RSC

Lesson Plan 2

**Title of Lesson:** Resistance! **What the students understand when they finish your lesson with you:** a.) **A better understanding of Winston’s helplessness as one man**   b.)  **Why Revolutions of the past were effective (or ineffective)** c.) **If it’s possible to overthrow governments where the people control some of the power**   **Materials Needed and Technology Used:**   **a) Laptop** **b) 1984**  **c) Pen** **d) Yahoo! Video clip from the Matrix**  **Opening Activity Description (What the students and you are doing):**   I’ll show a brief clip from the Matrix (the scene of Neo fighting all the Smiths as a metaphor for how a small faction cannot defeat an unstoppable force [disregard how the Matrix series ends]). After this I’ll hand out a chart with two columns labeled 1984 and The Matrix. The chart is for common threads between the two. After the chart is a question of whether an overthrow is possible and how it COULD be possible under the correct circumstances (disregarding how the Matrix ends). My information will come from this website: [|Last Minute Blog]  A blog, but nonetheless, a good source of information concerning the two novels especially these two paragraphs pertaining directly to my topic: One of the common ideas shared in 'The Matrix' and '1984' is the rise against oppression, or revolution. In 'The Matrix' they resistance fighters constantly tell Neo that he must lead the people against the machines, who were enslaving the people. Although there are no calls for revolutions in 1984 (Since everything was so oppressed), Winston did have thoughts of the untapped energy of the proles, and how they were the only force strong enough to overthrow the party. The notion of control is also prevalent in both 'The Matrix' and '1984'. In the matrix, the humans are so rigidly controlled that they spend their whole lives in a pod without even knowing it, whilst the machines suck their energy. As for the society in 1984, I am sure that everyone is familiar with the totalitarian state that is Oceania. In both societies humans are not given freedom of thought, but instead are taught what to believe in; what to think, even. For instance, in '1984' the party invented 'Newspeak', a revision of the english language aimed at simplifying the language so much that no thought is needed to say it- hence people will not think for themselves and the chances of rebellion are lessened. **Middle/Main Activity Description (What the students and you are doing):** Historical evidence is important in understanding the present and the future so I will then bring up the subject of the French Revolution and why it was so successful. I will give the students the task to look up another successful revolution and explain why it was successful. **Closing Activity Description (What the students and you are doing):** After the information the students had previously gathered on Revolutions, I’ll pose a thought question: What could we do now? Our government is invading privacy and practically burning the Constitution. So what now? Could we revolt? Or is it harder when the people are integrated so much into the government? Democrats and Republicans _ __  Title of Lesson: Defeat!

What the students will understand after the lesson: __
 * 1) The effects of torture on the human mind
 * 2) How the real world is compared to 1984 book three
 * 3) Use and understand Venn Diagrams (as if they didn't know...)

Materials:
 * 1) Laptop
 * 2) 1984

Opening: - The students would read this article: http://www.cvt.org/main.php/Advocacy/TortureisUn-American/EffectsofPsychologicalTorture - The students would then voice their opinions on torture and if, with the knowledge of its effects in mind, it would be useful in real life to convert treasonous dissidents as it did in 1984. - Could torture be effective in interrogation?

Middle: - The students will watch this video: http://www.foxnews.com/video-search/m/21753749/interrogation_controversy.htm#q=OR+%22Interrogation+Techniques%22+OR+Interrogation - Then read this quote: "Do it to Julia ...Do it to Julia" Winston Smith in Room101 in Orwell's 1984 o This quote and the video illustrate the inhumanity torture creates. Hitchens’, the writer in the video had undergone waterboarding and stopped it after 17 seconds, Winston immediately began screaming in the presence of the rats. Torture is effective. - But what about a comparison between the real world and 1984? o Students will create a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting torture as a method of interrogation in the real world and 1984. Closing: - Thought Question: Should torture be continued in the real world as a form of coercion? - Find an article or piece of information on the internet supporting the answer



Now that you've met the cast of Tropic Thunder, here's some true facts:

An approachable figure was on the bed, sitting upright against the headboard. His eyes were fixed on the television; The Dodgers’ battle against the Phillies, illuminated on the screen. The Mets had been knocked out of the playoffs a few weeks before, thus I knew this interview would go off smoothly: my dad isn’t as focused on baseball unless it’s his team playing. Mr. Cary Schwartz and the New York Mets are a combination known to anyone who has ever been acquainted with my family.

