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September 22nd, 2016

9/22/2016

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Here's the link to the Epic Hero Prezi!!

Use it to help you with your Epic Hero homework, due next class.


prezi.com/lyz-cqjrur5i/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy


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Epic Hero Prezi

10/6/2015

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Click the link below to view the Prezi on epic heroes!

http://prezi.com/lyz-cqjrur5i/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share 

Remember, you will have a quiz on this, as well as parts 1 & 2 of Gilgamesh, on Thursday!
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Week at a Glance- 10/5-10/9

10/5/2015

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​Subject: English 11
 

Monday, 10/5/15- B Day
No Period 3 or 7
Teaching Point: To enhance and engage student performance through the discussion of The Epic of Gilgamesh
 
Essential Questions for the Unit:
  • What defines any culture?
  • Why do we need creation myths? What function is served with creation myths?
  • What is the role of the story in a culture?
  • How do human beings achieve value?
  • What is the role of a god or gods to a culture?
 
Procedure:
  1. Students will answer the Do Now question, “Describe one of your closest (or best) friends. What makes him or her unique? How do you have fun together?”  After responding to the question, the class will discuss their various answers in preparation for discussing Gilgamesh and his best friend.
  2. Students will each take a textbook from the closet. They will open to page 32.
  3. Students will receive a reading log handout to fill out as they read The Epic of Gilgamesh.
  4. The class will read “The Death of Enkidu” together, filling out the reading log as they read.
  5. The class will re-enact and discuss the significance of the passage and anything students noticed about the story.
  6. Students will return their textbooks to the closet. They will also return their journals.
 
Assessment: completion of reading log
 
Materials: reading log, journals, writing utensils, textbook

Tuesday, 10/6/15- C Day
No Period 2 or 6
Teaching Point: To enhance and engage student performance through the discussion of The Epic of Gilgamesh
 
Essential Questions for the Unit:
  • What defines any culture?
  • Why do we need creation myths? What function is served with creation myths?
  • What is the role of the story in a culture?
  • How do human beings achieve value?
  • What is the role of a god or gods to a culture?
 
Procedure:
  1. Students will answer the Do Now question, “Is the ability to live forever, if only you are given this ability, good or a bad thing? Explain.”
  2. After responding to the question, the class will discuss their various answers in preparation for discussing the next portion of Gilgamesh’s tale.
  3. Students will each take a textbook from the closet. They will open to page 37.
  4. Students will take out their reading logs from the previous class period.
  5. The class will read “The Search for Everlasting Life” together, filling out the reading log as they read.
  6. The students will discuss Gilgamesh’s quest for everlasting life, and whether or not he is starting to show signs of being an epic hero.
  7. Students will return their textbooks to the closet. They will also return their journals.
 
Assessment: completion of reading log
 
Materials: reading log, journals, writing utensils, textbook

Wednesday, 10/7/2015- D Day
No Period 1 or 5
 
Period 2 will follow the lesson plans from the previous day

Thursday, 10/8/2015- A Day
No Period 4 or 8
Teaching Point: To enhance and engage student performance through the discussion of The Epic of Gilgamesh
 
Essential Questions for the Unit:
  • What defines any culture?
  • Why do we need creation myths? What function is served with creation myths?
  • What is the role of the story in a culture?
  • How do human beings achieve value?
  • What is the role of a god or gods to a culture?
 
Procedure:
  1. Students will take a quiz on epic heroes and The Epic of Gilgamesh thus far.
  2. After completing the quiz, the class will discuss their various answers to the quiz.
  3. Students will each take a textbook from the closet. They will open to page 41.
  4. Students will take out their reading logs from the previous class period.
  5. The class will read “The Story of the Flood” together, filling out the reading log as they read.
  6. The students will discuss the tale, and what archetypes the various individuals Gilgamesh is meeting are fulfilling.
  7. Students will return their textbooks to the closet.
 
Assessment: completion of reading log
 
Materials: reading log, journals, writing utensils, textbook, quiz
 

Friday, 10/29/2015- B Day
No Period 3 or 7
Teaching Point: To enhance and engage student performance through the discussion of The Epic of Gilgamesh
 
Essential Questions for the Unit:
  • What defines any culture?
  • Why do we need creation myths? What function is served with creation myths?
  • What is the role of the story in a culture?
  • How do human beings achieve value?
  • What is the role of a god or gods to a culture?
 
