Fear, and Conquering Fear Using writing to channel emotions productively Fall 2011 LAE4630 Daniel Do2 TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE NUMBER Rationale………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………..3 Goals and Objectives………………………………….. …………………………………………………………..6 Grade Distribution……………………………………… …………………………………………………………..8 Materials…………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………10 Common Core Standards……………………………... …………………………………………………………11 Unit Outline/Daily Lessons…………………………….. …………………………………………………………14 Appendix………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………36 Week One…………………………………….. …………………………………………………………36 Week Two…………………………………….. …………………………………………………………45 Week Three…………………………………... …………………………………………………………51 Week Four……………………………………. …………………………………………………………65 Week Five…………………………………….. …………………………………………………………68 Bibliography……………………………………………... …………………………………………………………703 RATIONALE It is a fairly safe assumption to say that emotions are driving forces. It is difficult to pinpoint a significant work of art or piece of literature that was not created with the goal of either provoking emotions or as a way to channel them. A romance novel could be either inspired by a yearning for love, or it could invoke that very same yearning for love. Anger and nationalism could stir up feelings of strength and unity, and sadness could lead to a sense of longing. As students near the end of their high school careers, the realization of a ―real world‖ after graduation suddenly looms on the horizon. Nervousness, uncertainty, and the sudden end of childhood becomes a threat to everything that these students (who have only been just students for the past 18 or so years) have known. The greatest emotion that would come into play here is fear. Students will spend the unit focusing on several texts and novels that revolve or relate to fear. These include: - William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies - Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner - Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron - Excerpts from Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince - Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself speech - Clips from the film Hotel Rwanda - Clips from the film The Diary of Anne Frank The Lord of the Flies and The Kite Runner are the two primary texts that will anchor the unit. William Golding’s landmark novel was specifically chosen not just because of its place in the English literature canon, but also because of the fact that it was written at the height of the Cold War. The novel’s plot revolves around the results of an unspecified nuclear war, portraying the very real concerns and fearful4 speculation of a world worried of a potential third world war between super powers. The Kite Runner is meant for the sake of showing students that many of the fears explored in The Lord of the Flies are not the bygone worries of yesteryear, but instead are still the ever-prevalent concerns that plague a contemporary world. These two novels are meant to show students that very real fears that have plagued the world or continue to cause worrying today have been used by writers as a tool to channel their fears. William Golding wrote The Lord of the Flies as if to show what could possibly happen should the Cold War finally give way to World War III, while Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner served to be a reflection of the brutal conditions and alienation that citizens of Afghanistan must endure on a daily basis. Golding shows that fear can lead to the savage deconstruction of civilization and rationality, while Hosseini shows the other end of the spectrum, with fear giving way to bravery, honor, and self-fulfillment. Terror, normally a gripping and debilitating power, CAN be used as a means for productivity, emotional release, or an exposing commentary on the state of affairs. Along with the auxiliary texts, the two novels will be used by students to understand and face their fears in a productive manner. Through the various anticipatory sets and the weekly journal exercises, students will reveal what they are most apprehensive about. Whether the students’ fears revolve around bullies, grades, expectations, relationships, growing up, or ―the real world‖, the unit is designed to help students admit what makes them nervous, find something within the texts that they can relate to, and ultimately find a solution to their fears through the unit’s culminating project. The unit is expected to stretch across the span of five weeks and is divided into two thematic segments. The first half uses The Lord of the Flies to establish what exactly fear is, and what can become of it should one let it consume them. The novel is supplemented by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself speech, as well as Kurt Vonnegut’s short story, Harrison Bergeron. The intention of the first half of the unit is to show the extent of what fear may bring – or in the case of Roosevelt’s5 speech addressed during the Great Depression, just how low society has actually reached in the past. The second half of the unit is meant to analyze fear, using recent or contemporary world events in the news, the film Hotel Rwanda, and Niccolo Macchiavelli’s The Prince to show that fear is largely rooted in power struggles. This rationalization of fear is further explored by the second novel in the unit, The Kite Runner, which conclusively shows that good things can come out of fear. The students’ comprehension of the texts will be assessed through orthodox means