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Melissa Gerson __1984__ Lesson Plans (1) **Dystopian Antagonist** **What the students understand when they finish your lesson with you:** **a) What it takes to be a Dystopian Antagonist and why those people are able to lead people the way they do**  **b) How Big Brother compares to Adolph Hitler and how this comparison links to the way the society of Oceania behaves under the reign of Big Brother** **Main Standard you are achieving (the number and full description):** 3.1.G.1.4  à **G. Comprehension Skills and Response to Text** **Identify, describe, evaluate, and synthesize the central ideas in informational texts.** ** à ** **Ideas from the novel 1984 (Book One) that deal with Big Brother and his antagonistic ways** **Analyze how works of a given period reflect historical and social events and conditions.** ** à ** **This book talks about what the author envisions for the year 1984. However, this vision directly relates to an event that happened years before the book was written; Hitler’s reign over Germany.** **Materials Needed and Technology Used:** **a) hand out** ** à ** **quotes** **b) big venn diagram** **c) picture of Hitler** **d) picture of Big Brother from the 1984 movie** **__Opening Activity Description (What the students and you are doing):__** ** Introduce the concept that the antagonist in a Dystopian society have many similar attributes. Make a list (on the board) of all the attributes that the students can think of. Then ask what figures in history have these attributes and if someone says Hilter go with it. If not bring it up and start discussing him.** **At this time I would be at the front of the room keeping the discussion focused.** **__Middle/Main Activity Description (What the students and you are doing):__** **Hand out the list of quotes and have the students read through them. Then hand out the venn diagrams and using the quotes give the students five to ten minutes to work with a partner and fill in what Hitler and Big Brother have in common and how they differ. At the end the students should realize that the similarities out weight the differences.** **At this time I will be walking around the classroom and seeing what the students come up with. If they are struggling I will ask certain questions to stimulate a response or ideas that could help them fill out the venn diagram.** **__Closing Activity Description (What the students and you are doing):__** **Look at the physical characteristic of Hitler and the physical portrayal of Big Brother from the 1984 movie. Discuss whether or not the students think they physical characteristic are a coincidence or are some of them done deliberately by the filmmaker?** **At this time I will have returned to the front of the classroom to lead the closing of the lesson.** Hitler speech : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q-6H4xOUrs watch this video and compare the way Hitler speaks and carries himself to the descriptions of big brother speaking (if time permits)

Melissa Gerson __1984__ Lesson Plan 2 **Remembering the Past… Controlling the Future** **What the students understand when they finish your lesson with you:** a) Understand why it is important to be linked to the past  b)  Understand why the paperweight and the picture of the church are such important symbols in 1984 c) Be able to answer in their own opinion if they believe controlling the past will inevitably lead to control of the future  **Main Standard you are achieving (the number and full description):**  **G.1** ** à **   Identify, describe, evaluate, and synthesize the central ideas in informational texts.  à  The central idea we will be analyzing is the links to the past Winston tries to maintain and how the government and Big Brother go about keeping the past separate.   **Materials Needed and Technology Used:**   **__Opening Activity Description (What the students and you are doing):__**  **Ask the question- “What object do you have that when you look at immediately links you to the past?”** ** à ** **Start talking about childhood toys and memories- get the students minds working and thinking and then transition to part two by asking the question** ** à ** **“What does Winston and Julia have that links them to the past?”** **Answer: picture of the church and the paper-weight** **At this time I will be at the front of the classroom leading the conversation.** **__Middle/Main Activity Description (What the students and you are doing):__** In this part of the lesson I will use an article preaching about not letting the past dictate the future. In the novel 1984, control of the past ends up allowing Big Brother to control every citizen of Oceania’s future. http://ezinearticles.com/?Dont-Let-Your-Past-Dictate-Your-Future&id=729601  à this article talks about all the ways people can cope with the past and not let it dictate their future. However, the complete opposite is true in 1984 because Big Brother controls (and changes) the past and that helps him control the future. After reading this article, I will pass out a sheet with quotes and a work sheet. The sheet will have space for writing about why the paperweight is so symbolic and why the picture of the church is so symbolic. Then there will be a space at the bottom for the students to write about why what happens with these items are so symbolic of Big Brother’s control and why the fact that these objects are destroyed shows that Big Brother really does control every aspect (including memories) of the citizens of Oceania’s lives. **__Closing Activity Description (What the students and you are doing):__** After reading the article, looking at the handout, and filling out the sheet, the students will discuss whether or not they believe that people can avoid letting the past dictate the future or if they believe it is inevitable and whoever controls the past will, indeed, control the future. At this time I will be in the front of the class leading the conversation. Worksheet:

