Objectives/Strategies
The student will be able to:
- understand the connection between the past and present—through reading and discussing fiction and nonfiction works concerning civil liberties
- make judgments about the actions of early American settlers and the Native Americans—through evaluation of their motives for these actions
- improve in their ability to transfer knowledge from one experience to another—through comparing the play to the McCarthy Era and 9/11
- explore the idea that human nature doesn't change—through the historical perspective of fear motivating human behavior as evidenced in time of war
- understand dramatic structure and the Well-Made Play format—through material in the text, teacher lecture, hand-outs, and construction of their own Well-Made Play charts.
- write an original narrative based on what they learn from their reading and discussion—through full-process writing
- gain experience and facility in oral presentation—through performing their narratives for the class
The curriculum provides many opportunities to study the conflicts between different groups of people throughout America's history. Drawing on this wealth of literature and nonfiction, focus will be directed to the idea of civil liberties in times of war. With a few additional readings to the core curriculum (see Bibliography), students will be awakened to think of the civil liberties of their forefathers and well as their own and those of their descendants. After reading each act of the play, students will consider questions for in-depth discussion in class the next day (see Appendix D) and will view that portion of the film aided by a Video Viewing Response form (see Appendix C).
In an Internet report about what American high school students know about the First Amendment, a Chicago teacher offers this question:
- What kind of citizens do we want in 10 or 20 or 30 years? Do we want citizens
- that will blindly accept whatever the government tells them, or do we want a
- citizenry that expects the government to operate openly and transparently?1
This is a question all educators should consider; indeed, most of us do. Our endeavor to help students become valuable adults and citizens hinges on it.
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