who is Bill Joy and why is he important? 2. The book makes a claim that Bill Joy's story seems like the purest of meritocracies. The following paragraph asks us to explore the other things that contributed to Joy's success. It states that it is done through "a of,, and utterly arbitrary. (Fill in the blanks.) Part 2: 3. When it comes to the story of the violinists, it seems that the differences in skill were a direct result of the of practice. There were no "naturals" or "grinds." 4. "The people at the very top don't just work harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work, harder." 5. Is there something in your life that you work harder at than your peers? Has it resulted in an advantage in skill? Explain. 6. "Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing that."

5 7. Ten thousand hours is an enormous amount of time. What our author says next is really scary. What can't you be if you want to get your 10,000 hours? Why is this sobering? Part 3: 8. What were punch cards used for in the early days of computing? 9. The development that allowed computers to connect to a phone line was advantageous because it allowed several people to work "online" at the same time. No longer did they have to take turns or schedule their time on the computer. How did this development impact Bill Joy? 10. This gave Bill Joy an extraordinary advantage in life. Was this something that he controlled? Was this based on his hard work? 11. T/F Bill Joy chose the University of Michigan because of the amazing access to online computing. Part 4: 12. The story of The Beatles. They were hired to work in Hamburg. How did their decision to play in Hamburg affect their career? Explain why this is so.

6 13. Mini Essay: How many hours would you willingly work to hone your skill in any task before you'd need a break? How does this compare to the Beatles? Are American teens losing their ability to work hard for a long period of time? What can be done about this? (Write at least 3 paragraphs exploring this topic.)

INSTANT BOOK SUMMARY

INSTANT BOOK SUMMARY Outliers has been described as a literary means to repeated epiphanies. While we cannot cover everything in 5 pages, I do have the best takeaway points from the book all set for you.