Melissa Gerson __1984__ Lesson Plans (3) Fear **Objectives:** a) Understand how fear affects what people know is right  b)  Understand the students own fears and think about what they would do if they were put face to face with them c) Think about irrational fears compared to ones that are perceived as more rational  **Main Standard you are achieving (the number and full description):**  **G.1** ** à ** Identify, describe, evaluate, and synthesize the central ideas in informational texts.  à  central idea is fear- compare to personal experiences and the article   **Materials Needed and Technology Used:**   **__Opening Activity Description (What the students and you are doing):__**  **Wikispace discussion question (10 minutes): It is common that people are afraid of things like spiders, snakes, rats, heights, and darkness. Why do you think people are afraid of little things like this and how do these fears compare to bigger fears like death and violence?** **I will be walking around the classroom and seeing what people come up with as well as checking the answers people put on the wiki space.** **I will quickly ask if anyone wants to share their answers but this response was more to get the students thinking than to discuss the answers.** **__Middle/Main Activity Description (What the students and you are doing):__** **Read Article: http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/anxiety-free/200805/are-we-born-be-afraid (5-10 minutes** ** à ** **students don’t need to read the whole things- just the beginning will give enough insight)** **This articles talks about how some of the fears we have today are due to prehistoric developments from our ancestors. For example, we are afraid of bugs because in prehistoric times many people died from infected bug bites.** **I will then go to the bored and write different simple fears on the board (like bugs and snakes etc.) and then poll the class and see who is afraid of what and why. Not everyone has to answer if they are embarrassed although I doubt anyone will be.** **I will then hand out pieces of paper and ask the students to imagine they were in room 101 and their fear was in place of the rats. They will have five minutes to write about how they would react and if they would have sold out someone else if it meant they were free from their fear.** **If time permits they can choose to share with a partner.** **I will be walking around the room seeing what the students come up with.** **__Closing Activity Description (What the students and you are doing):__** **Ask the question: Some people feel that being afraid of things like rats and spiders is silly and that it is more rational to be afraid of things like death and destruction. Do you agree that some fears are irrational or do you believe that since no one can decide what scares them, there really is not rationalizing to the concept of fears?** After being asked how old she was at the start of [|Vietnam], Sue Gerson proceeded to do the math by drawing the start of the war minus her year of birth in the air. “Um, I think I was about five when the war started, but during the crux of the war I was about eight to ten.” I proceeded by asking her what she remembered most about he war. Sue’s eyes rolled upward as if she was looking to the ceiling for the answer. She began biting her lip and finally said, “I guess there are two things I remember most. The first would be the [|riots] on TV and the second would be when my neighbor was sent overseas.”

Under her breath she began to chant, “Hey Hey LBJ, How many kids did you kill today” I couldn’t exactly understand what she was chanting. Continuing her response Sue said, “Every meal would be eaten huddled around our tiny TV. Me, my mom, my sister, and my dad would watch intensely at the graphic scenes they would show. There would be riots on TV and I remember college kids chanting ‘Hey Hey LBJ, many kids did you kill today?’ Sometimes I wasn’t sure exactly what I was watching but I always knew it was important. One day I found out that one of my best friends/ neighbor’s brother was being sent to war. All I could think about was hoping that I would never see him in one of those violent scenes on the TV.” Sue looked over to our TV (which has been broken for months) and seemed to be imagining what she watched on TV during Vietnam. I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to picture what was going through her head. I turned away to write down her response and when I turned back Sue was playing with a hair band that was wrapped around her wrist. She took it off her wrist and looked at it as if it weren't just a hair band. I was about to ask what she was doing when she said, "We each bought these [|POW/ MIA bracelets]. They each had the name of a person who was captured or missing. If they were found, the owner of the bracelet was sent a letter saying that they were safe. I never got a letter."

Realizing Sue hadn't finish telling me about her neighbor I asked, "Did your neighbor ever come home." I could hear the lump in her throat, as she said, “No He was killed in the war. I remember the day that my friend found out. And a few days later her and her family moved away. I guess it was too painful for her parents to live in their house if their son could not be living there without him." Clearly this was a touchy subject. I could tell by the look in her eyes and the shakiness of her voice that talking about this wasn't particularly easy. I realized a change of subject was needed. I guessed that the next logical thing to ask about was our family's history with the war (of which I knew nothing) so I asked if anyone in our family had been drafted. Sue's face perked up a bit. It seemed as though she had a good story to tell me and she did. "My side of the family were mostly women so no one was drafted. On your father's side, however, they had a gift for [|avoiding the war].”

I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. I didn’t know how someone could avoid the war unless they went to Canada and I was pretty sure no one in my family had done that. Before I had a chance to question Sue further, she said, “Your father’s cousin Marshall got drafted but absolutely refused to go. He took all the money he had and went to an orthodontist to put braces on his already straight teeth because they wouldn’t send someone with braces overseas.” I was in shock. Besides the fact that I thought that was beyond clever I couldn’t believe I had never heard that story before. Curious to find out more about my family, I asked her for more another story. In response she said, “Marshall’s brother, Steven was drafted as well but he didn’t think of the braces idea. Instead, he threatened to kill himself and instead of being sent to Vietnam he was sent to psychiatric care.” I always knew my uncle was a little nuts (considering the last time I saw him he had blue hair) but I didn't know the extent of his so- called “insanity”.

Seeing the shock in my face, Sue began to tell me how [|she completely agreed with what they had done]. "There is no reason to risk your life for a cause you don't believe it." After that comment she stopped talking and I realized I had nothing left to ask. What started as an awkward pause led her to realize that she had told me everything she remembered about the war. After all, she was only eight years old at the time.

http://veterans.lohudblogs.com/2008/05/02/podcast-vietnam-veteran-howard-goldin-of-rockland-talks-about-returning-to-vietnam/ (click on audio/mp3 to hear a real Vietnam War Veteran talk about the war)

media type="youtube" key="JVQK8fU99Sc" height="349" width="425" (Like my mother, many people were against the Vietnam War. This is a video about what people did to try to stop the war.)