Secondary English Language Arts: Revised ed:TPA Lesson Plan Template

Name: Audrey Hutchings

Lesson Title: The Things They Carried

(During-Reading) Lesson

Grade Level: 10th

Lesson Goals
Central Focus: Describe the central focus (of the unit) and explain how this lesson reflects the central focus.
To explore what we carry with us, synthesizing narrative strategies from mentor texts and creating personal narratives and
thematic elements that reflect individual growth experiences.
List the title, author, and write a short description of the text(s) used in this lesson.
*Excerpted poetry from Vietnam War veteran, Curt Bennett
I have selected four poems from Vietnam War veteran and poet, Curt Bennett. The selected titles are One Fine Day, Life, Night,
and Spooky. These four poems are artistic, vulnerable accounts of the horrors of the Vietnam War, and are written in a way that is
accessible and haunting for a large audience of readers. These poems explore the affective consequences of the war well after the
conflict ended. In addition, Bennett utilizes strategic timing and frames of reference in order to discuss the passing of time and the
pains of war in a psychological and emotional manner.
*The Things They Carried, Tim OBrien
Set in the dual theatres of VC occupied Vietnam and the American life back home, The Things They Carried offers a deeply moving
account of a small unit of men that must learn to endure both the unfamiliarities of war in an unaccustomed country as well as the
hardships that it brings. Each character is affected by the death of Ted Lavender, the first one in the Alpha Chapter to die, and they try
to cope with and justify it. As they share their narratives of the brutalities and grief that they face, the characters cope by
using humor and alternate versions of the truth. Between the guilt and the terror that the war conditions and experiences, they carry
much more than their supplies and mementos from back home. The protagonist and main narrator, Tim OBrien, also speaks to the
audience during several chapters about the power of stories and what makes a true versus effective narrative about the war.
Ultimately, he says that the difference between a true story and a good story is sometimes minimal, as many details are blurred,
ignored, and supplemented in order to capture the moment.

Conceptual/Theoretical Framework (draw from research and readings in CI and English coursework:

I framed this lesson from practical expectations given by Jim Burke in his text The English Teachers Companion.
In his discussion of Effective Reading Instruction one practical application that he presents is that Students
read interesting or real-work texts for authentic reasons to increase engagement and motivation, thereby
improving their overall reading capacity. To achieve such heightened, sustained engagement, the teacher must
allow students to choose what they read, how they read, or what they focus on while they read (Burke 166).
Therefore, I included a different form of text (poetry) that is relevant both the present and to the time period being
studied in order to make material more relatable and engaging. In addition, I also drew research from Burkes
discussion of teaching language and style. He gives a practical teaching strategies of assigning students
structured notes in teaching reading, and notes that a template or structured notes approach allows
teachers to teach both analytical writing and readingso central to our work but difficult to integrate
seamlessly (Burke 271).
Standard(s) Addressed (use examples from both the Common Core State Standards and the Illinois Professional Teaching
Standards):
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1.C
Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current discussion to broader themes or larger ideas;
actively incorporate others into the discussion; and clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges
and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
IPTS Standard 2 - Content Area and Pedagogical Knowledge The competent teacher has in-depth understanding of content
area knowledge that includes central concepts, methods of inquiry, structures of the disciplines, and content area literacy. The teacher
creates meaningful learning experiences for each student based upon interactions among content area and pedagogical knowledge,
and evidence-based practice.
IPTS Standard 4 - Learning Environment The competent teacher structures a safe and healthy learning environment that
facilitates cultural and linguistic responsiveness, emotional well-being, self-efficacy, positive social interaction, mutual respect, active
engagement, academic risk-taking, self-motivation, and personal goal-setting.
Recall your central focus and explain how the standards (above) and learning objectives (below), that you have identified, support
students learning:

