NCDPI – AIG Instructional Resource: Background Information

Resource Title: Animal Farm…Except Not
Subject Area/Grade Level (s): ELA/8 / Time Frame: 3-4 class periods for introduction to project, project completion, and presentation
Common CoreStandard Addressed:
RL.8.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.
Additional Standards Addressed:NA
Brief Description of Lesson/Task/Activity: This project requires students to apply the use of an extended metaphor/allegory after completing a reading of Animal Farm. This resource provides reading review activities that prepare the students for the project.
Type of Differentiation for AIGs (include all that apply): Enrichment x Extension Acceleration
Adaptations for AIGs: Content x Process x Product
Explanation of How Resource is Appropriate for AIGs: This project requires AIG students to think divergently and abstractly as they transfer their understanding of the allegory in Animal Farm to the development of an original allegory that addresses the same lessons.
Needed Resources/Materials:
  • Copies of Animal Farm
  • Signs/handouts/materials for stations (described below)
  • Chart for Station #1 (attached)
  • Copies of various short fables by Aesop (readily available online)

Sources: NA
TEACHER NOTES:NA

NCDPI AIG Curriculum Resource Outline

STAGE ONE: ENGAGE
Prior to beginning their review of Animal Farm and receiving the project description, students read and participate in activities about the novel. These activities include small-group and whole-group discussions of the plot and characters, quick comprehension assessments (quizzes), and short writing assignments based on particular events in the novel.
Students should have an understanding of the terms fable and allegory.
STAGE TWO: ELABORATE
Once students have completed their reading of Animal Farm, they complete the following station activities, rotating through the stations at 10-minute intervals.
Animal Farm Station #1: Exploring the Allegory
If Animal Farm is an allegory for the Russian Revolution, then which real-world people do the characters represent? Your task at this station is to complete the chart (attached) provided using real people involved in the Russian Revolution. For example, who might Squealer represent? You may need to do some research to get this right! Be ready to explain you the connections you find.
Animal Farm Station #2: Exploring the Fable
Step 1: Read the Aesop fables provided and select one on which to focus.
Step 2: Identify the main moral of this fable.
Step 3: If Animal Farm is a fable, what is it trying to teach us? Create a top-5 list of the novella’s morals.
Animal Farm Station #3: Pigs vs. Everyone Else
Create a visual to show how life for the pigs on Manor Farm compares to life for the other animals. Provide details! Then, discuss how Napoleon makes this happen. Create a list of his tactics.
Animal Farm Station #4: Mapping the Story
Create a visual story map of Animal Farm that shows the 5 plot parts in both words and pictures. Be sure to label the plot parts and include a variety of events from the story. Then, write a very short (no more than 20 words!) summary of the story.
When the students have completed their station tasks, bring them together as a group to discuss the following:
  • What can we learn from the characters in Animal Farm? What does Napoleon, in particular, teach us?
  • What is the most important lesson that this story teaches? Why do you say so?
  • Is this lesson important today? Why?
  • Is Animal Farm an effective retelling of the Russian Revolution? Why or why not?

STAGE THREE: EVALUATE
Assign students to small groups for completion of the project outlined below. Make sure that the students in each group possess a variety of skills.
Animal Farm…But Not on a Farm
Animal Farm is a classic piece of literature, and it teaches some important lessons. BUT is this story the best and only way to teach these lessons? Absolutely not! Your group’s job is to create a dramatic production of 5-7 minutes that teaches the same lessons as the book but relies on a different setting and different characters. Think OUT OF THE BOX. Orwell used animals on a farm to make his point. What might you use? Your presentation must be performed for the class and should include an original slogan (that is repeated throughout) and an original song (that is sung at some point). And of course, your final production must be creative (in both words and props), engaging, and well rehearsed (no cue cards!).
Tell the students that their projects will be assessed based on the following criteria (taken straight from the above description), and discuss what meeting these criteria will require:
  • Final product includes all required elements (time limit, slogan, original song)
  • Lessons are clearly articulated
  • Performance is clean
  • Performance is engaging
  • Performance is creative and clever
Before the groups begin working on their projects and if needed, invite them to share ideas for changing the setting and characters in the story. For example, could these lessons be taught in a kitchen and by kitchen appliances?

PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF NORTH CAROLINA State Board of Education | Department of Public InstructionAIG ~ IRP Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project