Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Essential Question
How can fictional stories be used as a representation of reality or real life?
Learning Target
What are the different ways that bravery can be exemplified in someones life?
Objectives and Assessments
Students will be able to.
o Verify different characteristics of bravery and courage.
Teaching: Activities
The goal of this is so that students can see how the themes of bravery, courage,
and perseverance are reflected in different ways:
Childhood
Runner
Solider
Forgiver
Survivor
Students will be taking notes interactively, using the Cornell Notetaking
Guide
CORNELL NOTES
SHEET
QUESTIONS/THEMES
Name: ________________________________________
Class: ______________________ Topic: ________________
Date: _______/ _____/ ________
Period ______
NOTES
SUMMARY: Write 4 or more sentences describing specific learning from these notes.
____________________________________________________________________________
______________
____________________________________________________________________________
______________
____________________________________________________________________________
______________
___________________________________________________________________________
Split off into 6 groups of 4 students. (25 min total)
o How to split: Playing Cards
o Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Each group will be given one of the following excerpts:
Aces - The Soldier (Rose)
The Bird called for the work party to line up before him and ordered the thieves to stand
before the group. He then walked down the line, pulling out Wade, Tinker, Louie, and two other
officers and making them stand with the thieves. He announced that these officers were
responsible for the behavior of the thieves. His punishment: Each listed man would punch each
officer and thief in the face, as hard as possible.
The chosen men looked at the line of enlisted men in terror: there were some one hundred of
them. Any man who refused to carry out the order, the Bird said, would meet the same fate as the
officers and thieves. He told the guards to club any men who didnt strike the chosen men with
maximum force.
The enlisted men had no choice. At first, they tried to hit softly, but the Bird studied each
blow. When a man didnt punch hard enough, the Bird would begin shrieking and clubbing him,
joined by the guards. Then the errant man would be forced to hit the victim repeatedly until the
Bird was satisfied. Louie began whispering to each man to get it over with, and hit hard. Some of
the British men whispered, Sorry, sir, before punching Wade.
For the first few punches, Louie stayed on his feet. But his legs soon began to waver, and he
collapsed. He pulled himself upright, but fell again with the next punch, and then the next.
Eventually, he blacked out. When he came to, the Bird forced men to resume punching him,
screaming, Next! Next! Next! In Louies whirling mind, the voice began to sound like the
tramping of feet.
The sun sank. The beating went on for some two hours, the Bird watching with fierce pleasure.
When every enlisted man had done his punching, the Bid ordered the guards to club each one
twice in the head with a kendo stick.
The victims had to be carried to the barracks. Louies face was so swollen that for several days
he could barely open his mouth. By Wades estimate, each man had been punched in the face
some 220 times.
Several minutes passed. Louie stood, eyes on the Bird. The beam felt heavier and heavier, the
pain more intense. The Bird watch Louie, amused by his suffering, mocking him. Wade and
Tinker went on with their work, stealing anxious glances at the scene across the compound. Was
has looked at the camp clock when Louie had first lifted the beam. He became more and more
conscious of how much time was passing.
Five more minutes passed, then ten. Louies arms began to waver and go numb. His body
shook. The beam tipped. The guard jabbed Louie with his gun, and Louie straightened up. Less
and less blood was reaching his head, and he began to feel confused, his thoughts gauzy, the
camp swimming around him. He felts his consciousness slipping, his mind loosing adhesion,
until all he knew was a single though: He cannot break me. Across the compound the Bird had
stopped laughing.
Time ticked on, and still Louie remained in the same position, conscious and yet not, the beam
over his head, his eyes on the birds face, enduring long past when his strength should have given
out. Something went on inside of me, he said later. I dont know what is was.
There was a flurry of motion ahead of him, the Bird leaping down from the roof was charging
towards him, enraged. Wantabes fist rammed onto Louies stomach, and Louie folded over in
agony. The beam dropped, striking Louies head. He flopped to the ground.
When he woke, he didnt know where he was or what had happened. He saw Wade and some
other POWs, along with a few guards, crouched around him. The Bird was gone. Louie had no
memory of the last several minutes, and has no idea how long hed stood there. But Wade had
looked at the clock when Louie had fallen.
Louie had held the beam for thirty-seven minutes.
Wantanabe (The Bird): The prisoner of war camp guard that hated Louie and singled
him out.
Yukichi Kano: A Japanese guard who was her interpreter and befriend many POW.
Louies hotel room door, a grave expression on his face. He told Louie that some of his rival
coaches were ordering their runners to sharpen their spikes and slash him. Louie dismissed the
warning, certain that no one would do such a thing deliberately.
He was wrong. Halfway through the race, just as Louie was about to move for the lead, several
runners shouldered around him, boxing him in. Louie tried repeatedly to break loose, but he
couldnt get around the other men. Suddenly, the man beside him swerved in and stomped on his
foot, impaling Louies toe with his spike. A moment later, the man ahead began kicking
backward, cutting both of Louies shins. A third man elbowed Louies chest so hard that he
cracked Louies rib. The crowd gasped.
Bleeding and in pain, Louie was trapped. For a lap and a half, he ran in the cluster of men,
unable to get free, restraining his stride to avoid running into the man ahead. At last, as he neared
the final turn, he saw a tiny gap open before him. He burst through, blew past the race leader,
and, with his show torn open, shins streaming blood, and chest aching, won easily.
He slowed to a halt, bitter and frustrated. When his coach asked him how he thought he had
gone, Louie replied that he couldnt have beaten 4:20.
The race time was posted on the board. From the stands came a sudden Woooo! Louie had run
the mile in 4:08.3. It was the fastest NCAA mile in history and the fifth fastest outdoor mile ever
run. Louie had missed the world record by 1.9 seconds. His time would stand as the NCAA
record for fifteen years.
ended the beatings by running away or succumbing to tears but he refused to do either. You
could beat him to death, said Sylvia, and he wouldnt say ouch or cry. He just put his hands
in front of his face and took it.
Characters and vocabulary from this section
Louie The main character of the story, an athlete and veteran.
Pete, Sylvia, Virginia Louies siblings. Pete was the perfect brother.
___________________________________________________________________________