George Orwell's Animal Farm Book Club

Animal Farm by George Orwell is a satirical allegory about the corruption and abuse of political power. This novel is often required reading for a lot of high school students. It is the perfect book for group discussion and analysis because Orwell's use of allegory and symbolism can be hard to appreciate and understand when reading alone. We will also tie into historical references regarding World War II and the birth of Soviet Russia.   

Students will read approximately 30 pages a week on their own time. Each week a new video will discuss the pages that the students have previously read. This class does not meet live. The prerecorded sessions will emphasize characters, their motivations, theme, story plausibility, and inferences about what might come next. We will also refer to any symbolism within the story and discuss what the author intended to represent with those symbols.

Students will have access to a video that covers the important elements of the week's reading and a corresponding one page worksheet with discussion questions and places for fill-in-the blank answers. The worksheets will also address/remind the students of some of the important topics from each chapter. I assign a short writing assignment focused around that week's discussion questions and ask the students to share their responses in the classroom (so other students may view, comment, and interact as well). I also ask students to submit any vocabulary words the students didn't recognize or passages the students did not understand. The more questions the students ask, the more "discussion" we can have in the classroom after each chapter. 

Weekly breakdown:
Students will receive a worksheet and discussion questions for each weekly video. There is one weekly writing assignment to complete after the weekly readings. 

I will post a vocabulary word from the weekly reading for the students to use in a sentence that showcases their understanding of the definition.  

I post a link to an Animal Farm themed Kahoot! the students can fill out to further immerse themselves in this world. Students can share their score in the classroom to share their experience with their classmates. Kahoot! is a free resource. Students with testing anxiety can disregard this optional activity.