As students are able to assess historical and narrative knowledge gained when reading and analyzing The Things They
Carried, they will meet the Common Core standard that demands students to central idea of a text and analyze in detail its
development over the course of the text, and even more so, analyze and comprehend specific moments of a text. In relation
to the central focus, this learning objective relates to how students will be synthesizing narrative strategies individually
and collaboratively. In addition, as students are able to to make linguistic and thematic connections between poetry of the
Vietnam War and The Things They Carried, they will be meeting the Common Core standard that asks students to
responding to questions that relate the current discussion to broader themes and understanding language and rhetorical
functions as a whole. This learning objective also relates to the central focus as it similarly asks students to analyze,
evaluate, and compare narrative strategies of both the core text (The Things They Carried) and supplementary texts
(Vietnam War poetry).
Materials/ Instructional Resources:
SmartBoard
White Board
Projector
Chromebooks/Laptops
*Learning Objectives (Add additional objective boxes as
needed):

*Assessment (both formal and informal)- Evidence of Student

Understanding:

Objective 1:

Related Assessment:

Students will be able to assess historical and narrative

knowledge gained when reading and analyzing The Things
They Carried.

Students will complete the What I Learned section of a KWL

chart.

Explain the Assessments Alignment with the Objective:

Students will assess what they wanted to know before
Reading both about the narrative the Vietnam War, and
Weight it against the knowledge gained after engaging
In effective reading comprehension.

Describe the form of Student feedback that accompanies

the assessment:
Students will provide at least 6 short response/topical
Answers on the worksheet.
Objective 2:

Related Assessment:

Students will be able to make linguistic and thematic

connections between poetry of the Vietnam War and The
Things They Carried.

Students will complete a worksheet in groups that asks

Students to compare and contrast thematic and linguistic
Elements of both works.

Explain the Assessments Alignment with the Objective:

Students will give specific, concrete examples of language
Choices that are relevant to both texts, that ultimately
Reveal their similarities and differences.
Describe the form of Student feedback that accompanies
the assessment:
Students will write a number of short answers in the
Context of group collaboration.

Lesson Considerations

Pre-Assessment:
Students will have completed the K and W sections of a KWL chart. They will have also read Chapters 12 and 13 of The
Things They Carried.
Prior Academic Learning and Prerequisite Skills: (Cite evidence that describes what students know, what they can

do, and what they are still learning to do.)

Students will need a basic understanding of language choices such as specific diction, simile, metaphor, etc. They will also
need to have a basic understanding of language choices such as specifically-structured rhetoric/syntax, such as
parallelism.

Personal, cultural, and community assets related to the central focusExplain what you know about your students
everyday experiences, cultural and language backgrounds and practices, and interests.
Some of these students may have grandparents and other family members who were directly involved in the Vietnam War.
Therefore, there should be a level of anticipated sensitivity in discusses events of violence and differing political ideologies
related to the war itself. In addition, in these students lifetimes, they have not experience a kind of large-scale, formal war
waged by the United States similar to the Vietnam War, the Cold War, etc. Therefore, it would be important to make
meaningful connects to present political and social tensions, and military aggressions that have happened in the past 20
years.
Misconceptions:
That few connections can be made between texts written in the Vietnam War era and The Things They Carried because they
are so divided by time.

Language Objectives and Demands

Identify a Language Function:

Language Function. Using information about your students language assets and needs, identify one language function essential
for students within your central focus. Listed below are some sample language functions. You may choose one of these or another
more appropriate language function for this lesson.
Analyze

Argue

Describe

Evaluate

Explain

Interpret

Justify

Synthesize

Students will analyze various poems from the Vietnam War and synthesize their knowledge of the text with aesthetic
reactions to the war.

Learning and Linguistic Accommodations: Describe the instructional accommodations that you must make, as the classroom
teacher, in order to address the learning needs of students with special needs and students who are not English proficient or
students who use varieties of English.
Accommodations for students with Special Needs:

For the student that has an Autism Spectrum Disorder, he will be paired with a group that is reading a fairly shorter poem
out of the four choices, allowing him more time to effectively analyze and comprehend the passage. In addition, light and
sound stimuli will be maintained throughout class time (making sure lights are not distracting or too bright, and that
outside noises are reduced).
Accommodations for students who are not proficient uses of Standard English:

The students who is a native French speaker will be assigned a shorter poem to read out of the four choices, and will be
provided both an English and French copy.

