The Things You'll Carry

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Student Page Title Introduction Task Process Evaluation Conclusion Credits [Teacher Page ] A Webquest for 10 th Grade English with The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien Designed by Trevor Johnson [email protected] Based on a template from The WebQuest Page The Things You’ll Carry Image #1

Transcript of The Things You'll Carry

Page 1: The Things You'll Carry

Student Page

Title

Introduction

Task

Process

Evaluation

Conclusion

Credits

[Teacher Page]

A Webquest for 10th Grade Englishwith The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Designed by

Trevor [email protected]

Based on a template from The WebQuest Page

The Things You’ll Carry

Image #1

Page 2: The Things You'll Carry

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[Teacher Page] Introduction

The year is 1968 and more than 500,000 of your fellow Americans are overseas fighting in the Vietnam War. On your way home from school the elderly postman that delivers mail to your neighborhood hands you a letter from the U.S. Government. You drop your bags and immediately open the letter only to realize that you have just been drafted to aid the U.S. Army in fighting the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong. You break the news to your family that night over dinner and there are mixed emotions. The next day they present you with a leather bound journal so you can write home to them as often as possible. But you decide that you will use it for much more than that. Writing in the journal is one of the only ways you envision yourself being able to keep your sanity when you are on the other side of the world fighting for your country. Your tell yourself that the journal is just one of the many things that you will carry, but it is easily the most important.

Having read Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, you all have an example of an infantry soldier’s personal description of the Vietnam War. You will be creating a collection of the most significant entries from a typical soldier’s journal. While Tim O’Brien was infantry fighting on the ground, I don’t expect you to exactly follow the soldier that he created in his book. You are allowed to focus on any type of American soldier that was directly involved in the war. I’m hoping that this assignment will challenge you in a number of ways. Creating entries in your journal will require you to put yourself in a soldier’s shoes and reflect on the experiences that they encountered. At the same time I want you to remain as historically accurate as possible when describing specific battles, political events, historical figures, landscapes and/ or equipment.

Setting

Expectation

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Title

The TaskYou will be required to have at least 10 journal entries once you have completed this assignment. These entries can take place before, during or after the war, but you need to include at least one from each time. The entries should be 2-3 pages in length. Most importantly, I want you to be creative with this assignment. Try to use a number of different entries. Examples could be letters home, descriptions of people or places, discussion of a day’s event, news/ rumors circulating amongst the soldiers, a story of personal struggle or triumph etc. At the same time I expect you to include the following items incorporated in your text:

Requirements

• A description of what type of soldier you are and what you have to carry. This should be a reoccurring theme as it is in The Things They Carried and should include both the physical and mental burdens. •Two accurate descriptions of historical battles in the Vietnam War that you had some experience with during your service.• At least three frequently used characters other than yourself.• A brief description of why America joined the Vietnam War and your characters’ stance on the matter.• Four visual texts. These can include maps, pictures, drawings etc. but must have a written description attached. • At least one story that parodies or is closely related to one of the chapters from The Things They Carried. •Historically accurate dates on each journal entry.

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Your first step is taking a look at what kind of role you would like to take on for this assignment. Tim O’Brien was part of a platoon, on ground infantry. You may decide to work in the naval services, medical operations, aerial support etc. Part of your assignment is to have a background knowledge in the field that you will be operating in, and remember that you are allowed to incorporate either yourself as a character in your story or create a fictional character that you will be writing the first person narrative for. Don’t let gender, race, medical issues or any other reason prevent you from entering the field of your choice. But, you may want to include these factors in considering your character. Detail is very important in this assignment, and the more we know about your character, the more interesting your story will be.

Individual work:1.Identify what role you want to play in the war. 2.Research your character’s form of participation and duties3.Research historical background of America’s involvement and two specific battles4.Find 4 visual texts to support your story5.Brainstorm your characters and story line6.Review The Things They Carried and establish how you will have your story parallel Tim Obrien’s- You may want to look at his website for additional resources about him and his work

I have created a slide that provides various resources for your assignment HERE . These should help with general questions of your individual work and should lead you down your own individual path of research for this assignment. Use these sites as reference, and try to stick to academic and reliable sources on the web.

