Animal Farm Unit Plan

Becky Frangella

ENG 409.05

Animal Farm Unit Plan

Estimated Length: 25 Days

Theoretical Justification/Rationale

With the purpose of facilitating an understanding of the circumstances that provoked the writing of Animal Farm, students must be presented with the historical context, themes, and guiding questions that they will encounter in the novel. The primary guiding question for this novel is Does power always corrupt? To assist students in recognizing the occasion that compelled George Orwell to write Animal Farm, they will be asked to complete a series of pre-reading activities that provoke the questions and thoughtsthat sparked Orwell’s writing about the 1940s when Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union.

According to Andrea Lunsford, "Rhetoric is the art, practice, and study of human communication." In order for students to understand the ways in which the characters in the novel communicate with each other, they must be able to comprehend the key concepts they will encounter throughout the novel. These essential terms form the basis by which all of the characters interact with each other. The key concepts that the students will need to investigate throughout the novel include: democratic, dictator, inequality, injustice, and revolution. In order to build students’ background knowledge on these concepts, it is necessary to provide an introduction to these key terms that will play such a significant role in their ability to grasp the importance of the message in the novel.

One of the most prominent themes in Animal Farm is the way in which people’s opinions can be altered through the use of rhetorical appeals and propaganda techniques. Throughout the course of the novel, students should recognize that propaganda and rhetorical appeals are closely related persuasion techniques; both are ways in which a speaker petitions to a specific audience in an attempt to convince them to believe/buy something. In the novel, propaganda is the medium through which the pigs exercise control and dominion over the other animals living on Manor Farm. Napoleon, the pig who assumes the role as the leader of the farm, persuades the other animals to do as he “suggests” by using political rhetoric and propaganda to captivate and control his audience. Initially, the reason Napoleon is so successful in manipulating his audience is because he appeals to their emotions. He uses pathos to appeal to them; he reminds the animals of the misery they suffered when Jones was in charge of the farm and typically uses their fear to control them. Throughout this unit, students will be asked to examine the rhetorical appeal of propaganda as well as the techniques being used to maintain command over the other animals on the farm.

In order for students to appreciate the satirical writing of George Orwell, they must recognize his overarching rhetorical purpose in writing Animal Farm—to caution readers of the power of corruption. According to Kenneth Burke, “The basic function of rhetoric [is] the use of words by human agents to form attitudes or to induce actions in other human agents.” Orwell is using his manuscript to serve his own political agenda—he wants to inform and persuade readers to prevent dictatorships by all means possible. The primary characters and events that occur in his novel parallel the harsh regime of Joseph Stalin over the Soviet Union during the early half of the twentieth century. Each animal in the novel serves a political purpose in Orwell’s argument of the effects of power; students will be responsible for identifying their functions in his argument as they read. Throughout their reading of the novel, students will also be asked to consider the logos presented and Orwell’s persuasion tactics. At the end of the novel, they will re-address the guiding question and see how the message in Animal Farm has affected their opinion on corruption.

In addition, students will be reading Animal Farm with the purpose of understanding Orwell’s intent in writing his novel and recognizing the way in which he uses ethos, logos, and pathos through the characters to appeal to his audience. Ethos, pathos, and logos are the three types of rhetorical appeals that a speaker uses to persuade an audience. Ethos is an appeal based on the character of the speaker, pathos appeals to the emotions, and logos appeals to the logic of the argument. As previously mentioned, the students will be asked to determine whether the rhetorical argument presented by Orwell is one that they would like to assimilate into their own system of beliefs. One of the culminating activities for the novel will engage the students in an active discussion referred to as The Exchange. The Exchange is a graded discussion in which all students are required to participate, and it will incorporate several questions relating to the core themes of the novel. The primary question will be the same guiding question that has driven the students’ reading since the beginning of the novel: Does power always corrupt?

