Throughout my years of teaching, I've discovered a keen interest among my students to learn more about current events and the world that surrounds them. Because they are quite proficient at crafting higher level questions that guide them in research and reading they can work independently. Through inter disciplinary curriculum, students have become more proficient at building bridges with previous learning and new concepts. My goal with the group of eighth grade students whom I will instruct this year is to create a greater level of interest and curiosity while studying dystopian literature. I plan on exposing them to various dystopian novels, journals, short stories, and photographs related to current events addressing societal problems and what a dystopian solution looks like when implemented by the powers that be. I think it is also important to incorporate maps, helping students get a geographic sense of where we are located in relation to the rest of the world even if the world is a fictional one that at some point in history existed. I think it is important that students study and look at colonial maps as they study the topic of slavery and how this dystopian structure had an actual physical location. Incorporating the opportunity to look at the maps analytically can help students understand that geographic distance is not the most important element when we take into account that human nature surpasses geographic boundaries because people are people. I also think that the study of geographic locations shines a light on communities around the world that may be oceans away but share similarities that can only be explained by the characteristics we share as humans and citizens of the world.
A fundamental component of the ELA class is research. Students are responsible for gathering information about topics and themes as we encounter them in our literature. I also think the research component early on will help the students explore the topic of slavery as it relates to the thirteen original colonies and dystopian society because that is a major part of their social studies curriculum. Engaging in such multi-faceted learning about societal evolution will enhance their understanding of the tangible historical elements of dystopias.
By this unit's culmination, students will skillfully read, analyze, discuss, and articulate written responses, connecting fiction, non-fiction content, historical and current events. Students will also be able to create a plan or blueprint as to what a plan and proposal should look like when addressing issues that affect them and the world that surround them.