The Process

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[Teacher Page]Resources For The Things You’ll CarryThe following links will take you to information on the sections of military that you want your character can be involved in. These sites are also very helpful since a lot of them provide viewers with soldiers pictures, stories, reflections and background information. Army , Navy , Air Force, Medical and Military (This has links to other specific sections such as national guard and marines.)

Get an overview of the Vietnam War and it’s soldiers. The following websites provide tons of background information and links. They also contain soldier’s stories that I suggest you look at.

Vietnam war links

Vietnamwar.com

Vietnam Gear

Vietnam Timeline

Vietnam Pictures

If you’re having problems creating developed characters or a solid plot here is a sites that can help.

Creating Characters

Getting Started and Running with Ideas

Other Resources:

Don’t forget that you have an incredible resource at your hands with Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried. Wikipedia is a resource that can be used simply as reference, but do not rely solely on information from this site.

Explore the internet! You are by no means limited to the sites that I have provided for you. However, you want to make sure that your information is reliable because I will be checking the facts on your projects.

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[Teacher Page] BeginningPoints: 1-5

DevelopingPoints: 6-10

AccomplishedPoints: 11-15

ExemplaryPoints:16-20

Score

Creativity There is little to no variety in the journal entries and the characters are poorly developed.

There is some variety in the journal entries and the characters are somewhat developed.

The variety in journal entries is better than average, but could still use improvement, and the characters are fairly well developed.

The journal entries are noticeably different from one another and the characters contribute to the overall assignment since they are developed efficiently.

All Requirements for the Entries are Met and Meet the Length Standards

The journal entries include only a few of the requirements or are very briefly mentioned and short.

Less than half of the requirements are included or are not elaborated on as much as was expected for the assignment in regards to length.

Most of the requirements are met and explained efficiently for the reader with appropriate length.

All of the requirements have been met and go into great detail to further readers’ understanding while meeting the expected length.

Historically Accurate

The historical aspect of the journal is poorly developed and inaccurate.

The historical entries are less than what was expected and somewhat inaccurate.

The historical entries are satisfactory and/or work well with the story and are mostly accurate.

The historical entries are fully developed and fit well with the overall story and are very detailed, accurate descriptions of real events.

Ties to Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Student doesn’t relate his/her own work to Tim O’Brien’s at all.

There are some ties to Tim O’Brien’s work but they are somewhat vague and underdeveloped.

There are good ties to Tim O’Brien’s work but there could still be more.

Student’s work is clearly related to Tim O’Brien’s and is very easily identified.

Effort and Commitment to the Assignment

The student has put forth very little effort and is not committed to this assignment.

The effort is just shy of what was expected and there could be more commitment.

The student has put a strong effort into this assignment and is committed.

The student has clearly put a lot of effort into this assignment and has obviously committed a lot of thought and time into his/ her work.

Grammatical and Spelling Errors

There are 8 or more grammatical and/ or spelling errors.

There are 5 or more grammatical and/ or spelling errors.

There are 3 or more grammatical and/ or spelling errors.

There are no more than 2 grammatical or spelling errors.

Evaluation

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[Teacher Page]

Upon completing this assignment you will have a much deeper understanding of what soldiers like Tim O’Brien had to face in the Vietnam War. It is my hope that you have gained a newfound respect for those who have fought and those who have died for our country. I also hope that you learned a little about yourselves. This has been a very demanding assignment that required you to integrate various texts and create your own work. You should be proud of the writing that you have produced and I look forward to reading it.

If you wish to extend your learning about this subject I would recommend looking at other works by Tim O’Brien. The Things They Carried is just one of his works based on his time spent in the Vietnam war. He is also the author of:

• If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home- A memoir of his Vietnam service.• Going After Cacciato- A National Book Award winner about a soldier who decides to run away from the Vietnam War.• In the Lake of the Woods- A story about a man named John Wade who thinks he has erased his presence at the My Lai Massacre.• The Vietnam in Me- A splendid and horrifying essay from The New York Times about his relationship with Vietnam.

