“Pigs as People”
a unit on Orwell’s “Animal Farm” and why being informed matters.
By
Anders Lundahl
Anders Lundahl
Prefatory Statement
“Pigs as People – An Animal Farm Unit”
This unit on George Orwell’s Animal Farm will cover more material than just the text itself. This unit will also give a general overview of the Russian Revolution and investigate how characters from the novel represent certain figures from that segment of history. As an additional and important social studies tie in, students will be keeping track of current events, particularly relating to political events. Students are to read the novel, keeping in mind (and journaling on) its connection to real world events, whether they be current or refer to the direct correlation between the novel and the Russian Revolution. Ultimately, the class will be asked to use all they have learned to write an essay that argues for or against the relevance of the novel in today’s world and whether it can still be read as social commentary.
As for the actual novel itself, students will be assigned certain number of pages to read each week, and they will be expected to actively participate in both small group and whole class discussions about what we’ve read for the day/week. To keep students accountable for what they have read, the discussions will require every student to participate at least a little bit. On occasion, there will be a short quiz on the reading material, only two or three questions just to make sure the students have at least a general understanding of the text that they were supposed to read for the day.
Outside of understanding the metaphors from Animal Farm, I want to students to walk away with an increased ability to critical think and decipher the double speak they hear in ads, speeches, and the news in general. I feel this goes beyond just understanding concepts of the book and treads into the territory of creating better more informed citizens. Relating Animal Farm to the world today, and more importantly the student’s world, will not only allow them to appreciate the novel on a deeper level, but also hopefully understand that governments are run by people who are flawed just like us, and staying informed and reading critically can help us vote and conduct ourselves in ways we want to be portrayed to the whole world.
Anders Lundahl
Class Specification
One of the nice things about this unit is that the specifications are few. George Orwell’s Animal Farm has lots to offer people of any age, race, financial status, or political party affiliation. The themes run deeper than all of those superficial subsets. The novel teaches awareness of government and information sources, and the unit does the same. This unit will challenge students to challenge the world around them, asking “why?” when perhaps they never had before. If you are teaching in a school that won’t have an issue with students to considering that not all authority is truthful and completely honest, than by all means, teach this unit.
As far as varying the unit based on different groups of student, the golden rule of this unit is challenge the students’ pre-conceived affiliations. If the class comes from an overwhelmingly conservative part of town, bring in examples of half-truths and double-speak coming from the “right.” If the school falls in a very liberal district, then do the same from the more “leftist” politicians and media outlets. This unit isn’t about asking students to choose a side or dislike another side, it is merely asking them to think twice before assuming something they’ve heard as fact.
Anders Lundahl
Significant Assumptions
Assumptions about Students:
-Students have a basic reading ability
-Students can understand basic metaphors and literary concepts.
-Students know how to locate current events.
-Students know how to navigate the internet.
-Students can draw comparisons between real life and fictional concepts.
Assumptions about Learning
-Learning is best for students when it approaches a concept from multiple angles.
-Students are more likely to care if they feel the subject matter is pertinent to their lives.
-Students should be involved in discussion just as often, if not more, than the teacher.
-It is best to give smaller reading assignments more frequently rather than larger ones spaced apart. That way, students are less likely to feel overwhelmed and more likely to enjoy the text.
Anders Lundahl
Selected Outcomes of Unit
Students will have learned:
All these goals will build towards two standards.
-Literature: the student will actively engage in the reading process and read, understand, respond to, analyze, interpret, evaluate and appreciate a wide variety of fiction, poetic, and non-fiction texts.
-Media Literacy: the student will critically analyze information found in electronic and print media, and will use a variety of these sources to learn about a topic and represent ideas.”
Anders Lundahl
Possible Unit Activities
Possible Whole Class Activities
-Group discussions about the novel. (There will be short 2-3 question quizzes to make sure that students are keeping up with their reading.)
-Talking about current events and various news articles that students have brought in to class.
-The mini lesson on the Russian Revolution.
-Discussion on double-speak, and why it is used/how it is used.
