Syllabus

ESSENTIAL QUESTION:
 * EAST HARTFORD ADULT EDUCATION **  ** Contemporary Literature Syllabus **
 * What is the nature of “truth” in creative non-fiction/metafiction? By telling stories about the dead, O'Brien is able to bring them back to life, thereby saving not only their lives but his own: it's the only way he has to speak about his experiences. “Using fiction to get at the truth [of war]” (Tim O’Brien)

HW: Read “Too Embarrassed Not to Kill” by Robert R. Harris
 * // Day 1 //**
 * Introduction Activity (Name Game); write out expectations of course, teacher, self, e-mail addresses and phone numbers (on colored index cards that instructor keeps and re-addresses the day of Final Exam)
 * Laptop set-up and flash drives
 * KWL: Vietnam - “K” (What You Know) and “W” (What You Want to Learn) of the KWL graphic organizer
 * “Vietnam War” PowerPoint presentation
 * Google maps: Vietnam
 * Exit Slip: Write about one thing that you learned that was most interesting to you

HW: Read “Metafiction in //The Things They Carried//”
 * // Day 2 //**
 * Register to [|www.edmodo.com] with group code ** 1127e **
 * Introduce and metafiction
 * As a discussion on [|www.edmodo.com], answer the following discussion questions in detail
 * Is it acceptable to invent scenes or dialogue when writing a memoir? Why or why not?
 * Is it all right to add elements of real-life events in fiction writing? If so, must the author let the reader know what is factual and what is not? Why or why not?
 * “Vietnam War Soldiers Images” activity
 * Exit Slip: If you had a choice to write a memoir of your life, would you do it? Why or why not?


 * // Day 3 //**
 * “Researching the Internet” PPT
 * Research Project research - USS //Maddox//, Ho Chi Minh, Geneva Accords, and SEATO
 * Exit Slip: Have you done research in the past? If yes, where and for what purpose?


 * // Day 4 //**
 * Research Group huddle
 * Jigsaw
 * “How to Create a PowerPoint Presentation” PPT
 * Research Project groups will get together to prepare a PowerPoint presentation to the class
 * Exit Slip: What was the hardest part of connecting with different people to accomplish one presentation?

HW: Finish poem and read “The Big Read: Handout 1”
 * // Day 5 //**
 * 4:05-4:30 – Preparation of Research Project PowerPoint presentations
 * Presentation of Research Project PowerPoint presentations
 * Tangibles & Intangibles and categorizing the responses by using headings such as: “Wants”, “Needs” “Things I love” “Things that make me ME” and “Things I would like to let go”
 * Read sample poems “The Things We Carry” on wikispaces
 * Exit Slip: Which one is heavier, your tangibles or your intangibles?

HW: Review “Glossary of Military Terms”
 * // Day 6 //**
 * 4Write own “The Things I Carry” poem
 * Vulnerabilities and discussion
 * Read chapter “The Things They Carried” while listening to the PRI version andcomplete the “Characterization Chart”
 * Exit Slip: Was writing the poem difficult or easy for you? Why?

HW: Finish reading “On the Rainy River”
 * // Day 7 //**
 * Finish listening to “The Things They Carried” on PRI and discuss what students think is the thing the soldiers carried and why, and how the items that each soldier carries somehow reveals their character
 * Read chapter “On the Rainy River” or listen to the audio ([]), and identify the tangibles and intangibles in the story
 * Exit Slip: Was the reading easier to follow while listening to it in audio, or was it more difficult to follow along and stay focused?

HW: Finish reading “How to Tell a True War Story”
 * // Day 8 //**
 * Read “How to Tell a True War Story” and discuss how O'Brien offers abstract commentary on storytelling and blurs the divisions between truth and fiction and author and narrator through a series of contradictory changes.
 * Exit Slip:


 * // Day 9 //**
 * Model a reflection on the following: “And sometimes remembering will lead to a story, which makes it forever. That’s what stories are for. Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can’t remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story” (p36).
 * “How to Tell a True War Story” PowerPoint presentation; discuss journal reflection in terms of O’Brien’s version of storytelling
 * Watch “The Things They Carried” video and write a response on the video on [|www.edmodo.com]
 * Midterm review; provide the 9 points of evidence that Elroy Berdahl is a hero
 * Exit Slip:


