Untitled Document

Bill Hozza
Engl 5922

Unit Plan
Different Perspectives of the Vietnam War

Prefatory Statement:

This unit will look at different perspectives of the Vietnam war. Students will read the novels The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, and In Country, by Bobbie Ann Mason. They will also be reading excerpts from Walking the Rez Road, by Jim Northrup, and Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam, edited by Bernard Edelman. In doing this, the students will receive a number of different perspectives, fictional and nonfictional, on a brutal war that left a sour taste in the mouths of those involved. This will benefit the students by showing them what it was like to be a part of the war. It will also show the students that events can be perceived differently, depending on the perspective of the individual. It is important that they know this when they start to formulate their own opinions on the subject. They will do this through reading, as well as discussion and reflective writing. Issues of race, gender, class, and social justice will also be covered.

Class Specification:
This unit is designed for mature students in eleventh or twelfth grade. With the literature mentioned above, it would be inappropriate for students that are not in those grades. However, by substituting Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers, for The Things They Carried, and shortening the unit, one could teach this material to eighth graders assuming that they would be willing to enter the unit with respect and maturity.

Significant Assumptions:
In teaching this unit, one must believe that students will make meaning of the material for themselves. This will be encouraged through class discussion and reflective writing. One assumption is that the material presented in this unit is powerful enough to motivate the students to make meaning and to develop opinions and ideas. Because it is such a serious subject, it can be assumed that students will be respectful and put forth an honest effort in completing the desired tasks.

Desired Outcomes/Standards/Objectives to be Met:
The standard that this unit would meet is Diverse Perspectives. Students shall interpret fiction and/or non-fiction selections from a variety of perspectives. In doing this, students shall evaluate events and actions from these diverse works and world perspectives by identifying:
A. how race, culture, gender, and disability may influence beliefs, actions, and world view;
B. how data and experiences may be interpreted differently; and
C. issues, topics, or concepts around which disagreement or ambiguity exists, including describing points of view concerning the issue, investigating reasons for identified points of view, investigating reasons for alternate viewpoints, and analyzing how the interpretation of issues is affected by omitted viewpoints.
* These objectives will be assessed by looking at students' daily writing, observing their participation in class, and most importantly, these objectives will be assessed in the students final paper.

Possible Whole-Class Activities:
-Discuss representations of war in a variety of texts.
-Respond to classmates' journal entries on readings.
-Read assigned texts.
-Participate in training for interviews of veterans.
-Participate in a debate on war as an ongoing force of society.

Possible Small-Group Activities:
-Participate in writing groups regularly.
-Discuss questions that emerge from the texts.
-Prepare for a debate.
-Prepare for interviews.

Possible Individual Activities:
-Watch, and write a review of, a film on war.
-Write a reaction paper.
-Read and give a report on a text from the above list.

Ongoing Activities:
-Readings will be assigned daily when novels are being used.
-Journal work will be a staple in this unit. Students will react to the assigned reading through responses in their journals at the beginning of each class.
-A read and respond paper will be due at the end of the unit. The focus of this paper will be ongoing in conjunction with the unit's time frame.

Student Resources:
-Each student must have access to the novels The Things They Carried, and In Country.
-Because excerpts will be used when dealing with Walking the Rez Road, and Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam, photocopied handouts will suffice.
-Each student should have a response journal.
-It should be noted that In Country was selected for this unit to give a female perspective. When teaching a unit on war, it can be easily forgotten that female students may lose interest quickly if a female voice is not included in the subject matter.

Lesson Plan #1
Unit Launch
Different Perspectives of the Vietnam War

Objective/Standard: The objective of this lesson is to spark the students interest in the material (the Vietnam War) that they will be studying over the next few weeks. It will be important to get the students excited about the material as well as to let them know that sharing their opinions and expressing their ideas will be a significant part of this unit.

Method:

As the bell rings, hand out copies of "walking point", a poem found on pages 20-21 of Northrup's Walking the Rez Road. Instruct the students to take five minutes to read the poem. 5 min.

