8/3/2019 War Lesson

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Jason Peterson

2/24War Lesson

Time: One 50-minute period class

Setting: Senior elective: “Literature from Around the World.” 25 students: 10 White, 8 African

American, 6 Latino/a, 1 Asian. Gender: 10 male, 15 female. Five of the Latino/a students speak 

Spanish but they are bilingual and are not classified as English Language Learners. One studenthas ADHD. All students are of varied ability, but as this is an elective, students are in this class

 because they want to be and are genuinely interested in the content. It is a class designed for a

college track student.

Theory Into Practice Background: Jim Burke’s thoughts on teaching students to think complexly

laid the foundation for this lesson. I was not sure how to engage our students in a topic of as

much complexity as the Iraq War. Burke outlines six “domains of thinking” in his chapter 

“Teaching Thinking in the English Class,” five of which I included in my lesson plan. Burkeargues that “each domain offers different tools for thinking, some lending themselves to one

student or task more than another” (240). Not only would using a variety of domains of thinkinghelp my students process this issue holistically, but it would also allow them to process the issue

in the way most suitable to them. The statement that really shaped how my lesson came together,

though, was this: “None of them (the domains of thinking) work in isolation: We talk to prepare

to write; we draw to understand what we think about what we read; we read to prepare for thediscussion that will lead to the essay” (240). After reading this, I decided that all of the domains

should not only be incorporated into my lesson but also in succession so that they can build off 

each other. As a result, I created stations at each of which students would engage in one of thedomains of thinking as they struggle through the complexities of the Iraq War.

To be successful in this lesson, students should have read and been in class to discuss theMidnight’s Children chapter “How Saleem Achieved His Purity.” Although it does not play a

central role in the lesson, our discussion of Rushdie’s perspective on the Indo-Pakistani War is a

critical foundation for approaching the Iraq War and especially for writing their reading journals. Nonetheless, any student could walk in and achieve the learning objective if he or she were

willing to engage with the material. During the lesson, the multiple means of expression I

 provide for my students will allow for all of them to meet the objective and adequately show me

that. As for the rest of this unit, this lesson will prepare our students for approaching complexissues, which is a major focus of their final project. The previous lessons gave them the

foundation for using literature to discuss sociopolitical structures; this lesson helps them develop

their perspectives on those issues.

Objectives:

-Students will show the ability to think complexly about war, including identifying pros

and cons and making evaluations, through a number of means of expression.

Materials:

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-Midnight’s Children

-Internet and YouTube access

-5 copies of the New York Times article:http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iraq/index.html

-Notebooks (for students to do free writes and write questions)

-At least 30 pages of computer paper 

-At least 5 boxes of colored pencils

 Preparations: This lesson will take more preparation than any lesson so far. I will need to clear 

out space for each station and coordinate it so that each station is next to its subsequent station. I

will need to lay out the copies of the article at the reading station. I will need to lay out thecomputer paper and colored pencils at the drawing station. I will need to have pencils available

at the questioning station. Lastly, I will need to make sure I have Internet and YouTube access inthe classroom.

 Procedures:

-Leave the following passages from yesterday’s discussion on the board:

-“The war happened for two reasons: I dreamed Kashmir into the fantasies of our rulers; furthermore, I remained impure, and the war was to separate me form my

sins” (387).

-Saleem & family: Naseem Aziz, bitter toward her family; Pia Aziz, living from

affair-to-affair; Saleem Sinai, regularly visiting prostitutes and harboring an

unrequited love for his sister; Alia, reeking her vengeance on the family throughher cooking; Amina Sinai, having dreams that her child will be a monster; Ahmed

Sinai, mistreating his workers, drinking again, and on his way to a stroke.

-India: “My grandmother Naseem Aziz arrived in Pakistan in mid-1964, leaving behind an India in which Nehru’s death had precipitated a bitter power struggle”

(374).

-Kashmir: “In those days there was no army camp at the lakeside, no endless

snakes of camouflaged trucks and jeeps clogged the narrow mountain roads, no

soldiers hid behind the crests of the mountains past Baramulla and Gulmarg. Inthose days travelers were not shot as spies if they took photographs of bridges,

and apart from the Englishmen’s houseboats on the lake, the valley had hardly

changed since the Mughal Empire., for all its springtime renewals” (5).

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-“By August 8th, 1965, my family history had got itself in a condition from which

what-was-achieved-by-bombing-patterns provided a merciful relief. No: let me

use the important word: if we were to be purified, something on the scale of whatfollowed was probably necessary” (387).

-Briefly review yesterday’s discussion of the chapter “How Saleem Achieved Purity” andthe Indo-Pakistani War. Then, ask the class what they think about war in general. Why

does it happen? How does it affect a country as a whole and how can it affect an

individual life within the country? (10-15 minutes)

-Watch the following video about the Iraq War: http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=TKJLIdp9Cjc. Discuss with students how Rushdie’s novel forced us to reflect on the

Indo-Pakistani War. Explain to students that now we want them to reflect on the Iraq War and even, in their reading journal, attempt to use literature to effect their own social

change. Tell the class that we have five stations around the room for students learn about,

reflect on, and discuss the Iraq War.

-Station 1 Reading: They will each read this article:

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iraq/index.html (I will have five copies available).

