Lesson 9

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

• • Animal Farm, George Orwell, Signet Classics, 2004

Materials

Tools

• Character Note-Taking Tool

• Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool

• Animal Farm: Reading Schedule

• Vocabulary Journal

Reference Guides

• Claims Reference Guide
• Narratives Reference Guide

Question Sets

• Animal Farm: Section 1 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• Character Note-Taking Tool

• Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool

• Animal Farm: Section 1 Question Set

• Vocabulary Journal

Activity 1: Discuss – Present

We will rejoin our character study teams, share the images we have discovered or created, and then discuss what has happened to our character in chapters 6 and 7.

Step 1

Rejoin your character study team to update them on what you have found through your online search for images and in your reading of Chapters 6 and 7.

Having earlier examined cover illustrations that feature images of Napoleon, discuss what a book cover that focused on your character might look like.

(Remember that later in the unit, you will be designing a new book cover or poster for Animal Farm that features your character’s image(s).)

Step 2

After sharing and discussing the character images you are finding or creating, discuss these text-specific questions:

1. How do you think your character might have reacted to new developments in Chapter 6: the pigs moving into the farmhouse and beginning to “engage in trade” with humans?

2. How do you think your character might have reacted to new developments in Chapter 7: the demonization of Snowball and the “confessions” and executions of some of the animals?

In your discussion, refer to the notes you took in your Character Note-Taking Tool when reading and analyzing the two chapters.

Based on what you have surmised about your character’s reactions, think about how your character might tell the story of what happens in each of the chapters.

Assign two team members (one for each chapter and question) to tell the story in the character’s first-person voice for a class discussion.

Step 3

In a class discussion, share what each of the character teams has surmised regarding the various animals’ reactions to the events of Chapters 6 and 7 by telling the story of major events through the character’s first-person voice.

Activity 2: Discuss – Write

We will learn to use a Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool to think about an example character’s symbolic role in the allegory of Animal Farm.

Step 1

Follow along as your teacher introduces and models a new, but related, reading tool, the Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool.

Discuss the concept of an evidence-based claim as explained in the “What? When? Why?” introduction on page 1 of the Claims Reference Guide.

Consider how the tool can be used to develop a claim in response to one of the text-specific questions you previously discussed.

Step 2

Use a Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool to form a class claim about the symbolic role of a character’s representation and participation in the climactic scene from Chapter 7.

To form a claim, select a character from the climactic Chapter 7 scene as presented in the book. Then reconsider the question you discussed in the previous activity:

2. How do you think the character might have reacted to the demonization of Snowball and the “confessions” and executions of some of the animals?

Select and analyze key details from the scene (rows 1 and 2 in the tool), then discuss the connections among them, in relation to the discussion question you are reconsidering.

As a class, use your analysis to form an evidence-based claim about the selected character’s involvement in or reaction to what happens in the scene.

Step 3

To review and revise the class claim, read it by yourself and ask yourself the following questions:

1. Is the claim clearly stated?

2. Does the claim communicate an opinion or conclusion about the character?

3. Is the claim based on evidence that was gathered from the text?

4. Is the claim supported by evidence?

If you answered no to any of the questions, bring them up in a class discussion.

Activity 3: Discuss – Write

In character study teams, we will use a Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool to think about our character’s symbolic role in the allegory of Animal Farm.

Step 1

Return to your character study team and consider how the previous discussion of the allegory presented in Animal Farm relates to your character.

Set up a team Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool focused on this question:

1. What role does our character play in the allegory of Animal Farm? How does the character’s depiction in one or more scenes symbolize ideas and communicate a theme central to the story?

As a team, complete the first three rows of the tool:

• Identify one or more key scenes that involve your character and “Select key details” from those scenes.

• “Analyze the details” you have selected, relative to the question about your character’s role in the allegory

• “Explain connections” among the details and how they establish your character’s role.

Step 2

Based on your team’s discussion and thinking on the Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool, individually form a claim at the bottom of the tool: state a conclusion you have reached on your own about your character’s role in the allegory of Animal Farm.

Compare the claim you have formed and stated to those written by other members of your character study team. Discuss the evidence from the text that has led to and supports your various claims.

Activity 4: Write

We will think about how an evidence-based claim can be explained and supported in writing, then write a 1–2 paragraph explanation of the claim we have developed about the role of our character in the allegory of Animal Farm.

Step 1

Follow along as your teacher explains and models how to use a Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool, Character Note-Taking Tool, and other tools and notes to write an explanation of a claim, including how to select and integrate supporting evidence from the text.

Step 2

Using your Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool, Character Note-Taking Tool, and other tools and notes, draft 1–2 paragraphs that present, explain, and support the claim you developed in response to these questions:

1. What role does your character play in the allegory of Animal Farm?

2. How does the character’s depiction in one or more scenes symbolize ideas and communicate a theme central to the story?

Be prepared to share and/or submit your explanation of your claim in the next class period.

Activity 5: Write – Read

For homework, we will finish drafting the explanation of our claim about our character’s role in the allegory of Animal Farm. We will also finish reading chapters 8 and 9.

Step 1

For homework, finish drafting the explanation of your claim about your character’s role in the allegory of Animal Farm.

Be sure to cite specific evidence from the text that supports what you think about your character.

Step 2

Finish reading Chapters 8 and 9 in Animal Farm. Continue keeping notes about your character on your Character Note-Taking Tool.

Consider these text-specific questions as you read:

Chapter 8

1. How do the destruction of the windmill and the ensuing battle represent a major, climactic turning point in the narrative? How do you think your character might have reacted to these events?

Chapter 9

2. How does Boxer’s final demise represent a sadly climactic moment and final turning point in the story?

3. In what ways might Boxer now be seen as a tragic character (as discussed in Lesson 5 and explained on p. 16 of the Narratives Reference Guide)?

4. How do you think your character might have reacted to Boxer’s tragic fate?

Overall

5. In what ways does the rewriting of the Seven Commandments symbolize what has happened to Animal Farm and underscore the irony of its transition from a utopian vision to a dystopian reality?

Record new or interesting words you encounter in your Vocabulary Journal.