As students continue along in the novel, they will be asked to identify the pathos in the song that soon becomes a favorite among the animals on Manor Farm, “The Beasts of England.” It is imperative that students recognize this song as a form of persuasive propaganda and note its effect on the intended audience, the animals residing on Manor Farm. Erika Lindemann states,"Rhetoric is a form of reasoning about probabilities, based on assumptions people share as members of a community." On Manor Farm, the members of the community are united in the idea of taking a stand against Jones. Old Major recognizes this sense of accordance, and thus decides to appeal to his audience using pathos to further commit them to his idea. This type of blatant bandwagon propaganda is extremely successful; Old Major achieves his intended goal of getting the other animals on board with his proposed plan.

Throughout the reading of Animal Farm, students will continually look for evidence that supports Orwell’s rhetorical argument that absolute power and corruption are inseparable. Class time will be dedicated towards furthering student-led investigations into this issue. Students will be responsible for responding to journal prompts that ask them to consider the pathos, ethos, and logos used by Napoleon and Squealer in order to maintain control over the other animals residing on Animal Farm. Students will also be asked to explore ways in which the tyrannical ruling of Napoleon in Animal Farm parallels historical or current events in history. In bridging this connection between the novel and the real world context, they will be able to assess Orwell’s argument as to determine whether or not it is plausible and can be integrated into their own moral principles.

After completing the reading of Animal Farm, students will engage in The Exchange Discussion. Through this activity, studentswill be given the opportunity to present their own arguments either in support of or against Orwell’s contention that absolute power is always corrupt. Doug Brent states that “The way we believe or disbelieve certain texts clearly varies from one individual to the next. The task of a rhetoric of reading is to explain systematically how these differences arise—how people are persuaded differently by texts” (18). The participants/audience for this graded discussion (i.e., the students’ same-age peers who have read Animal Farm) will be expected to integrate the rhetoric of reading and recognize Orwell’s use of ethos, logos, and pathos to persuade his readers to incorporate his ideas into their own system of beliefs. Consequently, each student must consider his or her own assumptions and decide whether or not to accept Orwell’s supposition as true. The Exchange Discussion will require students to formally state the effect Orwell’s argument had on them as teenagers living in a democratic society.

After completing The Exchange, students will communicate the information, ideas, and concepts necessary for understanding the central argument in Animal Farm through the completion of a Unit Exam. This assessment asks students to respond in writing to one of two writing prompts: interpret the vision of Animal Farm through the perspective of Old Major in comparison to the vision of Napoleon or identify of propaganda that is used by Napoleon to control an audience. Students will be asked to create a rhetorical argument for whichever writing prompt they choose and demonstrate their own sense of ethos through the creation of this argument. They will also be asked to identify essential themes, events, and issues in the novel through the multiple choice component of the exam.

The concluding project for the unit requires students to create two rhetorical arguments through the use of the RAFT Assignment. The acronym RAFT stands for role, audience, focus, and topic—these components provide the structure for the assignment. The RAFT Assignment asks students to select two pre-determined options and create an authentic argument for each. They will have to select one written and one illustrated option from the list of possible choices. Students are expected to capture the perspective of a specific person/animal and deliver an argumentto an explicit audience using a combination of the three rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, and logos)and a predetermined format. The primary purpose of this activity is to evaluate the students’ ability to put themselves into the mindset of someone else and attempt to persuade a specific audience using events and descriptions from the text. They have completed the reading of Animal Farm and recognize that Orwell is presenting an argument that his audience must evaluate. Now, the students themselves are being called upon to perform a similar task—they must impart a persuasive appeal and allow the audience to interpret their argument and draw their own conclusions. According to Wayne Booth, modern authors, including Orwell, clearly dissociate from the speakers in their stories. The reader is left to make their own evaluations of the characters in the text without the explicit guidance of the author. In the same way, students must present an argument that does not coerce the audience, but presents a logical, emotional, and ethical argument that the audience elects to absorb into their own set of moral principles.

