Kara

Kara's thoughts

The Things They Carried “Stepping in” activity— Understanding the nature of Vietnam might help with envisionment—the “humping” scenes from Forest Gump where they made their way through the countryside, walked through the rain, and slept sitting up might be a good way to set the stage. Also the opening scene from Apocalypse now (like Julie had suggested). We could include these as a part of our introduction to the unit—a day of multisensory perspectives on war. Maybe we could have students journal and free-write throughout the class period. Songs for intro day (check out the lyrics—some of these are perfect!) Perhaps students could listen and journal their thoughts—we could hand out lyrics sheets Billy Joel: Goodnight Saigon -- [] Ballad of the Green Berets (From the other side of the spectrum)-- [] Youtube video accompanied by War-Edwin Starr -- [] Rolling Stones- Gimme Shelter -- [] I’m not a music buff—anyone know any good songs that could get kids pumped for The Things They Carried?? Post here:

-I thought that in addition to having students bring in something that they would carry, we could show the slideshow that Time magazine put out on their website. It’s amazing—it’s actually a picture story that they put together as a reaction to/reflection of TTTC. It shows real soldiers and the things they carry. Check it out. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1558328,00.html
 * The Things They Carried**

-Activity: Have students try to classify some of the things that the soldiers carry with them—for instance, one category might be “Things that are used for protection.” This could slow down student’s reading and help them to recognize the variety and complexity of the things they carry.

-Activity: It might be good to have students do a close reading at the beginning of the book—Pg. 19 is a nice place for this. The section does a great job of contrasting the human emotions of fear and shame with the tough posturing and defense mechanisms of the soldiers.

-Probably not a chapter I would use much for our unit plan -This is one of those interesting chapters to look at the title. Why does he title the chapter this way? This is one of those moments that confounds the ideas of war story and love story.
 * Love**

-While students will have gotten somewhat acquainted with the structure of the novel (non-chronological, non-linear, repetitive, etc.) this chapter really moves erratically (much like a ping-pong ball with a little spin on it, it dances Hehe, how clever). I think students should spend some time reflecting on the structure of this chapter. How does the chapter reflect memory? Are these stories linked? Etc.
 * Spin**

-See Julie. She’s got this one down. J
 * On the Rainy River**

-These should be paired. -Journal topic: Have you ever had a “frenemy”—someone who wavered between the two? -Show a clip from 300 when the Spartans are facing the ___?? (or really any movie that clearly pits one group of people against another) In groups: Who are the Spartan’s friends? Who are their enemies? How do you know? Compare and contrast these with O’Brien’s Enemies and Friends chapters. (Hopefully, students could draw some kind of conclusions about the irony of O’Brien titling his chapter Enemies—in a war story, there are normally clear enemies (the Nazis, the Japanese, whatever) but in Vietnam, the enemy was more nebulous. By redefining enemies in the context of his novel, O’Brien removes a sense of purpose from the war: If they don’t have a clear enemy, then why are they there?)
 * Enemies (and Friends)**

-Obviously this chapter deserves quite a bit of focus (a couple of days) -I was thinking that the class should create a list of criteria for how to tell a true war story based on Tim O’Brien’s philosophies that he puts forth in the chapter. Students could put these criteria on construction paper and keep them as a reference throughout the unit. They could see how O’Brien’s stories measure up to these criteria, and they could see how the other works we examine measure up to these criteria. By the end of the unit, we can have students re-write these criteria based on all of the texts/movies/propaganda etc that we have examined.
 * How to Tell a True War Story**

-Sanders and Rat Kiley each have their turn of telling a true war story in this chapter. How does O’Brien use these stories to support his claims about what constitutes a true war story. What elements of the criteria are evidenced in these stories?

-In characterizing war stories, O’Brien is led to characterize war itself (at the end of the chapter)—he lists a series of dichotomies (beauty/horror, order/chaos…etc.) I thought that students could choose one of these dichotomies to track through the novel. At the end of the novel, students could put together collages with pictures/quotes from the novel, etc. to demonstrate how these dichotomies operate within war stories.

