Lesson Plans
All assignments must be sumbitted by 10 pm the day it is assigned (unless otherwise noted). You can email the work to [email protected]. You must use your school email to submit work. You can visit the Paulsboro webpage to access the link to your email. Your email address is your school ID number @paulsboroschools.us and your password is what you use to log in the computer.
*All assignments are available online and in print. If you do not have acess to a computer, or the internet, please make arrangements to pick up your assignments. More information will be posted with a location and time to do so. Please check my website for updates.
The audiobook link of The Things They Carried can be found under the Additional Resources page.
Day 1: "On the Rainy River"
Objective: Students will be able to go inside the mind of Tim O'Brien and experience the internal conflict of being drafted.
Directions for day 1: Students will read "On the Rainy River" (pages 38-58) and answer discussion questions 1-5.
Day 1 and day 2 assignments will not be due until the end of day 2!
1. Speaking of courage as a kind of commodity stored up for the moment when it is needed, the narrator expresses what he felt in 1968:
"If the stakes ever became high enough...I would simply tap a secret reservoir of courage that had been accumulating inside me over the years...it offered hope and grace to the repetitive coward...
Is there a reservoir of courage even in the cowardly person? Defend your answer.
2. Thinking about the reasons for war -- and probably especially the Vietnam War -- he writes,
"The only certainty that summer was moral confusion. It was my view, then, and still is, that you don't make war without knowing why why...When a national goes to war it must have reasonable confidence in the justice and imperative of its cause."
Why was America morally confused about involvement in Vietnam? Compare the general feeling then with that which followed September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. What makes the difference? The involvement is again on the other side of the world from the United States.
3. Of the Americans' comprehension of what it means to go to war, he gives a description of the average person, listing several types of people beginning with "the polyestered Kiwanis boys." How accurate do you find this description? Does the general public understand more than he gives them credit for comprehending?
4. Describing his reasons for going to war, he writes,
"I would go to war--I would kill and maybe die--because I was embarrassed not to...I was a coward. I went to war."
Do you agree that only the cowards went to the Vietnam War? Were the brave ones those who found ways to avoid going?
5. Do you think Tim made the right decision to serve in Vietnam? Defend your answer.
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Day 2: "On the Rainy River"
Objective: Students will use a creative writing style to answer the prompt connected to "On the Rainy River."
Directions for day 2: Students will use information from "On the Rainy River" to answer the prompt and write a short story from Elroy Berdahl's point of view.
Read and respond to the prompt below.
"On the Rainy River" is told entirely from the point of view of Tim, the narrator. All we know about Elroy Berdahl, the eighty-one-year-old proprietor of the Tip Top Lodge, is seen through that young man's eyes. Yet, in spite of Berdahl's lack of comment, we get the impression that he understands the true reasons for Tim's coming and staying for six days.
Write the story from Berdahl's point of view. What does he see going on in the mind of this young man? You may choose to divide it as follows: the old man's first impressions of Tim, working together to ready the cabins for the winter, their meals together, the day of fishing close to the Canadian border, and his feelings as he leaves to let Tim do what he must do. Remember, this is a first-person narration. Be creative!
You will be scored using the rubric below:
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Days 3 and 4: "Enemies," "Friends," "How to Tell a True War Story," and "The Dentist." (Pages 59-84)
Objective: Students will be able to relate to the characters and their feelings of love, loss, friendship, and embarrassment.
Directions for days 3 and 4: Read "Enemies," "Friends," "How to Tell a True War Story," and "The Dentist." and answer the discussion questions below.
Day 3 and day 4 assignments will not be due until the end of day 4!
1. Why would two men fighting in the same army become fearful of each other? What underlying cause might there be?
2. What did Dave Jensen gain by breaking his own nose?
3. What is the irony in Lee Strunk's reaction when Dave asked him if they were now square?
4. What pact did the two men make?
5. Why didn't Dave keep the pact when Lee was wounded?
6. Why does Lee's death relieve Dave of an enormous weight?
7. Why is Rat Kiley so disappointed when Curt Lemon's sister doesn't answer his letter?
8. How is Curt Lemon's death almost the opposite of Ted Lavender's?
9. The narrator gives ten features of a true war story. Skim the chapter "How to Tell a True War Story" to list the features.
