Chelsea Werner, M.A.T.

Program Development
TAG Endorsement: Fisher and Mccaffrey
UNIT FOCUS: Short Science Fiction as Cultural Critiques
Grades: 9-10
Stage 1 Desired Results
Content Standard(s):
1. R9-10.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text,
including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific
word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and
place; how it sets a formal or informal tone.)
2. R9-10.6: Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of
literature from the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature.
3. W9-10.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas,
concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection,
organization, and analysis of content.
4. W9-10.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective
technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
Standards Common to all Literature Units
5. SL1: Engage in collaborative discussions
6. L4: Determine meaning of unknown words
7. RL1: Cite evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences
8. RL10: Read and comprehend literature proficiently
9. W4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style
are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience
10. W10: Write routinely for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences
TAG Standards
HOCTS (Higher Order Critical Thinking Skills)
2. The student responds to questions with supporting information that reflects in-depth knowledge
of a topic.
7. The student examines an issue from more than one point of view.
10. The student distinguishes between assumptions, inferences, and conclusions.
CT&CPSS (Creative Thinking and Creative Problem Solving Skills)
1. The student questions accepted practices, rules, and existing principles to discover new
knowledge.
7. The student uses analogies, metaphors, and/or models to explain complex concepts.
BIG IDEAS-CONCEPTS-THEMES
1. The new American mindset in a post-WWII society
2. The ways in which pop culture trends often have a deeper significance
3. The use of fiction as a vehicle for a cultural critique
4. People in general fear change
UNDERSTANDINGS
ESSENTIAL QUESTION(S):
Students will understand that:
Why did the American belief system change
The horrific events of WWII shaped
after WWII and what was it like before? How
modernist literature, especially in the 50s
is the change reflected in the literature of the
and 60s.
50s and 60s?
The fears and values of a society are often How do popular trends in a societys media
obscurely reflected in various media,
correlate with its values or fears?
specifically in literature and film.
How can fiction serve as a cultural critique of
Fictional literature is often heavily based on
the society in which it was written, even
cultural events from which it was written,
though it is fantasy?

even though it may be set in a different

time and place.
Key knowledge and skills:
Students will be able to
1. R4 Determine and analyze the figurative and connotative language in the short stories, including
how the language evokes a sense of time and place: the distant future.
2. R6 Analyze the point of view of Americans in the 50s and 60s and examine how their values and
fears are manifested in science fiction.
3. Analyze current trends within their own cultures and question the reason for their popularity.
4. HOCTS2 Respond to higher-order inquiries using critical thinking skills and information to back
up their claims
5. HOCTS7 Examine the effects of WWII on American culture from more than one point of view
6. HOCTS10 Differentiate between another persons assumptions, inferences, and conclusions
7. CT&CPSS1 Question accepted viewpoints and principles to discover new knowledge
8. CT&CPSS9: Use analogies and metaphors to explain complex concepts
Students will be familiar with
Metaphor and the science fiction stories deeper meanings
The effects of WWII on American society and its worldview
World events in the 1950s and 1960s: Space exploration, the Red Scare and McCarthyism,
nuclear warfare, advancing technology.
Current trends in pop culture and where they stem from/what larger event inspired them
Stage 2 Assessment Evidence
Performance Task(s):
Other Evidence:
Students will choose between either the
Tickets out the Door
narrative version of the assignment (A) or the
Daily whole class and small group discussions
explanatory version (B)
Creative writing: Performance task and
possibly the final narrative
A. You are a science fiction writer. You decide
Explanatory/informational writing: The final
to write a short story set in either the past or
project in which students analyze their favorite
the future that acts as a critique or comment
trend in pop culture right now and attempt to
of todays society. You must:
explain the deeper meaning of its presence
1. Choose a current issue or topic in our pop
Visual activity: Sketch artist for Harrison
culture or media to analyze and understand
Bergeron
2. Use that issue as the basis for your short
Hotseating
story. Be prepared to explain to the class the
Journaling
ways in which your futuristic (or archaic) story Kahoots
is a social comment of present time issues.
Student Self-Assessment (SSA)
OR
In a ticket out the Door, ask students to write a
few sentences on how they think they did during
B. You are a social researcher and a pop
this unit (attendance, discussion, participation,
culture expert. Write a short informational text etc.).
or essay that analyzes a current trend in our
society, and what it says about our culture.

You may choose any trend within the past 510 years. You must:
1. Clearly state the issue you chose to analyze
2. Cite evidence from our culture (film, books,
news media outlets, music, television, clothing,
etc.) to support your theory. Prepare to
present your findings to the class.

Classroom Assessment Technique (CAT)

In the same TOD, as students to write a few bullet
points about what they thought of the unit, how
effective the teacher was at teaching this material,
how interesting they thought the unit was, etc.

Standards: R9-10.6, W9-10.2 OR W9-10.3

Stage 3 Learning Plan
Learning Activities: (Planned for Block Scheduling)
Day 1: Introduction to post-WWII America and the Science Fiction trend
Standards: R6, SL1, W4, W10, HOCTS2, HOCTS7
EQ: Why do people have such great hope for the future?
Goals

(By the end of the period students should be able to):

Recognize the events of WWII that affected the world
Identify the major trend in film and literature in the 1950s and 1960s
Understand the fascination with advancing technology and consumerism

Need: The House of the Future YouTube video, an image galleries PowerPoint with WWII images,
clips of interviews of those who lived during WWII.
10-Introduce the essential question by having students write in the journal. Topic: What do you
think life will be like in 2080? What would daily life look like for a high school student during that
year?
5-Transition: Have students discuss what they wrote in groups, and then discuss a little as a class.
10-Hook: Watch the House of the Future YouTube video and journal about how different our lives
actually are, from what was predicted. "House of the Future" .
5-Transition: Discuss the journal entries in groups, and then as a class.
25-Image Gallery: Students take notes as the teacher discusses the most important images of
WWII.
15-Transition: Class discussion: How would these events have shaped American society? How would
it have changed your life?
10-Interview clip: Watch short clips of interviews with those who lived during WWII.
10-Transition: Ticket out the Door: How did their belief systems change? In times of hardship, how
do people tend to view the future? What did these Americans think the future would be like?

Day 2

Standards: R4, R6, SL1, L4, Rl1, RL10, W4, W10, HOCTS2, HOCTS7
EQ: What is There Will Come Soft Rains warning the reader?