After this is done, instruct the students to take out a sheet of paper and react to what they have just read. "What did you think of this?" or "How did this make you feel?" are some questions that you can ask to get them started.
Possible dense questions: How do you think the speaker of this poem felt? Explain. Have you ever felt like that?

"Would anyone like to share their reaction?" can be a question to kick off the discussion that ensues. Practice proper "wait time". Because this is the first exercise of the unit, students may be a bit slow in reacting to your questioning. If students continue to avoid the question, share your own opinion on the piece. Because this is a gripping poem, it shouldn't be too hard to brew up a discussion. 10 min.

After the discussion is over, go on to tell the students that for the next couple of weeks, this type of activity will be commonplace. Students are encouraged to share their ideas and opinions on the different selections that are read each day. Daily writings and journals will be staples of the unit and part of their grade. Reassure the students that they will not be graded on their opinion, but rather on how they support it. Introduce them to the unit and give a handout of what will be covered. 5 min.

Let the students know that there will be a reading reaction paper due at the end of the unit on one of two books, the first of which will be The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien. Give a short book talk and then assign each student a book. Responses should also be collected at this time. 7 min.

Take the rest of the hour to collectively brainstorm what the students know about the Vietnam War.

Assessment: The students will have met the objectives if: they hand in an honest reaction to the poem that they read, they participate in the class discussion, and they come up with good facts and ideas on what they know about the Viet Nam war.

Walking Point
By Jim Northrup

With his asshole puckered up tight
the marine was walking point.
He was hunting men
who were hunting him.

His rifle was in perfect order,
he wasn't--fear, fear of not
feeling fear, the heat, mud,
and mosquitoes all addled
his brain housing group
as he walked and thought along.

Thou shall not kill.
That stuff didn't work here.
God must have stayed
back in the real world.

Is any of this real?
Is this a green nightmare
I'm going to wake up from?

He sang to himself as
his senses gathered evidence
of his continued existence.

His eyes saw, his ears heard
his heart felt a numb nothing
His mind analyzed it all as
he studied the trail

He amused himself as he walked along.
The old story about bullets, ha,
don't sweat the ones that got your
name, worry about the ones addressed:
to whom it may concern.

On another level his mind churned with
rifle, M-14, gas-operated, magazine-fed,
air-cooled, semi-automatic shoulder weapon
weight: 12 pounds with 20 rounds
sustained rate of fire: 30 rounds per minute
effective range: zero to 460 meters
or, hand grenade, M-26,
and so on and on and on. . .

Movement, something is moving up there.
Drop to the mud, rifle pointing at the unknown.
Looks like two of them, hunting him.
They have rifles, but he saw them first.
The marine corps takes over--
breathe, relax, aim, slack, squeeze.

The shooting is over in five seconds
the shakes are over in a half-hour
the memories are over never.

Organization of the Unit:

Week 1:
The students will be assigned three chapters of The Things They Carried per day. With those readings they will do daily responses to the chapters in their journals. These responses should be discussed at the beginning of class each day. In addition, daily readings should be taken from Walking the Rez Road and Dear America to be read in class. Students will respond to these writings as well. Clips from films on Vietnam can also be substituted for the daily readings. On some days, it may be appropriate to surprise the students with a simple quiz on The Things They Carried to make sure that they are keeping up with the readings.

Week 2:
The students should finish up The Things They Carried during the middle of this week (Wednesday). At that time it would be appropriate to ask the students to respond to the book as a whole. On Thursday of this week introducing how to conduct an effective interview will be done. A guest speaker (either a veteran or the family member of a veteran) will be visiting the class at a later date. This should be done as a whole class activity. Later, small groups will be more appropriate.
On Friday of this week, introduce the students to the novel In Country. Assign them approximately 30 pages to read each day. Reactions should accompany these readings as they did for The Things They Carried. Daily readings should still be taking place. For some variety, ask the students to compare two of the daily readings in substitution for a reaction.