At the end of the Animal Farm Unit, students should be able to identify ethos, pathos, and logos in a persuasive appeal and recognize the importance of audience when creating rhetorical arguments. They should realize that an author can assert an argument through the use of characters without directly stating his beliefs. As Wayne Booth states, “…we must never forget that though the author can to some extent choose his disguises, he can never choose to disappear” (20). George Orwell was inherently present in his writing; he used the rhetorical context of the farm and significant traits of the animals to perpetuate his argument.

National Learning Standards

Standard 1: Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.

Standard 3:Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

Standard 4:Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
Standard 5:Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
Standard 6:Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts.

Standard 7: Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.

Standard 11:Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.

Standard 12: Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Day 1: Introduction to Animal Farm themes, author, and historical context

Context

This is the preliminary lesson to the Animal Farm Unit. Throughout this lesson, students will be introduced to the primary themes and issues in the novel through an anticipation guide. They will build their background knowledge on these themes and issues by responding to a journal prompt that presents the issues of in novel through a present day framework. This lesson will also establish the context needed to understand the historical characters being satirized by the text as well as provide background information on the novel’s author, George Orwell.

Required Materials

Animal Farm Anticipation Guide and Student Journal Packet
Animal Farm Background Reading and Questions
George Orwell Reading
Animal Farm Student Texts

Student Activities

Pass out Animal Farm Anticipation Guide to students. Have them complete the true/false questions and respond to the paragraph questions at the bottom. Discuss responses when finished.

Journal Entry #1: Pass out Animal Farm Pre-reading questions in the Student Journal packet (page 2) to students. Have them respond to the questions thoughtfully and completely. Discuss responses as a class.

Have students read the Introduction to Animal Farm independently (hand-out). Then, have students respond to the reading by answering the questions on page 3 of their Student Journal packets.

Read about the Author: Pass out the George Orwell article to students. Read aloud the information about the author to the class. Discuss the article orally.

Handouts

Animal Farm Anticipation Guide and Student Journal Packet
Animal Farm Background Reading and Questions
George Orwell Reading

Homework

Students will be asked to finish any incomplete class work for homework.

Assessment

The students will be asked to complete the same anticipation guide at the end of the novel to see if their opinions have changed due to their reading. Also, they will be asked to return to their journal response after completing the novel and reflect on their initial response.

Day 2: Identify Key Concepts in Animal Farm

Context

Students will demonstrate their ability to recognize the key concepts of the novel Animal Farm by successfully completing a Unit Exam and written RAFT Assessment. In order to focus their understanding, they will use graphic organizers to explain the definition and characteristics of each key concept, in addition to providing examples as well as an illustration of it. They will also build their background knowledge about revolutions and the types of characters they will encounter in the novel through the use of an additional anticipation guide.

Required Materials

Animal Farm Student Journal Packet
Library Materials—Encyclopedias and Internet Access
Front Load the Words Worksheets
Before You Read Chapters 1-4 Packet
Markers, crayons, colored pencils

Student Activities

Pass out Animal Farm Student Journal packets to students. Have them turn to page 4 in their packets and preview the key concepts for Animal Farm.

Pass out Front-Load vocabulary activity. Have students work in pairs to complete a 4-square Front-Load Card for each new concept. Students will present cards to the class when finished; then collect them and hang them around the room.

Front-Load Card (sample)

(word)
(Definition) / (Key Characteristics)
(Examples) / (Pictures)

Have students work in their same pairs to complete the Before You Read Activities in the Animal Farm Chapters 1-4 packet. They need to complete the following activities:
Focus Activity—prior knowledge about revolutions/compare different revolutions—goals, successes, etc./set purpose for reading Ch 1-4
Build Background—Read Did You Know? and Character Types descriptions
Vocabulary Preview—previewing upcoming Ch.1-4 vocabulary terms

Handouts

Animal Farm Student Journal Packet
Front Load the Words Worksheets
Before You Read Chapters 1-4 Packet

Homework