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Silent Discussion of Fahrenheit 9/11

Fahrenheit 9/11 elicits strong feelings of all kinds, and it will be a rare class where tension is absent after viewing the film. The challenge for teachers is to harness this energy and direct students toward a reasonable conversation. One strategy is the silent discussion. Through silent discussion, all class members are encouraged to respond to a series of quotes, questions or statements related to a piece of writing, class activity, or film. It offers time for student reflection, for students to form their own opinions and the writing space to express them openly. Silent discussion facilitates a deeper analysis of the film and its contents, while allowing students time to engage each other in thoughtful dialogue.

Materials and preparation:

1. Select 8-10 important questions, passages, direct quotes or statements related to the film. Use selections from the list below or generate them from student or teacher film notes. Passages should be thought-provoking and push students to expand or clarify their thinking. All quotes here are from Fahrenheit 9/11 unless otherwise noted:

"The military is an excellent option for young people of Flint" or (your community)...
"We wage war to save a civilization." President George W. Bush
Jim McDermott (D-WA) said, "You can make people do anything when they're afraid." Should Americans be afraid? What should they be afraid of?
"Al-Qaeda didn't make a decision to send my son to Iraq. Ignorance... People think they know, but they don't. I didn't know and now I've lost my son..." Lila Lipscomb Ñ How do you know?
Should we give up liberties to "fight terrorism" and for "security"?
"A massive military retaliation causing the deaths of thousands. . . is the worst possible thing we could do. It would only guarantee an endless supply of fresh terrorists for decades to come., We can have security or we can have revenge. We cannot have both."
Dr. Robert M Bowman, Lt. Col., USAF, Ret. in The Long & Short of Terrorism and Security
"I would throw away the old maxim, 'My country right or wrong,' and instead I would say, ' My country when she is right."
Mark Twain 1901 Speech New York Times March 17, 1901. Is dissent patriotic?
"I would not let anyone send me back over there to kill other poor people; especially when they pose no threat to me or my country" Abdul Henderson, U.S. Marine Corps
"The haves and have mores Ñ some people call you the elite, I call you my base." President George W. Bush
Continued warfare in Iraq is "Good for business, bad for the people." Corporate representative, NewFields.com
"War happens and then the fighting starts... We're pumped up and motivated to go... 'the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire...'" U.S. soldier in Iraq
Since Saudi Arabia is such a close ally of the United States, why is so much information in the film not known to Americans?
Who should see this film? Why?

2. Write each question or statement on a separate sheet of poster paper. This paper should be large enough so there is plenty of room for student comments.

3. Place each piece of paper around the classroom in an area that students can easily access. It could be on the walls or on large tables spread throughout the classroom.

Suggested procedure:

1. Establish expectations for the lesson.

Students will write on 4-5 passages or questions and will respond to 3-4 other student comments in the activity. Note that it is important to emphasize to them that they should respond not just to the quotes, but to each other as well.
Students need time to read the prompts and time to respond. Plan for at least five minutes per response for the initial responses (20-25 minutes).
Students then need time to read other students' responses to create the dialogue. Again, plan for five minutes per response (15-20 minutes).
Emphasize the silent dialoguing. Let students know the conversations should occur on paper only. Class discussion will follow the activity.
Encourage students to be respectful of the process and each other. There will be disagreements Ñ that is one of the elements of this procedure. Silent discussion is a valuable tool for dealing with controversial issues in a way that invites reflection and calms tempers.
Students should initial or sign each comment. This way, you can draw attention to specific comments, tease out details, point to contradictions or areas of consensus; and it tends to limit inappropriate comments.

2. As students travel silently around the room, encourage them to fully explore and clarify their thoughts on paper, to not write one sentence statements or "I agree".

3. As student responses accumulate on the posters, students read each other's comments and respond to other students' writing on at least 3-4 of the posters, generating the silent discussion. Again, encourage students to fully explain their own thoughts and to push each other.

4. When all students are done, ask them to pick one of the questions or quotes that really interests them or a quote they did not respond to and continue writing. This buys some time for the teacher to travel the room reading the comments to get a sense of class opinions, connections, points of disagreement before the (verbal) discussion begins. Consider completing the posters on one day and starting the discussion the following day.

5. The teacher uses the posters to help guide classroom discussion. In a regular classroom conversation, many students tend to disappear. In this activity everyone is up and moving, scrambling to get their word in. As the discussion progresses, students begin to build, pull from and connect ideas. If some students don't participate in the discussion after the "silent discussion," refer to a comment they wrote and invite them in to explain and clarify.

6. Leave the posters up around the room to use as prompts for an essay or metaphorical drawing and to encourage further silent discussion.

Thanks to Bill Bigelow, Sandra Childs, and Julie Treick O'Neill for this lesson.

You can also download the Bowling For Columbine TEACHER'S GUIDE

Welcome to the Bowling For Columbine TEACHER'S GUIDE.

The lessons and activities in this GUIDE are designed to help students develop critical thinking skills, historical analysis, and open their minds on many universal issues.

The individual units may easily be adapted to many levels and taught across the curriculum - Social Science, [History, Civics, Psychology, Sociology, Political Science] Language Arts, [English, Writing, Poetry], Humanities, Drama/Theatre, Film, ESL, Media/Journalism, Speech/Communications...

You can review the guide page by page on the website, download a PDF of each section or the whole guide.

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Click here for the full, chapter by chapter Bowling For Columbine TEACHER'S GUIDE

Table of Contents

1. Gut Reactions to the film

2. General questions for class discussion or written essays

3. Media/filmmaking questions

4. More in-depth questions for discussion or essays by topic

5. The United States and Iraq: Choices & Predictions

6. Math and Fahrenheit 9/11

7. Silent Discussion of Fahrenheit 9/11