Week 3:
Reactions and discussions of In Country should be taking place daily. But in place of daily readings and reactions, students should now be working in small groups preparing questions for the guest speaker as well as formulating ideas and outlines for their reaction papers on one of the two novels.
Students should also be formulating ideas for an upcoming debate that will be taking place next week. The debate is on whether or not fighting the Vietnam War was a good idea.

Week 4:
Students will wrap up In Country on Tuesday. By this time, they should have started work on their reaction paper and should also have questions ready for the guest speaker who will be coming in on Wednesday.
Thursday and Friday of this week the students will have lab time to put finishing touches on their reaction papers. The papers are due at the end of the hour on Friday. They will be worth a large percentage of the final grade for this unit.

Week 5:
On Monday, the students will begin watching "Hamburger Hill," a movie about a platoon attempting to take a key hill during the war in Vietnam. There are other, more critically acclaimed films that could be put in place of this one, but this film does a very good job at showing the relationships of soldiers of different races. It also emphasizes the value that soldiers had on writing and receiving letters from home.
This film will take three days. A review of the film will be due on Friday. This will also be the day that the unit is wrapped up.

Lesson Plan #2
Writing a Reaction Paper

Objective/Standard: The objective of this lesson is to explain to students what is expected of them in conjunction with their reading and reaction papers.

Students will Learn:
-What is expected of them as they write these papers.
-Proper form and length of paper.
-How to empathize/sympathize with the character of a book.
Method:

In this lesson it will be explained to the students what is expected of them as they write a reaction paper to either The Things They Carried or In Country.

A handout will be given to them containing the following:

Papers are to be 3-5 pages in length. They are to be typed and double spaced, using a 12 point font.

You may summarize the novel that you have chosen, but this should take up no more than one page in length.

While writing these papers, consider the following standards:

Keep these questions in mind as you write:
-How do the characters of these books feel as they go through different experiences? Why?
-How do you think you would feel if these things were happening to you?
-Do you think that someone of a different race or gender would react differently to these situations? Why or why not?

It is important to keep these things in mind as you write. They will come into play when it comes time to grade.

Teachers will go over this handout with the students and answer any questions that they may have. It is important that they understand what has been presented to them so that they can maximize their potential to write a good paper.

Assessment: Students will have met objectives if: They clearly understand the material that has been presented to them, they know how to show sympathy/empathy, and they end up writing effective papers.

Lesson Plan #3
Reacting to a Film Clip
(Taken from "Apocalypse Now")

Objective/Standard: The objective of this lesson is to show the importance of letters to a soldier as well as the harsh brutality of war. This lesson will also give the students insight into the letters that they are reading from Dear America.

Students will learn:
What it is like to write a letter to the family member of a fallen soldier, how to formulate an opinion on an aspect of war.

Method:

The lesson begins with the showing of a film clip. The clip is of a young soldier on a Navy patrol boat headed towards Cambodia. The soldier is very excited because he has just received a letter from his mother containing an audio tape of her voice. He begins to listen to the tape. You can see the joy and lust for home on his face. All of a sudden, shots ring out at a startling pace. The crew of this boat are startled, but return fire immediately. The captain of this vessel speeds it into safer water where the crew is out of danger. At this point, the camera pans back to the excited young soldier. He has been shot dead, and in the background you can still hear his mother on the audio tape. 5 min.

At this time, students should take out their reaction journals and write.
" What is this scene revealing about the war?" "How would you feel if you were one of the members of the crew on that boat?" "How do you think his mother felt when she heard the news?" "If you were the person that had to tell this boy's mother what happened, would you tell her everything? Why?" 5-10 min.

Students will share reactions and discuss how this clip made them feel. 10-20 min.

The students will do a free write on why letters are so important not only to soldiers in combat, but also to family back home. 5-10 min.

Give the students an assignment to work on for the rest of the hour. Ask them to write a letter to the mother of the character that was killed in the scene that they watched. What would you tell her? Why?

