Lesson Overview (see Lesson Notes below for more)  

No quiz today (woot - 3 days in a row - giving students plenty of time to do their reading for the novel) and you need to get started right away.  I usually stand at the doorand give the handout with the poems to the students as they enter (and tell them to start looking at it right away).  

Like the previous "poems before" lesson - this lesson will feature songs and prose that are related to war.  But in this case - a very specific aspect of war.  How is War portrayed in the media?  And if you are setting out to write an antiwar book - how do get rid of the almost inherent romance that accompanies such a text?

Opening of the Lesson

I begin by pleading with the students to not let the class end - without telling them the story of the guy on the back of the bus.

Next, I ask the students "What is War?"  I then get a satisfactory answer - whatever that may be (for more see my Lesson Notes)

Next, I ask them "Where do hear about War?"  "How do we know what War is?"  (answers: TV, media, web, social media, books, songs, poems, etc.)

How is War portrayed in Fiction (books, songs, poems, etc.)

I ask them to think back to our very first day of school - Chris Hedges' speech on war - does anyone remember what he said?  "War is treated like a video game".

Opening of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughter House Five

Now, you will read the opening of Slaughter House Five (the text is found below).  Tell the students what it is (the prologue to Vonnegut's most famous novel) and that it takes place at Vonnegut's war buddy's house with him, his friend, and his friend's wife.  It's up to you if you remind them not to trust that these are real (remember The Things They Carried).  Tell them to take notes as you read, on anything that strikes you - especially what we've said about war - today or earlier in the year.

It is then up to you as the teacher how you discuss this opening.  Some years I stopped at important parts and asked questions - some years I waited till we finished.  See my Slaughter House Five notes for more.

Some important ideas & questions

What does the author quickly sense? (the wife is angry)

Why do they drink before remembering the war?

Does he get any good story ideas?

What is the first thing Mary say?  ("they were Children")  How is that true?

What does the author mean when he calls himself a "virgin"?

In order to ease her fears, how does he say he will write it?  

Does Mary have a point?  Can TV/media, etc. encourage War?  How?

A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION: Can Fiction be more TRUE than NONFICTION?  When answering this - think back on "True War Strories" from The Things They Carried.

What was the Children's Crusade?  How does it fit in?  Point out that this is the alternate tile for Slaughter House Five.

End the story discussion with - How do you deRomanticize War?

Play Three Songs 

The lyrics for these songs can be found below.  First play "The Ballad of the Green Beret" - after it ask the students how it fits in with our discussion?  With Mary's fears?  Remind them that it's from a movie starring John Wayne about Vietnam.  This is specifically one of Mary's fears - she mentions John Wayne.

Next, play "The Ballad of Penny Evans by Steve Goodman."  You won't need to say much - just ask how that song looks at war.

Finally play John Fogarty's - "I Saw it on TV" - tell the students to write directly on the lyrics as they listen.  Look for 1) the story  2) which war  3) cultural touch pins

Here is the story - but you need to get it out of your students with questions & discussion.  I've never had a class that couldn't find the story in this song: an old man blames TV and the media for his son's death in Vietnam.  They made the war so attactive that he joined and got killed. This is a perfect connection to The Things They Carried and "On the Rainy River" where Tim felt all the media he'd been exposed to since childhood was pushing him on.  THESE are the wonderful connections that I as a teacher and my students live for.

Does this song Romanticize War?  Why not?  (the son dies)

Two War Poems

You may have to skip this depending on time (or you may have done it in the previous class).  Begin by explaining "The Call" by Jessie Pope - a proWar poem written by someone who never saw battle and that was designed to get men to join up.  

Next - Have the class read "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen.  A poet who not only saw battle but who was killed in the war.  A great way to do this poem in a powerful way is to have the teacher stand at the front of the class. Instruct the students that you will READ THE POEM TOGETHER - Chorally.   When you stand in front of each row - that row will drop out of the reading.  Count your rows - and figure this out accordingly.  Stand in front of the last row when you get to that that final stanza - and read that last last line: "The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum...." by yourself - falling to whisper with the final word.  It is powerful, effective, and will stick with  your students.

Now tell your students that this poem - was very specifically a response to Jessie Pope's text.  In fact, it originally had a dedication to her that Owen later crossed off.  Let the connections to all.  

Again - does Owen's poem Romanticize War?  Why or Why not?  What happens to the men? (they die).  Bring in (time permitting) yesterday's song "Everywhere" about the Japanese American and his friend the soldier - did that song Romanticize War?

The Guy on the Back of the Bus

So it seems as the teacher - you've set it up perfectly.  All Quiet on the Western Front does the best job at DeRomanticizing War because (DO NOT TELL YOUR STUDENTS THIS - they will never forgive you: "Paul Baumer - the main character - dies")

What you can tell them is how much this book, All Quiet, is viewed as the perfect Anti-War novel.  I tell my students about the time when I first started teaching and I had a student beg me to fail them after reading this book because they had signed up for the Army and wanted to fail - so their contract would be invalid.  For over a decade I viewed it as the perfect Anti-War novel.  And then...

I used to ride the bus to my school everyday - and of course - I read any book that I assign to my students, so one day I was sitting on the bus reading my All Quiet on the Western Front.  A man about 20 years older than me - started to say something: "Excuse me, I couldn't help but notice you were reading that book - All Quiet on the Western Front.  You know - I love that book," he continued.  "We read it in my high school English class - and you know what?  That book made me join up and fight in Vietnam."

WHAT?  I was dumbfounded.  Either I didn't think to - or he or I got off the bus or maybe I was just in such a stupor that I couldn't - I didn't ask him "why?"  Not that I'm sure it would matter.  Thirty years after you do something - is there the reason you give - the reason that was...   

But there you have it.  The guy on the back of the bus.  Nothing is simple.  Nothing is straightforward.  You may think you understand something - know something - and it turns out to be - at least with one person - the complete opposite. 

I think I suspect why this book had - or at least the guy on the bus thinks it had - this effect.  We'll get to that when we finish the book.  But the story is important.  To let students know that it isn't a world or literature of black and white - and they need to keep their eyes open for shades of gray. 

Thoughts on the Lesson 

After teaching a few years - I realized it's important to admit my mistakes - the flaws in my plans to my students.  I still remember my shock when the man on the bus told me that All Quiet convinced him to join and fight in Vietnam.  But as I said...I do have a theory.