Embedded Files
"We have lost all sense of other considerations, because they are artificial. Only the facts are real and important for us. And good boots are scarce."
All Quiet on the Western Front - Men in a War - Group Work (Chapter 2) : As always, this group work covers a lot. The power relationships, the surprising "good side" to the abuse they receive as recruits, connections to The Things They Carried, Candide, and more. We also play a very modern song by Suzanne Vega about the loss of limbs - (metaphorical and literal). See my page on Group Work. I also include some Lesson Notes that I used for having a Discussion for Chapter 2 in place of the Group Work.
Lesson Overview
Lesson Overview
As always the class begins with a quiz. Reminder: Grade or glance through the quizzes right away - students that have not done the reading, should not be in a group. They can finish their reading in class and do the Group Work for homework (in addition to whatever reading is assigned). By this point (into the second quarter) students should be doing tis on their own - without you having to say anything. I hated going to groups and pulling out students who didn't do the reading - but, I think it's an important thing to do.
Please see the actual Group Work below for precisely what's in it and my page on Group Work for more of the "why" do it. Here are some of the points that the Group Work goes over.
Some main points of the Group Work
The surprising benefit of their horrible, abusive training camp.
Small men who are given power
A connection between the "M & M"'s of The Things They Carried and what Paul tells his dying friend, Franz.
A connection to The Search from Candide.
VERY IMPORTANT: Phantom Legs and the life that the men are missing from their youth as the result of the war. When the first group gets to question 5 - ask everyone in the class to look at the question and play the Suzanne Vega song, "Men in a War".
Back to the idea of the Front and Home - two worlds
Finally - a connection back to British Literature and The Stanzas of the Graves
Lesson Notes for alternatively having a Discussion & a sample reading page
Lesson Notes for alternatively having a Discussion & a sample reading page
I believe this was only a discussion once or twice in all of the years that I taught this novel - and much of the group work actually derives from those discussions - but here are my lesson notes for a discussion.
See above for instructions - the text with my notes served as a guide for the questions, comments and ideas that I ask - though I was always ready for and often elicited the students ideas, questions, etc. Over the years - as I wrote notes in this text - the previous years' notes and questions become incorporated into the lesson. Again - you will find that these instructions are flexible - and I had to be - they kept changing the amount of time that we had in the classroom.
Audio Content
Audio Content
"Men in a War": Performed by Suzanne Vega
"Men in a War": Performed by Suzanne Vega
This goes with Question #5 in the Group Work. Make sure you screen this version for appropriate language and content. You know your students best. They lyrics can be found on the Group Work above.
Remote Enhancements
Remote Enhancements
None that I have found so far. See the next lesson - it includes Chapter 2.
Links
Links
Class Recordings (for registered members)
Class Recordings (for registered members)
Audio
Audio
Video
Video
All Quiet on the Western Front 6 - Black Pudding - A Vertext of 2-3(4) I am including three Vertexts here that have some variations. The first one below is the one that I mainly used. It picks up where the Group Work from the last lesson ended. The Second Vertext is if you didn't get to the Group Work and it includes many of the ideas that the group work focused on. The third Vertext, in addition to what the first one has - goes into Chapter 4, in case you are short of time or you have a long time (Block Schedule).
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
Thoughts on the Lesson
Thoughts on the Lesson
I've always said that I would keep teaching a book until I stopped finding new things - new connections. There are at least two very new - very important connections that were put in this Group Work the last few years that I taught it. The M & M's and their connection to Franz - and the idea of the search from Candide.
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