The Things They Carried In-Class Activity- Teaching Demonstration
NAME OF
ACTIVITY
The Things You Carry
FEATURED
STANDARD
Reading: Literature
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.5 Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of
a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution)
contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
Writing
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.3d Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to
convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.
DESCRIPTION OF
THE CLASS
This activity is designed for a mixed-grade “American Literature” hexster class at Centennial
High School, focusing on 11th grade standards for this lesson. The class has 15 girls and 8 boys.
The demographics reflect that of the Poudre School District: 74.4% white, 17.65%
Hispanic/Latino, 3.16% Asian, 2.62% other, 0.61% Native American/Alaskan, and 0.15% Native
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. 7.5% of the students are English Language Learners and 27.6% are on
Free/Reduced Lunch Programs (“PSD Demographics”).
PURPOSE OF
ACTIVITY (Think of
this as your minirationale: What are you
trying to accomplish
through this
lesson/activity?
MATERIALS
The purpose of this activity is to get students to look more closely at a text selection, identify Tim
O’Brien’s writing style and characterization methods, and then write a poem or prose mimicking
those methods as well as his word choice, tone, structure, and overall style. This activity helps
teach students that it is okay and often encouraged to “steal” things from other authors in order to
improve their own writing and achieve a desired effect.
PROCEDURES
(Include a play-by-play
account of what students
will do from the minute
they arrive to the minute
they leave your
classroom. Indicate the
length of each segment of
the lesson. List actual
minutes
Reading selection (p. 10-27 of .PDF)
PowerPoint presentation with directions and examples
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
ONGOING
ASSESSMENT
(Describe what you’ll do
to determine whether or
not students achieved the
purpose described
above.)
REFERENCES
Context: Ian will give a brief talk on Tim O’Brien, the Vietnam War, and Tim O’Brien’s
connection to the war. (10 minutes)
Brief discussion of the reading selection lead by Josh. Josh will help stir some
discussion regarding Tim O’Brien’s writing style and characterization methods.
(5 minutes)
Anna will then introduce The Things You Carry writing activity. A PowerPoint
presentation will be used to display the directions and some examples. (3 minutes)
The class will then work silently on their own The Things You Carry writing project.
This could be a poem or short prose. The class will be encouraged to channel Tim
O’Brien’s writing style (the things Josh brought attention to during the reading selection
discussion.) (12-15 minutes)
When everyone appears to be either done or at a good stopping point, Jacquelyn will
then lead the sharing out portion of the lesson. She will encourage people to share, and
she will also ask them provocative questions that lead them to explain their reasoning for
writing what they wrote and why they decided to write it that way. (5 minutes, give or
take depending on how willing people are to share.)
Finally, Fairon will bring everything to a close by explaining our rationale behind this
activity and pointing out the main ideas/take-aways from this activity and our novel as a
whole.
Our assessment will occur during the share out during class and (if this were done in a real
classroom) assessment would continue when we read the writing activities (after the students had
time to edit and polish them.) We might also require a short paragraph explaining the choices
they made and why. This short reflection would display their knowledge of Tim O’Brien’s
writing style and demonstrate their ability to apply his style to their own writing. Also, in a real
classroom, we would be having a Reader’s Notebook assessment on Friday which might include
some of these principles.
ELL students will be allowed to use code-switching and illustrations in their individual writing, as
well as being allowed ample time to write down their thoughts in English before sharing with the
class.
 This activity was partially an original idea/partially adapted from a final essay Jacquelyn



wrote in her 11th grade English class when they had completed their study of this novel.
The example poems used in the PowerPoint were acquired from
http://www.toddseal.com/rodin/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/the_things_i_carry.pdf
The .PDF for The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien was taken from
http://corysnow.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/ttc-full-text.pdf
“PSD Demographics.” Poudre School District. N.p. Web. 21 Mar. 2013.