Charles Smith
ENG 112B
Dr. Mary Warner
Fall 2011
11-29-11
The Not So Innocent Bystander: A Matter of Individual Choice
Many adolescents in high school are so
compelled by the desire to belong and the fear of being identified as other by
their peer community they make devastating choices in order to identify
themselves as members of the accepted majority, choices that can have permanent
consequences for those who do not fit the mold and fall under the labels of
outsider, weak, or different. The image of a bully or group of bullies
roaming the halls of a high school in search of that hapless victim who will,
for a brief moment, provide a means of affirming strength, position, and
belonging is nothing new. However,
with the introduction of technology and social media the act of bullying has
been amplified to a whole new level, and those who find themselves on the
receiving end of such behavior find little respite. A study commissioned by CNN�s Anderson
Cooper 360 in Conjunction with UC Davis sociologists recently concluded,
Aggression
spreads through the social network, as kids adopt aggressive
behaviors from their friends. Most (80%) aggressive incidents are not reported to adults,
primarily because kids do not feel like adults will be helpful. In the majority (77%) of
aggressive incidents, peer bystanders did not intervene, though ultimately 43%
of students were named as having intervened at least once (Faris
& Felmlee 1).
This unit of study attempts to
demonstrate through music, poetry, drama and fiction that such behavior can
only exist when those who have the power to stop it remain silent. The following diagram (Figure 1) for the
Cycle of Bullying illustrates clearly the notion bullies draw their strength
from influencing followers or from relying on the idea that those observers who
witness such acts are more likely to remain silent on the fringes rather than
risk having attention fall upon them. The goal of this unit is to provide
teens with examples which take them from the dangers of remaining silent and surrendering
their individuality to a crowd or group to the power of making a choice to take
a stand and be heard. Teens can be
shown the important messages without doing so from the soapbox of didacticism,
and they need to know they possess the ability to say, �We will not participate
in the ridicule of others.� Hopefully
teens will see their actions and their choices can break the Cycle of Bullying
and help to create a community which celebrates the diversity of the individual
as diagramed in figure 2.
| Figure 1 | Figure 2 |
 |
 |
I
chose Antigone by Sophocles as the
centerpiece of the unit, a classic piece of drama which
celebrates the convictions of one who chooses to stand against society
and the popular opinion in order to honor the outcast. As part of our reading of this play,
students will reimagine it in the context of a modern movie, bringing the
socially relevant themes of the play into a place in which participants in the
class can more effectively draw parallels to their own experiences and those
experiences presented in the works of Contemporary Realistic Fiction which make
up the rest of the unit.
Unit Introduction
The video �Make It Stop: September�s Children� by Rise Against, a video created in
response to a string of teen suicides which occurred
in September of 2010, will serve as the introduction to the unit. Though the images in the video are
shocking and bold, they present the core themes of the unit in a manner teens
will identify, a manner that will thereby lend legitimacy to the overall
unit. The video was created as part
of the It Gets Better Project, an international campaign to create acceptance
and address teen depression and suicide caused by bullying. Once students watch the video, they will
be given the following sustained silent writing prompt.
�Have you ever witnessed an act of
bullying? How did watching it make
you feel? Did you intervene? If yes, what compelled you to do
so? If you did not, what prevented
you from doing so?�
Building
upon the video and the writing prompt, the class will engage in a discussion
about the social dynamics of the individual versus the group and how such a
dynamic influences the manner in which people treat one another.
A Novel / Case Study in the Dangers of
Surrendering Individuality
As
a transition into the next module of this unit of study, the class will read
William Carlos Williams� poem �The Crowd at the Ball Game.� In his poem, Williams uses the context
of a baseball game to examine the lure and threatening power of the crowd
mentality and how it transforms the individual. This theme will be brought to the
surface through a close reading of the poem followed by classroom
discussion. Students should be able
to grasp the dangers alluded to in the poem especially in light of recent
events involving sports violence.
