Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Considering Life after 9/11 (created by Beth Day, Furman University)

Considering Life After 9/11

Excerpts from: The 9/11 Commission Graphic Novel

Supplemented by:

Excerpts from: Extremely Loud and incredibly Close, Jonathan Foer

Excerpts from: Amazing Spider-Man issue #36 (comic)

Excerpts from: Literature after 9/11(scholarly text)

Excerpts from: History, Emotion, and the Body:Mourning in Post-9/11 Fiction, Benjamin Bird (scholarly article)

Essential Question: How has life and literature changed since 9/11?

Topics:

· Freedom before and after

· Rhetoric before and after

· Role of real-world heroes and superheroes in life and literature

Teacher:

· Provides pictures of iconic 9/11 images to students and asks them to reflect on their memories of the day. If students are too young to remember, the teacher asks students to interview older friends or family about the day.

· The teacher introduces the 9/11 Commission Report graphic novel: the class will read this work in class and at home.

· The teacher provides students with political speeches and news reports following 9/11, and facilitates a discussion of the rhetoric used to discuss the attack as well as the role of “heroes” in the weeks and months after. (Why is the anniversary of 9/11 “Patriot's Day”?)

· The teacher assigns Extremely Loud and incredibly Close and Spiderman issue #36 (each is read by approximately half the class.) These two works are highlighted in Literature after 9/11 and have many potential springboards for discussion and written responses.

Student Products:

· Interviews with family and friends that remember the events of the day.

· Students choose to read either Extremely Loud and incredibly Close or Spiderman issue #36.

· Students read these texts as homework; in class, they work in groups comparing and contrasting the two texts, as well as how each text compares with the political speeches and news reports, using History, Emotion, and the Body:Mourning in Post-9/11 Fiction and Literature after 9/11 as tools.

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