The Perfect World
Video: Land of Confusion by Disturbed.
Use: To facilitate an introductory assignment which will be a lead-in to a unit based on the positive and negative aspects of a Utopian society. By the end of the unit, students will be required to create their own version of a Utopian society to present to the class for analysis.
September 16, 2009 at 7:40 pm |
Title: The Perfect World
Unit Timeline: 6 weeks total
Week 1: Introduction, group assignment, start Lord of the Flies
Week 2: Discussions, finish Lord of the Flies
Week 3: Start Animal Farm, discussions, in class project work
Week 4: Discussion, finish Animal Farm,
Week 5: Start 1984, discussions, in class project work
Week 6: Finish 1984, finalize and present utopian group projects
Instructions:
1. Starting with the opening video, each student will make a list. This list should include moments of unity and moments of division you observed in the music video. Make sure to keep this list in your notebooks. You will be using them later on.
2. You will be placed in groups of four. Each group is responsible for creating a utopian society that will be presented to the class at the end of the unit. After being assigned to your groups, we will, as a class, go to the computer lab and set up wikis for you to share your findings on. Through your postings on the wiki, your project will be put together and brought to completion. Be sure to stay up to date with communicating with each other so that the project can be the best it can be.
3. Each group member will be responsible for more than one job. Two group members will be responsible for finding pros and the other two group members will be responsible for finding cons in the utopian societies we read about.
4. By keeping track of the pros and cons you observe in the novels, you will create your own utopia. Learn from the mistakes made by the characters in the novels and expand on the good ideas they had. Think about ways to improve those ideas, fix failed ideas, throw out unnecessary ideas, and ultimately find a way to make your own utopia work.
5. Each group member will be assigned a role that you will agree on as a group. You will need one leader, one second in command, one peacekeeper, and one ambassador. Your duties are as follows:
a. Leader: Finalizes the laws by which the utopia will function, makes sure the utopia runs properly, and meets the needs of the people
b. Second in Command: Approves or denies the laws suggested by the peacekeeper, decides punishment for law breakers, accompanies the ambassador on foreign excursions
c. Peacekeeper: Enforces the laws set by the leader, listens to the needs of the people, proposes new laws to the second in command, and arrests law breakers
d. Ambassador: Visits other societies, explains how their own utopia functions, conducts meetings between societies, and defends the utopia
6. By the end of the unit, each group will have created a utopian society with a set of laws and four fulfilled positions. Your group will present your utopia to the rest of the class followed by anonymous peer evaluations. Your utopia must include:
a. A name, location, and description
b. A minimum of 10 laws or a maximum of 25 laws
c. A list of ideals your utopia wishes to achieve and exemplify
d. A poster board with pictures and/or drawings of your utopia
Evaluation: Your grade will be determined by your participation in your groups and class discussions, and in the overall success of your utopia based on what you have learned. A portion of your grade will also come peer evaluations after your present your utopias. Remember to be creative, energetic, and utilize all your findings to make the best utopia possible. Have fun, make something that works and that everyone can enjoy.
Resources:
1. http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/utopia/utopcom.html
2. http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/amana/utopia.htm
3. http://www.neatorama.com/2007/08/17/4-utopian-communities-that-bombed-miserably/
September 17, 2009 at 2:00 pm |
The Perfect World
Rationale
1. The teaching context: 8th to 9th grade ELA classroom. The lesson can be cross-curricular with the study of different types of government styles in the Social Studies classroom.
2. We chose this video clip: Land of Confusion by Disturbed, to show students how the idea of what is good for the people is often different for everyone involved. The video shows instances of unity, with an underlying air of corruption. We instantly felt it related to political texts and situations, making it a perfect tie-in to varying types of governmental structures. The thought process is then moved into, if one specific structure truly works perfectly, it would create the perfect society, thus the discussion of utopias arises. The video is by a fairly mainstream band, one that most students will have heard of or seen before at some point in time. This current and relevant video makes a valuable lead into the three novels that will then be read within the unit: Lord of the Flies, 1984, and Animal Farm. All three of these novels involve the use of governmental structures to create what is viewed by the characters as the supposed “perfect world.” All of this will culminate with students working in groups to create their own versions of what the perfect world would be like; based on the lessons they have learned from reading about these other, fictitious societies.
3. What is a utopia? Could the perfect world have hidden flaws? Could the perfect world go horribly wrong? There is no final answer to these questions, but we will explore the paths these utopias can travel. A perfect dream certainly is beautiful, but human nature can easily stain these dreams. What would it take for perfect harmony to really take place? Is it really even possible? Throughout this unit, we will read three novels that had high hopes for these perfect worlds, but failed due to some inherent flaw in its rulers. Maybe by learning from the mistakes these characters have made, we can design our own successful utopia.
4. Time management within the classroom will be a large issue. We will be allowing time at the end of the unit for groups to have in-class time to collaborate with their groups on the finalization of the projects. By setting aside these last days for students to wrap up their projects before presentations, there will be less time taking from daily lessons to devote to this assignment. Students will know that most of this work is to be done on their own time. Another issue that we thought of is the way to get students to communicate. We decided that by creating a wiki page for each group, that would be private and only accessible to the group members and the teacher, each group could participate in online collaboration of the project, without the fear that another group may steal one of their ideas. This private wiki also allows us as the teachers to monitor what progress is being made on the assignment, and what students are contributing individually. It also gives students a chance to communicate with the instructor about questions and concerns without eating into instruction time.
September 17, 2009 at 6:56 pm |
Guys this was a really cool idea for a project. I appreciated your use of popular music and current events to make new a theme often used in schools. I was never asked to do this assignment but I think it’s really interesting and would love to see this put into action!
September 17, 2009 at 7:14 pm |
I really like that you guys chose a Disturbed video. Students will really enjoy that because I’m sure a good amount of them listen to Disturbed, or at least know who they are. I like that you mapped out a whole unit plan. It seems like a great idea for a unit and I think the students would learn so much. The books you chose are staples in high school, and you have created a fun environment for them to read and study them in.
September 18, 2009 at 1:40 am |
Hey ladies! This was a really great project! I will be adding this to my favorites (if I can figure out how). I loved how you incorporated this assignment into an actual theme and made an essential question – you guys are such pro’s!
September 22, 2009 at 2:56 am |
I love this video! I love Disturbed, too
What an awesome way to use something that students will be familiar with in your classroom. I think that really helps to connect students to their work. Very cool!