-The previous chapter describes Kurt Lemon’s death, so this is a bizarre structuring where we hear this story about him immediately after. -Does anyone want to do anything with this? Ehhhhh….
 * The Dentist**

-I love this story—I remember thinking it was bizarro and creepy in high school, but now I am a little obsessed. -This story is set in a camp that reminds me a bit of the scene where Forest Gump arrives in Vietnam. There is lots of beer and it seems pretty lax. I thought this scene might help students with the envisionment process for this story. -Students also might not be familiar with the typical connotations with the Green Berets—there is a song called The Ballad of the Green Berets—I think it would be cool to have students examine the representations of the Greenies in the story with the Greenies in the song. -Students might have problems with suspending disbelief here. The idea that a woman could come over and join the war is pretty far-fetched, but the idea of the story is to examine the “what if”—would a woman lose her humanity, too? -“Seventeen years old. Just a child, blonde and innocent, but then again, weren’t they all?”>a reminder to the reader, as we hear these stories like the baby buffalo story, we forget that these are innocent kids. It’s easier to recall the innocence of a woman in a pink sweater—we forget about the innocence of the young men at war. -I feel like we should do a lot with this chapter: Might be cool to bring in the female components of war stories like Rosy the Riveter to examine how women are normally represented or not represented etc.
 * Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong**

-If one were to create a movie of this chapter, it would be really cool/bizarre. Just imagine a bunch of monk cleaning a machine gun—CRAZINESS! -Thus, I think students should spend time in class drawing the scene. It would help them to understand the irony of the situation at hand—the juxtaposition of church and war.
 * Church**

-Students should read this chapter at home, but then again silently in class. -Then, we could have students close their books, and write down everything they remember. -The effects of repetition would probably become evident as students share what they wrote down. -Students could see how these salient details of the text stuck with them, just like salient details would stick out in the speaker’s memory—form = function -We should do more with this, but that is just one idea
 * The Man I Killed**

-Should be paired with previous chapter. -I don’t really know what to do with it…
 * Ambush**

-This short chapter haunts me a bit -This fourteen-year-old girl is a mystery to me -This is a really cool idea for an activity: In class, students could start to write the background story on this girl using The Man I Killed as a sort of style guide. In that chapter, O’Brien projects an entire background onto the young man with the star-shaped hole for an eye. Using that chapter as a model, students could do the same for the girl who is dancing outside of the hut. I think this could be really cool. Before students started writing, the class could do a close reading of The Man I Killed to identify elements of structure, voice, diction, literary devices etc. to use as a model for their own writing.
 * Style**

-Our first glimpse of a returning soldier—the after effects of war -I love this chapter, too, but does anyone have a good idea about to do with it??? -I feel like Notes should be read as an appendix type of thing… -We need to have students negotiate the two. Tim O’Brien is charged with telling Norman Bowker’s war story—or at least, he feels that Norman Bowker was unable to tell his own. Is that because people only want to hear about medals, like Bowker’s father?\ -Then there is the shitfield—soooooo loaded with meaning. And Kiowa dies… -I honestly am at a loss. Anyone want to tackle it?
 * Speaking of Courage + Notes**

-As a class opener: Rain was crazzzzy in Vietnam: It turned everything to muck. Thus, the rain segment from Forest Gump’s tour in Vietnam might help students to understand the intensity of a monsoon. -In this chapter, the young men are futilely trying to salvage something from the waste—a majority are trying to retrieve Kiowa, and one young man is trying to salvage a picture. This search could be seen metaphorically as representing O’Brien’s inability to salvage anything from the waste of Vietnam—the waste of time, life, youth. -What could we do to have students make metaphorical leaps? Especially ELL’s?
 * In the Field**

-HUGE place for stepping back and re-thinking what one knows -I anticipate that students might feel some frustration with this—it’s almost like we just want to believe in these characters and events. Even if we don’t know whether it’s “true” or not, we don’t want to step back. -We need students to ask WHY. Why does he do this? What does this say about “truth”? -We should have students revisit their criteria for how to tell a true war story. Activity: Students should attempt to define “truth” in groups. What is most important about telling a true war story?
 * Good Form**

-Journal: What do you normally think of when you think of the word “field trip”? What memories do you have of field trips? What purpose do they normally serve? Compare/contrast with the field trip that the speaker takes in the story.
 * Field Trip**

-This would be a good place to bring in The Wound-Dresser (a nurse’s perspective) because we never seem to get the perspective of the person who is charged with saving lives. -Also, students could look back to Enemies/Friends. …
 * The Ghost Soldiers**

-“That was the phrase everyone used: the night life. A language trick. It made things seem tolerable.” <analyze this quote -Students will spend a class finding evidence of O’Brien’s various “language tricks” that he uses throughout the text to make things seem “tolerable” -In groups students will be responsible for specific chapters in which they are to identify such language tricks. -As a class, we will look at some examples that students have pulled from the text. We will discuss their affects on the reader.
 * Night Life**

-AHHHH love this… -How do we use this chapter to tie in the rest of the book? -How do we get student’s to appreciate Linda’s story (<3 you, Linda)? Let’s discuss this one in class.
 * The Lives of the Dead**