Goals

(By the end of the period, students should be able to):

Understand the implications of WWII
Identify the authors intent in writing the text
Identify how the authors language works for providing the setting
Identify how Bradburys own culture is present in this fictional story set in the distant future.

Need: A worksheet for each student about the science fiction genre and some vocabulary to
describe its commonalities, There Will Come Soft Rains for each student.
10-Journal: Summarize what we learned yesterday.
15-Group Discussion: How did life change after WWII?
10-Discuss the science fiction genre and some common vocabulary/themes
20-Read There Will Come Soft Rains aloud, pausing to discuss after each page. How does
Bradbury use language to put us in the future?
10-Transition: Group Discussion: What does Bradbury want us to take away from this story? Why
did he write it? What did he fear?
15-Hotseat: Have a student take on the persona of a robot from the house, and another student be
Ray Bradbury.

Day 3: Metaphorical Expression

Instructional Unit Content
Standard(s)/Element(s)
Content Area Standard
ELACC6RL3: Describe how a particular storys or dramas plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as
how the characters respond or change as the plot moves towards a resolution.
TAG Standard
Creative Thinking & Creative Problem Solving Skills
7. The student uses analogies, metaphors, and/or models to explain complex concepts.
Summary/Overview
The focus of this lesson is to give students the opportunity to develop new insights and provide
powerful explanations of the importance of understanding plot in a short story.

Enduring Understanding(s)
At the end of this lesson the student will understand that
a. Conflict affects plot
b. Growth of a character can be measured against changes in plot

Essential Question(s)
Why is it important to understand patterns in plot?

Evidence of Learning
What students should know:
a. Conflict affects plot
b. Every work of literature, even short science fiction, has a predictable plot map
c. Main characters grow over the course of a story
What students should be able to:
a. Understand plot and how to apply it to a There Will Come Soft Rains
Suggested Vocabulary

Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution

Procedure(s)
Phase 1: Hook
1.

Students will participate in a Carousel Brainstorming Activity. Students will inspect the question
posed at each station, develop/record all ideas, and rotate to expand ideas at another station.
Review the three types of metaphorical expressions experienced by the students: direct analogies,
personal analogies, and compressed conflicts. Explain to the students that today in Language Arts
we are going to learn a new concept using these three types of metaphors.

Phase 2: Examine the Content

Set the Scene: The instructor will ask students to think of a time they heard someone tell a really
terrible, boring story. How did it make you feel? What, specifically, made it bad? Then ask students
to think of a time they told a story that listeners really seemed to enjoy. Why about the story
made it enjoyable? How did it differ from the boring story?
3. Pose the Essential Question. Why is it important to understand patterns in plot? How is our
essential question connected to our discussion about storytelling?
4. Students will work individually to read a description of plot and complete the content organizer.
Each student will pair up with another to compare their answers and verify their understanding of
the concept of plot.
2.

Phase 3: Analogies
Direct Analogy: Students will identify the similarities and differences between a roller coaster and
the stages of plot. In groups of 4 record how they are alike and different using the visual
organizer.
6. Personal Analogy: Students will compare their lives to a roller coaster plot diagram. Individually
record the answers to the following questions:
How would you describe the exposition of your life?
o What is the setting of your lifes story? Who are the main characters?
What has been the main conflict in your life? Why?
How would you describe some events that take place in the rising action of your life?
Do you believe your life has reached its climax yet? If so, what was it? If not, what do you think the
climax of your life will be?
How do you hope the denouement, or resolution, of your life will look like?
5.

Students will write a paragraph, poem, or song in the first person about the rollercoaster of their
life. What would it feel like? Would there be many ups and downs, or would it be a smooth ride?
7.

Compressed Conflict: Candidates will brainstorm antonyms of the elements of plot/ diagrams in
order to create compressed conflict phrases.

Phase 4: Synthesis Activity

8.

Candidates will generate another direct analogy by completing the following sentence: Plot is like
________. Give at least 5 reasons why plot is like the item in your sentence.

Summarizing Activity

Exit Ticket: Why is it important to understand patterns in plot?

Handouts:
Handout 1:
Handout 2:
Handout 3:
Handout 4:
Handout 5:
Handout 6:
Handout 7:

Mental Stretchers
Plot Content
Content Organizer
Roller Coaster Image
Direct Analogy Organizer
Personal Analogy Organizer
Compressed Conflict Organizer

Handout 2: Plot Content

PLOT
The plot is how the author arranges events to develop his basic idea; It is the
sequence of events in a story or play. The plot is a planned, logical series of events
having a beginning, middle, and end. The short story usually has one plot so it can be
read in one sitting. There are five essential parts of plot:
a) Introduction - The beginning of the story where the characters and the setting
is revealed. INCITING INCIDENT is the first conflict that starts the rising action.
b) Rising Action - This is where the events in the story become complicated and
the conflict in the story is revealed (events between the introduction and
climax).
c) Climax - This is the highest point of interest and the turning point of the story.
The reader wonders what will happen next; will the conflict be resolved or not?
It is helpful to consider climax as a three-fold phenomenon:
i. the main character receives new information
ii. accepts this information (realizes it but does not necessarily agree
with it)
iii. acts on this information (makes a choice that will determine
whether or not he/she gains his objective).
d) Falling action - The events and complications begin to resolve themselves. The
reader knows what has happened next and if the conflict was resolved or not
(events between climax and denouement).
e) Denouement - This is the final outcome or untangling of events in the story.

Handout 3
Content to be examined:

Handout 4

What does it look like? (use pictures or words)

What are its parts?

What is its purpose?

How does it operate? (use pictures or words)

How did it originate?

What is it a part of?

What is its importance?

Handout 5

How is
Plot

Like
a Roller Coaster

How are they not alike?

Handout 6
Personal Analogy
Plot and Conflict
Imagine you are viewing your life as you would a work of literature. Answer the
following questions on your own.
How would you describe the
exposition of your life? What is the
setting of your lifes story? Who are
the main characters?

How would you describe some events

that take place in the rising action of
your life?

What has been the main conflict

in your life? Why?

Do you believe your life has reached

its climax yet? If so, what was it? If
not, what do you think the climax of
your life will be?

Write a paragraph, poem, or song in the first person about the rollercoaster of your
life. What would it feel like? Would there be many ups and downs, or would it be a
smooth ride?
.

