Today was a Good Day - All Quiet - Opening Discussion Chapt 1
"it would not be such a bad war in only one could get a little more sleep."
All Quiet on the Western Front - Opening Discussion (thru Chapter 1) : Though I usually assign Chapters 1 &2 for today (there have been so man PRE-Novel classes - the students have had plenty of time to read - see the bookmark), we usually only cover the first chapter - which allows Chapters 2 & 3 to be covered by the students tomorrow in Group Work. There are so many important things to cover (and don't forget what we've set up with those 3 prenovel classes); some of those are: how it was a good day, the power of adults over their charges, their friend Franz and his terrible predicament, and perhaps most important: The idea that there are two sets of RULES - one for the front, one for home. We will try to cover it all through Ring-master type teacher led discussion. See my page on Class Discussions.
Lesson Overview
Opening discussions set the pace for how things go for the entire book. All Quiet on the Western Front is no exception. There has been a discussion of sorts already going on throught the three prenovel activities: ("War", "Poems & Songs", "The Guy on the Bus"). So, in a sense, that discusion just continues here. Here is some of what is covered - what happens in this opening discussion. See my Lesson Notes below for more. In the Lesson Notes, page numbers are given for these and many other points. I have also discovered a Group Work for Chapter 1 that I will include down below.
Before I begin our discussion - I play a song - Ice Cube's "It was a Good Day". Though it is modern, it sets completely echoes the situation that the men find themselves in at the beginning. How can you call it a good day - when you are in the horrors of war?
The epigraph - comparing it to the epigraph from The Things They Carried - how does it fit with the idea of "deromanticizing" war?
Beginning In Medea Res
How can it be a good day? They just lost 1/2 their company? What does that have to do with the Ice Cube song?
Who are the men we meet? Go through them
Why do they like the lieutenant? How is he different?
True Wars stories from Things They Carried - how does it apply to this chapter, this opening?
What is and what isn't embarrassing to the men? (this can be a very scatalogical discussion - judge the maturity of your class)
Why would people back home be shocked?
Who is Kantoreck? Why do the men hate him so much? Are their teachers like this? People like this?
First death shattered their beliefs - elaborate
What has happened to Franz? What does Mueller want from him (the boots). Does that make Mueller bad?
Like that to the ideas of the Home and Front set of rules. As we read - we have to be careful which set we judge the men by...
The soldiers feel like old men - what does this have to do with Mary (from SH5)'s fear about them being just children?
As I said, the lesson notes have these (along with page numbers) and many, many more ideas and things to talk about (if you can read my writing)...
My Lesson Notes & a sample reading page
See above for some of what we go over in this Teacher Led discussion.
Maybe I covered less material when I first started - or more likely, I needed less notes to fill in the gaps of the lesson.
my second year of teaching (and perhaps the oldest lesson notes I've come across)
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.
Handouts & Quizzes
Most Recent Handouts & Quizzes
Though Chapters 1 & 2 are usually assigned - sometimes, I will only quiz them on the first chapter - getting them to spread their reading out.
Reading Quiz Chapters 1-4 (1990) PDF - really just here for fun - the oldest quiz I've found
Audio Content
Make sure you screen this version for appropriate language. On Spotify - there is an explicit and a nonExplicit version.
Group Work (as an alternative)
I cannot ever remember opening the novel with a Group Work - it is not something that I like to do. You want to capture (and share your own) that enthusiasm for the book - to get it off to start - to set the pace. I may have been absent. But in any case, here it is and it covers much of what is said in the opening discussion above.
Remote Enhancements
None that I have found so far.
Links
Class Recordings (for registered members)
Audio
Video
All Quiet on the Western Front - Men in a War - Group Work 1 - 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.
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
Thoughts on the Lesson
So we finally get to the Opening Discussion. There are two wonderful points of recognition during this lesson - at least for the students that I taught. The first was when I played Ice Cube's "It was a Good Day". The second was when we got to what the men feel is important and the discussion of the Front having its own set of rules. The students quickly realize that they too, of course, live in a world that has its own set of rules.