Small Group Activities
-Breakout groups discussing specific questions about assigned reading before reconvening with the large class group.
-Peer review of the end-of-unit essays.
Individual Activities
-Have students find current events in the news and bring them to class to discuss.
-Identify instances of double speak and half truths in the news.
-Writing the essay at the end of the unit, arguing that Animal Farm is or is not applicable to the world today.
Ongoing Activities
-Every day, students will be bringing in one current event, and explaining how it does or does not affect their lives. They are also encouraged to search the article for examples of half truths and double speak. All the articles will be placed on a bulletin board for the duration of the unit, and the misleading portions of the news will be highlighted. (The students will get participation points for bringing in the articles. These points will be counted at the end of the unit and be a portion of their final unit grade.)
Anders Lundahl
Student Resources for Unit
-A copy of “Animal Farm” for each student
-A source of news articles (if unavailable for a student, the teacher will have newspapers ready in class)
-Access to computer lab for final drafts
Anders Lundahl
Launch Activity
To launch in to the Animal Farm unit I would open with an activity on double speak. I would hand out a worksheet of matching terms with two columns. On the left column would be a list of euphemisms and on the right column would be definitions. For example, on the left could be the phrase “friendly fire”, and somewhere in the right column would be “injury caused by your own side in battle.” The students would try to match as many terms as they could and then we would all go over the correct answers as a class (it is not graded). I would then lead the discussion as to who we have these euphemisms or what their purpose is. We would then talk about critical reading of the news and lead into Animal Farm from there.
Anders Lundahl
Organization of Unit
The Animal Farm unit I am proposing would run a length of roughly two and a half weeks, or 12 school days. The teacher could vary the pacing or reading the novel to accommodate her specific class if they wanted to. Day one would consist of the set induction. The teacher would hand out an activity worksheet on double speak with two columns; one filled with euphemisms, the other with definitions for those euphemisms, all mixed up. The student would be asked to draw lines connecting to two ideas. Once they were done, the teacher would go over it in class and explain the concept of double speak, asking students to come up with their own examples of it. After that, copies of Animal Farm would be handed out, and the teacher would explain that along side of reading the novel, they would be studying current events; bringing in one event each day to class to briefly discuss and place on a bulletin board. The reading would be assigned, and the students would come back the next day, ready to discuss their news article and their reading (there would be occasional 2-3 question quizzes to hold students accountable for their reading). The rest of this week would look relatively the same; discussing the news and discussing the reading, in both small and larger groups.
Week two’s beginning would also be focused on current events and finishing the novel The last chapter (10) would be finished for Thursday. Friday’s activity would be an all hour web quest searching for various news media’s coverage on one single story, finding differences and similarities between the various medias. Questions would be answered on their findings on a separate sheet of paper and turned in at the end of the hour. Before the end of class, the teacher would assign a 1-2 page essay on whether Animal Farm is an applicable story to teach anymore. A rough draft would be due the following Monday, where the students would peer review all hour, save a 10 minute mini presentation on the Russian Revolution from the teacher at the end of class. The presentation would explain the connection between the characters and events of Animal Farm and the characters and events of real life history. Tuesday would be a computer lab day, giving the kids a chance to revise their papers and type them up. The papers would be due the following day at the beginning of the hour.
