Erica Margaret
Dec 31, 20231 min
Updated: Jan 3
The Practical EnglishTeacher is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
These materials were created in the aftermath of Sandy Hook. I would not recommend using these materials with students younger than 11th or 12th grade. Basically we looked at some texts about gun control in the US, as well as articles about parents who have struggled to get help for their struggling with mental health. We then analyzed the NRA's spokesperson's (LaPierre) response to what happened at Sandy Hook elementary. Lastly, students had to take all that they had read/thought about and turn it into a newsletter where they discussed how the nation should move forward after Sandy Hook.
Newsletter Assignment (In this, I asked kids to create a newsletter answering the question: How, as a nation, should we move forward after Sandy Hook.)
Potential Full Length Texts if You Wanted to Develop This Unit
I did have kids read Columbine by Dave Cullen one year. We sent home permission slips for that to happen. I didn't have the stomach to do it a second year, but here are some texts that would work in the AP 11 classroom if you wanted to study a full length text and study gun violence in the US.