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= __1984: Book Three Lesson__ = = Lesson Title: Big Brother in the World of Today = = = >> >
 * ======Expectations======
 * ======Students will be able to define the qualities of a "Big Brother"======
 * ======Students will be familiar with the situations and techniques in which a "Big Brother" is realized======
 * ======Students will be able to tell why "Big Brother" triumphs at the end of 1984======
 * ======Standard======
 * __Media Literacy 3.C.3 - Recognize that creators of media use a number of forms, techniques, and technologies to convey their messages.__
 * Hook
 * Students will look at various pictures of propaganda and point out which one is most like something from 1984.
 * [|Picture 1]
 * [|Picture 2]
 * [|Picture 3]
 * [|Picture 4]
 * [|Picture 5]
 * [|Picture 6]
 * Main
 * Students will read articles on real life Big Brothers and describe defining characteristics.
 * [|Adolf Hitler]
 * [|Joseph Stalin]
 * [|Mao Zedong]
 * Answer questions
 * Compare and contrast the leaders.
 * How did they maintain control of their populaces?
 * Books?
 * Hysteria?
 * What are their reasons for mass genocide?
 * What do you think their reasons were?
 * Did their populace's know the genocide was happening at the time of its occurrence?
 * If so, what did they do about it?
 * Ending
 * Discussion on why Big Brother was able to triumph at the end of the novel.
 * Why does Winston think Big Brother is smiling at the end of the novel?

= __1984: Book Two Lesson__ = = = Lesson Title: Love, Lies, and the Pursuit of Happiness


 * Expectations
 * Students will be familiar with the key aspects of Winston and Julia's relationship.
 * Students will be able to research and identify other underground movements in past totalitarian governments.
 * Students will be able to relate the reasons as to why people corroborate and associate with underground movements with the reasons that Julia and Winston chose to disobey the party.
 * Standard
 * __Media Literacy 3.C.3 - Recognize that creators of media use a number of forms, techniques, and technologies to convey their messages.__
 * Hook
 * Students relate experiences to each in other in which they rebelled against authority. If a student has never rebelled against authority, they will explain why they do or did not. If a student has rebelled against authority, at one time or another, they will share their reasons for doing so.
 * Main
 * Students will explore links on a wikipage of [|resistance movements] of the past 300 years.
 * Student will point out similar characteristics between the desire to rebel in Winston in 1984 and the real life rebels.
 * Answer questions:
 * Were the real life rebels willing to die for their cause? Why do you think they were?
 * Do you think Winston is ready to die for his cause?
 * Who do you think is more ready to die, Winston or Julia?
 * Ending
 * [|Picture] discussion
 * Why does this picture invoke a feeling of rebellion?
 * Do you think that rebellion is possible in 1984?

= = =__1984: Book One Lesson__=


 * Lesson Title: Descent into Dictatorship**
 * Expectations
 * Students will be familiar with all traits and aspects of a Dictatorship
 * Students will be able to realize the importance of freedom and control
 * Students will be familiar with real-life examples of control and reasons as to why some people became controlled by totalitarian regimes
 * Standard
 * __Media Literacy 3.C.3 - Recognize that creators of media use a number of forms, techniques, and technologies to convey their messages.__
 * Hook
 * [|Game] involving memory to demonstrate its importance in fictional and real gain.
 * Main
 * Wikisearch activity
 * Students shall search through [|Wikipedia.org] by clicking clue words that are related to the desired page in order to familiarize with traits and aspects of the desired search goal. By doing this students will pass through pages of information about subjects related in some way to the main theme(which is the final destination). Whilst hunting through the page for the next link students will read the article, gathering bits of information and ideas, while thinking about which word they could find on that page that could lead them to the final target. This way they not only gather information on subjects related to the topic, but also make objective decisions based on their knowledge of the subject and of the target, thus increasing their knowledge and familiarity of the targeted word simultaneously.
 * Ending
 * Article
 * Students will read and discuss similarities between Winston's life in 1984 and the man's life in [|USSR]

__Interview with Eugene Muller__
 * When I sat down with Eugene he took off his glasses, massaged the bridge of his nose, and gave me a tired smile. It was late into the night when we met and he was ready to call it quits for the day. "So what's this all about, buddy." he asked me.