Procedure:
  1. Students will answer the Do Now question “Did “The Story of the Flood” remind you of any other stories you have heard? If so, how?” in their journals. The class will briefly discuss the Do Now and draw connections between Gilgamesh and Noah and the Ark from the Bible.
  2. Students will each take a textbook from the closet. They will open to page 70.
  3. Students will take out their reading logs from the previous class period.
  4. The class will read “The Story of the Flood” together, filling out the reading log as they read.
  5. The students will discuss Gilgamesh’s (and Utnapishtim’s) connection with Noah, and how the two stories are both similar and different.
  6. Students will return their textbooks to the closet. They will also return their journals.
 
Assessment: completion of reading log
 
Materials: reading log, journals, writing utensils, textbook
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Week at a Glance- 9/28- 10/2

9/28/2015

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​Subject: English 11
 

Monday, 9/ 28/15- A Day
No Period 4 or 8
Teaching Point: To enhance and engage student performance through the group creation of cultural group symbols and presentations
 
Procedure:
  1. Students will break into their groups from the previous class period.
  2. Students will divide the responsibilities for their group assignment.
  3. Students will complete the artistic symbol assignment for their selected cultural group.
 
Assessment: cultural group artistic symbol assignment
 
Materials: paper, writing utensils, art supplies, prior class knowledge

Tuesday, 9/29/15- B Day
No Period 3 or 7
Teaching Point: To enhance and engage student performance through the discussion of culture
 
Procedure:
  1. Students will present their cultural group artistic symbol to the class.
  2. The observing class members will fill out a feedback form for the groups presenting.
  3. Time permitting, students will reflect in their journals on what they learned about the different cultural groups in the class.
 
Assessment: cultural group artistic symbol assignment, feedback form, journal reflection
 
Materials: handouts, journals, writing utensils, art supplies, paper

Wednesday, 9/30/2015- C Day
No Period 2 or 6
 
Teaching Point: To enhance and engage student performance through the review of the epic hero, the epic hero cycle, and epic poems
 
Procedure:
  1. Students will answer the Do Now question “What makes a hero a hero?” They will then be given time to discuss the question as a class.
  2. Students will be given a handout discussing the different qualities of an epic hero. They will use the handout to decipher whether or not heroes in various fairy tales are epic heroes or not in a worksheet.
  3. The students will then read an introduction to The Epic of Gilgamesh and epic poetry.
 
Assessment: Do Now, worksheet
 
Materials: handouts, journals, writing utensils

Thursday, 10/1/2015- D Day
No Period 1 or 5
Period 2 will follow the lesson plans from Wednesday, 9/30/15
 
 

Friday, 10/2/2015- A Day
No Period 4 or 8
Teaching Point: To enhance and engage student performance through the review of the epic hero, the epic hero cycle, and epic poems
 
Procedure:
  1. Students will answer the Do Now question “Based on our discussion yesterday, why do you think Gilgamesh will be an epic hero?” The class will briefly discuss the question.
  2. Students will be given a graphic organizer to help them keep track of characters and the plot line of the epic poem while we read.
  3. Students will take a textbook. We will begin reading the epic tale as a class.
 
Assessment: Do Now, graphic organizer
 
Materials: handouts, journals, writing utensils, textbook
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English 11 Week at a Glance 9/21-9/25

9/21/2015

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Subject: English 11
 

Monday, 9/ 21/15- B Day
No Period 3 or 7
Teaching Point: To assess and access reading comprehension skills through the On Demand Writing
 
Procedure:
  1. Students will sign out their assigned laptops.
  2. Students will log in to their EdConnect accounts.
  3. Students will complete On Demand Writing #1.
  4. The teacher will have students return the laptops to their assigned spot in the cart in the last 5 minutes of class.
 
