LESSON PLANS AND ACTIVITIES ACTIVITY 1 Have students compare and contrast two different artworks by the same artist. Is the subject matter the same or different? What emotions do you sense in the works? What are your indicators (texture, tone, colors, objects of work, title…) of the artist’s message and/or feelings? ---Related to this, have students compare Death Takes a Soldier and The Delivery, two paintings depicting death by William Myles. Do you think the artist’s perspective on death has changed? What do the paintings have in common, what differentiates them? ACTIVITY 2 Using the artworks as references, have the students write a letter home as though they were a soldier, describing their experiences, their feelings, the war itself and even Vietnam. Have them concentrate on using images from the artwork and their interpretations of them. ACTIVITY 3 Ask students to find artworks that they feel depict certain emotions (such as anger, pain, suffering, relief), and explain why they felt the selected piece evoked these feelings. ACTIVITY 4 Have students discuss how certain subjects are portrayed in the artworks they saw, such as death, nature, groups and individuals—benign or malignant, divisive or unifying, safe or dangerous? ACTIVITY 5 Have students look at a few of the artworks WITHOUT looking at the titles, then write their feelings and responses to the works. Tell them to make sure they note distinguishing features of the works so they can find the same ones again later. Then have them go back to the pieces they selected, read the titles, and look at the pieces again. Did their impressions or feelings about the works change after they saw the names of them? What does the title tell them about the piece, the artist? Can they reconcile the title with the artwork they initially felt they saw? Why or why not? ACTIVITY 6 Have the students write an essay on how they can relate to the Vietnam Vets, particularly from the vantage point of their youth: do they view war as glorious? Would they go to war now? Would they have then? Do they think any life events, such as a break-up, could lead them to become soldiers? Do they think death is a far-off event, that their youth renders them invincible?		TEACHER PACKET CONTENTS Chronology of the Vietnam War Roll Call: Important Names and Events in the Vietnam War Teaching Aid: Compare and Contrast Lesson Plans and Activities Recommended Reading and Media Lessons Learned: The Impact of the Vietnam War Today and the War on Terrorism Map of Southeast Asia in the 1960s Bibliography