127 Hours
What are you willing to do to survive? Let's explore the extremes we can take our bodies through and find the breaking point.
First watch the film by renting it here.
We are also going to be looking at some short stories about survival.
The first is the Little Match Girl. This is by Hans Christian Anderson - the same person who wrote the little Mermaid but be prepared, there isn't going to be any singing fish.
Frost and Fire by Ray Bradbury.
He has a graphic novel as well based on this story so if you like images that is the way to go.
Build a fire by Jack London
If you want someone to read the story to you here is a clip on YouTube.
There is also a really old movie based on the story.
To go into more detail about the story you can look at the themes etc at Shmoop.
Think about what connects all these stories. Make a list.
What things do these stories have in common?
What makes them different?
It is hard to be mad at nature when it is the bad guy. What are your feelings on the outcome of each of these stories?
These extreme situations aren't the only thing to survive. Another teacher made up this lovely worksheet looking at how we survive different things.
Let's look at what the body goes through in these extreme situations. The body maintains its own temperature and this is to keep things ticking along. It is complex and rather interesting. You can use this for a level 3 bio standard but it is a closed book test situation so you will have to do it with a teacher.
I like many of the crash course things so there are videos that go before and after these two if you want to see just how the human body works.
What would you have done if you had been in any of these situations?
Try writing a short story or a poem about surviving something.