Giving away that I wanted to interview him about Nam, I commenced the questioning. What I wanted to know was how old my father was during the [|Vietnam War] because I had heard the same story about getting a draft number with his friends, but dates just didn’t add up. He wouldn’t have been 18 at any point during the War. “What year did it start? ’65 right? And ended in Nineteen Seventy…” “Five…[|75], Dad.”

He gazed out at the mirror hanging on the opposite wall and was silent. Then he looked back at me and spoke: “I was seven when the war started and about 16 at the end, and during high school I got my draft number.” I always thought being drafted and getting the number was a big deal where the receiver would have to go down to a military base and wait with other draftees. So I asked my dad exactly how he was drafted. He didn’t even have to think. “Me, Jimmy, and Mark went to the post office, gave our name address and our other information and they gave us a number on the list.”

At this point, I was about ready to test the legitimacy of the answers I was receiving so the next question was how much Mr. Schwartz remembered of the propaganda and such, surrounding Nam. “[|Walter Kronkite] ” was the first thing he said. I asked for him to elaborate due to the fact that I had no idea who Walter Kronkite was. media type:"youtube" key:"fOtwbyNp0LQ" http://www.youtube.com/v/fOtwbyNp0LQ “…He was a reporter and I would see him every night on the news. They had a special about Vietnam. He would be in the middle of the fighting.”

The next question was a bit more personal. Would he have gone to war had his number come up? “Yeah I woulda gone.” He didn’t even have to think, or look at me. He didn’t make any movements at all, just answered the question. “Really dad? No Canada for you?” I was joking but this pried some more information nonetheless. “Well grandma didn’t want me to go at all.” I could tell he was laughing a little on the inside because my grandmother was constantly nervous but nonetheless I figured that she didn’t want him going to war; no parent wants to hear the news of his or her child dying.

Shockingly, the man who just told me he would have gladly gone to war was also against the Vietnam War entirely. Or so I found out after a near tragic end to the interview. “The U.S. had no place in the War, we started a fight between North Korea and South Korea.” “Korea? You mean Vietnam, right?” Sure he misspoke, but with a small seed of doubt nonetheless, I subtly corrected my dad with a question. “I mean Vietnam. Don’t worry.” (“Thank God.” I thought.) “But it was all about big business.”

Then what would he have done if he were President? This inquiry led to a long story about Lyndon Johnson’s naval formations and troop movements. I thought this was going nowhere until my dad punctuated the history lesson by saying he would have sent in more troops, destroyed the enemy, got out. Very McCain-like. It’s obvious now why[| John McCain] is my dad’s candidate of choice, and why my dad can’t be proselytized to the Obama campaign.

The interview was beginning to draw to a close because my dad’s chagrin at each new question (and each run the Phillies scored) began to become evident. So I resorted to the last question: Is there anything else in particular you would like to say about Vietnam? This allowed my dad to give “evidence” to America’s feeling of the Vietnam War. He explained to me that the draft stemmed from the less-than-enthusiastic response from Americans when the war broke out (obviously). The interview, in essence, was ten minutes of talking to my dad. I was given the opportunity to learn about an era my dad lived through, mirroring, perhaps, my children someday asking me about The War in Iraq or The Economic Crisis. I exited the room just as my dad yelled at the TV, cursing something he hates more than the Vietnam War: [|The Philadelphia Phillies].