Description: The novel 1984 is considered by some to be prophetic, but in many ways it was just Orwell taking some of what was happening in his world to a logical extreme. Often in dystopian societies, the original intent is good, but when taken to an extreme become harmful. Our goal in this project is to think about the topics we have just researched and what the future might hold, whether good (utopian) or bad (dystopian), creating a world together and then placing characters of our creation into this world and seeing what happens.
Essential Questions: What could our future world look like?
General Requirements: Students will write a research paper on a current controversial topic and then together we will create a world that will be the setting for a short story. In groups, students will then choose a story from which to create a screenplay and create a puppet show with narration. The other stories will be woven together to be compiled into a book.
Specific Requirements:
English-- Academic requirements & goals:
Reading: Read and reflect on the novel 1984 and think about the qualities of dystopian fiction as well as similarities to current society. How as 1984 prophetic? How is it a logical extension of Orwell’s society?
Research and Writing: Learn about and read examples of effective persuasion and think critically about persuasive techniques and logical fallacies and research/write a persuasive essay on a current controversial issue.
Critical Thinking: Together, create a future world using the knowledge we have about our essay topics to project into the future. What could the future look like for each topic? Setting Description: create world together
Creative writing: Write a short story (either utopian or dystopian) set in the year 2084 in our commonly created society and featuring your granddaughter or grandson as a main character (optional: you are a minor character who talks about the old days). Length 1500-2000 words (5-7 pages)
Art
Produce an artsy, low-fi, junk puppet theatre, video from the dystopian/utopian short story you've written.
The class will select the stories to turn into screenplays and form groups of 3-4
Narrate the screenplay to guide the content and context of your video.
Storyboard: create a series of visual scenes that illustrate your story. (like a play, conceive of characters and environments where your acts will play out)
Construct and illustrate the sets, backdrops, props and characters from recyclable materials to create the “junk” aspect of the video.
Film the scenes and edit the video according to the narrative and storyboard