Materials: laptops, EdConnect, On Demand Writing #1

Tuesday, 9/22/15- C Day
No Period 2 or 6
Teaching Point: To enhance and engage student performance through the discussion of culture
 
Procedure:
  1. Students will retrieve their journals and answer the Do Now question, “Is it possible for someone to belong to several cultural groups? List some examples from either your own life, or from a movie, tv show, or other form of pop culture. “
  2. Students will be given a few minutes to discuss the Do Now.
  3. Students will take out the Who I Am handout they had been working on in class last week. We will have a brief class discussion on the different cultures addressed in the handout.
  1. Students will be broken into groups of 3-4. They will begin working on the Group Cultural Symbol assignment
  2. Students will hand in their work at the end of the period.
 
Assessment:
The teacher will check what students have accomplished when the work is handed in at the end of the period.
 
Materials: handouts, journals, writing utensils, art supplies, paper

Wednesday, 9/23/2015-
No School


Thursday, 9/24/2015-
No School

 

Friday, 9/25/2015- D Day
No Period 1 or 5
Period 2 will follow the lesson plans from Tuesday, 9/22/15
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English 11 Week at a Glance 9/16-9/18

9/16/2015

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This week English 11 students will be  starting the Origins: Who We Are Culturally Unit in class.

Day 1:

  • Students will define "What defines a culture?" 
  • The class will discuss cultural elements, cultural groups, and cultural importance.
  • Students will reflect on their own cultural background and complete a Student Culture Web worksheet.


Day 2:

  • Students will  answer the Do Now question, “What culture do you most identify with? How does it define who you are?”
  • Students will complete the Who I Am worksheet and activity.



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Text Summaries for Final

6/17/2015

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Text: The Epic of Gilgamesh

 

Author: (ancient Mesopotamians)

 

Characters:

 

Gilgamesh

Enkidu

Utnapishtim

 

 

Plot Synopsis:


In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh, who is the king of Uruk, is also 2/3 god and 1/3 man. He is a cruel, arrogant king. He treated his subjects terribly, and they prayed for the gods to help them. The gods decide that either Gilgamesh or his best friend, Enkidu, has to die. They end up making Enkidu very ill, and right before he dies, he has a dream of the underworld that he tells Gilgamesh about. He dies, and Gilgamesh can’t stop grieving for his friend and thinking about his own eventual death. He sets off on a journey, determined to find Utnapishtim, the Mesopotamian version of Noah from Noah and the Flood. After the flood, the gods granted Utnapishtim eternal life, and Gilgamesh hopes that Utnapishtim can tell him how he might avoid death too. A ferryman named Urshanabi takes Gilgamesh on the boat journey across the sea and through the Waters of Death to Utnapishtim. Utnapishtim gives him a test where he has to stay awake for a week if he wants to live forever. Gilgamesh fails the test. Utnapishtim’s wife feels bad for Gilgamesh and has him tell Gilgamesh about a plant that restores a person’s youth. A snake (serpent) steals the plant. Gilgamesh heads back home, defeated, and realizes that he can’t live forever, but mankind in general can.


 

Text: Oedipus

 

Author: Sophocles

 

Characters:

 

Oedipus

Jocasta

Claudius

Laius

 

Plot Synopsis:

 

A terrible curse and plague is destroying Thebes, where Oedipus is King. Oedipus finds out the curse will go away if the murderer of the previous king, Laius, is found and prosecuted. In his journey, Oedipus is told by Tiresias, a blind prophet, that Oedipus himself killed Lauis. He’s upset and bothered so his wife, Queen Jocasta tells him not to believe prophets, that they’re not always right. She tells him how a prophet said that her and Laius’ son would grow up to kill Laius and sleep with his mother. This makes Oedipus feel worse since he was told as a kid by a drunk old man that he was adopted and that he’d one day kill his biological father and sleep with his biological mother. He also once killed a man at a crossroads, and the man he killed sounds a lot like Laius. All of this comes together, and Oedipus realizes that he killed his biological father, Laius, and married—and had children with—his mother, Jocasta. Jocasta hangs herself, and Oedipus gouges his eyes out and is exiled from Thebes.

