Gun Control Materials-AP Lang & Comp Materials

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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.

• Media Journal

• Gun Control Background Articles

• Nature vs. Nurture Reflection

• "I am Adam Lanza's Mother" Article

• Lesson for NRA Response to Newtown

• NRA Response to Newtown (LaPierre Press Conference Speech)

• NRA Response to Newtown

• 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.)

• Newsletter Simple Rubric

• Newsletter Peer Review and Peer Feedback Rubric

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.

Columbine by Dave Cullen	Empire Falls by Richard Russo	You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg
Nonfiction. Narrates the events leading up the the Columbine tragedy.	A small town in upstate Maine is almost completely controlled by one wealthy family. This is the story of how the townspeople and the family intersect and engage with each other over many generations.	You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg focuses on the neighbors who work and live around the local mall. The mall is run down and about to be shut down and it is the story of where everyone will go next with their lives.