Introduction

People can often recall certain events in their lives if the event is especially historic or traumatic.  People will want to tell their stories over and over agian in order to make sense of the event.  Today you will be working in groups of five to read some narratives from around the world written by people who witnessed or were affected by an historic national event.  You are reading these narratives in preparation to writing your own 9/11 narrative.

The Process

1.  You will be assigned to work in a group of 5 students.
2.  One person in each group will quietly read aloud the narratives.
3.  As the others in your group listen, they must pay particular attention to      whether or not the narrative has stong active verbs. 
4.  Students should write the verbs on a handout. 
5.  See if you can call to mind visual images from the narratives.
6.  Note where this occurs in the narrative.
7.  If you can not visualize images, please note that on your handout.
 

Group 1 will be reading narratives of prisoners who were liberated during WWII.

Access http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/phistories/
 

Click on the above site.  Then click on "Liberation" and read the narratives of: 

Henry Fletcher Aronsen
Gerda Weissmann Klein
Kurt Klein
Alan Zimm
Dr. Harold Herbst

As a group, decide which one is the most effective and moving narrative. Be 
ready to explain your decision at the end of class today.

Group 2 will be reading narratives of Japanese civilians who were living in Hiroshima when the United States dropped the first atom bomb.

Access  http://inicom.com/hibakusha/

Click on the above site, then read these three narratives:

Akira Onogi
Akihiro Takahashi
Kinue Tomoyasu

As a group, decide which one is the most effective and moving narrative. Be 
ready to explain your decision at the end of class today.

Group 3 will be reading two narratives of the attacks on the United States on 9/11.

Access: 

http://911digitalarchive.org/embracing_the_memory/french.html

http://911digitalarchive.org/embracing_the_memory/holley.html

As a group, decide which one is the most effective and moving narrative. Be 
ready to explain your decision at the end of class today.

Evaluation

Each of you will be evaluated on:

1.  how well you work together in your assigned groups.
2.  your list of verbs.
3.  your instances where you were able to visualize images. 
(If you were not abe to do visualize,  make sure you mark this on your sheet.)

You will get 10 points for each catagory, for a total of 40 points for todays lesson.

Group	Listens attentively	Does not interrupt others	Verb List	Instances of Visual Imagery	Total    Score
1 Student A Student B Student C Student D Student E
2            Student F            Student G            Student H            Student I            Student J
3 Student K Student L Student M Student N Student O

Conclusion

Writing a good narrative is more than just listing the chronology of an event.  Good narrative writing  involves the use of carefully chosen words to make your reader visualize scenes.  It invloves using verbs that show action. Good writing also provokes an emotional response in your reader.  Based on these narratives, what will you be sure to include in your narrative of your experiences of September 11th, 2001? 

Credits & References
http://www.designerweb.com/cgi-bin/ani/imageFolio.cgi?direct=Books_And_Papers&img=0 
Holocaust Images
www.geocities.com/.../ holocaust/holocaust.html