Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program
Learning Activity Plan
Emotional Truth and Storytelling in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried
Elizabeth Guarino
21 November 2013
I.
Content: The content of today’s lesson is Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, specifically
the text’s major characters and their development throughout the novel. Students will work in
small groups of three or four to create “I Am” poems about one of the major characters in the
book (each group will be predetermined and assigned one character). The major characters that
students will be studying today include the narrator and protagonist, Tim O’Brien, Lieutenant
Jimmy Cross, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, Mary Anne, Curt Lemon and Henry Dobbins.
II.
Learning Goal(s):
- Students will be able to use their knowledge of The Things They Carried and its characters to
create “I Am” poems for a specific character from the text.
- Students will be able to identify all of the major characters in The Things They Carried.
- Students will demonstrate their knowledge of imagery through using the five senses and the
prescribed template for an “I Am” poem to complete their poems.
III.
Rationale: Today’s lesson addresses the following unit plan learning goals: (a) Students will be
exposed to a piece of fiction that is strongly based on true events, (c) Students will be skilled at
analyzing how a text states knowledge both explicitly and implicitly, (f) Students will be able to
develop a piece of artwork that conveys meaning derived from the text that illustrates major
themes, ideas or characters, and (i) Students will practice and improve their presentation skills.
- The Things They Carried is dedicated to “the men of Alpha Company, and in particular to
Jimmy Cross, Norman Bowker, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Henry Dobbins, and
Kiowa.” Students have been directed to the dedication before and we have discussed it as
a class. Today, students will continue to delve into a text that is strongly based on true
events and real people.
- Students will use their knowledge of the text and characters, as well as what is explicitly
said in the book and what is implied to craft their “I Am” poems.
- A main goal of our English II class is to weave art into the English classroom, as it is an
excellent way of expressing ideas. Today, students will use their artistic abilities to
convey characteristics of their assigned characters and the information embedded in their
“I Am” poems. Students will be tasked in taking the written text and content to imagine
and create a visual.
- It is essential that students gain the confidence and get the practice of speaking in front of
others and presenting their work. Today, students will demonstrate their presentation
skills through the sharing of their “I Am” poems.
IV.
Assessment: It will be evident that students reach today’s learning goals through their final
“products” or “I Am” poems. It will be clear that students understand their assigned character
based on the descriptions they provide for it within the “I Am” poem. It will be clear that students
understand all of the main characters if they are able to guess which characters are being
described in their fellow classmates’ poems. Furthermore, students will complete an exit slip
before leaving class and based on their answers, both the students and myself, will be able to
reflect on today’s class and their “take away” from it. As their exit slip, students will answer the
following question: What was today’s activity like for you? What did you learn? Did you enjoy
it? Did it help you to better understand each character? Why or why not?
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Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program
Learning Activity Plan
Emotional Truth and Storytelling in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried
Elizabeth Guarino
21 November 2013
V.
Personalization and equity: Before students are put into their groups of three or four, we will
brainstorm characteristics of a minor character (and one they will have read about the night
before) named Kathleen O’Brien. This whole class brainstorming activity will prepare students
for the kind of traits they will need to list for each character. I will also provide students with a
model “I Am” poem for Kathleen, that hopefully contains some of the characteristics that
students will list in their “Bellringers.” In addition to this activity, students also had practice with
describing characters yesterday—as we completed a whole class brainstorm for a different
(minor) character—and they have completed close to a dozen character drawings for characters,
as we have come across them in the book. Students will be able to use their character drawings
from previous classes, their books, and their fellow group members to aid them in completing
their “I Am” poems. Furthermore, the small groups that students are placed in today are
strategically chosen. I have tried to create each group to include a natural and talented artist, a
student with a high level of understanding, and either an ELL or student with a learning disability.
I have also taken into account previous instances of group work and tried to recreate such kinds
of productive grouping. Students will also create visuals for their “I Am” poems, which gives my
visual learners the opportunity to express their ideas. Also, to support all of my students, I will
give the directions orally, before students break up into their pre-assigned groups, and they will
receive a handout including my model “I Am” poem, the template for an “I Am” poem, and the
directions for the entire assignment. Finally, like every lesson that is designed, this lesson is
meant specifically to specifically meet the needs of my students, as they have communicated to
me that they are still confused by the many characters within the text.
VI.
Activity description and agenda:
a. Agenda for a 47 minute class period
- (5 minutes) Students will enter the classroom and immediately answer the “Bellringer”
question in their “Bellringer” notebooks. The “Bellringer” asks students to answer the
following question: Using any knowledge from the book, specifically, the details from
last night’s chapter and using your five sense, how would you describe Kathleen
O’Brien?
- (5 minutes) Review “Bellringers,” show students model “I Am” poem, explain directions
for assignment, assign groups, and lastly, give students the handout for the assignment
before instructing them to break up into their groups and begin working.
- (20 minutes) Create “I Am” poems in small groups.
- (10-15 minutes) Each group will present their “I Am” poem and their fellow classmates
will have to guess which character they describe. Students will have the opportunity to
verbally comment on each other’s poems.
