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"Why not talk about it...Come on, man, talk about it."
The Things They Carried - AP Prose Analysis: This essay prompt was designed for my AP Literature class - but really could be used with any class that is studying rhetoric, writing, and literary analysis. WARNING: The prose sample from the book is very graphic and explicit in its descriptions of the aftermath of the death of "the man that Tim killed".
Lesson Overview
Lesson Overview
I prided myself, that one year that I taught AP Literature, on being able to come up with Essay Prompts that very much resembled what the students would face when they took their AP Literature Test. In fact, one of my prompts - on Thomas Hardy's "The Mayor of Casterbridge" ending up foreshadowing nearly the exact same prompt on the exam. This piece of prose - the description of the man that Tim kills - is rife with the kinds of writing - that is asked about on the AP Exam. Here is my prompt:
The following passage comes directly from Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried. In this scene, the main character, a soldier, has just shot and killed a man that was walking down the trail. Read the excerpt carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze the author’s depiction of this harrowing moment in time, and how the author conveys that horror and impact to the reader. Pay special attention to imagery, diction, syntax, and the use of dialogue.
Essay prompt
Essay prompt
Most Recent Handouts
Most Recent Handouts
See the above description for more on this prompt - it aims to echo the kind of prompt that the students receive on their AP Literature Exam.
A short but useful handout. It gives students a staggered due date these essays. I removed the actual student names - but you should get the picture.
Again - this is completely modeled after how the AP Exams are scored and designed to give the students familiarity with that process - and to let them know why they go the grade they did.
Audio Visual Content
Audio Visual Content
The Things They Carried - Audio Book. Here is a link to the Audible version of the novel. This is magnificent recording of the book - narrated by the actor Bryan Cranston. I should have put this in every lesson it is an amazing resource.
Remote Enhancements
Remote Enhancements
This is the Power Point Presentation that I gave for remote learning. Probably the most useful thing is the picture of the Grid that I used with the students to give them their row assignments for the Row Reading Schedule (see above). Note the picture is blurred to protect the privacy of the students.
I taught this book every year that I taught World Literature. And while it may seem overkill to do this novel right after The Things They Carried, both of these books do analyze war and humanity from two very different perspectives. The overriding theme for teaching this book, for me, was: "How do you write about war without romanticizing it?" As good as The Thing Things They Carry is - I feel that this book does a better job of achieving just that
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
Thoughts on the Lesson
Thoughts on the Lesson
Sometimes I see these handouts that I came up with for my AP Class - and I'm a bit in shock. Did I create all of this just for 22 students - and because of what happened to how AP Teaching Assignments were given out - I would never teach again.
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