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Critical Inquiry Project: Utopia/ Dystopia lesson plan

Date post: 22-Oct-2014
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Shannon Evans

Critical Inquiry Project

1. Target Subject/Grade Level: 11th-12th grade English 2.Target Area: Goal is to make the project somewhat universal so it can be taught many places across the board. 3./4. Engagement: The goals I have for my lesson is for students to walk away knowing a general definition/sense of what a Utopia/Dystopia is and understand the concept can manifest itself in many forms. The literature/media represents this. Another goal is for them to think critically about this topic and form opinions about it, relate one to the other, but most of all question it. Hopefully the students as they research will begin to see how Utopia's and Dystopia's are often one in the same, that is a really big connection they should make. I want the students to question if this could ever happen, or question the validity of these stories. I also want them to put themselves into these societes and convey how they would feel to live in a world like in their given story, or a dystopia in general. My lesson plan tackles the 3 parts of facilitating involvement: a. What are you noticing? b. What does it remind you of? and c. How do you feel? Introduction: I will introduce the material through having a vague textbook defnition of what each term means written on the board for the students to copy down, for example: Utopia-a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government, and social (Webster)

Dystopia-an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives; an anti-utopia (Webster) After they write it down I will ask them to write Before: leave a paragraph space, and then After: and leave another paragraph space. I will then ask them to write for a couple minutes under the before spot on the definitions they just took down and what they think about them. I will also ask them if they can think of what these definitions mean, or any things they have ever seen that could fit into these vague definitions. This will help them see that the definition is flexible, and using their knowledge to build off of the concrete gives them a sense of agency. Project: I will create a rubric that includes category rankings for visible effort/some creativity, use of visuals, and all questions answered/ understanding of content. First I will tell them we are going to use a couple things (concepts from 1984) to make the classroom feel like we live in one of these worlds. I will give each student a number and tell them for the remainder of the project they are only allowed to acknowlege eachother by saying for example "Comrade 2 can you help me with this" and additionally I will alert the class that the "thought-police" is making rounds so they should be ready to show their work. The second part is the project itself. I was going to have groups of 4 to 5 make a poster, each on a different dystopian example. The ones I was going to use were 1.1984, 2. Farenheit 451, 3.The Hunger Games and 4. In Time (which is a movie but will work for the project). The requirements will be to do/ answer (they will have a period in the computer lab to look up information): 1. What does the title of your book represent/mean, how does the title relate to our topic? 2. Write a brief plot summary of your story. 3.What kind of society are they living in? Would you classify it as a Utopia or Dystopia? 4. Use a couple pictures, and find a video representing your story (video optional). 5. Make a pro's and cons list of society that's in your example. 6. Find 2-3 quotations that represent the book itself. 7. Is this a place you would want to live in? How is our world like, or not like this alternate reality? I will give them 2-3 periods to complete this assignment. After I would have the students present their poster/ story to the class. I will hand out a note sheet that has each book/ movie with a paragraph space underneath each to take notes while people are presenting. The "thought-police" will walk around and make sure they are taking some form of notes. After the presentations are over we will have an open discussion about what they now think a utopia/dystopia means. Ask them how does this relate to our world, history, or future? Before class ends have them write in the "after spot" what they know about this topic/ its meanings.

5.The students could judge their success, both by their grades and my encouragement/ enthusiasm about their work. They also have a physical poster to be proud of and can feel succesful without my judgement for making something/ trying to learn something new. 6. I would judge my students success by the effort of their posters and also in the open discussion after the projects were presented. I would ask them what they learned from this, whether they understood it, and if they liked it/ thought it was effective. 7. It will take the student's out of the classroom by letting them research in the computer lab and also by having their posters displayed outside of the room. It will also metaphysically take them out of the classroom because they can imagine they are living in this different type of world (with the use of comrade 1,2, etc while researching). 8. I think this project easily relates to the four spaces. It is having students use critical inquiry through conducting their own research on a topic (that I am assuming will be new to them). They will be able to not only understand but use their feeling and world around them to relate to the topic. They also can enter a "thirdspace" when trying to answer question 7 of their projects. It is something based in reality yet totally unlike a world we know. This leads into Identity because they can identify with the characters and learn more about the type of world they identify with or would like to live in. It gives them agency to want to protect the world, or strive to change it. It also gives them agency to take advantages of the freedoms we have in our society versus the restrictions of the alternate universes. Overall, I think they will learn how to look at the world differently, think critically about government/society, and how to express their ideals and views.


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