Day 4

Standards: HOCTS2, HOCTS7, R4, R6, SL1, L4, RL1, W4, W10
EQs:

What did Vonneguts culture fear? Why did he write Harrison Bergeron?
How did people in Bradburys time often view technology?
What do you fear most? What does it say about you?

Goals

(By the end of the period, students will be able to)

Understand and explain what communism, McCarthyism, and the Red Scare are
Identify the common fears of Americans in the 1960s were
Identify what our cultures fears are in present time
Compare the animated version of There Will Come Soft Rains to the text version and
explain which was more effective
Understand the authors intent in Harrison Bergeron
Identify how Vonneguts language creates the setting of the story

Need: Film clips of There Will Come Soft Rains on YouTube, images for the gallery on a
PowerPoint, a guiding worksheet to help students take notes, Harrison Bergeron for each student.
10-Introduction: Journal: What do you fear most? What do you think our society fears most?
10-Transition: Discuss in groups, then as a class.
5-Watch clips from the animated version of There Will Come Soft Rains
5-Transition: Journal which version is more effective. Discuss as a class. How does Bradbury write a
story without any living characters?
20-Image Gallery: Students fill out notes on a worksheet as the teacher uses images to introduce
McCarthyism and the Red Scare. What is communism?
10-Transition: Group Discussion: How would these events affect a persons life?
20-Read half of Harrison Bergeron aloud, using images to create a picture in the students minds.
Discuss often during the reading how Vonnegut uses the language to put us in the future.
15-Transition: TOD: Topic-Knowing the context in which this story was written, what was the
authors intent? What did he fear? Predict the ending.

Day 5: Compare Contrast Lesson

OPENING

Getting students
ready to learn

Today we will be moving from 1950s American literature to 19th and 20th century British literature.
Although we are moving away from the science fiction genre for today, the unit themes regarding
visions and fears for the future remain the same.

Step 1: Teacher and students talk about what they will learn and do
(Communication of Learning Intentions)
Review the Essential Question & Standards:
Content Area Standard
ELA6R1Ld. Students will compare and contrast motivations and reactions of literary characters
different historical eras confronting similar situations or conflicts.
TAG Standard

Higher Order and Critical Thinking Skills

Summary/Overview
The focus of this lesson is to identify the universal reactions and predictions of characters that
transcend historical settings through compare and contrast.
Essential Question
How does the concept of the apocalypse change and stay the same throughout historical eras?
Theme
Patterns of fears and predictions

Step 2: How will you know when they have gotten it? (Communication of Succ
Criteria)

At the end of this lesson the student will understand that:

c. There are universal motivations and reactions of characters that transcend historical set
d. The historical setting may affect character motivations and reactions.
e. There are universal fears that transcend historical eras.

What students should know:

a. Themes and fears are influenced by the times, locations, and events of the period in wh
are written; setting affects the plot of literary work.
b. There are similarities in the reactions and predictions of literary characters when confro
similar situations or conflicts regardless of the time in which the story is set.
c. There are differences in the reactions and predictions of literary characters across histor
time periods.

What students should be able to do:

a. Conducts comparisons using criteria.
b. Examines an issue from more than one point of view.
c. Identifies stereotypes, biases, and prejudices in ones own reasoning and that of other
Step 3: Get the students interested (Build Commitment and Engagement)
Instructor will discuss lead in the c/c is an extension activity to the From Generation to
Generation unit in LA.
Divide the class into 2 groups: 19th century and 20th century.

Distribute the hook. Activate prior knowledge of the students by having them examine
on how their generation perceives the future. Have them jot down the differences perceiv
when comparing to others.

Step 4: Give students new information (Teacher Presentation Strategies)

WORK PERIOD

Releasing students to do
the work

Distribute the readings; the 19th century and 20th century poems. Each person will read his
assigned piece and complete the criteria organizer.

Step 5: Have students use the new information (Guided Practice)

Pair students with like assignments to discuss criteria organizer.

Students will pair with someone who completed the opposite reading (i.e., each 19th centur
with a 20th century). Each student will teach his/her partner what s/he knows.

In a class discussion, groups will share general statements about the anticipations of the
and fear of death with one another. Instructor will record class responses.

Learning Log:
Based on your analysis, what are some general statements that you can make how doe
historical setting impacts a characters predictions and fears?
What universal fears and anticipations of poets transcend historical settings?
What other stories or novels have you read that provide evidence for the universal moti
and reactions of characters that you have cited in this lesson?

Step 7: Have students practice (Independent Practice)

Distribute Think-Tac-Toe. Each student will select and complete three of the activities.

If a student finishes early or needs an extra challenge

Finish
Early or
Need
Challenge

CLOSING

Helping students make sense of

their learning

Step 6: Make sure they can do it (Summary)

Think-Tac-Toe

Anchor Text(s):
The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot

Resource(s)

Technology:
Handouts:
Handout 1:
Handout 2:
Handout 3:
Handout 4:
Handout 5:

Hook
19th Century Experts
20th Century Experts
Comparison Organizer
Think-Tac-Toe

Handout 1

Fear and Anticipation

Everyone thinks about the future. People have predicted the time and
circumstance of the apocalypse since humans began to keep records. The
20th century poet T.S. Eliot even contemplated the circumstances of end
times in his poem Hollow Men. Eliot contemplates the fickle nature of
dreams, hopes, and expectations for the future, while at the same time
making a statement about the finality of the end of the world. Before we
begin the lesson, observe your own thoughts and predictions about the
future. Take a minute to write down the differences in opinions you have
heard others state about the near or distant future.

Handout 2

Ozymandias
BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who saidTwo vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Source: Shelleys Poetry and Prose (1977)

Observations: You are an expert in 19th Century

Romantic Poetry. Write down some observations that
you made in the context of your time period.

Handout 3

Fire and Ice

BY ROBERT FROST

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.
From what Ive tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Observations: You are an expert in 20th Century

American Modern Poetry. Write down some
observations that relate to your knowledge of this
time period.

Handout 4

Fear and Anticipation Student Handout

You will be assigned one of the two poems to analyze. Read the poem.
Using the criteria given, describe the passage focusing on the tone,
theme (authors intended message), and view or prediction of the
future.