10. Reading the incident about the soldiers who were in the fog-shrouded mountains for seven straight nights, how do you justify their wasting napalm and trillions of dollars of fire power to burn the mountains?
11. What is the moral that Mitchell Sanders decides on about that incident? What does he mean?
12. How do you explain Rat Kiley's cruelty to the baby water buffalo and then cradling his rifle and crying as he walks away?
13. The narrator quotes the familiar "war is hell" but adds that it is "not the half of it." What does he mean?
14. What does he mean when he says that proximity to death makes you more alive?
15. How is war ambiguous? Give an example from history.
16. The narrator explains that true fads and events may actually be a lie and that fictional events may be "truer than the truth." Explain his meaning.
17. Why does the woman cry over the buffalo story but like the grenade story? What is the deeper meaning of his saying that she wasn't listening.
18. What does the narrator mean by saying that the story was a love story and that stories are "never about war"?
19. How is the narrator's impression of Curt Lemon different from Rat Kiley's?
20. Why does she imply that it is necessary to add his impression?
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Day 5 and 6: "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong"
Objective: Students will be able to understand the role of women during the Vietnam War, and the feeling of loss the men went through with being sent abroad.
Directions for days 5 and 6: Students will read "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" (pages 85-110) and answer discussion questions.
Day 5 and day 6 assignments will not be due until the end of day 6!
1. What is Rat Kiley's reputation among the men? Why is he the right one to tell this story?
2. In what ways is Mary Anne Bell the typical American teenager when she arrives to Vietnam?
3. Contrast Mary Anne with the Green Berets.
4. How are Mary Anne's curiosity and her desire to learn assets at first?
5. What early clues are we given that Mary Anne has begun to change?
6. When she returns from her night foray with the Green Berets, what do the men notice about her relationship with Mark Fossie?
7. Rat compares Mary Anne to an animal and notes that she was now a member of the zoo. How is that comparison appropriate for the Vietnam experience?
8. When Mark and Rat enter the Green Beret hooch, they see and hear strange things. Review the paragraph that describes the room and the candles burning. This scene is similar to the one the narrator of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness stumbles upon in the African jungle. There he sees Kurtz, a Caucasian ivory trader, being worshiped by natives, who bring him the finest ivory they can find as if it were an offering to a god. Read the paragraph you have found in the text and then read the rest of that section, until the next time Rat pauses during his story. What are the fears Rat implies in that passage?
9. Near the end of the story, Rat attributes Mary Anne's change to her desire to understand herself, and how that desire became an obsession. What does he imply can happens to a person who studies himself too intensely?
10. What human actions have you heard in the news that seem as unexplainable as Mary Anne's story?
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Day 7: "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong"
Objective: Students will be able to write the ending of the chapter was if they are Tim O'Brien
Directions for day 7: O'Brien leaves us with many questions at the end of the chapter. We are unsure of what happens to Mary Anne Bell, Mark Fossie, and the rest of the group. Write the conclusion of the chapter using the prompt below.
We never know what finally happens to Mary Anne Bell, just that Rat Kiley never sees her again. Notice the last two sentences of the chapter, then plan the ending to her story. DO NOT just make it a quick summary, but use your imagination, talk about the possibilities, then unravel what happens to her and the outcome of the experience.
You will the same rubric as linked above:
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Days 8 to 10: Vietnam Menu Project
Objective: Students will be able to choose from a variety of choices to show their understanding of the war through The Things They Carried
Directions for days 8-10: What is the great thing about looking over a menu? You get to choose whatever you want! Choose two of the assignments listed in the Vietnam Menu. I've attached an example of a political cartoon as an example. You may NOT recreate something that was already created. You should be creative and use your imagination!
