Lesson 3 - Animal Farm

This was a good example of a lesson that brought about an inattentive class. Most students were inattentive to the presentations that were given and disinterested. There were two reasons. Firstly, only a few students had read the book and so they didn't understanding the context of their research. Secondly, the students hadn't engaged deeply with the themes of the book, so questions within their research task caused confusion. Thirdly, why present something to your classmates that you don't care anything about? 

I should have delivered this contextual information in an engaging way rather than expecting my students to do it.

A better approach would have been to give the research activity, but to present the context myself, drawing on responses from the groups that had done the relevant research.

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Lesson plan 3

In this lesson – 5 min

We will

• Firstly, in groups, you’ll present yesterday’s research, looking at how the historical people or groups of people you researched correspond to characters and events in the book.
• If we have time, we will also start looking at the characters of Animal Farm, their characteristics, what they do and why they appear in the book.

Begin with presentations – 30 min

In their research groups that were formed in the last lesson, students deliver their findings to the class, linking their findings to the text.

Ensure everything is linked to the text.

Display on board - comparison of characters to Russian revolution PDF

If time, start character worksheet – 10 min

Introduce character worksheet. Do one character on the data projector as an example for the class. Do old major.

Focusing on first four chapters of the book

• Plot for each character: characteristics[PA1] , actions, purpose
• Link to people or groups of people of the Russian revolution
• Get students to start with Snowball

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 [PA1]What are characteristics? Map this out a bit to give students an idea.

My first prac lesson

My first prac was at a co-educational high school in the Northern Rivers, NSW. It was a Year 10 class, studying Animal Farm. Don't be deceived by the title of my lesson - 'Lesson plan 2'. The first lesson was delivered by my mentor teacher, which I didn't get to observe.

My first class was by no means perfect. For some reason I set a research activity in the final period of a day - a great way for students to test out their new teacher! It proved to be a difficult class to manage and poor choice of learning method for the last period of a day.

I gave the students about 40 minutes of research time, which was a strain for them at that time of day. The more advanced groups studied the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, while the others covered simpler questions about Marx, Trotsky, Nicholas II and Stalin.

To improve comprehension, I should have contributed more to each discussion group, giving some more context of their subject in the Russian revolution to make it easier for them to link to the text. Separating the content by group ability worked well.

The questions I gave them on Karl Marx did not explore his theories enough, so it will be interesting to see how well they can link his philosophies to those of Old Major in following lessons.

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Lesson plan 2 - Animal Farm

In this lesson:

• We will look at Russian political leadership to get an idea of what Orwell wanted to say with his book Animal Farm
• Recap: what’s an allegory?[ST1] 

Reflecting on homework:

• Do you sympathise with the animals’ complaints [TL2] and goals[TL3] ? Why or why not?
• What is your reaction to the animals’ revolution?

Research character allegories

Many critics have matched in great detail the story’s characters to historical persons––for example, linking the power struggle between Napoleon and Snowball to the historical feuding between Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky for control of the Soviet Union. Critics also believe that Old Major represents Karl Marx, who dies before realizing his dream. Other comparisons include Moses as the Russian Orthodox church, Boxer and Clover as workers, the sheep as the general public, Squealer as Stalin’s government news agency, the dogs as Stalin’s military police, and Farmer Jones as Czar Nicholas II. The farm’s neighbours, Pilkington and Frederick, are said to represent Great Britain and Germany, while Mollie suggests the old Russian aristocracy, which resists change.

Leon Trotsky, a military commander, believed in a world revolution – that communism was not for Russia alone, but a movement that would take the globe. He was a great orator and charismatic leader. When Lenin became sick in 1922, he indicated that Trotsky should lead and Stalin be removed. However, Stalin led a vindictive behind-the-scenes campaign against Trotsky, and managed to undermine his political support base. Instead, Stalin, who was considered Trotsky’s intellectual inferior, gained support and eventually control.

Research the following people in groups and list 5 to 10 important facts about each on the whiteboard, match to book characters:

• Joseph Stalin
• Karl Marx
• Leon Trotsky
• Czar Nicholas II
• Russian proletariat
• Bourgeoisie

(I actually posed specific questions on worksheets)

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 [ST1]A story in prose fiction, poetry, drama or visual language that has more than one level of meaning. The characters, events and situations can represent other characters, events and situations. For example, the witch trials in The Crucible are an allegory of the US HUAC hearings in the 1950s. Allegories often represent moral or political situations.

 [TL2]Complaints: eggs and young taken away, not enough food, sent to slaughter before old age, no freedom, poor conditions, aren’t rewarded for their labour, oppressed

 [TL3]Reap the rewards of their labour, freedom, more food, live longer, keep their young, improve their living conditions, become rich and free

Lesson 2 activity: Creating character through stereotype combinations

This is a fun and effective activity for developing characters for fiction writing. I'm not sure where I got this activity from because it's not my idea, but unfortunately I've lost it - my bad. Apologies to the author out there...

It's useful for 

Anyway, it's a great activity which I've used in writing workshops .

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Character composition strategy 

In this activity you will use a strategy of combining stereotypes a tool for creating well rounded characters. At first it sounds like it would create two dimensional characters because it involves using stereotypes, but in combination they create a person that is interesting.

Here's an example:

Stereotype 1: Male surfer

Characteristics: young, blonde hair, toned, scruffy, laissez-faire, irreverent, personable.

Stereotype 2: Male undertaker (funeral director)

Characteristics: older, black suit, conservative, unemotional, impersonal, tall, skinny, pale.

In combination

Matt surfs at dawn, conducts funerals at midday, and parties hard all night, usually wearing the black and white suit from the funeral. He's tall and skinny, but with olive skin. His hair is constantly scruffy, even at funerals, and he jokes far too much at the wake. The friends and relatives of the deceased like his easy-going nature - it eases their grief; while the immediate family and spouse find him politically incorrect and his good-natured humour about life and death offensive. He doesn't know it, but he smells of sea salt and formaldehyde, making it terribly hard to find a girlfriend.

Activity

Working in pairs, choose one of the following character stereotypes to create a new character - or choose your own. Combining the stereotypes that contrast the most usually gives the best result. For each stereotype that you choose you need to list at least five characteristics then write three sentences that describe you character. Write your responses in your blog with a post title "Creating character through stereotype combinations". Make sure you include the name of your writing partner.

Stereotypes: Fighter pilot, cop, nurse, nun, house mum, high school principal, street kid, politician, doctor, priest, surfer, footy player, netball player, business person, author, absent father.