"Well," I said, "I'm going to interview you about the Vietnam War." He slouched in his chair.

"Ok." ** As I asked Eugene questions, it seemed that the more he spoke the more he forgot he was speaking to me and the more he seemed to be remembering out loud. The baby-boomer spoke as if he were looking through an old photo-book in his mind and his memories were what were cataloged inside. Each memory, although dusty and worn, still retained the important details.

Vietnam was, for Eugene Muller and the people of his community, more than just a conflict between communist guerillas and United States Marines. It was nowhere, and it was everywhere. It was like a headache. Intangible, painful, and no one was ever sure when it would go away. “I remember,” Eugene said while massaging the bridge of his nose, “everyday the news would start out with ‘Today in Vietnam 43 injured and 21 killed.’(or whatever the numbers were for that day)” Vietnam penetrated American life. It became the reason for doing good in school, for growing your hair long, for watching the news. A reason for being angry.

People hated the war in Vietnam. The enemy had no lead figurehead to capture or capital city to conquer. Eugene Muller sighed. He told me a good deal of what bothered him about Vietnam was the frustration it caused him and his family. His father would often say to him '[Vietnam] isn't a real war. Not like World War 2, where we went in and really tried to win it.' His family life was also not immune to the social effects of the Vietnam War.

As a boy soon becoming man eligible to be drafted, Dr. Muller felt the cold threat of being drafted as well. "When I got older... I remember my cousins were drafted. One was drafted and served a tour and then one was drafted and went to Europe. My mother began to get concerned about me... [My parents] talked to a lawyer to see if they could legally excuse me. Apparently the going rate at the time was $500." As he said this, his gaze grew more distant. One could almost see the memories playing before him like a home-made video.

I asked him if he would have considered someone, such as his cousins, who was going off to Vietnam to fight in the War heroic. I also asked him whether or not it would have made a difference whether or not they were drafted. He immediately shook his head. "It wouldn't have made a difference [whether or not they were drafted]." He explained that when he was younger, the kids in his class and him would write essays and letters to the soldiers in Vietnam. "Sure there was criticism of the soldiers to some degree, but I never saw it that way. To me they were all heroes. Still are."



Further investigation revealed that not only did Eugene Muller admire the soldiers in Vietnam, but once even held the idea of becoming one of them. "... there were times when I wish I went into the military, but there were also times I'm glad I didn't. I just think it's good to be a veteran; to be able to say I served my country. I could have been an officer, it would have been prestigious. I'm not a liberal. I'm not a peace-nick." And yet, apparently Dr. Muller was not a radical in those times either; as one might expect.

According to him his community also was widely in support of the war. The only protests Eugene ever saw were on the news. In fact, the first time Eugene ever really saw live protestors was during the Second Iraq War. Eugene believed that his community would have even, had they been in charge of the war, gone in stronger and "tried harder to win it". After my last question I thanked Dr. Muller for his time and was about to pack up and go when he interrupted me. "I have to say this", he said.

"It felt like it was going to go on forever. You started hearing about [Vietnam] around 1965 and I was eight years old in 1965. The Vietnam war lasted from when I was 8 to until I was 16. That's 8 years of that. And it just got worse and worse and it was all you ever heard about." Vietnam consumed the American lifestyle like a starving tiger. Relentlessly devouring every aspect of culture and discussion. After he finished reflecting on the events of 1968, Eugene was quiet for a moment and then chuckled to himself.

He had this to add finally before we concluded the interview: "I remember my Aunt Jane(the aunt with the son who was drafted) said once, after [NASA] flew the Apollo 8 mission. 'I can't believe they give so much to do over these guys flying around the moon and my son still has to pay 25 cents to wash his pants at the cleaners.'" __RSS Feed:__

rss url="feed://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=Vietnam+War&ie=UTF-8&nolr=1&output=atom" link="true" number="5"

__Links:__
 * __[|Winning the Vietnam War]__
 * __[|Lyndon B. Johnson]__
 * __[|Interactive Hippie Reference]__
 * __[|The CIA World Factbook: Vietnam]**__