 

 

 

 

Text: A Doll’s House

 

Author: Henrik Ibsen

 

Characters:

 

Torvald Helmer

Nora

Krogstad

Mrs. Linde

 

Plot Synopsis:

 

Nora and Torvald Helmer are a married couple. Years ago, Torvald was very sick and a vacation to the warm south of Italy was the only way to save his life. Nora secretly took out a loan for 4800 crowns years ago from a man named Krogstad. As a woman, she was not legally allowed to take out a loan on her own so she forged her dying father’s signature, accidentally dating it for 3 days after his death. Years later, Krogstad, who now works for Nora’s husband, is blackmailing Nora. If she doesn’t save him from being fired, Krogstad will tell Torvald about the loan. Nora goes to great lengths to try to hide her secret. She only tells her friend, Mrs. Linde, about the loan. When Krogstad is fired, he mails a letter to Torvald, telling him about everything. Mrs. Linde tries to convince Krogstad to not blackmail Nora, and she succeeds, but it is too late. (Mrs. Linde and Krogstad also rekindle an old romance.) At Nora’s house, Torvald reads the letter and is furious. He is ready to isolate and disown Nora, except when they’re in public, when he receives a 2nd letter from Krogstad saying that everything was just a terrible misunderstanding. He forgives Nora, but Nora ends up leaving her husband and children.

 

Text: Othello

 

Author: Shakespeare

 

Characters:

 

Othello

Iago

Roderigo

Cassio

Desdemona

Emelia

 

Plot Synopsis:

 

Othello (the Moor) is a dark-skinned Venetian army general who is in love with his wife, Desdemona. Desdemona’s dad is pissed because he doesn’t like Othello. Othello promotes Cassio in the army because he has extensive training in strategy. Iago, Othello’s right hand man, is pissed because he wanted to be promoted. He’s been in the army longer than Cassio. Iago gets together with his friend, Roderigo, who is in love with Desdemona, and launches this whole big scheme and convinces Othello that Desdemona is cheating on him with Cassio. (She’s not.) In the end, Iago kills Roderigo. Othello kills Desdemona. Iago then kills his wife, Emelia, who was Desdemona’s friend and blew his cover. Othello realized he was wrong and attempts to kill Iago before killing himself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Text: The Things They Carried

 

Author: Tim O’Brien

 

Characters:

Lieut. Jimmy Cross

Curt Lemon

Rat Kiley

Ted Lavender

Kiowa

Norman Bowker

Henry Dobbins

Lee Strunk

Dave Jensen

Tim O’Brien (narrator)

 

Plot Synopsis:

 

In this collection of vignettes, Tim O’Brien recollects his experiences in the Vietnam war through his memories of his experiences, his friends, and their stories.

 

 

Text: In the Time of the Butterflies

 

Author: Julia Alvarez

 

Characters:

 

Mama & Papa Mirabal

Minerva (m. Manolo)

Patria (m. Pedrito)

Dedé (m. Jaimito)

María Teresa/ Mate (m. Leandro)

Trujillo

 

Plot Synopsis:

 

In the Time of the Butterflies is the fictional story of four real persons, the Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic. In 1960, three of the sisters, members of the underground movement opposing the regime of the dictator Rafael Trujillo, were ambushed on a lonely mountain road and assassinated. Alvarez’s novel, made up of three sections and an epilogue, intersperses chapters for each sister. All except Dedé’s are first-person narrations; Dedé does narrate the epilogue, however.

 

Section 1 of the novel (“1928 to 1946”) opens in 1994 with a woman interviewing Dedé about her martyred sisters. The section then describes how youthful Minerva, María Teresa, and Patria awoke to political awareness. Minerva learned of the dictator’s brutality from her schoolmate Sinita, whose family lost all of its men to Trujillo. Minerva educates young María Teresa (Mate). Patria begins to quest on her faith in God and Trujillo as a young wife plunged into a religious crisis after a stillbirth. Minerva is the first to act on her political convictions. Won over to Sinita’s hatred of Trujillo, she performs in a play covertly celebrating pre-Trujillo freedom. Near its end, Sinita, playing Liberty, suddenly walks up to Trujillo with her toy bow and aims an imaginary arrow at him. She is quickly subdued, and the tense moment passes, but Minerva has come to Trujillo’s notice.