19th Century

20th Century
Tone

Theme

View of
the
Future

Handout 5

Think-Tac-Toe Template
Musical-Rhythmic
Sing it
Create a beat
Rap it
Make a cheer
Create a jingle
Hum it
Identify sounds
React to sounds
Listen to sounds
Connect to music
Write a poem
Visual-Spatial
Mind maps
Graphic organizers
Video
Color code
Highlight
Shape a word
Interpret a graphic
Read a chart
Study illustrations
Visualize it
Make a chart
Create a poster
Intrapersonal
Metacognition
Use self-talk
Work independently
Solve it your way
Understand self
Journal it
Rehearse it
Use prior knowledge
Connect it
Have ownership

Verbal-Linguistic
Read it
Spell it
Write it
Listen to it
Tell it
Recall it
Use you words
Apply it
Chunk information
Say it
Discuss it
Use mnemonics

Suggestions for
Using Howard
Gardners Eight
Multiple
Intelligences
(Chapman & King,
2000)

Interpersonal
Think-Pair-Share
Jigsaw
Cooperative grouping
Drama
Debates
Class meetings
Role play
Meeting of minds
Peer counseling
Tutors/buddies
Shared journals
Giving feedback

LogicalMathematical
Make a pattern
Chart it
Sequence it
Create a mnemonic
Analyze it
Think abstractly
Think critically
Use numbers
Prove it
Interpret the data
Use the statistics
Bodily-Kinesthetic
Role play
Walkabout
Dance
Lip sync
Skits/charades/mime
Construction
Math manipulatives
Sign language
Sports
Activity centers
Body language
Naturalist
Label it
Categorize it
Identify it
Form a hypothesis
Do an experiment
Adapt it
Construct it
Classify it
Investigate it
Discern patterns

Day 6
Standards: CT&CPSS1, R10, R6, SL1, L4, RL1, RL10
EQs:

Goals

In what context did Vonnegut write Harrison Bergeron?

How does science fiction often ground itself in reality?
(By the end of the period, students will be able to):
Identify how the Red Scare affected American society and how it is reflected in the text
Understand the authors intent
Understand and explain the texts conflict and fictional society
Visualize and analyze the texts protagonist

Need: Copies of Harrison Bergeron for each student, paper and markers/crayons, paper,
magazines, and scissors for the visual activity
15-Introduction: Group Discussion: Who can summarize what we read in the last class? What are
some predictions for the ending? How does this story relate to communism? What did the society
fear, and how is that reflected in the text?
20-Finish reading Harrison Bergeron aloud.
25-Group Discussion: Discuss the language and the deeper meaning.
15-Hotseating: Have one student take on the persona of Harrison, one student be a government
attendant, and another student be Kurt Vonnegut.
15-Visual activity: Make a wanted poster of Harrison, pretending that he lived and is at large.
Students who feel like they are less artistically inclined can piece together a figure using magazine
images. Finish for homework.

Day 7Circle of Knowledge Lesson

Instructional Unit Content
Standard(s)/Element(s)
Content Area Standard
R9.7: Compare and contrast the experience of reading drama and viewing the video version of the text,
including what they see and hear when reading the text to what they perceive when they listen or watch.
TAG Standard
Higher Order and Critical Thinking Skills

Summary/Overview
The focus of this lesson is to allow students to view two forms of the same literature, comparing and
contrasting the differences but also identifying the emotions and situations that transcend historical
settings.

Enduring Understanding(s)
At the end of this lesson the student will understand that
a. Film can be a valid and interesting medium for literature
b. Human emotion is not limited to any setting
c. Diversity, in every sense of the word, should be accepted in a good society
d. Authors have a powerful platform to state their opinions
Essential Question(s)
How is literature from the 1950s still relevant today? Was Kurt Vonnegut criticizing Socialism or
criticizing Americans view of Socialism?

Evidence of Learning
What students should know:
a. Kurt Vonnegut himself was a Socialist
b. The differences and similarities between communism and socialism
c. After WWII, most Americans greatly feared communism, known as The Red Scare
d. Many other authors critiqued this fear, including Arthur Miller and his Crucible, a play set in
Puritan America and centers around the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts.
What students should be able to do:
b. Comprehend the metaphor of Harrison Bergeron
c. Examine the issue of The Red Scare and how it shaped American culture
d. Compare Harrison Bergeron to brief readings of The Crucible
e. Compare and contrast the differences and similarities between Vonneguts original text and
the film adaptation, 2081.
Suggested Vocabulary
Communism, socialism
Procedure(s)
Phase 1: Sparking the Discussion (Hook)
9.

Call for volunteers to answer the following questions: What causes tension in your family? Do you ever
disagree with your parents? Why? Pose the question: How and why do gangs view themselves as a
family? Provide students time to jot down their thoughts and share thoughts with a partner. Select a few
students to respond.

Phase 2: Acquiring Content Needed to Participate in Discussion

Pose the essential (focus) questions: How is literature from the 1950s still relevant today? Was Kurt
Vonnegut criticizing Socialism or criticizing Americans view of Socialism? Activate prior knowledge

by having students create sentences using at least three words from the Word Splash.
10. Students will review Harrison Bergeron, read Socialism, Communism, and Harrison Bergeron and
Kurt Vonnegut and take notes on the organizer.

Phase 3: Kindling the Discussion

11.
12.

Students will use their notes and the Questioning Cube to answer and have small group discussions.
In whole group, students will participate in a discussion driven by the following questions: Why
did Kurt Vonnegut write Harrison Bergeron? What is a theme of the short story? What similarities
can you see between Vonneguts personal life and his short story? What causes tension in countries
and cultures? Why did America have such a fear of communism at the time? How would you feel
if you lived during this era?

Phase 4: Synthesis Activity

13. Students will watch the 2081 version of the Harrison Bergeron and write down their thoughts. In a Think-

Pair-Share, students will discuss the similarities and differences between the original text and the modern
version.

Summarizing Activity

3-2-1 Exit Ticket

Resource(s)
Anchor Text(s):
Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut

Technology:
2081 the film, available for rent for $2 on YouTube.com
Handouts:
Handout 1:
Handout 2:
Handout 3:
Handout 4:

Socialism, Communism, and Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut Obituary Article
Notes Organizer
Questioning Cube

Handout: 1
(https://zainabkhawaja.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/harrison-bergeron-an-interpretive-essay/)

Through understatement comes clarity.

Harrison Bergeron by Kurt

Vonnegut, Jr. was first published in 1961 and is a typical example of the authors
ability to blend satire and science fiction. Although real-world politics is almost
never explicitly discussed in his fiction, much of Vonneguts work has been seen
by critics as oblique jabs at various governments and systems of thought
(SparkNote on Harrison Bergeron, 2007). It is probably the best cautionary tale
of regulation with the goal of absolute equality ever written.
In the first half of this essay, I will be highlighting the themes and allusions
present in the short story, keeping in mind what they are meant to suggest. In its
second half, this essay will attempt to discuss two responses to the short story.

