Introducción a la ciencia ficción: análisis de la ciencia ficción de Kurt Vonnegut

Hello, and thank you for your interest in my class! Kurt Vonnegut is most famous for his novel, 'Slaughterhouse-Five', which follows a former POW's journey towards healing. While that novel is not yet in the public domain, his thought-provoking dystopian short stories are! I provide learners with annotated copies of each of his public domain texts: "Harrison Bergeron", "The Big Trip Up Yonder", and "2BR02B". These annotated texts offer learners defined vocabulary terms within the text to facilitate the learning of new words and historical information to better understand the context and setting of the stories. Additionally, I include nonfiction articles and literary journals for learners to explore after they have finished reading the fiction stories. My goal is to inspire learners to gain confidence in citing credible sources to support their unique thesis statements, which they create after exploring various theories.

These short stories, written by Kurt Vonnegut, were first published in science fiction magazines in the 1950s and 60s, and later in various collections of short stories. The stories are all set in the post-World War II era, during the Cold War. The lessons and video content are designed with guided practice to allow learners to view supplementary video and nonfiction article content. This approach is particularly meaningful for learners in upper-level high school classes, as it helps them find credible sources (primary, media literacy) to support their literary analysis.

Each lesson video provides learners with an opportunity to check their written responses, and I always emphasize that their answers are not expected to match mine because literature can be interpreted in many ways. In several lessons, I model the brainstorming process of writing to encourage learners that it is a process that can take time. I strive to be creative in engaging learners to gain a deeper insight into a story's historical, political, and cultural background. To this end, I provide learners with various articles and videos related to the story's themes.

All of my self-paced literary analysis courses provide learners with:
An Active Reading Packet consisting of the required text to pair with learner videos. The packet includes in-reading vocabulary definitions, images to assist in setting visualization, and Common Core-aligned questions to guide thinking towards choosing a thesis later in the course.
An Interactive Literary Element Study Guide, shared as a Google document for feedback that includes:
An author study lesson
A pre-reading theme development lesson
Defines basic and abstract literary elements in a cohesive order with examples
Writing activities to get learners comfortable using literary terminology in writing
Instructions for a literary analysis essay with a guided outline
The Ultimate Literary Theory Analysis Guide Manual, with defined theories/criticisms and tips for crafting the perfect essay

By the end of this course, learners will have a thorough understanding of Kurt Vonnegut's dystopian short stories and the skills to analyze them critically. They will also have gained confidence in their ability to find and cite credible sources to support their unique interpretations of literature.