BEFORE READING
Motivation
Raise your hands if you remember where you were and what you were
doing on the morning of September 11th, 2001. Students raise their
hands. (Student
A), tell us what you remember. I was with my mom on the way to
school and we heard something on the radio. (Student B), how about
you; What do you remember? I was eating breakfast and my dad saw
it on the morning news. I'm guessing alot of us have memories
similar to those. I remember driving to school - I was a sophomore
in high school - and hearing something on Rock108 about a plane crashing
into the World Trade Center. They were actually making fun of the incident
on The Big Show, Rock108's morning program. When I arrived at my first
hour class, my teacher had the television on and I immediately realized
the event was no laughing matter. Soon after, my classmates and I watched
as the second airliner hit, the Pentagon was struck, Flight 91 went
down, and the Towers eventually fell. I recall at football practice
that afternoon; their were no jet tails in the sky, you see, they'd
grounded every plane in the country. I was a strange sight to see.
Prior Knowledge
Who here can tell me the name of the organization responsible for 9-11? Hamas;
Hezbollah. (Al Queda) Who is the leader of that organization? Saddam
Hussein. (Osama Bin Laden)
Can anybody tell me more about these terrorists? Muslims; Student visa
holders. Where
did they come from? Middle East; Afghanistan; Iran. What was their
motivation? Money; Hate; Religion.
Purpose
Today you are going to read a variety of texts about 9-11.
These texts come from speeches made by the leaders of either side involved
in September 11, 2001; U.S. President George W. Bush and Al-Queda leader
Osama Bin Laden. The purpose of reading these texts is to be informed
about the opposing view points and to practice identifying supporting
points for a position - in this case with the position already determined.
Strategy Instruction
Journaling & Supporting Points Organizer
After reading the text assigned to you, you will write a short
paragraph (3-4 sentences) explaining how you feel about the text you
read and the issue with which it dealt. After everyone has completed
their paragraphs, we will break into two groups (each group will
have read one text or the other, not both). Each group will then identify
supporting points for either the United States' retaliation for 9-11(President
Bush) or Al-Queda's attacks on 9-11(Osama Bin Laden). These supporting
points will be recorded using the provided supporting points organizer.
In your groups you will fill out the supporting points on the side
of Choosing
Sides on 9-11 that pertains to your text. Here is an example of
how to do that: Organizer Example. [TEACHER:
Show example and talk through each step, clicking when needed] 1
- If
we were debating the issue of abortion we would choose either the Pro-Life
side or Pro-Choice side. 2 - Next we would list our
supporting reasons on the side we chose. 3 - And finally,
for the third step, which you will do later as part of your homework,
you would list the opposing side's supporting reasons to help evaluate
your own position.
After we've completed our activity for today, I'll assign your homework
for tonight; believe me, you'll find the assignment much easier if
you listen and contribute throughout class.
DURING READING Texts:
A. National Archives
and Records Administration. (2003). Public Papers of the Presidents
of the United States: George W. Bush - July 1 to December 31,
2001. Washington: United States Government Printing Office.
- Address to the Nation on the Terrorist Attacks: September
11, 2001 (1099-1100)
- Address to the Nation Announcing Strikes Against Al Qaida
Training Camps and Taliban Military Installations in Afghanistan: October
7, 2001. (1201-1202)
Readability: Flesch-Kincaid rates these documents
as 7.1 grade reading level. The semantics of these texts are appropriate
for the 7th grade reading level. However, the syntactic characteristics
of these texts are far more difficult. They include a variety of
complex sentences that may leave many 7th grade readers confused.
Schematically, the texts would be over the heads of the average 7th
grade reader. Graphically, the texts are completely unstimulating;
there are no pictures. Because they are purely scripts, these texts
may be boring or appear daunting to some students. Finally, the text
is in paragraph form and relatively short. This makes the text structure
suitable for an exceptional 7th grade reader. Although, a few of
the other cues raise the reading level considerably. High school
students, the target for my lesson, would have a far better chance
of connecting with the material and understanding the prior knowledge
needed to work with the texts. I rate these texts somewhere around
10.0 grade reading level due to their syntactic complexity and demanding
schematics.
B. Lawrence, Bruce,
ed. (2005). Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama Bin
Laden. London: Verso.
- To Our Brothers in Pakistan: September 24, 2001 (100-102)
- The Winds of Faith: October 7, 2001 (103-105)
Readability: Flesch-Kincaid rates these documents
as 12.0 grade reading level. I would argue that this rating is inflated
by Bin Laden's use of long, however, simple sentences. I would support
a rating nearer the 10th grade level simply due to relatively difficult
semantics. There are a considerable number of vocabulary words that
students will be able to learn, but, all the same, will have to remember.