-Station 2 Writing: Each student, with their notebook, will be prompted, based on

the video and the article (the first group will have to just use the video,unfortunately), to write down at least one positive of the war and at least one

negative of the war as well as at least one positive of keeping troops in Iraq and at

least one negative of keeping troops in Iraq. Then they should free write, workingthrough the pros and cons and all of the factors, and try to develop an opinion on

 both issues.

-Station 3 Discussing: Students will discuss the issues presented in the article and

written about in their free writes. I will sit in on this station permanently, making

sure the conversation is civil and respectful as well as making sure the group doesnot get too loud and distracting for the rest of the class.

Station 4 Drawing: Students will have the materials (paper and colored pencils) to

draw a picture representing the complex issues surrounding the Iraq War,expressing, if they want to, their own feelings on the subject.

Station 5 Questioning. Students will simply write down in their notebooks anyquestions they still have about the Iraq War or war in general. They can be

logistical questions as well as moral/ethical questions.

Students will split up into their jigsaw groups to go through the stations. I will assign

each group a starting point and explain the rotation system. Each group will spend 7-8

minutes at each station. I will call out when it is time to switch stations. At the end of the

class period, students should turn in to me their free writes, pictures, and questions.

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Remind them that the due date for their reading journals has been pushed back to

Monday and that the topic is the Iraq War. (35-40 minutes)

-Dismiss class.

 Discussion Ideas

-Why does war happen?

-How does it affect a country and how can it affect an individual within a country?

-What are the pros and cons of the Iraq War and of keeping troops in Iraq?

-What do you ultimately feel about the Iraq War and about the question of continued

military presence in the country?

 Bilingual/ESL Accommodations: This final lesson covers Faltis and Coulter’s final commitmentin practice: connections to a wider context. According to them: “Approaches for promoting

critical consciousness within the classroom and school communities can facilitate language andacademic learning while addressing inequitable distribution of power and other issues of social

 justice” (40). By examining and even critiquing the Iraq War, our bilingual students will have the

opportunity to connect their language learning to real contexts, which Faltis and Coulter contend

facilitates that process. Also, inherent in their critique will be a critical analysis of other texts, asthey work through and process the New York Times article and the YouTube video. As always,

our bilingual students will have the opportunity to write the initial draft of their free write in

Spanish and translate it to English. If they need extra time for this, I will allow them to finishtheir free writes in a study hall or after school and turn them in to me then.

Special Education Accommodations: In general, I have my two behavioral systems in place for our student with ADHD—positive reinforcements and self-regulation (see: “Modes of 

Connection Lesson” for more details). For this specific lesson, I do not think I will have to worry

too much about our student with ADHD. This lesson was designed for a student like him tothrive. There are plenty of transitions, a wide range of activities, and an opportunity for 

movement. I will provide for him a written agenda for the class period, though, so that he can

make quicker transitions.

 Assessment: Hall, Strangman, and Meyer stress the importance of offering students multiple

methods of expression in creating a learning environment for all students to succeed (8).

Although I have sought to do this in general throughout the last two weeks, I implemented anumber of means of expression within this lesson alone. This lesson is critical to summation of 

the last two weeks and is critical to the overall unit. Using writing, drawing, speaking, debating,

and questioning not only gives each student a chance to grapple with these issues in their mostcomfortable way, but it also allows me to get a good picture of who is really dealing with these

issues in complex ways and who is not. I can help them learn how to channel their thoughts into

writing later. However, the purpose of this lesson is to help them develop the way they approach

complex subjects. I will use the students’ free writes, drawings, questions, and my observation

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from their conversations (during which I will be taking notes) to assess their achievement of the

learning objective. I will keep all these artifacts on file for future reference.

 Extension Ideas: This lesson will carry over to the rest of the unit through the examination of 

sociopolitical structures. My previous lessons laid the foundation for using literature to express

opinions about these structures. In this lesson, students have the opportunity to question and/or defend them and will have the opportunity in their reading journal to explore various ways of 

expressing their opinions through literature. This theme is built upon further in future weeks.

Source of Activity: Burke is definitely the person I have to give credit to for this lesson. I was not

sure how to approach it. I really wanted students to deal with the complexity of war but did not

know how to do it outside of a class discussion, which is not very interactive. As I describe in

my “Theory Into Practice Background” section, Burke describes in his book the numerousdomains of thinking critical to helping students process complex ideas. This inspired me to set up

stations featuring each domain at a station. I think it is a great way for students to develop a well-

rounded perspective on an issue.

 Resources and References:

Burke, Jim. The English Teacher’s Companion. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2008.

Faltis, Christian and Coulter, Cathy. Teaching English Learners and Immigrant Students in

Secondary Schools. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., 2008

Hall, Tracey, Strangman, and Meyer. “Differentiated instruction and implications for UDL

implementation.” National Center on Accessible Instructional Material. 14 January 2011.7 November 2011.

<http://aim.cast.org/learn/historyarchive/backgroundpapers/differentiated>

“Iraq.” The New York Times. 13 December 2011.

<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iraq/index.htm>

“Retrospective of Iraq War.” 11 December 2011. YouTube. 13 December 2011.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKJLIdp9Cjc>

Content Standards:

2.B.5b Apply knowledge gained from literature as a means of understanding contemporary and

historical economic, social and political issues and perspectives.