Dystopian Novels Generate a Teacher Utopia 16+ Teaching Ideas

Good can come from dystopian cultures, well, from the study of dystopian novels, anyway. This 10-page product for Middle and High School ELA teachers, offers 16+ lessons for the study of dystopian books. Although the directions and descriptions for each lesson reference Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, I use these details to add clarification- and to offer more lessons for my Brave New World Unit Plan,  (http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Brave-New-World-Unit-Plan-5021), which was my initial goal. When I saw the universality of the lessons that I was creating, I decided to offer suggestions about how teachers could adapt these activities to fit any dystopian novel, or any novel, for that matter.

After detailing 3 Novel Preview Lesson Ideas, this packet includes 12 lessons for the topic, Novel Study Lesson Ideas: Exploring the Elements of Literature. I created from 1-5 activities for each element: Character, Plot/Conflict, Theme (and Theme Topics), Setting, Symbols, and Point of View. For the lesson on Setting, this packet contains a brand new handout with two activities -  Issues, Issues, These are the Issues. 

Under the Extended Study- And Then There was More heading, I suggest 16 utopian/dystopian novels -some classics taught in many schools- for independent reading, small group or whole class study. Here is a working list. So many terrific novels for this genre that work with adolescents exist, that I had to make some difficult choices.

*These books appear on Barnes and Noble’s “The Top 100 Bestsellers of 2014”

Animal Farm (George Orwell)

*Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)

*Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell)

Men Like Gods (H.G. Wells)

The Time Machine (H.G. Wells)

Lord pf the Flies (William Golding)

A Perfect Day (Ira Levin)

*The Hunger Games trilogy (Suzanne Collins)

*Divergent series (Veronica Roth)

*Four (Veronica Roth)

*Maze Runner series (James Dashner)

The Circle (Dave Eggers)

The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)

Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood)

*The Giver (Lois Lowry)

Uglies (Scott Westerfield)

After that I give links to two products that tie into the study of dystopian literature and propaganda from my store: "Writing and Thinking Activity-Unconventional Inventions": http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-Thinking-Activity-Unconventional-Inventions-18339 ($2.00) and "Thinking/Writing Activities 'Utopian and Dystopian Society Novel Projects'": http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ThinkingWriting-Activities-Utopian-and-Dystopian-Society-Novel-Projects-1124376 ($2.50).

As a plug for all of my Teacher-Seller colleagues, I follow these suggestions by mentioning that ELA teachers will find lessons, activities and unit plans for 12 out of the 16 novels that I name here on TpT. I hope that this mention will send you all some sales, my friends!

I close the packet with a Parent Permission Slip since many of these novels reveal controversial issues and may be restricted in some school districts for various reasons. 

Many teens and preteens love reading dystopian literature. These lessons will engage them and will hook those students who need a lift onto my favorite train, the I Love Reading Express.

Download Teacher Resource - Dystopian Novels Generate a Teacher Utopia from http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Teacher-Resource-Dystopian-Novels-Generate-a-Teacher-Utopia-1502333 ($3.50).
 

Happy Teaching,
Connie