I have several objectives that I would like to achieve through the implementation of this unit. While, as mentioned above, Rediscovering our World through Dystopian Literature is meant to accompany a unit I will be teaching in a Read180 classroom, I will also construct the lessons in a way that it will stand on its own in a language arts classroom.
Middle school students have wonderfully inquisitive and hyper-interested minds that seek to be filled with knowledge, experience and possibilities. Discussions on the realities of a dystopian and utopian worlds, fiction or non-fiction, will hypnotize students and hopefully lead to lively discussions and magnificent discoveries. Dystopian literature has a rich history filled with great novels and stories written by some the most well-known authors in literature. Characters in the stories risk their lives to save their worlds while learning life lessons as they struggle. Introducing students to this genre is introducing students to the richness of incredibly creative and fascinating worlds full of inspiration and possibilities as well as horror.
On a more practical aspect, I want to spend some time reviewing short story structure and terminology with students. I believe middle school students should have a solid foundation on how a short story is built including a review of the various important parts of the story such as setting, exposition,, rising action, conflict, climax, resolution and others.
As students study the structure of a story, they will read various dystopian stories including “The Lottery” and those in Asimov’s I Robot. I want student to explore not only the worlds portrayed by Jackson and Asimov, but the structure of the stories and, in Asimov’s case, I want students to see the structure of his collection. What is the progression of the stories, how are they linked? What do authors consider when putting together a collection of short stories?
After reading the book in groups, I will challenge students to take a similar approach in writing their own dystopian short stories linked with a common thread as Asimov constructed in his book. Students will work together to come up their own short stories that will fit into a compilation that will be presented in a creative way to others in the class.