- (5 minutes) Each student will complete an exit slip answering the following question:
What was today’s activity like for you? What did you learn? Did you enjoy it? Did it help
you to better understand each character? Why or why not?
b. I anticipate students having issues with the assigned groups, but I will be sure to emphasize
beforehand that I expect everyone to work cooperatively and productively together. They will
also be reminded of the importance of class work (it is 30% of their grade) and how there is a
purpose for everything we do. I will explain to students the purpose of this activity—it is
designed to alleviate their confusions with characters and my hopes are that this motivates
students to do a good job creating their poems. I also anticipate some students taking the lead
during group work, while others take a backseat, which is okay as long as everyone is
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Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program
Learning Activity Plan
Emotional Truth and Storytelling in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried
Elizabeth Guarino
21 November 2013
working together. I will do my best to stress the importance of everyone working—everyone
must have a job, both in the creation of the “I Am” poem and during the presentation. I am
expecting that some students will be shy when presenting but I will make it a requirement of
the assignment that each student says something during the presentation of the poem. Finally,
I hope that the allotted twenty minutes to work on the poems is enough, but should it be
necessary I will extend the activity five minutes. Students will be aware of the twenty minute
time slot to create their poems and they will be cautioned to use the time wisely (I will also
give time limit countdowns/alerts so that students are not surprised when the twenty minutes
is up and it is time to share).
VII.
List the Massachusetts Learning Standards this lesson addresses.
- W. 10.3.b Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and
multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
- W. 10. MA. 3. A Demonstrate understanding of the concepts of point of view by writing
short narratives, poems, essays, speeches, or reflections from one’s own or particular
character’s point of view.
- S.L. 10.1 a-b Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions
(one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics,
texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and
persuasively.
- S.L.10.4 Present information, finding, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and
logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization,
development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.
VIII.
Reflection
a. The activity was successful in that all groups of students succeeded in taking on the persona of
their assigned character. Despite my efforts to carefully prepare students for the activity, they at
first, appeared to be a bit confused that they were to write the poem from the perspective of the
character. Upon realizing this aspect of the activity, students were able to move forward to
generate their poems from the perspective of their given character. The final product (each
group’s “I Am” poem) illustrated to me that they were successful in demonstrating an
understanding of point of view, as they were able to take on that of their particular character. One
group, in specific, demonstrated their deep understanding of their assigned character, Curt
Lemon, when asking if they could change the “I Am” to “I Was” (in the “I Am” poem template).
The character this group was assigned to dies in the book and their careful consideration of how
to present this in the poem was noted. Even though the bellringer activity and my model “I Am”
poem may not have helped all students in their completion of the poem, it did help some. This
was evident in some groups and their ability to jump right into the assignment, with the
knowledge of exactly what to do. Although these groups had questions, their questions were
geared more towards particular wording or phrases to be used in their poems or where to look in
the text for helpful information about their character.
The activities were also successful in that students were able to practice their presentation
skills, and all but one student spoke during the group presentation of poems. It was clear through
their presentations, that students understood what they were tasked with and who they were to
present the poems to (as in, who the audience would be). Furthermore, based on students’ exit
slips debriefing the activity, all nineteen of the students who participated in the activity, enjoyed
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Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program
Learning Activity Plan
Emotional Truth and Storytelling in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried
Elizabeth Guarino
21 November 2013
it! I am hopeful that all lessons are enjoyable for each and every one of my students, and to hear
confirmation of this is tremendous.
Aspects of the lesson that could be improved are first and foremost, time management. I
was ambitious in my planning and I was hopeful that we could comfortably get through all of the
activities without feeling rushed; however, this was unfortunately not the case. The bellringer
question and conversation, as well as the explanation of the activity took slightly longer than
anticipated. Especially because of our extended time on the bellringer, model “I Am” poem,
explanation of the activity, and the late start students got on the poems, I was hoping that the
actual creation of the poems (both writing and illustrating) would move more quickly. I soon
found out though, that twenty minutes was not enough, and made the decision to extend the
writing and illustrating of the poem by three minutes. My constant reminders of time (as I was
keeping track of it) did not seem to move students along as effectively as anticipated.
Furthermore, the constraints of times also inhibited students from thoughtfully commenting on
others’ presentations and evaluating why wrong character guesses were guessed, as well as what
defining characteristics ohelped to make an educated guess on which character each poem was
about.
Alongside this aspect of the activity, I also observed a slight issue with grouping by range
of abilities. While I believe this is a successful way to group students, as it accounts for students’
levels of understanding in a way that is likely beneficial to them, it hindered one group’s
experience when a student, who was chosen for his high level of understanding of the text,
disappeared from the classroom for about twelve minutes. This student’s fellow group members
needed more direction and teacher-guidance in order to get moving on the activity. From this
experience, it is all the more clear to me how critical it is for each group to have a student with a
high level of understanding present.
If I were to complete the activity again, I would give students more time (perhaps twice
as much as I anticipated) with the writing and illustrating the “I Am” poem, as well as with the
presentation of the poems. It is important that students have enough time to complete their work
so that they can more confidently and comfortably present it to the their fellow classmates. I felt
bad seeing all students scrambling to finish up the “final touches” on their poems, and I know,
based on conversations with my students, that they would have created more elaborate drawings
had time permitted. The length of time for presentations is also an important area in which I could
expand on. As a class, we should have time to reflect on each poem, offering both positive and
constructive feedback. Also, despite the student with a high level of understanding being absent
from his group, I would still group by range of ability, I would just be sure that each “high-flyer”
is present.
b. From this LAP, I learned that I need to be more realistic about and generous with time—and that
this is not a bad thing! If students are genuinely interested and enjoying an activity, I should not
hesitate to extend it; in fact, this lesson would be perfect if dedicated to a long block (1.5 hour)
class period. I also learned that some type of required sheet for presentation commentary would
be very useful to the students. It pushes students to pay close attention to their fellow classmates’
presentations, and it allows for me to better assess students’ understanding of characters after the
completion of the activity and sharing of poems.
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