Section 4: Overview

Culminating Task - Student Presentations:

What is the lasting meaning and relevance of George Orwell’s satirical allegory, Animal Farm? How do I interpret the allegory’s meaning as presented through a selected character?

To demonstrate our understanding of George Orwell’s allegory and its lasting meaning and relevance, we will develop a more global interpretive claim and finalize our first-person narratives and book cover designs. We will then prepare a poster board exhibit of the claim, narrative, and book cover design that we will use to present and discuss our interpretation of Animal Farm in a gallery-style class review.

• Lesson 1:

  Lasting Meaning of Animal Farm – What is the lasting meaning and significance of Animal Farm’s allegory to our society and us as readers?

  We will consider this question in light of all we have learned about the book’s allegory, its historical references, and its many varied interpretations. We will also read and discuss a new introduction to the 75th anniversary edition of Animal Farm by YugoslavianAmerican writer Téa Obreht, considering the varied perspectives she presents about the enduring messages and significance of Orwell’s 1945 allegory.

• Lesson 2:

  Expectations of the Culminating Task – How will we demonstrate our learning about Animal Farm, Orwell’s allegorical message, and our character’s role?

  We will review the expectations for the Culminating Task and clarify what we still need to do to meet those expectations. We will then continue to rewrite and finalize our first-person narratives using a peer review process.

• Lesson 3:

  Finalizing the First-person Narrative – How can we improve and finalize the first-person narrative we drafted in Section 2?

  We will edit, revise, and finalize our first-person retelling of the Animal Farm story from a character’s point of view. We will use a self- and peer-editing process to ensure that the narrative is consistent in its use of pronouns and verb tenses and to increase the vividness of its verb and modifier choices.

• Lesson 4:

  Final Claim – How do we understand the lasting meaning and significance of Animal Farm?

  We will express a final interpretive claim about the lasting meaning and significance of Animal Farm, then include that claim in our final graphic design for a cover that complements our interpretation and first-person narrative.

• Lesson 5:

  Preparing the Culminating Task Exhibit – How will we represent our interpretation, cover design, and first-person narrative in a final design exhibit for a class review?

  We will plan and prepare our exhibits for the Culminating Task, finalizing our interpretive claim, first-person narrative, and cover design and developing a poster board presentation that will be shared with other students in a gallery-style design review.

• Lesson 6:

  We will participate in a class review of our interpretations of Animal Farm through an exhibition of our cover design poster boards.

• Lesson 7:

  Final Discussion – What have we learned about George Orwell’s allegory Animal Farm? How might we extend our learning during the rest of the year?

  We will finish the unit by engaging in a whole-class discussion about the unit’s Central Question.

• Lesson 8:

  In a culminating activity, we share the knowledge we have gained and the connections we have made by reading our independent reading texts.