One is the more common response, viewing Harrison Bergeron as a negative

portrayal of socialism and communism, taking the equality principle of these
doctrines to the extreme in order to reveal their absurdity. The second is the view
that, keeping in line with Vonneguts leftist political affiliations and other works
of literature, Harrison Bergeron is a satire of the popular misunderstanding of
what leveling and equality entail, not of equality in itself. The latter will be
discussed with reference to the article: The Politics of Kurt Vonneguts Harrison
Bergeron by Darryl Hattenhauer.
Popular themes in the story are Vonneguts satire of both forced equality and the
power of the Handicapper General, & the brainwashing effect television has on
the American people. Vonnegut has been thought to have been influenced by a
1961 speech made by Newton Minow, the then Federal Communications
Commission Chairman, titled The Vast Wasteland, a reference to the supposed
want of quality in television programming. Also, at the very end, the sound of a
riveting gun in Georges ear-radio leads Hazel and George into a verbal exchange,
echoing comic lines popularized by comedians George Burns and Gracie Allen,
from the closing dialogue of their television show, a weekly situation comedy and
variety show popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The agents of the
Handicapper General are called H-G men, an allusion to the practice in these
times of referring to Federal Bureau of Investigation and Secret Service officers
as G-men, the letter G standing for government.
The allusion of Diana Moon, the Handicapper Generals first and middle names,
refers to the Roman goddess of the hunt, Diana, who is associated with the moon.
Diana was known for her vengeance, which could explain the ruthless killing of
Harrison Bergeron in the story. Thor, identified in the story as the god of
thunder, was, in Norse mythology, the oldest and most powerful son of Odin,
king of the gods. He possessed great strength and skill in fighting. This allusion
serves to underscore Harrisons strength without his handicaps. There is an
indirect reference to cartoonist Rube Goldberg, which highlights the absurdity of

the handicapping technology, especially for such a futuristic story. Rube

Goldbergs cartoons generally depicted elaborate schemes to accomplish the
simplest tasks. Thus, the various handicaps described in the story seem much
like Rube Goldberg cartoons, and seem humorous to readers who recognize the
allusion.
Vonnegut has said that he learned most of what he believes about social and
political idealism from junior civics class, as well as from the democratic
institution of the public school itself. A futuristic story dealing with universal
themes of equality, freedom, power and its abuses, and media influence,
Harrison Bergeron continues to evoke thoughtful responses about equality and
individual freedom in the United States (Cengage, 2002).
As a theme, freedom remains in the background of the story, emerging when
Harrison escapes from jail. In the storys futuristic society, freedom is no longer a
bedrock American value; enforcing the law that makes those who are above
normal equal to those who are normal has become the major social value.
Forced equality by handicapping the above-normal individuals evolved as a
response to the demonized concept of competition (which existed in the dark
ages) in all its possible forms. Vonnegut suggests that freedom can be taken
away relatively easily, especially since the forced equality in the story has been
authorized by Amendments to the Constitution.
Civil rights have become extinct in Harrison Bergeron. The culture values
mediocrity to the point that the people accept oppressive measures in the name
of equality. Ironically, no one really benefits from these misguided attempts to
enforce equality, except perhaps the incompetent, such as the television
announcer who, like all announcers, had a serious speech impediment. In
Hazels words, the announcers incompetence should be forgiven because his
attempt is the big thing. He tried to do the best he could with what God gave
him. He should get a nice raise for trying so hard. Should anyone in that
society dare to become above average, he or she is immediately punished, as is

Harrison, who is executed for shunning mediocrity and attempting to excel. By

creating a society where the goal of equality has resulted in a grotesque caricature
of humanity, Vonnegut implies that individual civil rights should never be
sacrificed, not even for the alleged common good.
Normal in the story can best be described as subnormal, incompetent, and
ignorant. Hazel is a case in point; as a normal person, she wears no handicaps,
and she has a good heart, yet she knows very little about anything and cannot
remember what she just saw or heard a moment ago. At the end of the story, she
takes literally Georges intensifying statement, you can say that again, by
repeating what she just said. Vonnegut suggests that an authoritarian
government thrives on the ignorance of the people and on the suppression of
intelligence and knowledge.
In addition to the critique of authoritarian government in the form of the
Handicapper General agents (H-G men), Vonnegut discusses the ways in which
the Handicapper General uses the fear of competition to make obeying the laws
an ethical decision. Hazel feels sorry for George, who has to wear forty-seven
pounds of birdshot around his neck, so she invites him to lighten his load. He
rejects the idea of cheating (breaking the law) with a recital of the punishment:
two years in prison and two thousand dollars for every [lead birdshot] ball
taken out. He continues by describing the bandwagon effect: other people would
try to break the law if George could do so. He asserts that backsliding would
result in a return to the dark ages, with everybody competing against everybody
else. Cheating on laws, George claims, would reduce society to chaos. Here,
Vonnegut satirizes the fear of change and of uncertainty: victims of the
oppressive law want to enforce it rather than take their chances without it.
One of the implied reasons Harrison may want to overthrow the government has
to do with strength and weakness. He recognizes the inequality of forcing strong
people (those mentally, intellectually, and physically strong) to give up their
strength for an orderly society of equal, law-abiding citizens.

The idea of the superhuman materializes in the character of Harrison. He

exceeds the physical and intellectual abilities of anyone else in the story.
Likewise, his physical appearance, judged by the kinds of handicaps he must
wear, suggests an Adonis-like figure. His natural abilities do not make him
immortal, however. Truly befitting the superman concept, he declares himself
emperor, a greater ruler than any man who ever lived (even with his
handicaps). He does not recognize, however, his human flaw: replacing one
authoritarian government with another. Like so many other revolutions,
Harrisons short-lived attempt to overthrow the ruthless totalitarianism that has
become the American government becomes totalitarian itself. Vonnegut suggests
that power, whether invested in the government or in the individual figure,
corrupts. (Cengage, 2002)
A twisted version of the American Dream is shown in Harrison Bergeron.
Upward mobility has been made impossible due to the mediocrity of each
individual. (SAO)
Vonnegut suggests the powerful influence of broadcast media in the story. Radio
is the medium of the mental handicap noises used to prevent anyone with the
ability to think from doing so. But television accomplishes the same thing for
normal people like Hazel, who had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant
she couldnt think about anything except in short bursts. This lack of
concentration has come to be known as short attention span, or attention deficit
disorder. Many critics credit television for the decreasing attention span of the
population. They also suggest television programming desensitizes people to real
life, in part because it requires nothing of the viewer. Vonnegut suggests the
importance of television as a means of controlling information by having
Harrison Bergeron take over the television studio and proclaim himself emperor.
Vonnegut also shows the numbing influence of television by having Hazel forget
what she has seenher sons killingeven though she reacts by recognizing that
something sad has happened.

