Skip to Main Content

Lesson 2

In what ways is the story of the Falling Man photograph “unforgettable”? To build understanding of the context and history of Falling Man, we will begin reading and discussing the first third of an Esquire magazine article “The Falling Man: An Unforgettable Story.”

Lesson Goals

  • Can I pay attention to and acknowledge others while thoughtfully considering their ideas?

  • Can I read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension?

  • Can I correctly use colons and semicolons in an advanced grammar structure to communicate ideas and achieve intended purposes?

Texts

Core

  • Unit Reader
    • “The Falling Man: An Unforgettable Story,” Tom Junod, Esquire, 2016

Materials

Tools

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Listen – Read – Discuss – Write

As a whole class, we will do a close reading and analysis of the first paragraph from the article that coined the title of Falling Man.

Step 1

Listen and follow along as your teacher (or another student) reads aloud the first paragraph of “The Falling Man: An Unforgettable Story.” As you listen, think about what you visualize from the artful prose of writer Tom Junod, and how your visualization relates to what you have observed in the photograph.

Step 2

On your own, reread the paragraph, annotating key visual descriptions that dramatize what the picture captured. Pick one detail that really strikes you, and write in your Learning Log about what it makes you see and feel. For example, think about this comparison (simile) in the first sentence:

He departs from this earth like an arrow.

Review the Visual Analysis Tool you completed for Falling Man in Lesson 1.

Compare the details you noted in the photograph to the descriptive images and phrases you found in the article. How are they similar and different?

Step 3

As a class, discuss the ways in which Tom Junod has used language to “recreate” the photograph in words. Use specific details you have found in Junod’s description to support observations you make.

Step 4

Now examine the following sentences from the article more closely:

Some people who look at the picture see stoicism, willpower, a portrait of resignation; others see something else—something discordant and therefore terrible: freedom. There is something almost rebellious in the man's posture, as though once faced with the inevitability of death, he decided to get on with it; as though he were a missile, a spear, bent on attaining his own end.

Identify and discuss key words in this description that contrast with each other (for example, “willpower” and “a portrait of resignation”) and that evoke strong feelings for a reader.

Study how Junod uses punctuation, semicolons and a colon, to structure his sentences and to emphasize the descriptive images and words he presents.

On your own, find another striking sentence (or two) from the paragraph and copy it into your Mentor Sentence Journal Describe what the sentence makes you see and feel. Then use the model of the mentor sentence you have selected to write your own sentence about a detail you have noticed and reacted to in Falling Man.

Activity 2: Read

As a whole class, we will read the rest of “The Falling Man: An Unforgettable Story,” paying attention to how language and imagery are used by the author.

Read and annotate the rest of “The Falling Man: An Unforgettable Story,” paying close attention to images and ideas that stand out to you.

Activity 3: Read – Discuss

In small groups, we will use context and other means to discern the meaning of Unknown words and phrases from “The Falling Man: An Unforgettable Story.”

Work with a partner to review, discuss, and define the words below. You might use a Vocabulary in Context Tool for words you can decipher from the text; for others, your teacher may present you with definitions.

  • bisects (para. 1)

  • stoicism (para. 1)

  • discordant (para. 1)

  • brusque (para. 4)

  • martyrdom (para. 8)

  • tableau (para. 8)

  • provenance (para. 9)

  • redemptive (para. 15)

  • subordinate (para. 19)

  • cenotaph (para. 50)

Write down the meanings of the words and the strategy you used to determine their meaning in your Vocabulary Journal.

Activity 4: Read – Write

We will use a section of “The Falling Man: An Unforgettable Story” to further examine the author’s use of punctuation and model our own writing from these mentor sentences.

Read the following excerpt from the article, paying particular attention to grammar and punctuation:

Some of them are shirtless; their shoes fly off as they flail and fall; they look confused, as though trying to swim down the side of a mountain. The man in the picture, by contrast, is perfectly vertical, and so is in accord with the lines of the buildings behind him. He splits them, bisects them: Everything to the left of him in the picture is the North Tower; everything to the right, the South.

Notice how Junod uses the following items of punctuation:

  • In the first sentence, he writes a sentence containing three connected but completely independent clauses.

  • In the third sentence, he uses a colon following an independent clause to introduce another independent clause with connected ideas.

  • In the third sentence, he uses a semicolon to connect two completely independent clauses; the second clause uses a comma to indicate omitted words.

Review your response to the Section 3 Diagnostic. Rewrite one or two of your sentences to mirror one of these sentence constructions.

Activity 5: Read – Write

We will reread an excerpt from Junod’s article about Falling Man and consider some of the questions regarding its controversy.

On your own, reread the second and third paragraphs of the article, about photographer Richard Drew, and write responses to the following questions in your Learning Log:

  1. What two word phrase does the author use to characterize photographers, “people like [Richard Drew]”?

  2. What additional information do you learn about Richard Drew and his photographing of Falling Man?

  3. How does the other major historical event Drew has photographed—the assassination of Bobby Kennedy—connect with his photographing of Falling Man?

How does the other major historical event Drew has photographed—the assassination of Bobby Kennedy—connect to his photographing of Falling Man? Provide textual evidence to support your analysis.

Be prepared to share your responses in the following lesson.