Assessment: Students will have met the objectives if: They participate in the discussion, giving honest answers to the questions that were asked.
-They understand the importance of letters to people that are involved in a war.
-By doing exercises such as these, students start to realize how horrible war can be.

Reading Reaction Papers

Papers are to be 3-5 pages in length. They are to be typed and double spaced, using a 12 point font.

You may summarize the novel that you have chosen, but this should be no more than one page in length.

While writing these papers, consider the following standards:

A. how race, culture, gender, and disability may influence beliefs, actions, and world view;
B. how data and experiences may be interpreted differently; and
C. issues, topics, or concepts around which disagreement or ambiguity exists, including describing points of view concerning the issue, investigating reasons for identified points of view, investigating reasons for alternate viewpoints, and analyzing how the interpretation of issues is affected by omitted viewpoints.
It is important to keep these things in mind as you write. They will come into play when it comes time to grade.
Keep these questions in mind as you write:
-How do the characters of these books feel as they go through different experiences? Why?
-How do you think you would feel if these things were happening to you?
-Do you think that someone of a different race or gender would react differently to these situations? Why or why not?
Criteria:
Papers will be graded on 1. Grammar, punctuation, and spelling. 2. Does the student's paper include aspects of the standard? 3. Did the student keep the questions in mind as they wrote the paper? (note: if student keeps the questions in mind, they will probably include aspects of the standards). 4. Overall quality and content. Does the student formulate an opinion?

Papers are worth 200 points.
200-180 = A
179-160 = B
159-140 = C
139-120 = D
less than 120 = F

Supporting Material for Teachers:
Questions to guide practice:
Why are these characters experiencing the emotions that they do? How would these emotions be different for someone of a different background?
Put yourself in the position of a character. How would you feel if you were in the situation that this character are in? Would you act the same way?
Views of the war that should be kept in mind:
-The view of a soldier.
-The view of a family member or friend of a soldier.
-The view of a war supporter/Patriot.
-The view of a war protester.
Movies that could be included in the unit:
"*Deer Hunter," "Apocalypse Now," "Platoon," "Full Metal Jacket," "*Born on the Fourth of July," "*Forest Gump."
Movies with a * have solid female perspectives.
All movies listed above (with the exception of "Forrest Gump") are rated "R" for graphic violence and should be treated as such. Permission slips might be necessary.
Assessment Task:
Questions to guide the unit:
-How do race, culture, gender, and disability influence the beliefs and actions of the characters that are looked at in this unit?
-Why are experiences of the Viet Nam War interpreted differently?
-Why is there disagreement over whether or not the Vietnam War should have been fought? How does a person's point of view effect their opinion?

-Students will observe and identify real issues and problems that characters faced during the Vietnam War in the novels that they read as well as in the daily readings and viewings that they encounter.
-Students will describe these events and problems. It is possible that they will simplify what they have read. The students are given the option of summarizing the novels that they choose when they write their papers, thus simplifying them.
-Students will apply what they have observed to history and connect the events that they have observed to government.
-Students shall deduce reasons for fighting in the Vietnam war as well as why soldiers and family felt the way that they did.
-Students shall predict/formulate their own position on the Vietnam war based on the material covered in the unit. This will come out in their papers.
-By observing the material covered in the unit, the students shall select one of the novels that have been covered, engage in this novel through reaction writing and reflect on their new-found opinions.

Students first investigate diverse perspectives on the Vietnam War as presented in this unit. They identify the different points of view and analyze what varied perspectives may exist.
*
Grading Method:
Daily writings (20) worth 5 points each. 100 points total.
Class participation (25) worth 2 points per day. 50 points total.
Journal with entries (20) worth 5 points each. 100 points total.
Review of "Hamburger Hill," or other movie. 50 points total.
Final Reaction Paper on The Things They Carried or In Country. 200 points total.
Unit is worth 500 points.
450-500 = A
400-449 = B
350-399 = C
300-349 = D
>300 = F index.html