It is easy to ascertain that Harrison Bergeron offers vigorous political and social
criticisms. But what is Vonnegut criticizing exactly? A common view of
Vonneguts satire in Harrison Bergeron suggests that this satire is aimed at the
Soviet Union. This view draws from historical context (Harrison Bergeron was
published in the midst of the Cold War, when anti-communist propaganda was
rampant in the United States).
In the 1960s, America was engaged with Russia in the Cold War and had recently
struggled through the McCarthy era, when suspected communists were accused
and blacklisted from artistic, literary, and political communities. The futuristic
American society of Harrison Bergeron operates on communist principles,
supporting the idea that wealth and power should be distributed equally and
class hierarchies should not exist. Like the accused communists of the McCarthy
era, anyone not conforming to societys accepted standardsin a reversal of
sorts, anyone not adhering to the communist structureis sought out and
punished. In his story, Vonnegut argues that such principles are foolish. It is
unnatural to distribute wealth and power equally, he suggests, and it is only by
literally handicapping the best and brightest citizens that the misguided goal of
equal distribution can be attained. Similarly, it is unnatural to seek out and
punish those who reject social norms.
The political system depicted in Vonneguts story is distinctly American and
founded on the principles of egalitarianism, which holds that people should be
equal in every way. Equality is a beloved principle enshrined in Americas
constitution in the phrase All men are created equal, but Vonnegut suggests
that the ideals of egalitarianism can be dangerous if they are interpreted too
literally.
Following Khrushchevs threat to drown the United States, the fear of
Communism taking over the free world was prevalent among Americans. If the
goal of equality is taken to its logical conclusion, we may decide that people must
be forced to be equal to one another in their appearance, behavior, and

achievements. So with respect to this view, Harrison Bergeron is Vonneguts way

of playing on that fear, showing how dangerous communism could really be in
American society.
An alternate view, that which is presented in The Politics of Kurt Vonneguts
Harrison Bergeron by Darryl Hattenhauer, states that the aforementioned view
is an all too common misinterpretation of the authors intentions while writing
the story. Vonnegut, he claims, was not criticizing Communism and its notions
of equality. Rather, he was mocking Americas perverted understanding of that
very principle.
To verify this claim, Hattenhauer first makes reference to Vonneguts previous
works, fiction & non-fiction, following this up with a discussion of whom
Vonnegut wishes to address who is his audience? Lastly, there is a discussion of
internal evidence, using points from within the story to cement his case.
His first point is that Vonnegut was a leftist. All evidence points to this.
Hattenhauer writes,
If Harrison Bergeron is a satire against the Left, then it is inconsistent with
the rest of Vonneguts fiction Like his fiction, Vonneguts non-fiction also
satirizes the Right and endorses the Left. And the Left it endorses is not
liberalism,
giving examples from works such as God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, and In a
Manner that Must Shame God Himself. Speeches Vonnegut has given also show
that he supported the socialist model of plentiful living for all and saw it as an
achievable future for mankind.
So what has led to this misconception of Vonneguts intent, and why was the
story not written with crystal-clear emphasis on its true intent? This is the
question that Hattenhauer seeks to answer in the second half of his article, and

he supplies the answer readily. Vonnegut was a struggling writer at the time, who
needed popular support to make a name for himself. He said himself that he only
wrote short stories to earn money so that he could focus on his novels, which
were his main area of interest. Says Hattenhauer, As a struggling writer,
Vonnegut had to put a surface on this story that would appeal to his audience.
Was he successful in this respect? Indeed he was. The surface he chose to put
over his critique of the US served not only to mask his true satire, but also to
appeal to the central belief of the prevailing national culture that communism
would lead to the destruction of all things Americans held dear.
This view is further supported by an in-depth analysis of Vonneguts depiction of
equality how topics such as redistribution of income, and medical care for all
are not addressed and a discussion of why critics failed to unveil the true
meaning behind his words because they missed the irony. Vonnegut holds back
the undeniability of the irony till the very end, so that you go on believing in the
common viewpoint because you have no solid proof that he is indeed ridiculing
American notions of egalitarianism until Harrison defies gravity and rips off
straps meant to support 5000 pounds the truly impossible.
In conclusion, I would like to say that whereas both points of view are applicable,
the case made by Darryl Hattenhauer provides a unique and refreshing outlook
on the story.

Handout 2:
Kurt Vonneguts NY Time Obituary

Corrections Appended
Kurt Vonnegut, whose dark comic talent and urgent moral vision in novels like
Slaughterhouse-Five, Cats Cradle and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater caught the temper
of his times and the imagination of a generation, died last night in Manhattan. He was 84 and
had homes in Manhattan and in Sagaponack on Long Island.

Jill Krementz
Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

His death was reported by his wife, the author and photographer Jill Krementz, who said he had
been hospitalized after suffering irreversible brain injuries as a result of a fall several weeks ago.
Mr. Vonnegut wrote plays, essays and short fiction. But it was his novels that became classics of

