The War!

I definitely could see how I could use any of the videos from the PBS podcast series "The War". In English, students usually complete a war unit and read various books that relate to wars throughout history whether it be The Things They Carried, The Kite Runner, Biloxi Blues or Black Hawk Down. I would use any of these podcasts to supplement the readings. There are funny podcasts dealing with how soldiers had to watch their language during war time (Lapse into Bad Language).e) and then there are some that are heart wrenching tales of the war describing how one man felt when he knew he had actually killed a man the first time(I Killed Men). It doesn't necessarily matter that students may be studying events from other wars because the stories told in the PBS podcasts can relate back to almost any other war that occurred throughout history. In addition to using the podcasts in a war unit as supplementary texts, I could also use them as "pen drops"; have students view the podcasts, and spend 5 minutes writing their reaction to it. A small group discussion would then follow in order to get students' thoughts flowing. I could also see that these podcasts can tie into a war unit in a social studies class!