Explain your instructional decision-making and the way you plan to support student learning when using whole class,
small groups, and individualized assignments. In addition, explain accommodations for students who have
special needs and students who are not proficient users of Standard English as part of whole class and small
group arrangements
This lesson will be limited to small group and individualized assignments. This is done because for the previous days
class, there were opportunities for whole-class discussions in two different forms, and I want to allow students more time
to collaborate with their peers in analyzing and understanding the novel as a whole. Students will have allotted time to read
and review their work individually in order to build their individual reading comprehension skills. The bulk of the group
work, however, will allow students to discuss the novel and poetry in a relevant, constructive manner (considering that
these texts discuss sensitive issues such as war and emotional hurt). Since most of this lesson is guided through oral
discussion, non-native English speakers may feel more comfortable informally speaking about a novel as opposed to
completing an individual, extensive writing assignment about the text. They will have support from native English-speaking
peers to complete work effectively. In addition, non-native English speakers will be paired with other students who are at a
lower reading level, and will be assigned a shorter poem to read. Therefore, they will have more time to analyze and
comprehend a poem to the same extent of reasoning as other reading groups.

Time

1) 1-2
minute
s
1) 15-20

*Lesson Plan Details

Lesson Introduction
1) Greet students. Students will sit in regularly assigned seats.

Learning Activities 1) Students will take out KWL chart. They will have completed the K and W section of chart. Divide students into the

minute
s

groups they worked with the day before, and have them complete the L part of the chart. They are required to include at
least 6 topics.

2) 10
minute
s

2) Have students return to their original seats. Divide students into intentionally-assigned groups (by reading level and
ability). Each group will be given a poem to read. Have students read the poem silently, then at least once out loud.

3) 15-20
minute
s

3) Students will be given a hard copy of a worksheet to complete in groups. They will be identifying language choices
and thematic elements, and evaluating if these elements either reflect or do not reflect the language and sentiments
presented in The Things They Carried.

Describe how your planned formal and informal assessments, including a written product, will provide direct evidence of
students abilities to construct meaning from, interpret, OR respond to a complex text throughout the learning segment.
As students complete the L section of KWL chart, it will demonstrate that they are able to reflect on their own reading
comprehension, and can show how they are reading and analyze the novel in an accurate, meaningful manner. As
students craft short responses for the worksheet that addresses language functions and thematic elements, they will have
the opportunity to demonstrate their prior knowledge of language functions, the text itself, and can objectively demonstrate
if they are able to make connections of language and theme between two different forms of written text.

1) 5
minute
s

Closure
1) Note to students that there can be relevant connections between literature of the time period and more modern
literature about the Vietnam War (and the Vietnam War era as a whole).
Extension
If students finish early, they will read chapters 14 and 15 for the next days class.

Resources and References (use APA or MLA listing the information from the conceptual framework above as
well as from any other categories where cited a source):
Burke, Jim. The English Teacher's Companion: A Completely New Guide to Classroom, Curriculum, and the

Profession. Fourth ed. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2013. Print.

Bennett, Curt. "Vietnam: Poetry of the Vietnam War." War Poetry. N.p., n.d. Web.

Attachments: handouts, assessments, etc.

*KWL Chart

Topic: The Vietnam War and They Things They Carried

Know

Want to Know

*Poetry
ONE FINE DAY
As far as the eye could see
The cloud cover stretched the horizon,
Broken only by tops of tallest mountains,
A soft, gauze mantle protecting the earth,

Learned

As to the east, the day star sun

Glowered the horizon in yellow fierceness
Promising to soon burn the thin mantle of
And bake the tropical forests below.
We loitered, skimming the cool, white sky sea,
The shadows of our aircraft ringed in rainbows
Hanging in silence the stillness of the morning
The radios crackled quietly in the background,
From unseen frantic men in crises below,
Running from an enemy closing in to kill them,
As helicopters swarming the clouds below
Urgently coordinated the rescue.
The first Huey labored up and broke the clouds,
Trailing wispy tendrils of cloud-moisture
Of the ends of frantically whipping white-tipped blades,
Rotors fingers hungrily clawing the thick morning air.
An umbilical rope stretching down dragging behind,
Attached to six desperate men clinging to the cord,
Like fish anchored to a line, they trailed the clouds.
Slowly the Huey gained altitude climbing towards the sun,
Then another and another rose from the clouds,
Each trailing men holding on for life,
Green khaki knots they stretched the wind.
We lazily turned parallel to escort the Hueys
Back to the nearest landing zone
Where they would take aboard the men
They had rescued from certain death.
As we turned in orbit behind the choppers,
One of the green blobs lost hold on his lifeline,
Plummeted, arching towards his death.
In helpless, grim fascination, we watched him go
Plunging down through the quiet morning sun.