the American counterculture, making him a literary idol, particularly to students in the 1960s and
70s. Dog-eared paperback copies of his books could be found in the back pockets of blue jeans
and in dorm rooms on campuses throughout the United States.
Like Mark Twain, Mr. Vonnegut used humor to tackle the basic questions of human existence:
Why are we in this world? Is there a presiding figure to make sense of all this, a god who in the
end, despite making people suffer, wishes them well?
He also shared with Twain a profound pessimism. Mark Twain, Mr. Vonnegut wrote in his
1991 book, Fates Worse Than Death: An Autobiographical Collage, finally stopped laughing
at his own agony and that of those around him. He denounced life on this planet as a crock. He
died.
Not all Mr. Vonneguts themes were metaphysical. With a blend of science fiction, philosophy
and jokes, he also wrote about the banalities of consumer culture, for example, or the destruction
of the environment.
His novels 14 in all were alternate universes, filled with topsy-turvy images and populated
by races of his own creation, like the Tralfamadorians and the Mercurian Harmoniums. He
invented phenomena like chrono-synclastic infundibula (places in the universe where all truths
fit neatly together) as well as religions, like the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent and
Bokononism (based on the books of a black British Episcopalian from Tobago filled with
bittersweet lies, a narrator says).
The defining moment of Mr. Vonneguts life was the firebombing of Dresden, Germany, by
Allied forces in 1945, an event he witnessed firsthand as a young prisoner of war. Thousands of
civilians were killed in the raids, many of them burned to death or asphyxiated. The
firebombing of Dresden, Mr. Vonnegut wrote, was a work of art. It was, he added, a tower
of smoke and flame to commemorate the rage and heartbreak of so many who had had their lives
warped or ruined by the indescribable greed and vanity and cruelty of Germany.
His experience in Dresden was the basis of Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Childrens Crusade,
which was published in 1969 against the backdrop of war in Vietnam, racial unrest and cultural
and social upheaval. The novel, wrote the critic Jerome Klinkowitz, so perfectly caught
Americas transformative mood that its story and structure became best-selling metaphors for the
new age.
To Mr. Vonnegut, the only possible redemption for the madness and apparent meaninglessness
of existence was human kindness. The title character in his 1965 novel, God Bless You, Mr.
Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine, summed up his philosophy:
Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. Its hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Its round and
wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, youve got about a hundred years here. Theres only
one rule that I know of, babies God damn it, youve got to be kind.
Mr. Vonnegut eschewed traditional structure and punctuation. His books were a mixture of
fiction and autobiography in a vernacular voice, prone to one-sentence paragraphs, exclamation
points and italics. Graham Greene called him one of the most able of living American writers.
Some critics said he had invented a new literary type, infusing the science-fiction form with
humor and moral relevance and elevating it to serious literature.
He was also accused of repeating himself, of recycling themes and characters. Some readers
found his work incoherent. His harshest critics called him no more than a comic book
philosopher, a purveyor of empty aphorisms.
With his curly hair askew, deep pouches under his eyes and rumpled clothes, he often looked
like an out-of-work philosophy professor, typically chain smoking, his conversation punctuated
with coughs and wheezes. But he also maintained a certain celebrity, as a regular on panels and
at literary parties in Manhattan and on the East End of Long Island, where he lived near his
friend and fellow war veteran Joseph Heller, another darkly comic literary hero of the age.
Mr. Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis in 1922, the youngest of three children. His father, Kurt
Sr., was an architect. His mother, Edith, came from a wealthy brewery family. Mr. Vonneguts

brother, Bernard, who died in 1997, was a physicist and an expert on thunderstorms.
During the Depression, the elder Vonnegut went for long stretches without work, and Mrs.
Vonnegut suffered from episodes of mental illness. When my mother went off her rocker late at
night, the hatred and contempt she sprayed on my father, as gentle and innocent a man as ever
lived, was without limit and pure, untainted by ideas or information, Mr. Vonnegut wrote. She
committed suicide, an act that haunted her son for the rest of his life.
He had, he said, a lifelong difficulty with women. He remembered an aunt once telling him, All
Vonnegut men are scared to death of women.
My theory is that all women have hydrofluoric acid bottled up inside, he wrote.
Mr. Vonnegut went east to attend Cornell University, but he enlisted in the Army before he
could get a degree. The Army initially sent him to the Carnegie Institute of Technology
(now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh and the University of Tennessee to study
mechanical engineering.
In 1944 he was shipped to Europe with the 106th Infantry Division and shortly saw combat in
the Battle of the Bulge. With his unit nearly destroyed, he wandered behind enemy lines for
several days until he was captured and sent to a prisoner of war camp near Dresden, the
architectural jewel of Germany.
Assigned by his captors to make vitamin supplements, he was working with other prisoners in an
underground meat locker when British and American warplanes started carpet bombing the city,
creating a firestorm above him. The work detail saved his life.
Afterward, he and his fellow prisoners were assigned to remove the dead.
The corpses, most of them in ordinary cellars, were so numerous and represented such a health
hazard that they were cremated on huge funeral pyres, or by flamethrowers whose nozzles were
thrust into the cellars, without being counted or identified, he wrote in Fates Worse Than
Death. When the war ended, Mr. Vonnegut returned to the United States and married his high
school sweetheart, Jane Marie Cox. They settled in Chicago in 1945. The couple had three
children, Mark, Edith and Nanette. In 1958, Mr. Vonneguts sister, Alice, and her husband died
within a day of each other, she of cancer and he in a train crash. The Vonneguts took custody of
their children, Tiger, Jim and Steven.
In Chicago, Mr. Vonnegut worked as a police reporter for the City News Bureau. He also
studied for a masters degree in anthropology at the University of Chicago, writing a thesis on
The Fluctuations Between Good and Evil in Simple Tales. It was rejected unanimously by the
faculty. (The university finally awarded him a degree almost a quarter of a century later,
allowing him to use his novel Cats Cradle as his thesis.)
In 1947, he moved to Schenectady, N.Y., and took a job in public relations for the General
Electric Company. Three years later he sold his first short story, Report on the Barnhouse
Effect, to Colliers magazine and decided to move his family to Cape Cod, Mass., where he
wrote fiction for magazines like Argosy and The Saturday Evening Post. To bolster his income,
he taught emotionally disturbed children, worked at an advertising agency and at one point
started a Saab auto dealership.
His first novel was Player Piano, published in 1952. A satire on corporate life the meetings,
the pep talks, the cultivation of bosses it also carries echoes of Aldous Huxleys Brave New
World. It concerns an engineer, Paul Proteus, who is employed by the Ilium Works, a company
similar to General Electric. Proteus becomes the leader of a band of revolutionaries who destroy
machines that they think are taking over the world.
Player Piano was followed in 1959 by The Sirens of Titan, a science-fiction novel featuring
the Church of God of the Utterly Indifferent. In 1961 he published Mother Night, involving an
American writer awaiting trial in Israel on charges of war crimes in Nazi Germany. Like Mr.
Vonneguts other early novels, they were published as paperback originals. And like
Slaughterhouse-Five, in 1972, and a number of other Vonnegut novels, Mother Night was
adapted for film, in 1996, starring Nick Nolte.

