1. Yes George Orwell’s Animal Farm 1
Lessons from Animal Farm
George Orwell’s Animal Farm 1
Personification, and Society Issues Found in Animal Farm
Yes
Yes
Yes
Students will be responsible for differentiating between the elements of George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
Students will have a mix of English and Social Studies with the lesson on Animal Farm. Students will work with each other to discover the hidden meanings behind the names of the animals, their place in society, and how Orwell
Text/Audio Narration:

2. Is Orwell politically correct for the time era?
Title: Life Lessons from Animal Farm
Scene: Opening page
Slide number: 2
Skill or Concept: Understanding Political Satire
Animation (yes or no): No
Graphics (yes or no): Yes
Audio (yes or no)Yes
The layout of the lesson begins here. Students will see pictures of animals, especially those who are important to the story line of the book. Students will see how political satire is often a sign of the times. Audio will be barnyard sounds playing as students begin to discuss the opening events of the book.
Is Orwell politically correct for the time era?
2. Explain the purpose of the animals.
4. Does the book tie together the political thoughts of the day?
3. Do you think this book applies to society today?
This lesson will focus on the political side of Animal Farm and how political satire was a big part of Orwell’s writing. He was attempting to show how wrong Communism was and how it was taking over the world. Napoleon will add the personalization to the story line. He will be the voice that will lead the students through the discovery of personification and the political satire of the story. The main slide has the segments of the entire storyboard. Each slide has a form of the segmentation and how it is demonstrated on the slide. The information can be viewed in order or outside of the normal order of the slides. It is broken up so that each slide could stand alone with the discussion focused on that slide. Pretraining is shown on the slides and in the narration by Napoleon, the main character in the book as well as the storyboard. The key words are on this first slide and the key issues are also. Worked examples are included in the end of the storyboard for students to make decisions regarding how they relate to the characters.
Text/Audio Narration: I am Napoleon and I will go with you on this discussion of George Orwell’s book Animal Farm. We are going to look at how Orwell’s political feelings were displayed in the book, how the animals personification was a way to make the common man understand the book, how the book applies to today, and how Orwell tied the political feelings of the day in the book. Let’s explore this political story together and see how Orwell got his points across.

3. Define Communism. How did Orwell view it in his writing?
Title: Politically Correct
Scene: Politics of the Day
Slide number: 3
Skill or Concept: Political Satire
Animation (yes or no): No
Graphics (yes or no): Yes
Audio (yes or no):Yes
Students will discuss Orwell’s attempt to disclose the political situations of the day. He wrote the book based on how he saw the government becoming greedy like pigs. He used personification to bring the book and thoughts of the day to life. Audio will be the barnyard sounds again with the focus being mainly on the sounds of the pigs. Students should be focusing on what Orwell was attempting to portray in the book with the use of the animals/human interactions.
Define Communism. How did Orwell view it in his writing?
It is important for students to understand what Orwell was trying to present in Animal Farm. Students will be encouraged to discuss what beliefs they have regarding Orwell’s use of the different animals to show the different aspects of the story. Questions to ask: Did you feel the pigs were an effective animal to use to get the point of gluttony/greed across to the reader? Do you understand the cause for concern with the spread of Communism during this time era? Was Orwell justified in his concern or was he overreacting to the situations of the time? This will be a good time for the teacher to interact with the class. Positive feedback is important to keep the discussion flowing and interesting. Students need to know they are identifying with the questions and tying it all together.
Text/Audio Narration: Orwell brought us to life and made you think we were the good guys. Most people see us as creatures who just roll in the mud and eat junk. However, we are very smart creatures and capable of running the entire farm as you can see from the text. Orwell used us to show how Communism was taking over and spreading outside of Russia into other parts of Europe. He saw Stalin and the others of that time era as being “pigs” and they were forcing their beliefs on everyone. Orwell tried to show how their greed and gluttony was going to destroy the people they came into contact with.

4. Define personification. How does Orwell use it?
Title: Using Animals
Scene The Barnyard
Slide number: 4
Skill or Concept: Personification Plus
Animation (yes or no): No
Graphics (yes or no): Yes
Audio (yes or no)Yes
Define personification. How does Orwell use it?
The setting for this stage of the lesson is to understand why he used the animals. Orwell knew that people would relate to them easier and be able to follow the story line. Visual features will be the continued use of the political pig, Napoleon, to direct the story line. Audio will continue to be the barn yard sounds, just less focus on the pigs and more on the other animals.
Remember positive feedback when students are answering questions.
Text/Audio Narration: Well here we are in personification plus together. Orwell used the animals to reflect the people who were representative and affected by the spread of Communism. Each animal represented a segment of society or of the party. He knew that the reader would be able to relate to the animals and their place in the barnyard (society). Orwell was trying to inform people about the wrongs of Communism and how destructive it would be in society.