Conclusion

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Images Used:# 1- Found online at:http://www.vva528.org/images/vietnam-soldiers-1.gif

# 2- Found online at:http://blog.awm.gov.au/focus/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/coleridge-iroquois.jpg

# 3-Found online at:http://www.culturebully.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/vietnam-war-soldier.jpg

Books for Reference:

•Hall, Mitchell. The Vietnam War. England: Pearson Education Limited, 2000.

•O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Boston: Broadway Books, 1990.

•Palmer Jr., Bruce. The 25 Year War. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1984.

•Wiest, Andrew. Essential Histories: The Vietnam War 1956-1975. England: Routledge, 2003.

Included here is a link back to The WebQuest Page and The WebQuest Slideshare Group so that others can acquire the latest version of this template and training materials.

Credits & References

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Teacher Page

A Webquest Designed for 10th Grade English

Designed By

Trevor [email protected]

Based on a template from The WebQuest Page

Evaluation

Teacher Script

Conclusion

The Things You’ll Carry

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This lesson is designed for a 10th grade English course working with the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. The rationale behind this project is to get students to work with the piece of fiction and relate it further research of the Vietnam War. This book combines elements of fiction and non-fiction as it is loosely based on Tim O’Brien’s personal experience in the war. The ultimate goal is to have students get a better understanding of what life was like for a soldier engaged in combat. By researching various aspects of the war and comparing it with the book, students will have a much more personal commitment to the text.

This lesson focuses primarily on having students put together a collection of their own writing that imagines what it may have been like to have experience the Vietnam War first hand. Students are expected to share some of the same themes that The Things They Carried presents in addition to creating some of their own.

Evaluation

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Introduction (Teacher)

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The assignment is intended for a sophomore level English course, but could be used in a number of different teaching contexts. The Things They Carried is an integral part of this assignment and is typically taught in English 9, 10 or 11 classes. However, this book can be adapted into a number of classroom settings, like creative writing or history courses. It works especially well for English but I think it can be included in a number of different curriculums. There is a decent amount of writing that students are expected to complete as well, so one might want to take that into account before using this prompt.

It is expected that students have read The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien before beginning this assignment. Another assumption would be that they have some background knowledge of the Vietnam War, but that isn’t as large of a concern as them having read the book. It wouldn’t hurt for teachers to give a brief lesson plan on the nature of the Vietnam War, but it isn’t an absolute necessity.

Evaluation

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Learners (Teacher)

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Students are expected to meet various reading, writing and research standards since they will be comparing a novel to a historical event and eventually creating their own writing about what they have discovered.

Reading and Writing Standards Addressed

•Students read and recognize literature as a record of human experience.

•Students will make connections between their reading and what they already know, and identify what they need to know about a topic before reading about it.

•Students read to locate, select, and make use of relevant information from a variety of media, reference, and technological sources.

This lesson plan expects a lot from students because it requires them to combine research and reading and produce something that is creative and unique to their personality. It combines three skills that they use fairly frequently yet still need practice on in preparing for the future. .

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Curriculum Standards (Teacher)

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Teachers will probably want to refer to the student process slide while evaluating their process on the lesson.

This multidisciplinary lesson should take some time to perform. Teachers have to set aside time at a computer lab for students read through the webquest and research their topic. Once that has been done they need time to write, edit and revise their work. This assignment should fill at least a week and a half of a lesson plan, if not more.

Students will have to stay on task during this assignment. Students are combining a lot of different elements of reading, writing and research into this project and their focus is an absolute necessity. Teachers should monitor their progress and make sure they are not falling behind. Teachers will also have to have a confident background knowledge of the Vietnam War and be comfortable with grading students’ creative writing.

VariationsVariations could easily be made to make this a historical assignment. The emphasis on student writing could be cut down and the work load on research could be built up. I think this is a very flexible lesson that can be applied to a number of teaching contexts.

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The Process (Teacher)

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In order to implement this lesson teachers will need a number of resources.