Lesson Topic: Animal Farm & Current Events Grade level: 8
Length of lesson: 1 class period (45-50 minutes) Day 1
Stage 1 – Desired Results |
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Content Standard(s): Media Literacy: The student will critically analyze information found in electronic and print media, and will use a variety of these sources to learn about a topic and represent ideas. |
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Understanding (s)/goals Students will understand: -The inherent power of doublespeak -Various current events, and how they affect their lives -The direction the unit is heading
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Essential Question(s): -What is doublespeak? -Why is understanding doublespeak important? -What are some current events currently affecting my life? |
Student objectives (outcomes): Students will be able to: -Identify examples of doublespeak -Link a euphemism and it’s literal definition -Create their own examples of doublespeak
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Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence |
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Performance Task(s):
-Completing doublespeak activity sheet
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Other Evidence: -Class discussion about doublespeak -Class discussion about current events and upcoming activities for unit |
Stage 3 – Learning Plan |
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Learning Activities: Anticipatory Set: Once the class settles into their seats and quiets down, the teacher should hand out the doublespeak activity sheet (included in unit packet). The teacher shouldn’t explain in too much detail the concept at this point. Just read the directions out loud and give the students time to work on it. (5-10 minutes)
Body: Once they students have finished you can start to explain the concept of doublespeak to them. You can start by asking a question like: “What is the purpose of doublespeak do you think?” or “How is language from the left column being changed into the right column?” Explain that it is a way to manipulate language to you can put a “spin” on a term that it doesn’t normally connote. (E.g. “passing away” sounds a lot more positive than the word “dying” which is actually what “passing away” means.) Go over the correct answers on the activity sheet and see if the students had problems with any particular one. Now is a good chance to allow the students to get creative and ask them to come up with their own examples of doublespeak in pairs or in small groups.
E.g. “Who can come up with a doublespeak term for “rotten meat”? Ask the students to raise their hands with their answer. If they don’t, offer your own starter example to get them going (perhaps “post-expiratory protein”) and ask them to come up with something other than that. (10-15 minutes)
Now is the time to pass out Animal Farm and let the class know that this is the book they will be reading for the next two weeks. Give them a quick overview of the main ideas of the book; government, corruption, and misleading the general populace, all within the confines of personified animals on a farm that they seize as their own. (5 minutes)
Also mention that alongside reading Animal Farm, the class will be studying current events too. Don’t go into detail quite yet, but mention that there is a definite connection between studying the two at the same time. (You will later hold a small class discussion on why they think the class is studying current events and Animal Farm at the same time; the reason of course being with the theme of the uninformed population of animals.) At this point you should take out a newspaper and read a current event from the headlines. (As I am writing this, we are in the midst of a very heated presidential election, so that would be a good example of a news story.) After you have read the story aloud, ask the students what it was about, if they heard any examples of doublespeak, and how/if the story affected the school, or state, or family, or the student herself. E.g. “In what ways does this article affect you guys? Does it at all? Why do we even care about this news story?”
Note that these are the questions that students should be looking for when they bring in their own current events. (15 minutes)
Closing: After you have gone over the news article, give them their assignments: -Bring in a news article; either from a newspaper or printed off from the internet. (Explain that if any student does not have access to either of these, they can mention it to the teacher after class so that a newspaper IN class can be provided.) -Read chapters 1 and 2 for tomorrow, and be aware of the possibility of a quiz to make sure they did the reading. (5 minutes)
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Lesson Topic: Animal Farm & Current Events Grade level: 8
Length of lesson: 1 Class Period (45-50 minutes) Day 2
Stage 1 – Desired Results |
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Content Standard(s): Literature: the student will actively engage in the reading process and read, understand, respond to, analyze, interpret, evaluate and appreciate a wide variety of fiction, poetic and nonfiction texts.
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Understanding (s)/goals Students will understand: -The plot of chapters 1 and 2 of Animal Farm -Major metaphors and concepts from chapters 1 and 2 of Animal Farm -A greater number of current events in detail
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Essential Question(s): -Who are we introduced to in Animal Farm this far? -What has happened in the book? -How do the news articles we have brought in affect us? -Are the news articles biased in any way that you can see? |
Student objectives (outcomes): Students will be able to: -Explain metaphors and plot questions about the first two chapters of the novel. -Read and understand a current they read in the news and brought to class.