 * // Day 10 //**
 * Midterm Course Evaluation
 * Midterm Exam review
 * Midterm Exam


 * // Day 11 //**
 * On [|www.edmodo.com] answer the following question: What does O’Brien mean when he says that the story of Rat Kiley, Curt Lemon, and the baby water buffalo “//wasn’t// a war story. It was a love story” (81)?
 * Read “Notes”
 * Discuss the truth behind the fiction (metafiction) and review “’Notes’ Analysis”
 * Exit Slip:


 * // Day 12 //**
 * Write a reflection on the following quote by Tim O’Brien in an interview with //Texas Monthly//: "Good movies -- and good novels, too -- do not depend upon 'accurate portrayals.' Accuracy is irrelevant. Is the Mona Lisa an 'accurate' representation of the actual human model for the painting? Who knows? Who cares? It's a great piece of art. It moves us. It makes us wonder, makes us gape; finally makes us look inward at ourselves." Is //The Things They Carried// an "accurate portrayal” of war and life? If so, how? If not, why not?
 * Read “In the field” (a true war story)
 * “Death of Kiowa” activity
 * Watch “Kiowa’s Death” ([]) and write a reaction to it on [|www.edmodo.com]. If you could create a video of Kiowa’s death, you would write it from whose perspective and why?
 * Exit Slip:


 * // Day 13 //**
 * Watch “Music of the Vietnam War” and write a reflection on it
 * “In the Field” pairing
 * Vietnam War Gallery Walk
 * Exit Slip:


 * // Day 14 //**
 * "Speaking of Courage," "Notes," and "In the Field," relate versions of and reactions to Kiowa's death. On [|www.edmodo.com], answer the following question: Why does O'Brien keep revisiting Kiowa's death from different angles?
 * Read “The Man I Killed” and “Ambush” and discuss the concept that we only view the soldier O’Brien in a state of shock, but how do we know what he’s feeling? How are Azar and Kiowa’s reaction different, but how do their reactions reflect what the narrator is feeling?
 * To what extent does the media influence your opinions and decisions? Why? Watch “Vietnam Napalm” and discuss how the American people would have reacted to this footage; why was it called the “Living Room” (the visual representation of war)
 * Exit Slip:


 * // Day 15 //**
 * On [|www.edmodo.com] write a reflection on one of the comments made by your peers from the Vietnam Gallery Walk activity. Why did you choose that comment? What impacted you most about the comment? How would you respond to the comment?
 * Read “Good Form” and “Field Trip”
 * Group discussion on how the narrator answers his daughter's question in how he speaks of in "Good Form" and still be honest; how does this relate to metafiction? How can it relate to our own lives? How does “Good Form” and “Field Trip” reveal the author’s purpose for using metafiction in the novel?
 * NPR interview with Tim O’Brien with worksheet (listen to the questions, responses, explanations, even tone of voice)
 * Exit Slip:


 * // Day 16 //**
 * Answer the following question on [|www.edmodo.com]: Why do you think O’Brien avoids war movies and books about the Vietnam War? Explain your response.
 * Watch “The Lives of the Dead” video and write a prediction of what the chapter is going to be about
 * Read “The Lives of the Dead” and relate it to metafiction and the O’Brien interview
 * Find quotes from the novel that reflect metafiction in the novel
 * Exit Slip:


 * // Day 17 //**
 * Answer the following question on [|www.edmodo.com]: If you could interview Tim O’Brien, what two questions would you ask him and what do you think would be his responses based on what you know so far about the novel and about him?
 * Big Think interview with worksheet
 * Final Exam Review
 * Exit Slip: What was the most interesting part of the interview? Why?

HW: Study for the Final Exam
 * // Day 18 //**
 * Watch “Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam” with worksheet
 * Final Exam review
 * Exit Slip:


 * // Day 19 //**
 * Answer the following question on [|www.edmodo.com]: Based on the film “Dear America,” do you think O’Brien accurately portrayed the Vietnam War?
 * Continue watching “Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam” with worksheet
 * Final Exam review
 * Exit Slip:


 * Day 20 **
 * Write a reflection on the entire course, re-address expectations
 * Final Exam Review
 * Final Exam

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