Date: May 13, 2014 Subject: Dystopia Unit Grade Level: 7th Grade

Lesson 7: All Summer in a Day- Dystopian Character Analysis

Objectives
Students will be able to:
Identify key aspects that make this piece follow a dystopian theme, or missing
aspects that are unlike dystopias. (measured in discussion)
Draw evidence from the text to support whether or not they think this is dystopian.
Record this evidence in their journals, then use their journals for references
Debate with the class whether this should fall under the dystopia genre.
Identify how tensions among characters or the community might be evident in their
own life. (Discuss oppression on a wider spectrum.)
Assessment
Summative- Students will turn in both their individual and group records of
whether, All Summer in a Day should or should not be classied under the
dystopian header. .
Formative- Students will be able to discuss their opinions with others who share
the same opinions, to come up with the best argument. They will journal, discuss
as small groups (so everyones voices are heard) and then have a spokesperson
present the groups ideas in the debate.
Formative- In addition to participation, students will be able to come up with a
working denition of Utopia at the end of the activity. This denition will go on
the website homepage.
Materials/Setup
Paper Raindrops
Journals
All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury and found here:
http://sta".esuhsd.org/danielle/English%20Department%20LVillage/RT/Short
%20Stories/All%20Summer%20in%20a%20Day.pdf
Methods
[5]
Hook:
Pass out paper raindrops. On each raindrop students should write words that
might describe how they would feel if it were to rain all the time. Tell
students, Pretend you live in a world where there is always rain. Write down
some of the feelings you would personally have towards rain, if you were to
live in this world.
[10]
The Main Event:

Read through Ray Bradburys, All Summer in a Day as a class, going

around the room. Note: This reading may be a very di"cult lesson for
Susie. She recently moved to this area from El Salvador and is new to
the school. These personal circumstances might lead to some
unusual discomfort, and a reopening of a painful memory.
[15]

After reading All Summer in a Day have students respond to these

questions/prompts in their journal:
o How did the characters treat to Margot?
o Why do you think they treated Margot so di"erently? Was it right of
them to do this?
o Are there some moments in your own life when you feel tension
with another group because they are di"erent from you?
(The point of these prompts is to get them thinking about the characters within
dystopian texts, and how often a similar personal experience can be shared.)
We want to transition students into thinking about the dystopian genre now.
Students should begin to think about whether or not they would classify this
text as Dystopian or not:
Have students write Yes or No in their journals and only one reason
why this might be so.
Next, have students divide up into opposite sides of the classroom based
o" of what they had written down in their journals, with the front of the
room being the group that answered yes, and the back of the room
being the group that answered no. (If the sides are very uneven, ask
several students to move to even it out. There should be enough
evidence to go both ways that even if they arent convinced themselves,
they can help their classmates come up with reasons.)

[15]

Open up the oor for a facilitated debate.

[5-10]
Closure:
After 15 minutes of debate take a silent class vote. Have students write
their vote on a sheet of paper. Tally up who the winner of the debate was
after the votes have been cast, and announce it to the class on the following
day.
Assignment
None tonight