The
Wave by Morton Rhue
(aka Todd Strasser)
For a more in depth examination of this
theme, students will read and discuss The
Wave written by Todd Strasser under the pen name
Morton Rhue, a novel based upon a true incident that
took place at Cubberly High School in Palo Alto in
1967. The book is about a World
History teacher who attempts to provide his students with a lesson on how easy
it is to surrender one�s individuality to a group mentality when under the
pressure to conform. Although the
teacher�s original intent is to provide his students with a working model of
fascism, he quite literally shows them how quickly the group mentality can
dominate a high school, which is exactly why this novel fits so nicely towards
the beginning of this unit of study.
Because the book presents such a stark representation of themes,
students will find it much easier to identify similar themes in the works that
are to follow.
Synopsis
The Wave is sweeping through the entire
school. What started as an
experiment in Ben Ross�s history class is taking on a mind of its own. Students who thought they were free individuals have become
dominated by The Wave, and its salutes and slogans – Strength
Through Discipline, Strength Through Community, and Strength Through Action --
are everywhere. Only Laurie and a
few of her friends recognize the danger in The Wave – but can they stop
it before it goes too far?
Based on a true incident in a high
school in California, this chilling story shows how easily people
can be swayed by the powerful forces of group pressure.
• Rhue (Description from back cover)
Pearson
provides a wide variety of writing prompts and discussion topics in the Penguin
Reader Teacher�s Guide for The Wave,
and this lesson can easily be extended using those resources. However, this lesson will incorporate
two assignments I have created as suggestions for teaching this novel to
teens. .
Character
Diaries – The class will be divided into four groups, each representing a
major character in the novel – David, Laurie, Robert, and Mr. Ross. As students read the book, the members
of each group will maintain a diary written from the perspective of their
respective characters. Once the
class has finished the novel, each group will work to create a presentation
based on their character's reaction to and point of view towards the events which transpired in the book.
Writing
Prompt – Students will write a brief essay based upon the following
prompt.
The Wave�s slogans are Strength Through Discipline, Strength
Through Community, and Strength Through Action. If each of the underlined words is a
positive goal to which people should aspire, what went wrong, and why did the
group ultimately fail to deliver on this promise?
Ron
Jones Video –
Students will watch a video of a presentation by Ron Jones on the 30th
anniversary of his original classroom experiment. Seeing the real person responsible for
the events depicted in the novel, students will realize two goals, as
identified in the Exeter Study, of Contemporary Realistic Fiction clearly
present within the book, these events are indeed plausible, and they happened
at a school in the Bay Area in the not too distant past.
This
module will conclude with a discussion of the character of Laurie and what it
takes for a person to stand against group pressure. The character of Laurie parallels that
of Antigone in the centerpiece module which is to
follow, so the classroom discussion serves as a fitting prelude to the play.
Making Antigone and Creating a Bridge to the Classics
This
module will require a brief introduction to classical Greek tragedy, which can
be accomplished in one or two class sessions. The lesson should include a basic
overview of drama as described in The
Poetics to include an explanation of how the Chorus functions as the voice
of public opinion in the play.
Antigone by
Sophocles
Under
the section titled �Why I Should Care,� the editors of the accompanying study
guide to this edition of the play offer the following argument for the social
relevancy of Sophocles� classical work.
Antigone matters because it wrestles
with civil disobedience. Remember how Ismene asks
Antigone to just forget about burying their brother�s body (which, according to
the king's latest law, is an act punishable by death) and to instead marry the
king�s dreamy son and live happily ever after? Antigone isn't willing to forget
her brother. She sees burying her brother as a moral imperative, which
supersedes human-created laws. And she's not the only person who has
courageously placed morals over state laws.
Reach into the depths of the history
room in your mind. You have lots of modern examples of people who have chosen
to fight for justice rather than preserve their own safety. Consider Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. or Gandhi, both advocates of civil disobedience and peaceful
demonstrations, who were assassinated as a result of their fights against
oppression. Or think about Nelson Mandela, who risked years in jail to stand up
against the apartheid government in South Africa.
