Lesson Plan #2

Emma Ferguson
0545804
General Curriculum Outcomes (Grade 11 English)
1: (Speaking and Listening) Students will be expected to
speak and listen to explore, extend, clarify, and reflect on their
thoughts, ideas, feelings, and experiences.
6: (Reading and Viewing) Students will be expected to
respond personally to a range of texts.
8: (Writing and Other Ways of Representing) Students will
be expected to use writing and other forms of representation to
explore, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, feelings,
experiences, and learning to use their imaginations.
Specific Curriculum Outcomes
(11:1.1): Follow up on and extend on others ideas in order to
reflect on their own interpretation of experiences.
(11:6.4): Demonstrate a willingness to explore multiple
perspectives on texts
(11:8. 3): make informed choices of language and techniques to
enhance the impact of imaginative writing and other ways of
representing.
Teacher Goal: I would like to focus this unit around reading and
viewing, and pulling out personal connections and exploration for the
meanings of a particular text. The book that the students will be
reading is The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien. At this point in
the unit, the students are coming to the end of their allotted time for
reading, which has taken place over the course of a couple of weeks
with in class reading time and if they choose to do so, at home reading,
and we as a class are beginning to discuss themes, thoughts, feelings,
etc. about the book. I will present a couple of options for the students
to respond to the book, but I will not be focusing on the writing as
much as the connections, the exploration of ideas and the clarity of
thought that goes into this particular writing assignment. The overall
plan will consist of finishing the book, and then we will have chart
paper passed around to small groups who will write down themes,
emotions, etc. After this, an assignment will be given.
Context: Plan A
This lesson is for a Grade 11 English Class. The lesson will take place
over the course of two days (not counting in the days it took the class
to read the novel) with a potential for a third, with 60 periods for each
day. On the first day, the class will be split up into small groups of

roughly 3-4 people. I will pass around a few pieces of chart paper and a
few sharpies per group. For about 15 minutes I will ask the students to
write down what they thought the themes of the book The Things
They Carried by Tim OBrien were, their thoughts and feelings about
it, any questions they wanted to ask or important things that stood out
to them. After about 15 minutes we will reconvene as a class and go
over the commonalities among the class from the chart paper,
anything that stood out, answer any of the questions raised and have a
general discussion about the book, if the conversation takes longer
than 15-20 minutes I will make sure we are still on task and if it is ok to
keep going or if we can move along after this point. I will have these
pieces of chart paper up on the wall for the remainder of the time
spent on this novel so the students can refer back to it.
For the remainder of day one, which will be roughly 20-30 minutes
(depending on the length of the discussion), I will be explaining the
assignment for the class, before that, I will ask the students to partner
up. I will then ask the students to decide between themselves who is
going to be partner A and who is going to be partner B. The
assignment is having everyone who decided to be partner 1, write a
letter as if they were a solider from war. Everyone who is partner B has
to write what they think their loved one would write to the soldier.
What I am looking for is the ability to take from the book different
things that they learned, example emotions, thoughts and feelings,
and incorporate them into their writing piece. I will ask all of the
students who are A, writing from the perspective of the soldier, to find
a spot (on the floor) and write as if they were writing from the position
a soldier would write from. (ex. Hunched down, laying on their
stomachs, small spaces, etc). This writing will take place during class
2. For the remainder of my explanation to the class I will ask the
students to draft out points they want to cover in their letters.
Starting class two, I will have the students immediately get into their
spots to begin writing. I will bring red paint and brown paint if they
choose to make their letters look like they have been through war
and envelopes as well. This exercise should take a majority of the
class, and then with the time we have left (or at the beginning of the
following class) I will have the students share (if they want to) their
letters in small groups and then discuss over all the process of having
to be put in someone elses shoes, and taking from the experiences
from the novel. The students will also discuss what it was like to write
from an uncomfortable position, and for the B students, they will reveal
what it was like to think and wonder about having someone at war that
they need to write to.
This topic can be a touchy subject so I want to let the class know
ahead of time what we will be doing, and if they are uncomfortable I
will have a back up plan for them.

Materials:
-Chart Paper
-Sharpies
-Paper for entries
-Red and brown paint
-Novel The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien
Context: Plan B
As an alternative plan, and one I would hope to do at some point
anyways, would be to get the students to read the same novel, The
Things They Carried, and then pick 3 intangible items that way them
down in their own lives. With these items they can either write about
them, speak to the class about them, do an art project about them, or
an alternative plan that can be advised by me. This project can give
these students empathy about what the soldiers have to carry, not
only the weight of their physical luggage but the intangible items that
can be just as heavy. I want the students to put on someone elses
shoes and to do some discovering of their own lives as well.