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Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence |
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Performance Task(s): -Answering quiz questions (optional day to day) -Bringing in a news article for the class
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Other Evidence: -Small group discussion about novel -Large group discussion about novel -Large group discussion about current events and how they do/do not affect us. |
Stage 3 – Learning Plan |
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Learning Activities: This is the first “real day” of this unit. The students should have read chapters 1 and 2 of Animal Farm and should have brought in their first news article to discuss as a class. If there are children that have expressed to you that they do not have access to a newspaper or computer with internet access and a printer at home in your classroom, allow five minutes at the beginning of every hour so they can go through a newspaper you have brought in and cut out a news article they wish to discuss for the day. If this time is needed, have the other students go over their news articles and write down the “who, what, when, where, and why.” (5 minutes)
Now that everyone has brought in a news article, ask to see if anyone would like to give the who/what/when/where/why of their article, if and how the article affects them, and if they found any bias or doublespeak in the article. If no one volunteers, feel free to call on someone. Since there will not be time to go over everyone’s article, choose about 5 people to discuss their article with the class. Note who has already talked about their news article each day so you can give everyone an opportunity to present their article to the class by the end of the unit. Once you have done this, have the students write their name on the article somewhere and pass them in to get participation points (1 per day/article). (15 minutes)
Every day, there is a chance there will be a 1-2 question quiz on the reading to hold students accountable. You may choose to give these any days you want. I suggest having 5 quizzes out of the 10 chapters. If you choose to have one of the quizzes on this section of reading, here are some sample questions:
-What is the name of the song that Old Major teaches the animals? (Beasts of England) Or -How do Old Major and the other animals feel about Mr. Jones? (They do not like him; they feel he mistreats them and that they deserve a better life) Or -Tell me about Animalism (The students can mention that four legged and winged creatures are allies while two legged creatures are foes, or that animals are to not engage in human behaviors like wearing clothing, walking upright, or drinking alcohol. They can also talk about all animals being equals.) The questions should be asked aloud and students should answer them on their own sheet of paper; one point per question. Once they are finished and have handed in their papers, you should go over the answers as a class. (5-10 minutes)
Once this is all finished, give the students questions to discuss about their reading so far. Some examples I have are: -What do you think of Old Major, Napolean, Snowball, and Mr. Jones? Who do you consider a hero or a villain? -Where do you think the bucket of milk went at the end of chapter 2? -Do you think Animal Farm is going well so far, or do you see any potential problems?
Have the students write these questions down and then break into small groups of 4 or 5 to discuss them for about 10 minutes. As they are talking, walk around the room to make sure they are staying on task and offer help when needed/asked for. (10 minutes)
Once students seem to be finished talking about their respective questions, have the class go back to their seats so a large group discussion can begin. Ask the students what answers they came up for each question, starting with their take on the nature of the characters thus far. If they are hesitant to talk at first, ask someone you thought had a useful insight, “Johnny, I thought you had a pretty interesting take on Napolean. What do you think he is all about?” or something along those lines. Discuss all the questions you gave the small groups as an entire class and see if they have predictions for the next chapter or two. (10 minutes)
Once the discussion is over, it should be almost time to leave. Assign the next chapter of reading (Chapter 3) and remind them that they need to bring in another news article for tomorrow to discuss. (5 minutes) |
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Anders Lundahl
Supporting Materials for Teachers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution_of_1917
Information of the Russian Revolution
http://www.novelguide.com/animalfarm/characterprofiles.html
Profiles of characters in the novel, linking them to their historical counterparts
http://www.damronplanet.com/doublespeak/
Great information on doublespeak
http://www.d.umn.edu/~lunda009/Webquest.htm
Animal Farm Web Quest
Possible Discussion/Quiz Questions
Chapter 1
-What is the point of “Beasts of England?”
-What do you think of Old Major’s plan for the farm?
Chapter 2
-Why did the Animals decide that they wouldn’t live inside the farmhouse?
-Why is Squealer named as such?
Chapter 3
-What do you think of Boxer’s personal motto? (“I will work harder!”)
-Why did the Animals forgo their milk and apples so the pigs could have them?
Chapter 4
-What is happening with the surrounding farms of Animal Farm?
-What do you think of Snowball saying “the only good human being is a dead one?”
Chapter 5
-What happens to Mollie? How do you feel about it?