 

Section 2, “1948 to 1959,” covers the years of the Mirabals’ resistance activity. Minerva meets activist Virgilio (Lío) Morales and continues in his path when he is forced to flee the country. One day, she discovers her father’s mistress and four illegitimate daughters living in poverty. She also finds letters from Lío that her father has kept from her. Shortly thereafter, Trujillo summons her to attend a dance; when he tries to hold her vulgarly close, she slaps him. Her family quickly whisks her away, but she leaves behind her purse, containing Lío’s letters. Her father is soon detained for interrogation, and the experience breaks his health. Over the next months, Mate joins Minerva in the underground; both marry fellow revolutionaries and have daughters. Eventually, Patria’s son Nelson yearns to join too, and Patria is herself converted when she witnesses a massacre of young rebels by Trujillo forces.

 

Section 3 relates events leading up to the death of the three sisters, now known nationwide as “La Mariposas” or “The Butterflies.” Trujillo attacks the underground, and Minerva, Mate, the three husbands, and Nelson are arrested. Mate and Minerva keep up the spirit of resistance in their crowded cell, and a solidarity grows between the political and nonpolitical prisoners there. Mate is eventually subjected to electric shock torture. Meanwhile, though, the political tide has begun to turn. The Organization of American States comes to investigate prison conditions, and Mate manages to slip their representative a statement by her cellmates. Soon afterward, Trujillo releases the Butterflies. When Minerva tries to track down information on the state of the underground, she learns that they have become national symbols of resistance. In fact, Trujillo claims his biggest problems are the church and the Mirabal sisters. Before long, Minerva’s and Mate’s husbands are moved to a remote prison. On November 25, 1960, the two wives and Patria set out with Rufino, their driver, to visit the men, despite Dedé’s warning that it is dangerous for them to travel together. They make it to the prison safely, but midway home the narrative breaks off abruptly. In the epilogue, Dedé recalls that for weeks afterward, people brought her information about her sisters’ last hours. They were strangled and clubbed, then returned to the Jeep and pushed off the cliffside. Dedé, enmeshed in grief, barely noted events of the next few years: Trujillo’s assassination, the murderers’ trial, the country’s first free elections in thirty-one years, a coup followed by civil war, and finally peace. The Mirabal sisters, meanwhile, become legends, and Dedé the conservator of their memory.

 

Alvarez’s postscript explains that her father was a member of the same resistance movement as the Mirabals and fled the Dominican Republic shortly before their deaths. Alvarez grew up hearing about the sisters and decided to write their story. When she began researching their lives, however, she uncovered a wealth of legends and anecdotes about them, but few verifiable facts. She thus turned to fiction to discover who they were. She began this project to answer the question, “What gave them that special courage?” She ends by noting that the anniversary of their deaths, November 25, is now, appropriately, the International Day Against Violence Toward Women.

 

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In the Time of the Butterflies Creative Writing

6/15/2015

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Your Creative Writing Choices : (select ONE)   




•
Write a letter from Dedé to one of the other characters, of your choosing, after the book ends. This must be at least 1 full page.

•Write another scene from In the Time of the Butterflies. This scene could take place at any point in the book. This must be at least 1 full page.

•Write a poem that expresses the story and beliefs of the Mirabal sisters. Use this to show why their story matters. This must be at least 1 full page.


This is worth a test grade, and due on Wednesday, June 17th.

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The Things They Carried Review

5/11/2015

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The following questions are due on your blog by the end of class on Friday.

Name

Date

Period

The Things They Carried Review

 

Chapter 1: “The Things They Carried”

1. In the list of all the things the soldiers carried, what item was most surprising? Which items stay with you?




2. In what sense does Jimmy love Martha? What does he get out of it?



3. Why do the soldiers tell jokes about the war, about killing?



4. How is the idea of weight used and developed in the story? How do you, as a reader, feel reading those lists of 
weight? What effect does it have on you?




Chapter 2: “Love”

5. What could Jimmy Cross never forgive himself for?



6. How did Jimmy get a new picture of Martha playing volleyball?



7. What does Jimmy ask Tim to do when he writes his story?



8. What does he tell Tim NOT to mention?



Chapter 3: “Spin”

9. What do we learn about Azar’s character in this story?



10.          How was the war NOT like a game of checkers?



11.           How did the “old poppa-san” help the platoon? What was his special skill?



12.          What did Azar do to Ted Lavender’s puppy?



 

13.          What does Azar say about his action?



14.          According to Tim, what are stories for?



Chapter 4: “On the Rainy River”

15.          How did Tim feel about the Vietnam War while he was at college? Do his actions and language support the idea that he “hated” the Vietnam war?