Antigone chooses to express her
dissatisfaction with what she believes to be the unethical new regime of King
Creon by burying her brother's body. Antigone resolves to sacrifice her own
life in the service of a greater justice. It's this kind of almost superhuman
resolve that changes the course of history, and that's something that we can
admire equally in the 5th century B.C. and the 21st century A.D.
• Sophocles (Kindle Locations 571-2)
Antigone�s actions as described in
these lines stand as a lasting example of the power of the
individual to make a choice and act on behalf of
one who has been deemed an outcast by his society. Polyneices� body
is cast aside as food for carrion, and King Creon refuses any attempts to
perform a proper burial. Although
others see the unjust nature of Creon�s edict, they will not speak out against
the king for fear of persecution.
Only Heaman and Teiresias
attempt to sway Creon, and the first will pay with his life while the second can
only inform of the tragedy to follow.
All of the choices which underscore the entire unit of
study can be found within this play. Creon chooses to bully his subjects, and
they choose to accept that treatment.
But the most impactful choice is the one made by Antigone to stand in
opposition of Creon�s edict. Once
students have completed reading the play, they will undertake a project
designed to bring its characters and themes into the students� own sphere of
reference.
The Movie Project - MAKING THE MOVIE ANTIGONE
The
class will be divided into small groups of about 5 or 6 students each. Groups will complete the following
assignment.
The
play Antigone has been read and performed for over 2,000 years. Some productions are faithful to the
Greek text, and others have been radically modernized. In 1944, Anouilh, a French playwright,
rewrote Sophocles' play and set it in Nazi-occupied Paris. This modernized drama emphasized the
theme of the conflict between moral beliefs and autocratic power that was
reflected in the politics of the time. In the 1960's, a critic compared
Antigone's act of rebellion with acts of civil disobedience that occurred as
part of the civil rights movement. In the
Your
role:
Imagine
that the members of your group are the producers of a movie of Antigone. Your film will be set in
modern day, but it must be faithful to the major themes and conflicts in the
play.
Your
task:
Create
a prospectus for the movie, which will be submitted to both major and smaller,
independent motion picture companies. Your prospectus must be professional in
appearance, and well organized (10 points) and include the following content:
Convincing
reasons why your remake of Sophocles' drama, Antigone, will be a popular
success. Discuss the major themes
and conflicts of your production and how they are relevant to a movie audience
of today. Make clear whether your
production is aimed at a mass audience, or to a smaller, more specialized
audience.20 points
Construct
a basic plot outline, including setting and characters 10 points
Costuming
notes - Visually present the most important costume of each of your major
characters. Accompany each picture
with an explanation of the effect you will be creating with this costume, the
source of the inspiration, and comments about the fabrics and colours.10 points
Music
notes. Explain what you want the
musical director to achieve in writing the score in terms of overall emotional
impact. List which particular scenes will be emphasized by powerful music and
state what emotion will be aroused by this music. 10 points
Create
an original script of what you consider to be the most significant scene in
your movie. Choose a scene which emphasizes the theme(s) and conflict(s) which
you have chosen to highlight in your movie.20 points
Create
a proposed movie poster, featuring the name of your film, the names of the actors
that you envision in the key roles.
Your poster should reflect your main theme(s) and conflict(s) and be
visually compelling.20 points.
TOTAL: 100 points
• Adopted from an original lesson created
by Judi Wyatt of the American School in Lima, Peru (Wyatt)
Whale
Talk by Chris Crutcher
Crutcher�s Novel rounds out this unit nicely
because T.J. offers teens a believable and familiar character – two qualities
identified in the Exeter Study as key elements to quality Contemporary
Realistic Fiction -- that has every reason to act out of rage and resentment
but instead makes a conscious choice to do otherwise, a choice often informed
and influenced by the support he receives from those who surround him, his
parents, Carly, Georgia, and Coach Simet. This book does not condescend to its
readers, and Crutcher draws upon his experiences as a
therapist to paint a world fraught with emotional, mental, and physical perils
for the teens that inhabit it.