As I said, the syntactic characteristics of the texts are relatively
easy. The texts are similar to the Presidential Addresses in that
there are no positive graphic cues and that the text structure is
easy to follow. Schematically, the texts require a vast amount of
prior knowledge. However, with proper pre-teaching, the students
would be able to draw upon previous lessons to analyze these texts.
C. Selected articles concerning the perspectives of
September 11, 2001:
- Wikimedia Foundation Inc. (2006). September
11, 2001 attacks. Retrieved November 27, 2006, from
Wikipedia: The Free Encylcopedia Web Site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,_2001_attacks
- Wikimedia Foundation Inc. (2006). The War on Terrorism. Retrieved
November 27, 2006, from Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia Web Site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,_2001_attacks#The_War_on_Terrorism
- Wikimedia Foundation Inc. (2006). Motive. Retrieved
November 27, 2006, from Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia Web Site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,_2001_attacks#Motive
Readability: Flesch-Kincaid rates these articles
at 12.0 grade reading level. I would argue this rating is heavily
inflated by the inclusion of several middle-eastern names. While
students in an American classroom may have difficulty pronouncing
these names, mispronouncing the names will not hamper a student's
understanding of the text. The symantics and sytactics are simple
and well below a 12th grade reading level. There are no positive
graphic cues but the text is in simple paragraphs with a small series
of lists towards the end. Schematically, students will require some
prior knowledge, but, assuming we've completed the preceeding lessons,
students will be familiar with the content.
Text Structure:
A. Narrative; Presidential Addresses to the Nation;
live speeches.
B. Narrative; Released Statements; transciptual record.
C. Expository; Description:
The articles for the differentiation text are borrowed from
Wikimedia's online encyclopedia, Wikimedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
They list and briefly elaborate on the historical facts about September
11, 2001, the U.S. War on Terror, and Al-Queda's motive for the attacks
on 9-11.
Vocabulary:
A. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United
States: George W. Bush - July 1 to December 31,
2001.
Intelligence community:
Various
governement agencies dedicated to gathering intelligence about
anything and everything; heavily focused on obtaining international
intelligence, including terrorist activities.
Example: President Bush, the military, and many other
government entities often consult information gathered, compiled,
and/or analyzed by the intelligence community.
Harbor:
A place to take up rest; to provide safe-haven.
Example: Afghanistan's Taliban government has created a harbor
for Al-Queda.
Al Queda:
(Arabic) The law, the foundation, the
base; name universally refering to Osama Bin Laden's terrorist network.
Example: Al Queda has been credited with responsibilty for the
attacks on September 11, 2001.
Taliban: (Arabic) Religious students; political
regime in control of Afganistan at the time of September 11th, 2001;
extremist Sunni Muslims.
Example: The United States will act to punish Al-Queda and their
friends, the Taliban.
B. Messages to the World: Statements of Osama Bin
Laden.
Karachi: The capital city of Pakistan.
Example: There were riots in Karachi concerning the fighting in Afghanistan.
Jihad: (Arabic) A holy war taken as a sacred
duty by Muslims.
Example: Osama Bin Laden declared a jihad against
the United States.
Mujahadin: (Arabic) A military force of Muslim
guerilla warriors engaged in a jihad.
Example: Osama Bin Laden called upon the Mujahadin to attack the United
States.
al-Jazeera: The primary regional media outlet
in the Muslim world.
Example: The message was broadcast on al-Jazeera.
Umma: The Islamic community.
Example: Our umma is strong and must continue in its fight.
C. Selected articles concerning perspectives
of September 11, 2001.
Any students struggling with vocabulary will have the option of
viewing the articles online via the links given in the above citations.
After clicking on difficult or unfamiliar words, students are redirected
to a short dictionarial explanation of that word. Links
to Articles
Content:
Supporting content provided in prior lessons.
AFTER READING
Questioning:
Discussion of Questions - Teacher Facilitated
Ok...I'm
going to have members of each group read their supporting points. First,
lets hear from the group that read President Bush's speeches. Al-Queda
attacked us on 9-11; we must take the fight to the terrorists; we must
protect our way of life, democracy, and freedom. Good. Those are
all reasons that President Bush makes clear in his speeches. Now, lets
hear from the group that read Osama Bin Laden's speeches. The United
States is full of infidels; the United States in Christian; George
Bush is a crusader. Again,
all of those are reasons made very clear in Bin Laden's speeches.
[TEACHER: Be sure that any students who've taken advantage of the
differentiation text are included in a group and have an opportunity
to share any motives that they've been able to pull from the text.]
Now that we've shared some reasons and possible motives for either
side's actions, lets look a bit deeper into this issue. I want to
introduce to you some thoughts that I'd like you to keep in mind when
doing your homework over the next couple of nights.
