Lesson Plan

The Things they Carried: Directed Reading Thinking Activity

Curated and Reviewed by Lesson Planet

To generate interest in and enable readers to connect to The Things They Carried, class members write about what they carry—both tangible and intangible things. The class then makes a list of these things and compares the list to things the soldiers carried.

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Instructional Ideas
  • Project an image of a typical military backpack, a list of the items usually included, and the weight of these items. Then, load a backpack with the same weight and ask class members to don the backpack
Classroom Considerations
  • Carefully consider the background of class members and the attitudes of your community before beginning the novel
Pros
  • A rationale for the activity and step-by-step directions are included in the packet
Cons
  • None