• Class set of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried and time to have read the book before using this instruction. • At least two to three days of class time spent in a computer lab- maybe less and maybe more depending on how confident you are in your students abilities to perform this assignment outside of class.• Around a week of class time for writing, peer editing, and revision• E-mail accounts for all students in order to answer questions, relay materials, help with resources etc.

This lesson can be performed by one teacher, but having additional adult supervisors couldn’t hurt. The work load for this lesson is primarily on the students’ shoulders until it is turned in and needs to be evaluated. Teachers primarily need to focus on helping students brainstorm ideas, answer any questions they may have about the assignment or the webquest itself, and make sure that students are working efficiently. However, I don’t see any need for additional teachers or any kind of parental involvement unless it is desired by the instructor of this lesson.

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Resources (Teacher)

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This assignment relies heavily on creative writing with an emphasis on historical background and connection to the text The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. A successful assignment is one that has clearly been dedicated to creating an intriguing and inspirational story while remaining as historically accurate as possible. Students should have demonstrated a piece that not only met the requirements, but actively engaged their creativity and thought process. There should be some clear emotional commitment to their work since this is a very adult situation that they have been working with. They should recognize their work and that of Tim O’Brien’s as not only a pieces of fiction, but records of human experience. Though they were not in the Vietnam War, they should have performed some type of personal involvement in their writing and gained a deeper understanding of the mindset that the U.S. soldiers experienced.

Teachers will want to refer to the Evaluation page for students, which includes a rubric that is appropriate for this lesson.

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Evaluation (Teacher)

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Teaching this webquest in a non-traditional classroom can provide a number of alternative learners a with a chance to learn and express themselves in ways that they may not have done before. This section is dedicated to the instructors of these classes, and below is a step by step process that can be followed to incorporate this lesson into your classroom.

Before introducing this assignment you should have your students read Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. If for some reason you cannot teach the entire book, it can easily be dissected since each chapter is sufficient on its own. After reading the book, or parts of the book, this is the process that you will want to follow.

•Open the Webquest and show discuss with your students what they know about the Vietnam war. Click anywhere on the opening slide. •Read the introduction aloud with your class and discuss what they may be thinking of writing about. Click anywhere on the slide. •Review what is expected of the students and discuss what kinds of writing they plan to implement in this assignment. Make sure they know exactly what is expected of them and answer any questions they may have. Click anywhere on the slide.•The Process slide is where you may find some problems. Go through each process with the students and ask for questions after each one. Visit Tim O’Brien’s website by clicking the blue “his website” indicator and discuss his role in this assignment. •Discuss how they will find their information and click on the blue “HERE” indicator which will take you to the Resources page. •On the Resources page click on each indicator taking you to suggested websites for your students to use in this assignment. Explore the sites and make sure your students are comfortable with the expectations you have of them. Click on the “Evaluation” indicator. •Explain to your students how they will be graded on this assignment. Make sure they know how to fill their requirements and how they will be evaluated on them. •Read them the conclusion and answer any remaining questions.

This page is linked to the Process segment off of the Teacher Page

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Teacher Script (Teacher)

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This is a very worthy lesson plan that can be facilitated by a number of teachers from a number of teaching backgrounds. This is a particularly useful assignment for history and English teachers, but could be integrated creatively into other classes. The emphasis for this particular webquest is primarily creative writing, with historical and research aspects as well, but it could easily be tweaked to match your criteria.

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Images Used:Image #1- Photograph found online at:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.vietnammemorial.com/vietnam-soldiers-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.vietnammemorial.com/vietnam-war.html&h=404&w=500&sz=45&hl=en&start=1&usg=__Df-k1JDvSgaIpAypI93rA3kyyyA=&tbnid=hlhVGo8edfEorM:&tbnh=105&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dvietnam%2Bwar%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

Thanks to Dr. James Folkestad at Colorado State University and Adam White for their help in creating and revising this website.

Thanks to Tim O’Brien for creating such an inspirational novel and has allowed me to create such an engaging lesson plan.

I have included a link back to The WebQuest Page and The WebQuest Slideshare Group so that others can acquire the latest version of this template and training materials.

Evaluation

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Credits & References (Teacher)