At the last moment, he spread his arms out wide,

Like Jesus on a cross, he swan dived and seemed to float,
For a brief moment skimming the clouds
Then disappeared.
Curt Bennett
Copyright Curt Bennett 2003
LIFE
The deep black satin of the night
Soft bleeds with stains of spreading gray
Across the towering, reigning heights
Of massive banks of clouds that lay
So still. Twinkling stars yawn out their light
The earth crest cracks a gold ray
That splits the legions of the night
And heralds the army of the day.
The airfield lays quiet in the dawn,
Where glows the blue of taxi lights.
The ghosts of flashing beacons spawn
And whip the fading, inky night
From runway's end. There a jet tilts pale,
With two flat tires and drooping wings.
A gaping hole shot through the tail
Documents the vicious sting
Of hostile guns.
The pilot sits alone.
His back against a tire still warm,
And like a statue made of stone
His chiseled face belies the storm
Of turmoil deep inside. An hour ago,
Up north while flying near the ground
Had glimpsed Death's grinning face below,
Reflected by the silent sound

Of lashing guns.
Their deadly spark
Split fast the blackness of the night
Unseen radar guides their arc
To close and rake the streaking flight
With flaming fingers. The run for home
Was filled with anxious, mounting fear
That penetrates deep down to the bone.
Now panic whispers in your ear..
Its terror!
You feel the breath,
The putrid creeping waves that sweep
The souring stench of greedy death.
Engulfing heavy arms that creep
And crawl your very being. A dart
Of rampant, running horror flies
And grips the pounding, beating heart
To bull it with ghoulish lies.
Now warning lights blink amber red,
New ugly sounds clunk deep inside.
As fear sweat beats the spinning head
And wounded planes' uneven ride
Jolts the streaming black. Logic fights
To overpower these rampant foes
With reigns of reason. To bite
Down hard upon the bile that grows
And gathers in the throat.
To overcome
To prevail in this deadly struggle
That strives to strike the senses dumb,
Now reason holds and starts to juggle
The emergencies in turn. Now save

Once more on welcome ground,

The last visage of panic wafes
And disappears without a sound.
Each tingling sense now opens wide
To drink its essence, new life's breath.
Which overcame and cast aside
The specter of the lurking death.
New spirit blooms its finest flower,
And floods its beauty to the sky,
To bask in this precious, hour,
To fill the soul and let it fly,
and dance its victory.
Curt Bennett
Copyright Curt Bennett 2003
NIGHT
Asian moon
Swims fathomless deep.
Star-rivers course
Boundless banks
Of Stygian stream.
Pin-prick flares
Man-made suns,
Spawn brilliant
Glow, sigh, and slowly die
In the black.
Red embers,
Green glows, trace silent
Warplane's
Distant flight.
Death sparkles
Brilliant diamond

Artillery flashes
Dancing, darting,
To distant drums.
Curt Bennett
Copyright Curt Bennett 2003
SPOOKY
Soft falls the veil of twilight dusk,
The blushing sun has turned to rust
To linger soft above the hills.
A canopy of darkness spills
And creeps in pools of easy gray.
Now sleep sun nods out the day
Yet shouts one final, bursting blaze
That paints the cloud tips honey glaze
Then allis dark.
Far down below
The troops align in ragged rows
Along the twisting ridge, as around
The hillside plunges sharply down
To disappear in blackened gloom,
The dank abyss of jungle tomb.
Where all is black, there is no light.
The Enemy controls the night.
Each man has hacked his rocky turf
Into a shallow hole. The clumpy earth
Fills grungy sandbags spaced around
The slight depressions in the ground.
Here the boys will try to sleep
While others watch the forest deep
To listen for the dreaded sounds
The "thunk" of incoming mortar rounds.