 

16.          What does Tim say is Elroy Berdhal’s role in his life? What sort of person was Elroy? How did Tim know?



17.          How do the opening sentences prepare you for the story?: “This is the one story I’ve never told before. Not to 
anyone.” What effect do they have on the reader?





18.          Why does O’Brien relate his experience as a pig declotter? How does this information contribute to the story? 




 

19.          At the story’s close, O’Brien almost jumps ship to Canada, but doesn’t: “I did try. It just wasn’t possible.” What 
has O’Brien learned about himself, and how does he return home as a changed person?




20.           In this chapter, we learn the 21-year-old O'Brien's theory of courage: “Courage, I seemed to think, comes to us 
in finite quantities, like an inheritance, and by being frugal and stashing it away and letting it earn interest, we steadily increase our moral capital in preparation for that day when the account must be drawn down. It was a comforting theory.” What might the 43-year-old O'Brien's theory of courage be?



Chapter 5: “Enemies”


21.          Who broke whose nose?



 

22.          What was the effect of the fight on Jensen?



23.          What did Jensen finally do to resolve the conflict between them?



24.          What is the irony of this chapter’s title?




Chapter 6: “Friends

25.          What was the pact that Dave Jensen & Lee Strunk made together?




26.          What was Lee afraid of when he saw Jensen, and what did he make him promise?




27.          The phrase that inspires these two chapters is normally characterized as “friends and enemies.” Why does 
O’Brien (the author) reverse this traditional order when sequencing these chapters?




28.          What is the irony of this chapter’s title?



 

Chapter 7: “How to Tell a True War Story”

29.          According to O'Brien, how do you tell a true war story? What does he mean when he says that true war stories are never about war? In what sense is a “true” war story actually true?




 

30.          Why does this story begin with the line: “This is true.” How does that prepare you, as a reader, for the story? In what sense is “this” true?





31.          Why is the baby water buffalo scene more disturbing than the death of one of O’Brien’s platoon members, Curt Lemon?

 

32.          O’Brien explains that this story was “not a war story. It was a love story.” In what sense is this a “love story”? Why?



 

Chapter 8: “The Dentist”

33.          Characterize Curt Lemon and why he behaves the way he does. How does this affect your reading of the previous chapter?

 

34.          How did Curt Lemon’s visit to the dentist affect him?




Chapter 9: “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”

35.          Describe the changes in Mary Anne Bell from the time she arrived in Vietnam to be with her boyfriend until the 
end of the chapter. Be specific and record moments from the text (page numbers and descriptions) that 
demonstrate how she changed.

 

36.          Why do you think she changed? What did the change symbolize? How long did this change take?



37.          Does it matter that Mary Anne is a woman? How so? What does the story tell us about the nature of the 
Vietnam War?



Chapter 10: “Stockings”

38.          Why did Henry Dobbins continue to carry his girlfriend’s stocking even after she broke up with him?


Chapter 11: “Church”


39.          What was Kiowa’s reaction to setting up camp in a pagoda? Why? How does this differ with Dobbin’s conception of faith/religion/spirituality?




40.          What is the meaning of the washing motion of the younger monk? Is it the same when Dobbins does it?



41.          The image of the monk cleaning an M-60 is strange and upsetting. What purpose does it serve in the story?



Chapter 12: “The Man I Killed”

42.          How did the narrator react to the fact that he killed another human being? What evidence in the story leads you to this conclusion?



43.          This story describes fairly intimate aspects of the dead man’s life. Where do these details come from? How can Tim O’Brien know them? What is going on here?



Chapter 13: “Ambush”

44.          Tim O’Brien’s daughter, Kathleen, asks if he ever killed a man: “ ‘You keep writing these war stories,’ she said, ‘so I guess you must’ve killed somebody.’ “ Following this, O’Brien relates two possible scenarios of the death described in “The Man I Killed” to explain “This is why I keep writing war stories.” In your opinion, why does O’Brien keep writing war stories?