Your project will not be due until the end of day 10. If you choose an assignment that cannot be emailed, you must hold on to it and bring it in when we return. Please refer to the rubric at the end of each choice. This will count as a test grade!
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ALL ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE DUE BY WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1ST!
I've given a two day extension due to circumstances that have come about over the past week and a half. :)
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April 1: "Stockings" and "Church"
Objective: Students will be able to explore the feeling of superstition, beliefs, and death through the soldiers and their experiences in Vietnam.
Directions April 1: Students will read "Stockings" and "Church"
1. Read the first paragraph of "Stockings." In this paragraph the author compares Henry Dobbins to the United States. Give examples that show this to be at least a somewhat accurate picture of our nation and its involvement with nations around the world.
2. Quickly list superstitions held by people you know, even if they joke about them (three minimum).
3. Why do many hotels not have a thirteenth floor? Why won’t many people walk under a ladder?
4. What other behaviors have you noticed about which people joke yet seem a bit nervous? Why are they cautious even though they don’t really believe in superstition?
5. Dobbins believes in the protection of the stockings, and experience seems to reinforce that idea. How do you explain his safety? What evidence do you have that your explanation has validity?
6. The sequence of the two chapters “Stockings” and “Church” is curious, yet the two are connected because the monks relate best to Dobbins. What do those three have in common?
7. Why does Kiowa think that it is wrong to dig their foxholes there? How do you feel about it? Explain.
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April 2-3: "The Man I Killed," "Ambush," and "Style"
Objective: Students will be able to explore the feeling of superstition, beliefs, and death through the soldiers and their experiences in Vietnam.
Directions April 2-3: Students will read "The Man I Killed," "Ambush," and "Style"
1. The narrator knows nothing about the young man whose death he blames on himself. Why do you think he makes up a biographical sketch of that man’s life?
2. Why can’t Tim forget what he has done?
3. Azar mocks him and how he destroyed the man, but Kiowa stays to comfort him through the ordeal. For what two reasons would Kiowa want to do that?
4. How do the motives for the young man’s going to war match those of Tim at the Rainy River? Why would he invent this kinship?
5. What do you see as the significance of Tim’s noticing first a butterfly and then gnats on the face of the young man?
6. Why is Kiowa’s admonition to talk good advice?
7. In “Ambush” Tim tells his daughter that he didn’t kill anyone during the war; then later he admits that his killing a man is his reason for writing war stories. Explain the discrepancy.
8. What rationalization does Tim give for throwing the grenade?
9. Tim is relating this incident many years later. With what is he still dealing?
10. Azar and Henry Dobbins try in “Style” to determine why the young girl is dancing after all her family members have been killed. Why do you think she reacts as she does?
11. Why does Henry Dobbins become angry when Azar imitates the girl’s dance? With which man do you sympathize? Why?
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April 14 and 15: "Speaking of Courage” and “Notes”
Objective: Students will be able to feel what the soldiers felt when they returned home from the Vietnam War.
Directions for April 14 and 15: Read “Speaking of Courage” and “Notes” and complete the following questions:
1. In the twelve times that Norman Bowker drives around the lake, he thinks about three people in whom he cannot now confide. Who are they and why can’t they help?
2. As he drives, he sees others several times, but they pay no attention to him. Name four such individuals. Why can’t they help?
3. How are these people different from Norman?
4. What would he have liked to share with someone?
5. Who of all these people might have understood? Why?
6. What hinders Norman from unburdening himself to that person and thus finding peace?
7. Why does Norman feel so alienated from the people in his hometown?
8. How does this experience at the drive-in alienate him even further? Why won’t he talk to the man who says he will listen?
9. Contrast the clean lake in Sunset Park with the contaminated field in Vietnam. How is each representative of the people found there? Why does Norman jump in the lake?