In 1963, Mr. Vonnegut published Cats Cradle. Though it initially sold only about 500 copies,
it is widely read today in high school English classes. The novel, which takes its title from an
Eskimo game in which children try to snare the sun with string, is an autobiographical work
about a family named Hoenikker. The narrator, an adherent of the religion Bokononism, is
writing a book about the bombing of Hiroshima and comes to witness the destruction of the
world by something called Ice-Nine, which, on contact, causes all water to freeze at room
temperature.
Mr. Vonnegut shed the label of science-fiction writer with Slaughterhouse-Five. It tells the
story of Billy Pilgrim, a chaplains assistant who discovers the horror of war. You know
weve had to imagine the war here, and we have imagined that it was being fought by aging men
like ourselves, an English colonel says in the book. We had forgotten that wars were fought by
babies. When I saw those freshly shaved faces, it was a shock. My God, my God I said to
myself, Its the Childrens Crusade.
As Mr. Vonnegut was, Billy is captured and assigned to manufacture vitamin supplements in an
underground meat locker, where the prisoners take refuge from Allied bombing.
Slaughterhouse-Five provided another stage for his fictional alter ego, Kilgore Trout, a
recurring character introduced in God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. The novel also featured a
signature Vonnegut phrase.
Robert Kennedy, whose summer home is eight miles from the home I live in all year round,
Mr. Vonnegut wrote at the end of the book, was shot two nights ago. He died last night. So it
goes.
Martin Luther King was shot a month ago. He died, too. So it goes. And every day my
Government gives me a count of corpses created by military science in Vietnam. So it goes.
One of many Zenlike words and phrases that run through Mr. Vonneguts books, so it goes
became a catchphrase for opponents of the Vietnam war.
Slaughterhouse-Five reached No. 1 on best-seller lists, making Mr. Vonnegut a cult hero.
Some schools and libraries have banned it because of its sexual content, rough language and
scenes of violence.
After the book was published, Mr. Vonnegut went into a severe depression and vowed never to
write another novel. Suicide was always a temptation, he wrote. In 1984, he tried to take his life
with sleeping pills and alcohol.
The child of a suicide will naturally think of death, the big one, as a logical solution to any
problem, he wrote. His son Mark also suffered a breakdown, in the 1970s, from which he
recovered, writing about it in a book, The Eden Express: A Memoir of Insanity.
Forsaking novels, Mr. Vonnegut decided to become a playwright. His first effort, Happy
Birthday, Wanda June, opened Off Broadway in 1970 to mixed reviews. Around this time he
separated from his wife and moved to New York. (She remarried and died in 1986.)
In 1970, Mr. Vonnegut moved in with Ms. Krementz, whom he married in 1979. They had a
daughter, Lily. They survive him, as do all his other children.
Mr. Vonnegut returned to novels with Breakfast of Champions, or Goodbye Blue Monday
(1973), calling it a tale of a meeting of two lonesome, skinny, fairly old white men on a planet
which was dying fast. This time his alter ego is Philboyd Studge, who is writing a book about
Dwayne Hoover, a wealthy auto dealer. Hoover has a breakdown after reading a novel written
by Kilgore Trout, who reappears in this book, and begins to believe that everyone around him is
a robot.
In 1997, Mr. Vonnegut published Timequake, a tale of the millennium in which a wrinkle in
space-time compels the world to relive the 1990s. The book, based on an earlier failed novel of
his, was, in his own words, a stew of plot summaries and autobiographical writings. Once
again, Kilgore Trout is a character. If Id wasted my time creating characters, Mr. Vonnegut
said in defense of his recycling, I would never have gotten around to calling attention to
things that really matter.

Though it was a best seller, it also met with mixed reviews. Having a novelists free hand to
write what you will does not mean you are entitled to a free ride, R. Z. Sheppard wrote in Time.
But the novelist Valerie Sayers, in The New York Times Book Review, wrote: The real
pleasure lies in Vonneguts transforming his continuing interest in the highly suspicious
relationship between fact and fiction into the neatest trick yet played on a publishing world
consumed with the furor over novel versus memoir.
Mr. Vonnegut said in the prologue to Timequake that it would be his last novel. And so it was.
His last book, in 2005, was a collection of biographical essays, A Man Without a Country. It,
too, was a best seller.
It concludes with a poem written by Mr. Vonnegut called Requiem, which has these closing
lines:
When the last living thing
has died on account of us,
how poetical it would be
if Earth could say,
in a voice floating up
perhaps
from the floor
of the Grand Canyon,
It is done.
People did not like it here.

Handout 3: Organizer

Venn Diagram to Compare and Contrast the two articles.

Handout 1
Both
Handout 2

Similarities between socialism/communism and Harrison Bergeron

Was this intentional? Why?

Handout 4: Question Cube

Day 8: Performance Task

Standards: All
EQs:

Goals

How are our societys fears present in our entertainment?

Why do we fear change?
(By the end of the period, students will be able to):
Identify common pop culture trends and explain what they say about our society
Understand our current fears
Learn to question and discuss trends in entertainment and attempt to understand their
origins

Need: Twilight trailer on YouTube, rubrics for the performance task

15-Introduction/Hook: Watch a Twilight trailer as a class and individually journal about why you
think Vampires (Twilight, Vampire Diaries, etc.) are so prevalent in our culture.
15-Group Discussion: Discuss the journal entries. What are some reoccurring trends in pop culture,
right now? Why are they there? What do they say about our culture?
30-Introduce the performance task. Start it in class individually, and finish it for homework.
10-T.O.D: SSA and CAT
Handout 1: Performance Task Directions
Handout 2: Performance Task Rubric

Handout 1: Performance Task Instructions

Students will choose between either the narrative version of the assignment (A) or the explanatory
version (B)
A. You are a science fiction writer. You decide to write a short story set in either the past or the
future that acts as a critique or comment of todays society. You must:
1. Choose a current issue or topic in our pop culture or media to analyze and understand
2. Use that issue as the basis for your short story. Be prepared to explain to the class the ways in
which your futuristic (or archaic) story is a social comment of present time issues.
OR
B. You are a social researcher and a pop culture expert. Write a short informational text or essay
that analyzes a current trend in our society, and what it says about our culture. You may choose
any trend within the past 5-10 years. You must:
1. Clearly state the issue you chose to analyze
2. Cite evidence from our culture (film, books, news media outlets, music, television, clothing, etc.)
to support your theory. Prepare to present your findings to the class.

Handout 2: Performance Task Rubric