-Why does Squealer tell the animals that Napolean seizing power is a “great sacrifice”?
Chapter 6
-What does Squealer mean by “readjusting” the rations?
-Who is Mr. Whymper and why is he significant in the story?
Chapter 7
-How does Napolean quell the hen rebellion?
-Why is “Beasts of England” replaced?
Chapter 8
-How was the commandment “No animal shall kill another animal” changed? Why?
-How was the commandment “No animal shall drink alcohol” changed? Why?
Chapter 9
-What is “discovered” about Snowball and his relationship with Mr. Jones?
-Where was Boxer sent when he collapsed? (two possible answers, why is this?)
Chapter 10
-What is the significance of the pigs walking on their hind legs?
-What is the significance of the phrase “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,”?
Name: _________________
Mr. Lundahl
English 8
Double Speak
Connect the terms in the left column with their corresponding definition on the right
column. This will not be graded, but try your best to answer correctly. We will go over
this as a class when you finish. (For the sake of argument, if I can’t tell where the line is
connecting, it’s wrong, so be clear.)
Name: _________________
Due Date: _________________
Animal Farm Essay
George Orwell’s Animal Farm teaches us all about the dangers of a government without informed citizens taking an active role in their country’s direction and policies. Staying informed is a great way to figure out where you stand on those policies and what direction you want your country to go. Using everything we’ve learned in this unit, including Animal Farm, our current events, and our web quest, write a 1 ½ - 2 Page essay arguing whether Animal Farm’s symbolism and metaphors are still relevant in our modern world. Can we learn anything from this novel to help improve our world, or is it outdated ideas and concepts that died with the Russian Revolution? The essay will be graded as follows:
Essay Rubric |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
Content |
Essay shows clear under-standing of novel concepts. Arguments are based off of facts, and the student is able to draw connections to real life. |
Essay shows that the student read the novel and understands the plot and how it can relate to their world. |
Essay includes examples from the novel and attempts to connect them to reality. Some arguments based on opinions. |
Essay lacks material or examples from the novel. Student does not relate the novel to reality at all, and all arguments are purely opinion. |
Organization |
Essay flows flawlessly from one paragraph to the next and effectively uses transitions. |
Essay flows logically from one paragraph to the next. |
Essay can be read fluently from beginning to end, but may be a bit choppy. |
Essay is difficult to read or comprehend due to lack of organization. |
Spelling/Grammar |
3 or less spelling or grammatical errors. |
3-4 spelling or grammatical errors. |
4-5 spelling or grammatical errors. |
5+ spelling or grammatical errors. |
You may hand write or type the rough draft, which we will peer edit in class. The final draft must be typed.
Anders Lundahl
Grades/Grading
Linda Miller Cleary
11/04/08
8 pts – Bringing in a news article each day (1 pt each, 8 days total)
10 pts – Quizzes on the reading (2 pts each, 5 total)
10 pts – Answering/turning in Web Quest questions (2 pts each, 4 questions total)
12 pts – Essay: rubric…
40 Points Total.
Essay Rubric |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
Content |
Essay shows clear under-standing of novel concepts. Arguments are based off of facts, and the student is able to draw connections to real life. |
Essay shows that the student read the novel and understands the plot and how it can relate to their world. |
Essay includes examples from the novel and attempts to connect them to reality. Some arguments based on opinions. |
Essay lacks material or examples from the novel. Student does not relate the novel to reality at all, and all arguments are purely opinion. |
Organization |
Essay flows flawlessly from one paragraph to the next and effectively uses transitions. |
Essay flows logically from one paragraph to the next. |
Essay can be read fluently from beginning to end, but may be a bit choppy. |
Essay is difficult to read or comprehend due to lack of organization. |
Spelling/Grammar |
2 or less spelling or grammatical errors. |
3-4 spelling or grammatical errors. |
5-6 spelling or grammatical errors. |
7+ spelling or grammatical errors. |
A= 40-36 points
B= 35-32 points
C= 31-28 points
D=27-24 points
F= 23-0 points