George Orwell’s Animal Farm
George Orwell’s Animal
Farm is regarded as one of the most famous satirical allegories of Soviet
totalitarianism. Orwell based the book on events up to and during Joseph
Stalin's regime. Orwell, a democratic socialist, and a member of the
Independent Labour Party for many years, was a critic of Stalin, and was
suspicious of Moscow-directed Stalinism. The novel was chosen by TIME Magazine
as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present. During
our study of Animal Farm, students will develop their reading and
critical thinking skills; they will hone their research skills through
immersion in an in-depth inquiry-based learning project, and they will develop
their writing skills through careful daily reflective compositions.
(i) Minor Assignments -- 10
double-spaced, single-sided, one page reflective responses (one per chapter):
Every student will write one single-page personal response for each of the
ten chapters in Orwell’s book. These reflections are not to be simply
descriptive summaries of each chapter; submissions must provide evidence that
the student has seriously encountered the text and considered some of the
problems, insights, or questions that it poses. Each single-page reflection
ought to end with a question that the student has about the readings. We
will discuss some of these student questions together as a class. All
submissions should be carefully proofread.
(ii) Minor Assignment -- Animal Farm
Crossword puzzle: Every student will complete the crossword
vocabulary/comprehension assignment. Students caught cheating will not receive
credit for this assignment.
(iii) Major Assignment -- Inquiry into Animal
Farm as Allegory Assignment: Every student will engage in teacher-selected
research to respond in complete sentences and paragraphs to the 20 questions
prescribed as part of this assignment. Student work will be graded for
thoroughness, research depth, and grammatical correctness. Students caught
cheating will not receive credit for this assignment.
(iv) Movie Review: As time permits, we will
watch a cinematic version of the book. Students will be expected to complete a
movie review in which they answer the following questions:
q Students must discuss what
they liked about the movie and why.
q Students must discuss what
they did not like about the movie and why.
q Students must discuss
whether or not the movie is "true" to the book as written by Orwell.
Did anything get left out? Was anything added?
q Students must grade the movie
on a scale of one to ten (ten being the best).
(v) Multiple Choice Unit Final: Students
will complete a multiple choice Unit Final on Animal Farm.
*** Minor assignments must be
submitted either by the end of class, or at the beginning of the next class in
order to receive credit. Students who miss assignments are expected to complete
them as soon as possible. Students will not receive credit for missing
assignments unless prior arrangements have been made; however, all assignments
must be finished. Missed assignments are not accepted late (unless through
prior arrangement) because the allure of copying other students' work is too
great for many students, and plagiarized work from classmates is hard to
police. Rather, students who miss assignments will receive credit for
completing extra reading comprehension.
***
Any
student who wishes to improve his or her mark in English 30-1 can complete
extra reading assignments. I use these assignments both to fill in
blank/missing assignment grades, and to replace lower marks on older
assignments where a student is ambitious enough to take advantage of this
opportunity. Every student, through his/her own initiative, is thereby given
ample opportunity to excel in English class. (NOTE: In order to avoid the "plagiarism
factor" among the student populace, extra assignments are NOT handed back
to students.)