However, the novel ultimately conveys a positive message of triumph and
social responsibility. A message of
hope delivered without the condescending tones of a didactic heavy handedness
also meets the requirements outlined in the Exeter Study. The assignments in this module are meant
to highlight the individual choices each character makes, so students
understand the power of the decisions they make towards how they treat others
or how they allow others to be treated.
Synopsis
There's
bad news and good news about the Cutter High School swim team. The bad news is
that they don't have a pool. The good news is that only one of them can swim
anyway.
A group of misfits brought together by T. J. Jones (the J is redundant) to find
their places in a school that has no place for them, the Cutter All Night
Mermen struggle to carve out their own turf. T. J. is convinced that a varsity
letter jacket--unattainable for most, exclusive, revered, the symbol (as far as
T. J. is concerned) of all that is screwed up at Cutter High--will be an
effective carving tool. He's right. He's also wrong.
Still, it's always the quest that counts. And the bus on which the Mermen
travel to swim meets--piloted by Icko, the permanent
resident of All, Night Fitness--soon becomes the cocoon inside which they
gradually allow themselves to talk, to fit, to bloom.
Chris Crutcher is in top form with a cast of
characters--adults, children, and teenagers--fighting for dignity in a world
where tragedy and comedy dance side by side, where a moment's inattention can
bring lifelong heartache, and where true acceptance is the only prescription
for what ails us.
• Courtesy of www.chriscrutcher.com
A
comparison in Characterization – After separating students into small
groups, they will receive the following instructions. Each of the characters in the following
pairs shares commonalities on some level with the other. Identify and discuss these common traits
within your group, then discuss why each character chooses to act in such a
different fashion than the other.
When you have finished, report your findings to the class.
T.J
& Rich Marshall
Chris
Coughlin & Mike Barbour
Coach
Benson & Coach Simet
Carly
& Alicia Marshall
Imagine
a Year in the Life – Imagine that you are maintaining a diary from the
perspective of one of the following characters for the year following the
events in the novel. How do you
imagine their choices impact their lives?
T.J Rich
Chris Mike
Andy Alicia
The
Diversity Board – On 3x5 cards students will anonymously write down one
insecurity or thing they would like to change about themselves. They will also write one accomplishment
or something that makes them feel good about themselves. The responses will be placed on a
bulletin board in the classroom, so students can visualize the diverse makeup
of the school community and understand that celebrating diversity leads to
acceptance, and acceptance create the type of environment in which bullies find
it difficult to act.
The �Perfect�
Ending
As
a close to this unit of study, the class will review the song and lyrics of �Perfect� by
Pink. This song promotes the idea
of acceptance and encourages perseverance in the face of those who attempt to
tear others down. It is a fitting
conclusion to the unit because it offers up a plea to the listeners to remember
that their imperfections define who they are as individuals and thereby make
them perfect.
Additional Works to Expand the Unit
These
YA novels would also work well as expansion pieces for this unit. Each one presents a scenario in which
individual(s) must deal with the forces of group pressure and endure the
consequences of refusing to support the popular opinion.
Anderson,
Laurie Halse, Speak,
New York, NY, Penguin Group, 1999, Print
Cormier, Robert, The
Chocolate War, New York, NY, Laurel Leaf, 1986, Print
Greene, Bette, The Drowning
of Stephen Jones, New York, NY, Laurel Leaf, 1997, Print
Hesse, Karen, Witness, New York, NY, Scholastic, 2003,
Print
Philbrick, Rodman, Freak the Mighty, New York, NY,
Scholastic, 2001, Print
Appendix
A
The Crowd at the Ball Game
By William Carlos Williams 1883–1963
William Carlos Williams
The crowd at the ball game
is moved uniformly
by a spirit of uselessness
which delights them—
all the exciting detail
of the chase
and the escape, the error
the flash of genius—
all to no end save beauty
the eternal—
So in detail they, the crowd,
are beautiful
for this
to be warned against
saluted and defied—
It is alive, venomous
it smiles grimly
its words cut—
The flashy female with her
mother, gets it—
The Jew gets it straight— it
is deadly, terrifying—
It is the Inquisition, the
Revolution
It is beauty itself
that lives
day by day in them
idly—
This is
the power of their faces
It is summer, it is the solstice
the crowd is
cheering, the crowd is laughing
in detail
permanently, seriously
without thought.