 

45.          Where does truth reside in this book? What is the connection between O’Brien’s actual experiences and the events in this book? Why is O’Brien using lies to get at “the truth”?



Chapter 14: “Style”

46.          What symbolism lies in the woman’s dance?





47.          What does Dobbins means when he says “Dance right!”?



Chapter 15: “Speaking of Courage”

48.          What narrative point of view is used in “Speaking of Courage”?
 What problems does Norman confront when he returns home? What seems to prevent him from dealing with them successfully?

 

49.          Why is Norman unable to relate to anyone at home? More importantly, why doesn’t he even try?



Chapter 16: “Notes”

50.          Why does O'Brien include Norman's letter in the story?



 

51.          What does O'Brien say about storytelling in “Notes”?




Chapter 17: “In the Field”

52.          Briefly summarize the plot and style of the story. Is this story more of a “true” war story than the account in the chapter “Speaking of Courage”?

 

Chapter 18: “Good Form”

53.          In “Good Form,” O'Brien casts doubt on the truth of the entire novel. Why does he do so? Does it make you more or less interested in the novel?



Chapter 19: “Field Trip”

54.          Why does O’Brien return to the field?

 

55.          What is the point of putting Kiowa’s moccasins in the ground (burying them)?



Chapter 20: “The Ghost Soldiers”

56.          Does your opinion of O'Brien change throughout the course of the novel? How so? How do you feel about his actions in “The Ghost Soldiers”?



 

57.          “The Ghost Soldiers” is one of the only stories of The Things They Carried in which we don't know the ending in advance. Why might O'Brien want this story to be particularly suspenseful?



Chapter 21: “Night Life”

58.          How did Rat Kiley get out of active duty in the Vietnam?

 

Chapter 22: “The Lives of the Dead”

59.          How does the opening paragraph frame the story we are about to read?




60.          Why is O'Brien unable to joke around with the other soldiers? Why does the old man remind him of Linda?



61.          What is the “moral” of the dead KIAs? Consider Mitchell Sanders' view.



62.          In many ways, this book is as much about stories, or the necessity of stories, as it is about the Vietnam War. 
According to O’Brien, what do stories accomplish? Why does he continue to tell stories about the Vietnam 
War, about Linda?




63.          Reread the final two pages of this book. Consider what the young Tim O’Brien learns about storytelling from 
his experience with Linda. How does this knowledge prepare him not only for the war, but also to become a writer? Within the parameters of this story, how would you characterize Tim O’Brien’s understanding of the purpose of fiction? How does fiction relate to life, that is, life in the journalistic or historic sense?





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Week at a Glance- 4/13-4/17

4/13/2015

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Day

 

1

TP: To access and engage in higher level thinking and reading comprehension skills through the beginning of the War unit.

Assessment: Students will hand in their first 4 journal prompts, worth a quiz grade, and discuss the vignette, The Things They Carried, from Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried.

Strategy: Students will hand in their first 4 journal prompts, worth a quiz grade, and discuss the vignette, The Things They Carried, from Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. Students will be asked to reflect on what they “carry” with them, and how their carried items vary from those of the soldiers.

Materials: writing utensils, packet, projector, laptops

2

TP: To access and engage in higher level thinking and reading comprehension skills through the beginning of the War unit.

Assessment: Students will discuss their journal responses and reactions to the vignette, Love, from Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried.

Strategy: Students will discuss the vignette from Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. We will break down the importance of word choice in this particular vignette.

Materials: writing utensils, packet, projector, laptops

3

TP: To access and engage in higher level thinking and reading comprehension skills through the beginning of the War unit.

Assessment: Students will discuss their journal responses and reactions to the vignette, Spin, from Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried.

Strategy: Students will discuss the vignette from Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. We will break down the importance of dialect in this particular vignette.

Materials: writing utensils, packet, projector, laptops

4

TP: To access and engage in higher level thinking and reading comprehension skills through the beginning of the War unit.

Assessment: Students will discuss their journal responses and reactions to the vignette, On the Rainy River, from Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried.

Strategy: Students will discuss the vignette from Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. We will break down the importance of the role of the narrator in this particular vignette.

Materials: writing utensils, packet, projector, laptops

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    Ms. Barbour is an 11th grade English and Poetry teacher at Franklin High School.

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