- Those of you who
read the Al-Queda Perspective portion of Perspectives of
September 11, 2001, should already have noticed this one: In
1998, Osama Bin Laden and other prominent Islamic extremists issued
a fatwa (Islam's
version of an ultimatum) that refused to act peacefully
unless; a) the
U.S. ended its support of Israel, b) the
U.S. ended its military presence on the Arabian Peninsula,
and c) the
U.S. ended aggressions towards Iraq (at the time we
were bombing Iraq for not allowing United Nations inspectors
into the country). Does anybody stay up-to-date with
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Yes. Whose
side would you say the United States has taken the
majority of the time, especially when looking from
a Muslim perspective? Israel's. Okay,
so we've failed to comply to Bin Laden's first demand.
The final two currently go hand-in-hand. Anybody, what
land mass does Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and
several other Muslim countries lie on? The Arabian
Peninsula.
Yep, and guess who has military establishments in each
of those countries? The United
States. You got it. And, considering the current
situation in Iraq, would it be that hard for Muslims,
especially those who already dislike us, to say that
we continue to have a military presence on the Arabian
Penisula and have not yet ended our aggressions towards
the Iraqi people? No. Well
then, would it appear, especially from an Islamic extremist's
perspective, that we are blatently violating, possibly
even ignoring, the 1998 fatwa -
a statement, by the way, that Muslims take very seriously?
Think about it. Quickly jot down any ideas you'd like
to remember for your homework.
- Also, President Bush speaks at length about protecting
our way of life; our democracy and our freedoms. I would endorse
that idea, and, personally, I'd support any act aimed towards
preserving any of the many wonderful aspects of America. However,
that doesn't mean we should close our minds to how others perceive
us and how they feel about us. Anybody, if you were looking at
Americas society from the outside in, and heard us talking about
our way of life, what would you think of? What would come to mind
as the American way of life? The
right to vote; freedom of speech; etc. Yes, and those are
all great aspects of our country, but lets look closer. Everyone,
put yourself into the shoes of a young Muslim adult, about your
age; your father was killed fighting the Russians before you
were born (remember, Russia may not be the U.S., but they are
caucasian and they are Christian; pretty similar to the U.S.).
Okay, you, your mother, and your three younger siblings all sleep
in the same room of your two room house, that, by the way, bears
the scars of decades of pounding mortar shells and piercing assault
rifle fire. Everyday you see fliers and newspapers filled with
images of Americans and other westerners dressed in fine clothing,
driving huge vehicles, gorging themselves on food, and living
in mansions with running water, air conditioning, and every other
amenity imaginable. You're, jealous, frustrated, depressed, angry,
and clinging dearly to religion as the only sure thing in your
life. Now, an old man stops you in the street, offers to feed
your family, provide them with a new home, and protect them from
any danger imaginable, if you'll simply dedicate your life and
energy to the jihad; to the holy war that Muhammad the prophet
instructed every good Muslim to participate in; to the holy war
that Allah - God himself has commissioned. [TEACHER: Pause] Think
about that. Sometimes we need to put ourselves in others shoes,
just to make sure we truly understand a situation.
[TEACHER: Be sure to tell students to raise their hands when responding
to statements or answering questions. Also, try to include the
majority of your students in the discussion so as to accurately assess
the absorbtion and understanding of content within the texts.
Closure:
Independent Reading & Writing Activity
For Friday, you will right a one page, double spaced reflection over
today's readings and activity. However, before you can write, you
must read the text pertaining to the other side of the issue. So,
if you read Osama Bin Laden's speeches in class today, you must read
President Bush's speeches before writing your reflection; and vis-versa.
[TEACHER: Be sure to explain to those students who took advantage
of the differentiation text, that they must simply read the other
half of the differentiation text before writing their reflection.
Also, remember to modify the assignment requirements if needed] After
reading the other side of the issue, you will fill out the blank
half of your Choosing Sides on 9-11 supporting points organizer.
The organizer will be turned in tomorrow at the beginning of class.
I will return those to you before you leave for use in writing your
reflection. So, two things: 1 - Choosing Sides on
9-11, due tomorrow at the beginning of class (make sure you've read
the appropriate texts); and 2 - a one page, double
spaced reflection over the texts and our subsequent discussion; be
sure the reflection includes your feelings on the issues we talked
about, and be sure to back those feelings up with reasons. I will
hand out the rubric for grading your reflections tomorrow at the
end of class.
Great job today! Way to hang in there; I know the readings can be
difficult and the discussion can be hard to think about. Make sure
you read the other text tonight and fill out you organizer. See you
tomorrow!
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