Appendix B
Pink - Perfect
Source: LYBIO.net
Made a wrong turn
Once or twice
Dug my way out
Blood and fire
Bad decisions
That�s alright
Welcome to my silly life
Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood
Miss �no way it�s all good�
It didn�t slow me down
Mistaken
Always second guessing
Underestimated
Look, I�m still around�
Pretty, pretty please
Don�t you ever, ever feel
Like your less than
Less than perfect
Pretty, pretty please
If you ever, ever feel
Like your nothing
You are perfect to me
You�re so mean
When you talk
About yourself
You are wrong
Change the voices
In your head
Make them like you
Instead
So complicated
Look how big you�ll make it
Filled with so much hatred
Such a tired game
It�s enough
I�ve done all i can think of
Chased down all my demons
see you same
Pretty, pretty please
Don�t you ever, ever feel
Like your less than
Less than perfect
Pretty, pretty please
If you ever, ever feel
Like your nothing
You are perfect to me
The world stares while i swallow the fear
The only thing i should be drinking is an ice cold
beer
So cool in lying and I tried tried
But we try too hard, it�s a waste of my time
Done looking for the critics, cuz they�re everywhere
They don�t like my genes, they don�t get my hair
Stringe ourselves and we do it all the time
Why do we do that?
Why do I do that?
Why do I do that?
Yeah,
Ooh, oh, pretty pretty pretty,
Pretty pretty please don�t you ever ever feel
Like you�re less then, less than perfect
Pretty pretty please if you ever ever
feel
Like you�re nothing you are perfect, to me
You�re perfect
You�re perfect
Pretty, pretty please don�t you ever ever feel like
you�re less then, less than perfect
Pretty, pretty please if you ever ever feel like
you�re nothing you are perfect to me
Works Cited
Crutcher, Chris, Whale Talk,
New York, NY, Harper Collins, 2001, ebook (Kindle
Edition)
Faris, Robert and Felmlee, Diane, �Social Networks and Aggression at the
Wheatley School,�
Davis, CA,
A Study by the Department of Sociology University of California at Davis,
2011,
Print
Jones, Ron, �Ron Jones on The Wave�
vol. 1, YouTube, 2008, Outspoken Ideas Channel, Video
Excerpt,
Web
Nilson, Alice Pace & Donelson,
Kenneth L., Literature for Today�s Young
Adults, Boston, MA,
Allyn & Bacon, 2008,
Print
P!nk performing �F**kin'
Perfect,� YouTube, (C) 2010 LaFace Records, a unit of
Sony Music
Entertainment,
Music Video, Web
Rhue, Morton (aka Todd Strasser), Essex,
UK, Heinemann New Windmills, 1991, Print
Rise Against performing Make It Stop
(September's Children). YouTube, (C) 2011 DGC
Records,
Music Video, Web
Sophocles. Antigone: Complete Text with Integrated Study Guide, Sunnyvale, CA Shmoop
University,
Inc., 2009, ebook (Kindle Edition.)
The Wave Teacher�s Notes,
Penguin Readers Teachers Support Program, 2008,
http://www.ngsp.com/Portals/0/Downloads/HSINZ.T3.TG.TheWave.pdf , Web
Warner, Mary L, Adolescents in the Search for Meaning, Lanham, MD, The Scarecrow
Press
Inc.,
2006, Print
William Carlos Williams, �The crowd at
the ball game� from The Collected Poems of William
Carlos
Williams, Volume I, 1909-1939, edited by Christopher MacGowan.
New York,
NY,
New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1938, Print
Wyatt, Judi, �Making the Movie Antigone�, A Lesson Plan, Outta Ray's Head Lesson plans,
handouts, and
ideas.
A collection
of lesson plans with handouts by Ray Saitz and many
contributors;
all of the lessons have been used and refined in the classroom.
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rayser3/litera1.htm#antigone,
Web
Powerpoint Slides