10. Since these characters imply that the people in one’s hometown can’t really relate to the Vietnam experience, how does each of the following cope with the situation?
a. Tim (the narrator)
b. Rat Kiley
c. Henry Dobbins
d. Norman Bowker (while driving)
e. Norman Bowker (three years later)
11. What is the significance of the last two sentences in the chapter “Notes”?
12. One often hears that nobody really listens to him anymore. What is the value of being a good listener to others?
April 16 and 17: Finish the remainder of the book
Objective: Students will get closure on the book and Tim’s experiences. They will bring life and death together.
Directions for April 16 and 17: Finish the remainder of the book and answer the following questions:
1. What difficulty does Lt. Cross have in thinking about the men under his command?
2. What does he think he should have done instead of following orders in making up camp? What new problem might he have created by such an action?
3. How does he plan to alleviate some of his guilt about Kiowa’s death? What details would he include at first? What about his second plan? His final one?
4. Why does the unnamed young solider feel guilty?
5. For what does Azar feel guilty?
6. Why do people look for blame?
7. Ultimately who or what is to blame for what happens in war?
8. Did Tim kill a Vietnamese soldier, or did he not?
9. Why is Kathleen’s reaction to the Vietnamese battle site so different from her father’s?
10. Why does the Vietnamese farmer raise the shovel and then lower it again? What message does Kathleen get? What is Tim’s interpretation?
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April 20: Finish the remainder of the book
Objective: Students will get closure on the book and Tim’s experiences. They will bring life and death together.
Directions for April 20: Finish the remainder of the book and answer the following questions:
1. How do you explain the fact that these men have become such a tight group
2. Why doesn’t Tim accept Jorgenson’s apology? How does Tim explain his position?
3. Ironically, when Azar carries the prank farther than Tim wanted, what reaction does it prompt in Jorgenson? What does that and his subsequent action tell Tim about the man whom he had thought to be a stupid bungler?
4. Why was the war so hard on the men psychologically? Give details of the hazards.
5. What is Rat Kiley’s way out?
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April 21: Finish the remainder of the book
Objective: Students will get closure on the book and Tim’s experiences. They will bring life and death together.
Directions for April 21: Finish the remainder of the book and answer the following questions:
1. Throughout the novel Tim has talked about the value of telling stories. In “The Lives of the Dead,” he implies that stories save people. What does he mean? Think of an experience—it doesn’t need to be about death—in which you or someone you know was saved by a story.
2. What place does Linda’s story have in a book about the war in Vietnam?
3. What does Tim mean when he talks about miracles happening in stories?
4. When Tim sees Linda at the funeral home, what does he realize about death? How does that and what he later sees on the battlefield relate to Mitchell Sanders’ remark about death?
5. Find the description where Tim imagines Linda describing what it’s like to be dead. What does he mean by this?
6. Review the last sentence of the novel. What is the author conveying with these words?
7. What are the most important things Tim O’Brien has carried from the war? From life experiences?
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April 22-24
I am offering the remainder of the week as "catch up" time. Any work not completed by Friday at 10pm will go in the gradebook as zeroes, and will remain that way.
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April 27-May 1: Complete the character analysis project.
Objective: Students will analyze one character across more than one story to understand him/her deeply.
Directions for April 27- May 1: Complete the character analysis. You may email pictures of your work and essay, or drop it off at the school. All work must be original, and if it imitates someone else's work, both will be given a zero. THIS IS COUNTING AS A TEST GRADE. The visual must be something you CREATE; you can not simply send me pictures from the internet. You can take a picture of your visual or drop it off at the school.
Character Project.doc
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May 4 - June 1
Objective: Students will complete a well researched MLA format research paper on the Vietnam War. They will also compelte a PowerPoint presentation on their project.
Directions for May 4 - June 1: Complete the following mini researh paper and PowerPoint Presentation. You must email me your topic by May 7th. This will count as an assignment grade. PowerPoint presentations need to be emailed by May 15, and research papers are to be emailed by June 1st. The PowerPoint will count as two quiz grades, and the paper will count as a test grade. Obviously you can ignore the presentation part of the assignment; you will be graded on the submission of your presentation.
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June 1 - June 7:
Make up opportunity for any work that was due in March/April. Please email the completed work as soon as possible.