They gulp their dinner from a can,

The cold grease curdles with the ham
Packed so many years ago.
Briefly blooms a muffled glow
Of shaded cigarette. The listening post
Sits 90 yards away at most.
Three men with radio hear the night
As ears replace the need for sight.
Now tired bones stretch out to rest
Sore, aching muscles strong protest
The rigors of the hump. For five long days
They have trudged and fought the jungle maze,
Up one hill then down another,
Each one more brutal then the other
Searching for an elusive enemy
Who has vanished in the jungle sea.
Night slams down. Through charcoal space
Sail bits of stars in haughty grace.
They hover soft in ageless light,
To dust and sparkle inky night.
Across the far-flung rimless sky
Where unknown distant planets lie,
Where milky rivers flow and sweep
The trackless cosmos of the deep.
The night relaxes, now it drowses..
A man-made night sound now arouses
The listening post! They strain to hear
It comes again this time quite near!
The sounds of bodies crawling grass
Creeping up towards the pass!
Three muffled "clicks!" of radio sound

Alert the camp, they go to ground

And wait!
It happens fast!
The night is rent by rocket blast!
Claymores "BOOM" and steel balls smash!
Now heavy guns join and muzzles flash
And cough to chug their deadly balls
Of snarling lead! Frantic calls
For help! Confusion! Emotions join the battle
As the tattoo sound of rifle-rattle
Stammers in the din!
From the coast
Drones an ancient, spectral ghost.
It rises from its earth-bound lair
To graze upon the cool night air.
It lumbers straight towards the sight
Of glowing tracers in their flight.
The radios relay the ground situation
As "Spooky" arrives at his battle station.
It lumbers high, this grand old plane
Whose piston engines spit blue flame
While it makes an easy left hand turn
To orbit o're the tracer's burn.
Now Spooky kicks out one big flare
That blossoms in candescent glare
That paints the jungle bluish-white
Where silent bullets snap and bite!
Now sounds the eerie, deadly moan
Of automatic cannons heavy groan.
A red river of fire arches down
To join old Spooky with the ground.
The pilot's gun sight is his wing

That guides the iron bees that sting

So bad! And like a chef will stir the soups,
The pilot stirs his dripping groups
With easy wave of wing.
No lights
Betray his presence on the heights.
A flitting shape that blinks the stars,
Betrayed by ropes of fire that scars
And sears the blackberry night.
If pauses for a moment there,
Once more kicks out a chuting flare
That lazily floats and drifts on down
To march the shadows on the ground.
Its deadly, scarlet fire-broom
Sweeps the crowded jungle gloom
In close-packed death. Each round
Strikes one meter of the ground,
A greedy hail of swarming rain,
Unbroken streams of iron chain,
That gouges tears, rips and gashes,
Whipping the earth with lethal lashes.
Now flailing up in swift return
A streak of green bolts glow and burn!
As an AK returns his stitching seam,
Green salmon swimming ruby stream!
Spooky pauses in mild curiosity,
Then pisses in impunity
A molten trail of deadly force
That smothers the fire at its source.
Nowall is still, all is done.
No way, the enemy will overrun
Tonight. Spooky takes a lap or two,

But no new fire shoots into view.

Spooky growls, turns on his lights,
In hopes of drawing green fire-bites,
But nothing stirs along the ground,
And nothing moves..there is no sound.
At the listening post in chewed up mud
The radio sprawls all soaked in blood.
Three bodies cool. The sacrifice
To "Friendly Fire". So high this price
To pay. Cold stars prick eternal space
Their faint lights blush the dead men's face
Who gape the sky with sightless eyes
And only night birds eulogize
The loss.
Curt Bennett
Copyright Curt Bennett 2003
Activity 3: Thematic Elements and Language Choices
Themes
Vietnam War
Poem

Both

The Things
They Carried

Language Choices (ex: similar diction, simile,

metaphor, parallelism, metonymy, etc.)
Vietnam War
Both
The Things
Poem
They Carried