5. Should society today be concerned with Communism making a comeback?
Title: Applying Orwell’s thoughts today
Scene Modern Day Society
Slide number: 5
Skill or Concept:
Animation (yes or no):
Graphics (yes or no):
Audio (yes or no):
Students will continue debating the modern day implications of Animal Farm. The concept to understand is how Orwell was trying to prevent the spread of Communism. He believed that if it was allowed to spread then people would be destroyed and hurt by the government. The layout is the continued visual of Napoleon.
Should society today be concerned with Communism making a comeback?
Was Orwell justified in his concern for society?
Students will continue to work on discovering why Orwell was so adamant about the dangers of Communism.
Text/Audio Narration: As we move along we discover that Orwell was trying to wake people up and alert them to the dangers of Communism. He believed that if Communism was allowed to spread then people would be in danger of the government taking over their lives. It was almost like he saw the future and he realized that if Communism was allowed to spread the people would have nothing.

6. Skill or Concept: Making Decisions Animation (yes or no): Yes
Title: Tying it all together
Scene Post War Society
Slide number: 6
Skill or Concept: Making Decisions
Animation (yes or no): Yes
Graphics (yes or no): Yes
Audio (yes or no):Yes
At this point students will begin to put their decisions together as to whether or not Orwell had true cause to be concerned. Audio will now be a good mixture of unhappy farm animals.
How would you define the politics of your country? How are they alike/different from the country that Orwell was portraying in his book?
At this point, students should be pulling the project together and deciding is Orwell did his job overall with the story. They should also be able to identify the personification that he used and why. Discussion should focus on whether or not Orwell could have written this book differently to show the dangers of Communism and how it would destroy Europe if allowed to progress.
Text/Audio Narration: We wrap up with the question from me, Napoleon; what do you think about Orwell and his presentation of the dangers of Communism? Do you think he was an extremist or was he a true revolutionary of his time? I, Napoleon, do wonder what it would have been like if my comrades and I had not been through this. I believe that we saw a time when people were trying to destroy the best of us. Like Orwell, we had to fight back the only way we knew how. He used his writings to alert people to the dangers of Communism.

7. Skill or Concept: Final Decisions Animation (yes or no):No
Title: Tying it all together
Scene
Slide number: 7
Skill or Concept: Final Decisions
Animation (yes or no):No
Graphics (yes or no): No
Audio (yes or no):No
This will be the wrap up of the lesson. Students will identify one of the animals and decide the true traits of the animal (reality) and then the traits that Orwell used from the real animal in connection with the fictional animal of his creation.
Student identifies one of the barnyard animals.
Ex: Boxer the workhorse
2. Student will define the animal and the true traits of the animal.
Ex: Strong, powerful, not the smartest animal on the farm
3. Student will define the animal and the traits as set by Orwell.
Ex: Boxer was identified by Orwell as more of a follower. He completely adopted whatever he was told as truth. He worked very hard until he eventually worked himself to death.
Students will choose one animal that they relate to in personality. Be ready to share with the rest of the class they animal that was chosen, its traits, your traits, and why you think you relate best to this animal.
Students will vote on whether or not they agree with the other students decision of their animal.
Students will answer the wrap up questions concerning the animals and Orwell’s use of personification. We will use this time as a way for students to answer the questions and also present any questions they may have regarding any lessons demonstrated within the lesson. This will also be a good time for the teacher to encourage students and provide some feedback. Students want to know they are on the right track. At this time also, students will be evaluating themselves and their classmates as to the character chosen and how it is similar to the student’s personality. Students enjoy hearing the feedback from the teacher and from their peers. Keep this time focused but light and interesting.
Text/Audio Narration: At this point each of you must decide who you identify with. Are you a leader or a follower? You have brought up some interesting points as we have progressed through our study of Animal Farm. I am very interested to see and hear your thoughts as to who you are and how you identify yourself with that character. It will also be interesting to see how your classmates view you and whether or not they agree with your feelings of yourself.

8. Team Time
Students in teams (3-4) will take a group of animals from Animal Farm. Decide as a team what group of animals you will use. Then come up with how your group of animals would have run the farm differently. Using the book as your basis for your farm, create your own animal farm.
It is important for students to be able to understand what Orwell was trying to show the reader. To do this, I will have students develop teams and these teams will come up with their own animal farm. Rather than the pigs running the farm what would happen if another group of animals ran the farm? How would things be alike? Different? Students should come up with with their own set of commandments, decide how the farm is best run, and what animals should be included/excluded from the political side of the farm. How would your farm run compared to Orwell’s pig run farm? Teams should be able to present their information to the class and provide examples of how their farm would run better than the pig farm in Animal Farm. A power point or other form of visual medium is required.
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Animal Farm

9. Closing Remarks
At this point we have covered a lot of ground. You have all done a remarkable job of evaluating Animal Farm and also yourself. I am pleased with your individual and team assignments. Overall you have learned how to take a book and understand how the author can use the characters to relate to life and life situations. Wonderful job class! I look forward to our next book and evaluation time.